Tammy Vitale with torso, Cybele, first place winner at Calvert Artists’ Guild’s May 08 Awards Show at AnnMarie Garden

Very nice show for the Artists’ Guild this weekend, with many new folks entering alongside the ones who’ve been around a while.  That’s the thing I like best about the Guild:  a chance to meet other folks who share my own passion about making art, no matter what kind.  The Guild is really diverse these days:  glass artists, jewelry, ceramics, wood carving, water color, oil, acrylic, mixed media…probably more than I can’t think of right off the top of my head.  So I thought I’d share some of the art and winners with you.

I’m going to start with Jennifer Smetana who won the Guild’s H.S. senior scholarship.  Her work is wonderful!  This is a picture of her and her family and a close up of a wonderful wheel-thrown and altered raku piece )my favorite of the pieces shown).

The next picture of the crow is by Megan Richard who is a new member.  I fell in love with this crow.  I love that it is collaged, and did I mention I love the crow?  I seem to be into all things birds these days, with birds even showing up in my own work all of a sudden.  I lay all of that at the feet of Leah of Creative Every Day whose work continues to inspire and impress me.

Next we have the carved wood heron by Mary Ida Rolape.  I am very lucky she was not in my category.  Were she in my category I would never ever win anything.  Mary Ida is also one of the two principles of Heron’s Way Gallery in Leonardtown, MD, which also represents my work.

Right behind Mary Ida’s piece, are the wood inlay boxes done by Amy Beaven.  Amy picked up several ribbons for these woods boxes, for a wall hanging of an inlaid wood gecko and for her charcoal seagulls.  I liked the butterfly better but the seagulls took the ribbon.  That’s Amy with our President, Mary Blumberg.

  And a few pictures of more of the winners whose winning works I didn’t photograph:

Mary Blumberg presenting to all:

former president and Guild co-founder Gerry Wood (who does watercolors), glass artist Cindy Pond (who is my glass mentor – together we are going to create something great!), and Joan Humphreys who is a watercolorist and sometimes pastel, oil and mixed media.  The tiger picture behind the awardees is by Candy Cummings who does just about everything and does it very very well….alas, I have no picture of Candy.

All in all it was a most excellent show!

Finally, here is an "art" photo of our centerpiece.  Mary B’s careful coordination of colors and set up for the buffet was gorgeous and I just had to take a picture of the centerpiece!

thought for the day:  We think we know what’s going on, that we have control of our lives; we make plans, have date books and schedules, and then we turn around to see ourselves and realize our lives have their own composition, their own movement.  Just recently I had this experience:  I had planned for six months to go this December to India and as my brain made a budget and travel plans I noticed my body was moving toward being at Taos Pueblo for Christmas Eve.  I even hard myself say to a friend in California, "Yes, I’ll be here over the New Year," as though a part of my life moved in its own dream.  I did consciously, finally, drop the idea of going to India in an instant one afternoon as I put a bag of groceries in the back seat of my car.  Suddenly, it seemed obvious.  I wasn’t going.  Nothing in me wanted to go this December except my head. Natalie Goldberg, Long Quiet Highway:  Waking Up in America