Rhapsody in Bloom

This weekend will be the 8th annual Rhapsody in Bloom Art Festival held on the grounds of the beautiful Luthy Botanical Gardens, Peoria, IL, corner of Prospect and Gift Streets.

Although this is going to be a very warm weekend, we will be there, ready to go at 10am til 5pm on Saturday, noon to 5pm Sunday. The mornings will be tolerable, and with the shade of the gardens, I expect to be quite comfortable in the afternoons.

Hope to see everyone there...

Martha

Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market

The Farmers Market in Bloomington, Il has been "the" market for Central IL since 1998. I have been part of the Artisans in the market for 8 years. It's been a great experience, with the opportunities to meet new people every weekend, and form long, fruitful relationships, in friendships as well as fiscal opportunities!

http://www.downtownbloomington.org/index.php?id=6

This link will take you to their webpage with a vendor directory, and a link to their weekly newsletter featuring the latest veggies and fruits in season.

My booth is located on the corner of Center and Jefferson, in front of McGuires. A good spot, even though not my fave, it's working out fine. All artists are to be located there on Center this year, again segregated from the farmers. So be sure to visit us there!

Show Schedule Posted

I have posted all my summer shows. Certainly do hope you can attend one or a few! All are quality juried shows. This weekend is one of my favorites.

Art Fair at Junction City, Peoria, IL is a small show with super work. I am very fortunate to have been accepted for the past 4 years. Attendance is great, and most of them are looking to purchase from someone. Hopefully, I'm one of them!

http://www.junctioncityartfair.com/

Bronze

Beaux Arts Fair turned out pretty good. Bronze pieces really found a lot of new homes! It's such a beautiful metal, and so easy to price reasonably. It surprisingly looks terrific with the ever popular turquoise, and it's just fun to tell peoples that I made this!

Sunday was beautiful, finally. We were set up on the plaza of the Figge Art Museum in downtown Davenport. An absolutely wonderful building, and has a terrific gift shop. Even with all the art in front of it, I could enjoy what they had as being beautiful and different. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to tour the exhibits. Next year I will.

I have some photos of bronze pieces after firing, and before/after polishing.

The dancers at top and another piece just didn't have enough color after polishing. I tried the green patina solution from Rio Grande. Directions say to warm the bronze while drying...so I stuck them in the oven for a few minutes. YES, it was green...TOO green. And natch, the underlying bronze was much darker...not what I was after. These are now in the kiln for a second try at color in charcoal.

I didn't get a photo added last post for the booth in Iowa City:

The round table in the back is the janitor-provided table I talked about last time...doesn't look too bad.

This weekend I start the weekly Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market. My booth is on Center Street, facing the courthouse at the intersection of Jefferson St. 2nd best placement, in my opinion. The best would be my old spot on Jefferson...Hah. 7:30am to 12Noon . Weather should be good for a change!

Martha

So. What to tell you today. I always have new piece to show, and a photo of the booth at the Riverbank art fair in Iowa City.

The show was moved inside, April 25-26, the University of Iowa Union grand ballroom...Thank you Fine Arts Council! It was raining, cold, and very much appreciated to be inside. The students running it do a great job. Unfortunately, the sales could have been better for everyone. I still did OK, but not as great as years past. One problem showed up, my husband, Steve, forgot to bring the ladder supports for the shelves. He was very resourceful and buttered up the janitor, and got a table. Then he scrounged up a curtain (!) to use as a tablecloth! Thankfully, when I arrived from the room, this was all taken care of...I've been known to get a bit "upset".

We are now in Davenport, having setup the first outdoor booth of the year, in the Figge Art Museum plaza for the spring Beaux Arts Fair. We have a great spot, rained a bit at set up, but it looks good, but COLD, for the weekend.

The photo of the bronze bird pendant shows the PPP technique I learned in Tucson at the workshop with Patrik Kusek. I love it! I have found I need to darken the lines with an extra-fine felt tip marker to get the deeper textures.

The silver hollow form is a piece I've had for a few years, and could not come up with a finished design. The jet beads were picked up from Thomason Stone Supply in Tucson, so this is it's current form. The applied piece on top is a thorn from the very thorny trees found in the timber, with a few extra attachments

Next weekend starts the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market, where I will have a booth for the 8th year. I'll be setting up on the corner of Center street, facing the courthouse. Not my old spot, but close. Again the artists are being segregated from the farmers. Apparently, the farmers don't want us. It has always seemed to me to benefit everyone to be intermingled with a mixture of quality booths. I know most customers agree. I've had great years there, fun and profitable.

Later,

Martha

New Jools, and booth photos

These are recent pieces of silver and bronze jools that I offered at the Spring Bloom Art Fair last month. Yes, I did sell many of them! It turned out to be a pretty good show for me.

At first, I wasn't happy with my space as I'd asked for a corner, and paid extra for it. But what I got was a booth against a far wall, with no aisle...just a space between my booth and the next artist. So really, I felt cheated as there was just no chance of customer traffic going past the side of the booth, only the front. I assumed a corner booth would have traffic on two aisles. So I was not real pleased as I set up. I continue to feel "cheated" in that respect. But, sales were not too bad anyway.

Next is the Riverbank Art Fair in Iowa City, IA, on the campus of the U of I, during the spring festival, April 24 & 25. This will be the first of many outdoor shows for the season. April weather can be uncooperative, as has been proven in years past. I am actually hoping not to have a corner space in this instance, as 2 years ago, the poor Craft Hut took a beating from the winds constantly and furiously banging it around...thanks to the corner space! Thank God for the sturdiness and reliability of the booth design, we had no disasters. Others did...flimsy EZ-Up tents, natch.

2 weeks later, May 8 & 9, Mothers Day, I'll be setting up in Davenport, IA, in the Spring Beaux Art Fair, on the Figge Art museum plaza. This seems to be a good spot, but it's been a few years since we've been in the show, and this wasn't available then. Wind is a problem there also. I'm thinking this area will offer more protection. It isn't pleasant to be picking up tables and jewelry off the ground!!

Here's hoping that this summer ALL art fairs across the country enjoy great weather and great sales!!!

Tucson, AZ Gem Show and More

We stopped first at the Electric Park, the parking lot of the minor league baseball park. This holds huge number of everything from soup to nuts...all pertaining to making jewelry. Favorite vendors here include Blake Bros. Silver; Kent's Tools; Village Originals; and Bleily's Gems of Montana. These huge quartz crystals were like statues.

The Catalog in Motion sponsored by Rio Grande of Albuquerque, NM, hosts classes for beginners and experienced jewelers. I had signed up to take a class with Patrik Kusek of CA, a highly respected Metal Clay artisan. Needless to say, it was outstanding! I learned to make photopolymer plates to be used in texturing the silver and bronze clay. We experimented with the Vacuform machine...hugely impressive, and hugely expensive! Carving in an eraser, polymer clay textures, and other great resources were demonstrated. Patrik was very kind and an all-around great teacher. He kept us hopping! Above is a picture a necklace using the PPP texture we made in class!

Of course I discovered some gorgeous pearls and beads in amazing colors...as I come up with some designs, I will post some photos.

Arizona is an outstandingly beautiful state...from the high mountains to the desert floor, it's like no other place. We tend to gravitate to the southeastern section...real cowboy country. Love to hike the many trails and desert washes. Currently, the bestest place is on the eastern slopes of the Santa Rita Mountain range, coming in from around Sonoita. Trails and camping galore!

I've been accepted into the Spring Bloom Art Show and Sale in Bloomington being held Saturday, the 20th, at the Sale Barn. I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping for a great event in attendance and sales!

Later,

Martha