Master Mind, Southwest Women, and Wood Nymph Masks for Liberty

Well, it’s been a busy and full week for the art activities of Rod and Martha this week.  Saturday’s art opening for the Charles Collins exhibit at the Cashmere Arts and Activities Center was the best attended event yet there. The place was full, the art was great and we had live music performed by

 Kirk Lewellen. His friend Kurt Davis who builds guitars was there for technical support. It  was such an eclectic mix of attendees at the reception, that it made it all the more fun.

Al Lunderg, the mayor of the Town of Soap Lake, WA and his wife Rose were there and they told Martha and I the whole long and humorous story of Soap Lake’s effort to build the World’s Largest lava Lamp. I remember reading about that from time to time and it is an interesting and funny story.  They, of course told us too about their involvement with the Art Guild of Soap Lake, and their monthly speaker meetings on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. Oh, that was the day before yesterday… oops missed it. Maybe, I’ll get out their next month. Anyway Al and Rose were real nice folks and I sure wouldn’t mind meeting up with them again.

Also, in attendance were several board members of the other gallery Martha and I are involved in, that being the Two Rivers Gallery in Wenatchee. I think they were a bit surprised at the turn out and the quality of the art that we have at the Cashmere gallery. 

 Charles Collins the featured artist flew out from Taos, New Mexico for the show. He spent the weekend with friends from the coast who were a real nice couple as well.  I’d say that everyone there was pretty amazed at the
Mind Master bronze sculpture of Charles Collins.

The way he can create three separate bronzes that are completely whole unto themselves, then put them together like a puzzle and they form a whole other piece that unifies the concepts of the three, for instance, sculptures of two standing apostles and Mary put together to form a bust of Jesus. The same idea is in the work that he brought with him in which a bust of Lincoln separates into a union soldier and confederate soldier and a woman holding a symbol of peace. And of course his southwest Native American Women with children on canvas and his oils of southwest pottery were all very enticing pieces.

So, having succeeded in putting on a good show in Cashmere, there was no rest for the weary, as we had planned a one day home art sale at our house.  Imagine a yard sale, that is in the house and sells art rather than stuff from the garage and has hors d’ oeuvres.  It all went well too, and everyone who came enjoyed the art. Charles Collins and his friends from the coast came before heading back to the coast.

We did well at the sale and it was a lot of fun to do.

Monday, I began making a movie of the festivities on Saturday night. This became a little frustrating, as I was doing a fare amount of editing when… glitch … and yikes, lost what I had and hadn’t been saving along the way. This would necessitate starting over.

Right about then, it was time for me to get ready to go to do a bike ride with Dr. Ed Farrar, yes the father of Tyler Farrar, the world class bike sprinter and the only American to win a stage of the Tour de France on the Fourth of July, and the tongue in cheek named “B” Team of riders that accompany him riding on the Apple Capital Loop Trail every day.

 The idea was to ride with them taking photos all along the way for Jan Cook Mack, the well known plein-air artist and muralist to use to do a new mural almost across the street from the existing mural which at one end features the likeness of Tyler Farrar crossing the finish line on his bike.

For those of you who may not know, Ed rides an incumbent hand powered three wheeler, and has since a life changing accident a few years ago. He’s a very modest and humble guy, so I won’t say too much here other than that Jan and I really want to do right by him and create a piece of art that is respectful of his wishes and tells the story of the grace and dignity that he and others in similar circumstances carry on with vitality and the joy of living.

I am certain it will turn out to be a wonderful mural and a fine edition to artistic landscape of Wenatchee.

Meanwhile, Martha was preparing to leave for Texas to visit the grand kids there. So; she put the finishing touches on

 two clay masks and left them for me to fire while she is gone.  These are really neat looking pieces that will hang from a wall like a painting when done. They are a pair one male one female and each is in the vein of a wood nymph, fairy or spirit of the forest with leaves and such for hair. These can present some issues when firing as the intricate little bits can break off even before firing just from the slightest movement and can explode in the kiln if fired to soon or taken up to temperature too fast. I can say, that at the point of writing this, they are cooling off in the kiln and look great… yeah!!!

And, further update on the mural project I road with the “B Team twice this week and sent many pics on over to Jan Mack to work with.

Meanwhile, too many activities are coming up this weekend. Saturday is a conflict between the Taste of the Harvest in Wenatchee, at which I could show some of Martha’s work and perhaps some of mine as well, as we did last year, or attend a party and take art work as well to the tiny town of Liberty up in the mountains south west of here. The new and old masks and some of Martha’s paintings

on the theme of “The Earth Is Me” and the “Forest Spirit” and some other exotic pieces of hers should do real well there I think.

So, the plan is to head up there and to take a few

pots of Terry Johnson’s as well.  The Harvest festival would be fun, but, I just can’t be in two places at once.  That very same day and the next is an art festival up in the town of Chelan. I’ll probably head on up there on Sunday and am interested to see the art of one of our now former board members from the Gallery in Wenatchee. Wendy, only just resigned her position as she needs to spend more time on her own pursuits. Best of luck to Wendy, and I for sure want to see your art in Chelan…

Also, this week, I did get back to the video from the event last Saturday night. However, I decided to first make one short video focusing on the music. We really appreciate Kirk coming out to play for us at the gallery and I wanted to do right by him and get a video of him playing out on Youtube. It can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb_byqJKjFc&feature=channel_video_title.

I’m planning to get back to the photos from the opening and do a more art focused vs. music focused movie emphasizing the work of  Charles Collins and the other artists there and the overall event. To that soon.

And, now… to the kiln and checking out the new masks and preparing for the event tomorrow in the town of Liberty.   

Wish me luck.

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