I used a very scientific method to determine the winner:

Piper must like the name Mary... Do I get a cookie now?

1. I wrote each name on a small piece of paper and put them in a bowl
2. Then I had Piper check them out
3. The winners were chosen with drool factor – the most doggy-drool on the name won!

I hope to see you all at the show anyway 

ACC Show details

LOCATION

The St. Paul RiverCentre is at 175 West Kellogg Blvd, St. Paul. Find me in booth #100 this year!

PREVIEW PARTY

Thursday, April 19, 6-9 p.m.  The evening will include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, pre-show shopping, and live music. PLUS you’ll also receive complimentary show passes to return to the show to shop. Admission: $75. Proceeds benefit the American Craft Council. Click here to purchase your preview tickets.

Windswept Oak

SHOW HOURS

FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. (Get into the show for $5 after 5 p.m.)

SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.

SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.

One-day pass: $12.  Three-day pass: $20. Just click here to purchase, print, and bring them right to the door. FREE for American Craft Council members & children 12 and under… or surprise, win a pair of tickets from me!

Now that the nuts & bolts info is out of the way, it’s time for the more fun stuff. Leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite part of the ACC show is (and if it is me, awe, that is soooo sweet!), whether you have ever been to the show or if this is your first time. I will pick a random (and I truly mean random in that I will have my dog pick the name out of a hat) winner to receive a pair of free tickets to the show.

This will be my 6th year at the ACC show, and it is one of my favorite shows: the quality of work is outstanding! Don’t let the name “Craft” fool you, there are fabulous artists from all across the country exhibiting and some of them have work in the Smithsonian.

Craft is a technical term referring the process by which an object is made, usually for a specific function. Traditional studio craftsmen work with wood, glass, clay, textiles, metal or a combination of both, so you won’t find any paintings, drawings, printmaking or photography at this show. Wikipedia defines craft as something in between art (which requires talent) and science (which requires knowledge). While craftwork can be utilitarian, it is also beautiful as well as useful, but quite often is displayed as fine art. I like to think that the fine craftsmen exhibiting are true artists creating beautiful artwork with talent and technical knowledge.

What do you think? Come to the show and decide for yourself!

Josephine A. Geiger, who has won numerous media awards for the Saint Paul Art Crawl, has invited three other artists to “Crawl Off the Map” and into her Eastside studio this spring. In addition to her own art glass, there’s Beth Colaizy of Rustic Road Studio, a stoneware potter; Brenda Brousseau of Luna C. Bede, a beadwork & jewelry artist; and Tracie Thompson, a painter and mixed media artist whose animal portraits sell to national and international clients.

Rolling in the Deep, leaded glass window by Josephine Geiger, won a media award for the 2012 Spring Art Crawl.

Geiger was recently featured on TPT’s MN Original, and has become nationally known for her strikingly creative stained glass pieces. Trained in architecture, she finds the underlying structures of the landscape and translates those into leaded glass windows — pulling together a wide range of surprising colors and textures into an elegant, cohesive whole. She and Brenda Brousseau took two of the ten coveted Media Awards for this spring’s Art Crawl, and it’s easy to see why.

It’s Not Nice to Fool Your Motherboard, headdress by Brenda Brousseau, won a media award for the 2012 Spring Art Crawl.

Brousseau has won multiple grants and awards, and two of her intricate beadwork headdresses are currently being shown in an international bead exhibit. Beth Colaizy, a potter, will have her nature-inspired designs on hand, including not just stoneware but her unusual, stoneware-style blue and white porcelain pieces. Thompson will exhibit oil paintings and her increasingly popular series of three-dimensional art made of salvaged materials that she reconstructs, paints, and transforms into visual folktales.

Even with the vibrant arts communities in the Twin Cities, it is surprising to find such an established art studio tucked into an eastside Saint Paul neighborhood. Over the last few years, J.A. Geiger Studio has become a hot destination for the Art Crawl, where a few hundred people converge over the weekend to find some exceptional artwork. Geiger, however, is not content to rest on her laurels.

One of Thompson’s Ten-Minute Animals, pencils and watercolor on paper, about 7” square.

New for this spring’s Art Crawl is the Demonstration Tent. Brenda Brousseau will demonstrate some of the techniques she uses in her one-of-a-kind jewelry: peyote stitching, bead embroidery and crochet, and even how she incorporates motherboards and USB cords into her work. She will be working on a new head-dress for an upcoming exhibit “Women and Water” at the Phipps Center. Thompson, meanwhile, will be creating fun ten-minute animal portrait sketches. Bring her a photo and she’ll draw your dog, cat, horse, (gerbil, bird, lizard, or whatever you’ve got) for just $10 each. And even if you don’t have a pet, there are goldfish in the studio pond you can ‘borrow’.

Dates for the Saint Paul Art Crawl: Friday, April 27, 6 – 10 pm; Saturday, April 28, 12 – 8 pm; Sunday, April 29, 12 – 5 pm.

This photo was taken by the new owners. Love how the flowers compliment the colors in the window!

Northern Autumn is a sweet 17 1/2″ octagon window commissioned as a Christmas present. The actual landscape is loosely abstracted (see the inspiriation image used below) to create a rhythm similar to the inspiration rather than a direct translation of the image. The color palette is the rich, vibrant, saturated colors of autumn & the clear swirled glass gives the impression of wind blowing through the canopies.

I manipulated the original painting in Photo-shop to blur the lines and crop it to the octagon shape that was commissioned. ("Autumn - Orilla" was painted by Frank Carmichael in 1924. He was known for his work in conjunction with the Canadian Group of 7)

I love creating windows from paintings, photos, or even sketches on table napkins. Lately I have been inspired by a number of images from the Canadian Impressionist ‘Group of 7′ (these artists included Frank Carmichael, Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson among others) that were painting primarily during the early 1900′s. The rich saturated color palettes translate so well into glass, and many of the paintings are of the north woods – another one of my favorite subjects!

If you have a favorite painting or photo, why not send me an email with an image?

living room: photo courtesy of Brad Palecek

stair landing: photo courtesy of Brad Palecek

Just the other day, someone contacted me asking for more information on some windows in a house they were looking at buying. It turns out I had designed and installed 3 windows in the house a few years ago! While I am very sad that the original owners will no longer be able to enjoy the windows when the house is sold, I am sure the new owners will be very glad the windows are staying with the house.

The windows were based on the Arts & Crafts and Prairie style of art glass. The pattern is very loosely related to the tree of life concept, but it is not an exact replica of anything in particular. Personally, I love the warm color palette with the cream, amber and red.

In working out the plans, I would design as many of the likes and “wow’s” into the project as feasible, but creative editing is a good thing. Sometimes, the compromise is actually better than the original desire – this is because the off the cuff idea may not really be what YOU want and is only a reaction to what your friend/neighbor/magazine photo/favorite star has, and not truly what or how you want to live or be.

This concept applies to how I approach all of my clients: I listen to what they are saying with an ear towards what they are also NOT saying to I can see the bigger picture and really work with them.

My approach could be seen as a compromise, but I see it as an expansion of your subconscious desires and I have never had a client unhappy with my designs or custom artwork. Limitations (budget, color, size, location, budget, time, etc…) are only another design tool. Some say that in a perfect world, you can get the perfect outcome, but who is to say that the perfect outcome isn’t the result of the creativity behind the limits?

Commission installed in Middleton, WI.

• It is great working with an unlimited budget; is this reality? Not so much, because budget always matters and I can almost always work you since there are tons of factors involved in the cost.
• I would love to pick out the color palette, but I actually find it more challenging and FUN working with color choices that goes hand in hand with your preferences.
• Size DOES matter; it is your window, and it really should fit.
• Time is also an issue, and sometimes, I won’t be able to get your custom window to you when you would like (like tomorrow). And as much as it pains me to admit it, I occasionally underestimate how long a project will take, how much time my shows will eat up or sh*t happen beyond my control and this affects all of my custom order timelines… but everything is always done, and I work extra hard when this happens to go above and beyond the contract minimum to make you something extra special. I always ask that you keep in mind that it is just me and the dog (and Piper does not have thumbs).
• Location, location, location – we have all heard this before – and where your window is makes a difference in the opacity of the glass, the desire for the window (that pesky window next to the front door, the bathroom, the nasty view out the kitchen, you get the idea) and even the inspiration. I can help make your space feel better with a simple shift in the view, color and ambiance felt in the room.

In essence, I love creating artwork that makes your home more colorful, might make your friends jealous, and makes you feel awesome!

Since it is finally snowing today... thought I'd share one of my recent windows.

My 3 goals for the year:

1. Blogging as a means to talk with my clients like I would if they were standing in the studio – so hello!
2. Spend more time developing relationships with new clients and deepening the existing ones; and be bolder about asking for referrals – know anyone I would like to meet?
3. And most importantly of all, to be more present: with my family, friends, and clients. This means that I will be taking time to focus independently on each task in front of me and not trying to multi-task my way through with a half-assed attention span.

Sounds simple right?

We’ll see. For now it seems to be working. I call my mom, aunt or text my daughter (she doesn’t always like to talk ) every day, and talk to my friends – this is easy, since I love them all! I contact at least one person every day that has been gracious enough to be interested in my artwork, and ask if there is anything I can do for them. And I make sure I am in the studio for part of the day (new work photos coming soon!), even if it is for only an hour.

What are you doing to make your goals a reality?

Copper Reflections

• empty out the email inbox & sent folders (keeping important ones of course) and resolve to not let my inbox become a huge to-do list; this usually last about 2 weeks.
• take the time to organize my receipts; the tax-man cometh way to soon.
• organize the studio and my files, including those on the computer, and try to figure how many photos I REALLY need to keep of the hundreds on my C:drive. Then I digitally “correct” and crop those photos (still working on this task!) so they can be uploaded to the website, and now I will be adding some of them to the blog as well
• and of course I clean the house – spring cleaning happens in the winter, don’t ya know? Of course, with the weather the last few weeks, it almost feels like spring anyway!

Gotta love the new year! 

1. upload issues (as in my old computer was not powerful enough to upload some of the images, and the software for the website was incompatible with Windows 7 on my current laptop)
2. outdated graphics (not totally, but the “look” was not consistent with my brand)
3. broken links (in-active websites, typos, and incomplete address info which was not able to be updated – see issue #1)
4. no blog (since I was hosting through Yahoo! and using their WYSIWYG software, ugh, blogging was not an option – again see #1)
5. and the cardinal sin in the website world – no easy way to contact me!

My business consultant, marketing guru and friend, Lauri Flaquer of Saltar Solutions (BTW, I will have a page for links to relevant sites coming soon) recommended Robert Dempsey of Dempsey Marketing to get me going with my new website. While Lauri has consistently given me fabulous advice, this was one of the best yet. You’re here, this is the new website (and blog) and it is already helping me showcase my artwork better (and even has a custom portfolio database), is optimized for SEO and better visibility, and guess what, you can fill out multiple handy forms on different pages to contact me…

Working with Robert was a dream (and no I am not a paid affiliate or being coerced into writing this testimonial). I approached him with a grocery list of absolute must-haves and wish list items. Robert worked patiently with me to design a new website that incorporated all of my absolutes and most of my wishes. He and his WordPress team went beyond the basics and developed a data base template that allows me to upload a single image and have it incorporated into multiple portfolios with a simple click of my mouse. And he did all of this quickly, accurately and in a no-nonsense manner. The coolest aspect of this; all of our meetings and logistical coordination was done via email and Skype.

Thank you, Robert for the dedicated and professional work and to Lauri for the fabulous referral. 

WOW! Let me say that again, WOW!  

Piper watching the studio and Shelby watching Piper... but really, they are wating for one of those grey furry creatures to jump from the pine tree. Then Piper leads the chase, with Shelby chasing Piper. Do you see the pattern here?

One of the best things about working from a home studio is being able to have a dog and not feel guilty about working long hours. As you can see, these two are working for their dinner protecting the studio; all without interruption from their real job – squirrel surveillance.

Fozzy, Piper, Shelby

The big white one is my monster Piper, while her best friends Shelby and Fozzy live next door and come over to play virtually every day.

Happy puppies!

And when you come visit the studio, the “doorbells” will announce your arrival - if they aren’t too busy stalking squirrels.