I received a phone call last January from Valerie Howell, the owner of The Evergreen Gallery. She was looking for an artist to paint an egg for an upcoming fundraiser for the Evergreen Downtown Business Association’s 3rd Annual Egg Painting Contest. I agreed to do it, and the next day I went skiing and came up with the idea for my egg: “Wally and the Easter Bunny ponder the transient nature of reality”. I made an extra one just in case something went wrong, and it is for sale for $80.00 in my online store. The Wally egg will be on display along with twenty other works of egg art by local artists at the Evergreen National Bank in downtown Evergreen during the month of April. There is a contest for the best of show, and I’m hoping that Wally makes it on the podium. More on this story as it develops.
The Evergreen Gallery has been carrying my work for over fifteen years now, and it always has an excellent selection of my pots on hand due to the fact that my pieces are on consignment and it’s easy for me to drop by and give them my latest designs. Valerie Howell and former owner Meryl Sabeff both have an excellent eye for art and craft and the selection of artists is outstanding. It’s well worth the drive up to Evergreen to see what they have on hand. For those of you reading this from outside of Colorado, the best way to visualize Evergreen is to think of the TV show, “South Park”. Co-creator Trey Parker grew up in nearby Conifer and the small town in the show is an homage to our fine mountain community… really!
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago. Add a comment
Sticks is more than a couple of great galleries in Des Moines. It’s more than a team of over one hundred artisans producing spectacular furniture and objects decorated with heartfelt imagery. It’s a force of nature. For those of us who make a living in the fine craft world, Sticks is the pinnacle of what a fine craft business can be. Started in 1992 by Sarah Grant, the company derives its name from the found wood it uses to create its objects. From it’s simple beginnings as a candlestick and holiday ornament line, Sticks has risen to the level of design team nonpareil as evidenced by the installation pictured above. “The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art” was collaboration with Sticks and Stephen Fry, president of The Concept Design Group. It sits atop the Blue Bridge in Grand Rapids, Michigan and took 8th place in the 2009 ArtPrize competition. Who says crafts have to be humble?
Sticks has been carrying my work for over eight years now and they are a steady, dependable account. Wally’s finest hour with Sticks came in January of 2004 when they had me come up with a couple of custom Wally adventures for the Iowa Caucus. We shipped out just two dozen pieces, and we should have made more. Sticks is located across the street from the state capitol and the response to these pieces was amazing. They sold out very quickly. The media folk liked the MTV joke, and the Greenpeace design was presented in public by Sticks to the Governor of Iowa. It’s a real honor to have Sticks carry my work all these years. And if Stephen Fry and his design group ever need another concept for a bridge or something, Wally is available!
Posted 7 months, 2 weeks ago. Add a comment
