Thursday, December 29, 2011

Listen Up Students!

Tomorrow will be my last day teaching art in Soquel, CA at the Susun Gallery Art School. I will be finishing up my 2nd week of teaching at this fun little art school in Santa Cruz County. I have defiantly been learning just as much as the kids have. Instead of learning how to make flip books or create a mural, I am learning how to "be an adult".  I am teaching kids from the ages of 3 to 12 in class sizes from 3 kids to 12 kids, so being quick on my toes and flexible is a must all while having fun and helping the class stay focused on the task at hand. I think that this is a wonderful way for me to end my 2011 and begin a new chapter in my ever changing life. Happy New Year to you all!



Friday, December 23, 2011

Swimming Around

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!




Monday, December 12, 2011

The Learning Experience

December 4th was the 17th Ave Studios Winter Show. This was my first showing experience in this artists collective. I was eager to see what was entailed and how this group operates when working together. I have been a part of different artist collectives for several years. With that said, my experience has been, when putting together a show,  the group of artists work together to create a cohesive look and feel in the space. This would be my first time to experience a group show where everyone receives their own 6ft space and creates whatever they want. So I went with the 'less is more' approach, small pieces for small prices. I was the first artist that had all my work up the night before in the community space. It looked great in the space, in the empty space. That morning and a few hours before the event was open to the public was when the other work came in like a storm. The show opened at 11am and people from Santa Cruz, were, crusin' about looking around seeing friends and eating cookies. After about two hours, I had never felt so invisible in my life. I was ready to go but I stayed the whole time realizing that, in this case that it is not 'less is more' is was 'bigger is better'. In August I had the best selling show with the robots at Cruzio and this was the exact opposite.  Once I realized people were purchasing $25.00 prints and jewelry, that maybe this wasn't the show for me. If I wasn't making any sales, I at least wanted to make an impact with my work, which also didn't seem to happen. The feeling of being invisible was not on my radar and was a new feeling to me, however the feeling of wanting to consume Vodka Crans at a fast rate was pumping through my Irish body. I wanted to have my life size robots come into the show and whisk me away on a boat and feed me plumbs laced with laughter.



















I stayed sober another day and chalked it up to experience.