Self-Discovery, clay and mixed media wall sculpture by Kim Reyes

Long day yesterday.  4 hours for Port Tobacco River Conservancy, 5 hours for ArtOMatic and about 7 hours all together on the road criss-crossing Southern Maryland and then into Alexandria, VA and home.  Glad that isn’t every day!  Sort of exhilarating in its exhaustion though. 

At ArtOMatic, yesterday was the last day to set up.  And you know artists.  At 8 pm when I left it was really getting busy!  Manic might be a good word.  But a lot were already set up, and one of my duties was to roam the hall, so I spent all my time on the 6th floor.  There’s a whole ‘nother floor, the 8th, that I haven’t even cracked.

Today you are going to get to see 2 of my favorites.  I have more favorites, and even more pictures that I took because they are interesting and eclectic and great examples of art and energy.  Enough to have lots to write about in the coming weeks while ArtOMatic is happening.  Opening tomorrow, Friday the 13th at 3 p.m.  Come early, stay late.  Try to move, and definitely wear a swim suit as the building is hot enough to be a sauna with only a few bodies.  I can’t imagine what the temperature will be when there is literally a wall to wall crush of folks.  This will be the art place to see and be seen the evening of Friday the 13th (whether you want to call it names and sneer or just drink in all that art energy and love it).

I first saw Kim’s work at ArtOMatic in 2002.  I didn’t know her then, but took pictures of wonderful jewelry mounted in boxes:  two arts in one.  Later we looked at the same house in Pennsylvania, about 8 hours from home (by chance – neither of us knew), and later yet we met face to face at Art and Alchemy in Silver Spring where we were both selling.  I guess you can understand why I put her work up front first.  Talk about inspiration!

One of the things you go to art events like this for is to learn how other people do things  technically.  Look how she has mounted the face/head of this figure into a flap of clay that works like a neck.  Genius!  Will I steal it?  you bet!  She is, with Self-Discovery, where I was headed with My Secret Self (to the right).  Seeing her work will save me a whole lot of experimentation and failures.

Kim’s ArtOMatic page says this:  As a ceramic and mixed media sculptor I prefer figurative studies of human nature and emotional turmoil with a sense of humor.  Currently my techniques include handbuilding, breaking, pit firing then reassembling a variety of ceramic bodies and combining them with various mixed media.

Her are:  detail   of Self Discovery, full and detail photos of Imperfect, and Envy, which is very close to the first work I saw her do that I fell in love with.

Ok.  quit drooling. 

Wipe your mouth and come along and meet Brenda Sylvia.  Her space is titled Urban Streams.  I had the pleasure of chatting with her yesterday evening.  I had not met her before but have admired her work in the last two ArtOMatics.  Her paintings are filled with light and a kind of still movement – okay, that’s sounds like a paradox.  And don’t you just love paradoxes?  [paradoxi?]  I always think that when you’re on the line of paradox, you’re hitting the really True of Be-ing.  Brenda’s work is like that.  It almost makes you smell the trees and water and hear the quiet of the land around you.  And she’s brought in rocks to line her walls.  Beautiful white creek rocks.  I don’t know that I’ve ever mentioned how much I love rocks (and trees) – we have none (rocks – but plenty of trees, for now at least) in Southern Maryland.  They all have to be imported.  And this year, Brenda has two wall mixed media peices that, when I saw them, made me say – out loud – Oh! Wow!  More inspiration – a place for my totems to grow into.

Here’s what Brenda’s ArtOMatic page says:  I am a landscape painter who loves nature despite living in an urban area.  The act of painting outside and experiencing nature firsthand is an integral part of my work.  I am energized by the beauty of nature, and I want to share my emotional response to a particular place.  This series of paintings and wall sculptures was inspired by the streams of three northern Virginia community parks.  I have been painting at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington and Annandale Community Park and Wakefield Park in Fairfax.  The sculptures were created using glass collected from the streams which inspired the piece.  I believe it is critical to have access to natural areas such as these parks which can serve as a refuge from the pressures of our urban lives.  Ideally, my Urban Streams show will expose people to the natural beauty which can be found in their local parks, down the street or just around the corner.   [note:  for all of you wondering how "artist" fits in with "Executive Director" of a river conservancy – there you have it].

Here are Brenda’s two exhibited wall pieces and a detail of one.

Much, much more to talk about and show but only so much per post.  So enjoy what you have here and come back for more as the show progresses.

thought for the day:  Self-advocacy will take you farther down the road than any raspy-voiced meager critic or uptight corseted perfectionist with pursed lips and hands on hips….Real creativity takes us beyond ego.  But first we have to get beyond fear.  We have to want to go back and pick up our crayons….light small votive candles on the altars of your gifts.  The worship of your strength will make you strong.  Please do not cut yourself to shreds in the name of imnprovement.  First seek movement,.  Then seek movement.  Again, seek movement.  Grow wild and wooly before you prune.  Have faith in the living wisdom of your talent, and it will light your way as surely as the moon.  Tama Kieves, This Time I Dance:  Creating the Work You Love