artHound

Independence Day segued into a week long vacation, followed by an additional week of catching up from holidays and lazy days. Midsummer has rapidly become late summer - or at least it feels that way. 

It’s expected that a typical Ohio summer contains a fair amount of hot weather, but this month has been positively steaming. Nightly thunderstorms and daytime temperatures in the 90s this past weekend coincided with the Akron Arts Expo. I spent only a couple hours at the Expo this year, as a visitor, not an exhibitor - quite a switch after twenty years as a participating artist. The decision was made last March, amid the late snows and chilly temperatures, so I can take no credit for being prescient about the rain, heat and humidity.

Next month there are a couple one-day festivals on my schedule. Coming up are the University Park Art & Music Fair at Grace Park, near downtown Akron, and Art in the Square, right up the street in Highland Square. I’m looking forward to catching up with fellow artists, patrons and friends at both of these events. . . let’s hope cooler temperatures prevail!

University Park Art Fair
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Grace Park, Akron, Ohio

Art in the Square
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Highland Square, Akron, Ohio

What a fine collection fionadesigns has put together on Etsy: the raven celebrated in a variety of media and styles!  Check out  the treasury here. My little crow has strutted his way into the company of some fine feathered blackbirds, and is available in my Etsy shop.

While on the subject of groups, collectively blackbirds are referred to as ‘an unkindness of ravens’ and ‘a murder of crows.’ Terms of venery, “those imaginative collective nouns that evolved in the Middle Ages when the sophisticated art of hunting demanded an equally sophisticated vocabulary” came into being partly because “our forebears also delighted in the  play of words, and so the use of such fanciful phrases became codified.” Many are listed and illustrated in the delightful book, An Exaltation of Larks by James Lipton, originally published in 1968.

Many thanks to fionadesigns for including my work - it’s very kind, despite being an unkindness!

Although it’s been sunny, hot and humid all month, at 11:28 this morning it was official: this year’s beautiful, abundant spring passed the torch to summer! It’s no surprise that the daylilies, which have been blooming for weeks, are ahead of schedule - the perennial garden seems to be on fast forward this year. Can vegetables be far behind? The stalks of corn in local farmers’ fields are sporting tassels. City Fresh started last week with shares that included a bounty of herbs, greens, squash and strawberries. It’s time to celebrate the solstice and the season of the sun and the strong sun moon!

Daylily
mixed media: pastel/watercolor
private collection

Four artists, Rachel Gentner, Bonnie Stipe, Charles Szabla and Ron White, present four different approaches to aspects of the human figure in Figuratively Speaking, the current exhibit at Summit Artspace. Larger-than-life paintings share the gallery with tiny, intimate pastels while traditional realism contrasts with conceptual explorations. The choice of media is diverse: charcoal and pastel, oil and acrylic, ceramics and fiber.

Among the many who attended Friday’s opening reception was Rosemary, who graciously posed with her likeness, a ceramic sculpture by Ron White:

Figuratively Speaking
June 19 - July 31, 2010
Summit Artspace
140 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio

Sunday’s Beacon Journal review by Dottie Shinn is available here.
Postcard design by Liz at Immix Studio.

Hats off to Every Blooming Thing for the marvelous Friday evening reception that opened my little summer show - and many thanks to everyone who attended!

Arranging a selection of small artwork on the gallery wall was a pleasure. Included are block prints, monotypes, mixed media and even a couple watercolors - light, airy and fun pieces compatible with the brightly colored, cheerful interior of Every Blooming Thing.

Hard to miss this announcement:

Blooming Artist Series featuring the art of Joan Colbert
June 11 - July 30, 2010
Every Blooming Thing
1079 West Exchange Street
Akron, Ohio

top image:
Millie
hand colored block print

It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.
Aesop

The diva crows are becoming a series! Two new prints were created just in time to make their debut at a little summer show. Millie is looking thoroughly modern in her cloche, while Flora is ready for a garden party! All will be hand colored as soon as the ink dries.

Last Saturday the weather was perfect for an outdoor demo at the Spring Whimsy Show at the Log Cabin Gallery in Peninsula. Even a black snake came out to savor the sunshine.

Today the weather was suitable only for staying under cover, listening to the rain and the river. Those adventurous few who did stop by seemed to feel it was well worth a walk in the rain.

Spring Whimsy will conclude next weekend, so plan a visit for Thursday, Friday or Saturday, June 11, 12 and 13, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Log Cabin Gallery
1671 Main Street
Peninsula, Ohio
www.thelogcabingallery.com

The Artists of Rubber City 20th Annual Juried Show is now open in the BOX gallery on the third floor of Summit Artspace. Actually, it is spilling out of both the big box and the little box onto temporary display walls set up to accommodate the exhibit. Juror Gianna Commito, Assistant Professor of Painting, Kent State University, chose 50 works, representing a wide range of media and styles, by 37 artists. The closing of her statement, in which she wrote that she “strove to curate a show that presented the strongest and most varied representation of craftsmanship, vision and innovation” resulting in “a cross-section of talent that both complements and challenges the strengths of each artist’s contribution” makes it especially gratifying to have two pieces included in this exhibit.

    
Arctic                            Spring Garden
monotype                     monotype
3″ x 3″                          3″ x 3″

Artists of Rubber City 20th Annual Juried Show
June 5 - 26, 2010
the BOX gallery
Summit Artspace - 3rd floor
140 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio
open Friday & Saturday, noon - 4:30 p.m.

Take a couple nifty little blockprint blackbirds, print on cardstock, add letterpress callouts, pair with matching envelopes and you have cawing cards!

Printed on recycled notecard stock, there are currently two versions. Each signed block print is embellished with a tiny bit of letterpress using 9 pt. Old English type. Cheerio!

Cheerio! and Caw! Cawing Cards are now available in my Etsy shop.

It was a picture perfect spring day outside and a delightful day inside - thanks to everyone who came by for my annual open studio!

Congratulations to the door prize winners: BlackbirdBox/Glendale Crow will be delivered to Bill O. and a set of Cawing Cards, letterpress and block print notecards, are headed to Janie F.