Some Houseplant Flowers!

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I haven’t shared any of my houseplant flower photos in a while, so let’s rectify that! Here we have, in order from left to right and top to bottom: Ariocarpus trigonus, Epiphyllum monstrosa ‘Curly Locks’ in fruit, Sansevieria cylindrica, Sinningia cardinalis, Huernia verekeri, Mammillaria plumosa, Pleiospilos nelii ‘Royal Flush’, Mammillaria schiedeana, Dischidia platyphylla, my most loyal Saintpaulia spp. (acquired without ID from a botanical garden associates sale), an area shot of several Saintpaulia spp. and a Phalaenopsis orchid in bloom, and a Euphorbia francoisii.

Upcoming Exhibition: Two-Person Show at the R.G. Endres Gallery in Prairie Village, KS

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I am excited to share that I was selected to exhibit at the R.G. Endres Gallery in the Prairie Village City Hall for the month of February in a large two-person show - I’m exhibiting 35 pieces, if that gives you a sense of the scale of the space!

(If you took a look at this post when I first published it, you’ll notice it has changed - it was initially scheduled to be a three-person show but one of the artists dropped out so I’ve edited it accordingly!)

Here’s the (revised) press release the Prairie Village Arts Council sent out:

February Exhibition at R.G. Endres Gallery

Wildlife and the beauty of the natural world will be the dominant theme of the February Exhibit at the R.G. Endres Gallery in the Prairie Village City Hall, 7700 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208. Regional artists Kathleen Kirch of Gardner and Shelby Prindaville of Leavenworth will display their works in oils, acrylics, and watercolors.

Kathleen Kirch, an avid hiker and outdoors enthusiast, relates that her paintings of wildlife are inspired by her spiritual connection to the places she has visited.  Complimenting these works, Shelby Prindaville, the Art Program Director and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth, expresses the ethereal beauty of nature in her watercolors, acrylics, and mixed media. 

The exhibit will run from February 4 through February 27 at the R.G. Endres Gallery during business hours of the City Hall.  A reception with the artists will be held on Friday, February 8; 6:00-7:00 PM.

Mistaking Animal Noises for Machinery

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You should read this funny, interesting article in The Atlantic about misunderstandings that have arisen because people believe animal sounds they’re hearing must be more nefarious machinery. Here’s another story in Atlas Obscura about one town’s briefly apocalyptic experience with bullfrogs, and here’s an even more in-depth look at the cultural fallout from the New England Historical Society.

Second Place Overall in the 24th Arts in Harmony 2019 Annual International Show

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I’m happy to share that my painting Reconnaissance won Second Place Overall in the 24th Arts in Harmony 2019 Annual International Show! Arts in Harmony is a broad juried international exhibition with no discipline restrictions or show theme. As you may have read in my previous post about the show, it will continue to be viewable at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN 55343, through Sunday, February 17, 2019. There are two subsequent traveling shows as well, so we’ll see if my work is selected for either or both of those once the main show ends.

Winning this award was a particularly pleasing result because for a couple weeks I thought Reconnaissance might not have even made it to the gallery space and instead ended up in a pile of undeliverable mail somewhere! For the first time ever in many years of shipping, the UPS staff member who created my shipping labels accidentally voided the first label - sending it from my address to the show pickup location - from UPS’s system when they created the prepaid return label instead of adding the prepaid return to my account as a second label. This meant that even though there was a shipping label on the box, UPS itself had no tracking ability or even any documentation at all that I had shipped a box with them, and scanners wouldn’t register system information about that label either. Luckily, the workers who handled my box’s transit must have relied on the good old-fashioned paper label with addresses in order to get it to its destination, because it clearly arrived on schedule!

Publication in the Tulane Review

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Two of my pieces of artwork, Balancing Act and Camelflage, were selected at the end of November for inclusion in the Fall 2018 edition of the Tulane Review. I was waiting to post about it until I could share some pictures of the actual magazine since they mentioned sending me a contributor’s copy, but it’s been a little while without seeing it in the mail and I wanted to share the news so I’ll just update if/when I receive it!

New Artwork: Catalyst

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Here’s some new artwork to kick off a new year! This piece was inspired by my encounter with two octopi on my last scuba dive this summer with Silviu in Arinaga while on residency at La Pedrada de Noemí. It’s pretty unusual to see the common octopus, Octopus vulgaris, out and about during the day as they are typically nocturnal predators, but it was a very windy day with a lot of churning water and that must have drawn them out.

I have titled this piece Catalyst. It is mixed media including QuickCure Clay, aquabord panel, acrylic, and QuickCure Glaze Coating. Catalyst is capable of being displayed on a pedestal or installed on a wall. It is 13.5x14.5x6.25".

If you’re curious about the sculptural process with QCC, here are a few photos I took along the way. The first two are still in the uncured, sculpting stage and the second two are post-curing but pre-painting. I was actually quite drawn to the piece in its unpainted state, but I had to paint the panel at the very least due to its own mixed media, multicolored composition so I decided to go ahead with painting the whole piece. I might do a different version at some point that’s completely monotone, though, since I liked that quite a lot too.

Upcoming Exhibition: The 24th Arts in Harmony 2019 Annual International Show

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My artwork Reconnaissance has been juried into The 24th Arts in Harmony 2019 Annual International Show! The main show will be at Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN 55343, with show dates of Thursday, January 10 – Sunday, February 17, 2019.

There are awards and two subsequent traveling shows as well, so we’ll see if my work is selected for any of those too!

For more information, visit www.hopkinsartscenter.com. 

We're Getting New Public Domain Artwork

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I’m a big proponent of not violating copyright - and it’s easier than ever before to catch someone who does with automated reverse image searching technology nowadays. If you use public domain works, though, then you’re in the clear! This year, we’ll be adding everything published in 1923 into the public domain!

An Interesting (and Horrifying) Cautionary Art Materials Handling Tale

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This story in Toronto Life, “My Beautiful Death,” is quite interesting and appalling. Art materials are often toxic and require safe handling practices, but this tale not only deals with those practices but also with reflected fallout from our environmental mismanagement as well.

Winner of the Silver Needle Press's Visual Arts Mixed Media Contest

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Silver Needle Press blind juried my living interactive installation All That I See as their recent Visual Arts Mixed Media Contest Winner! Here’s the award page for my piece, and here’s the full contest winners page (they have different categories of awards including fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, so pressing Ctrl-F and typing either my name in or “Visual Art Contest Winners” may help). The award comes with a small cash prize and consideration for publication in their Spring 2019 issue.

Upcoming Publication in The Penn Review!

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I’m pretty excited about this - my artwork will be in the upcoming Spring 2019 issue of The Penn Review! All work is blindly selected (submissions are explicitly not to include identifying information about the creator). The fact that I’m a Penn alumna does make me extra pleased, though!

More information to follow as the publication date nears!

Honorable Mention at the LCAA Holiday Art Gala 2018

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Juror Cathy Kline awarded my painting Camelflage with an Honorable Mention at this year’s Leavenworth County Artists Association Holiday Art Gala. I had a nice time attending the reception and awards ceremony, although it was the same evening as USM’s Fall 2018 Student Art Exhibition opening reception so it was a busy, art-filled night!

Upcoming Exhibition: Leavenworth County Artists Association Holiday Art Gala 2018

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The Leavenworth County Artists Association is hosting their annual Holiday Art Gala, and I’m participating this year by exhibiting two pieces, Camelflage and Reconnaissance.

Exhibition dates: December 7-15
Exhibition hours: ​Monday-Friday 9am-4pm
Gala opening reception (no admissions charge): Friday, December 7th 5-8pm, awards announced at 7:30pm

The show is held in the Leavenworth Heritage Center at 109 Delaware St, Leavenworth, Kansas.

I intend to attend the opening reception (probably going over at 7pm or so), so if you’re around and want to drop by as well I’d love to see you there!

New Artwork: Guardian

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This toad, who I named Reginald, was one of the guardians of my porch this summer and fall. His presence was so regal and dutiful that I felt he required a portrait. He posed for it with the resigned tolerance and grace befitting of a conscientious public servant.

This is Guardian, acrylic on basswood panel, 16x20x1.5”.

The Meaning of a Whole Ecosystem

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This well-written and devastating feature in The New York Times Magazine, “The Insect Apocalypse is Here,” is worth reading. You might cry, though.

In conversation, sometimes, a student will wish mosquitoes away. I tell them that mosquitoes are an important part of the food chain for a number of species, and that while I, too, would like to be mosquito-free, we must understand that we are one small part of a whole. We may soon manage to become the whole, though, through chipping and choking everything else out. This article is about the decline of all insects and the overall functional extinction of many species - and our often unnoticed acclimation to it all.