Labor Day Artist Tour Wrap up

 

My studio on Tour day

Last weekend was the Labor Day Tour of Artists Studios in Yakima. I hadn't posted here for over a month, in large part because I was getting ready for this. (Though we also took a 3 week vacation and I took a total break for the first time in years!)

sign for our tour

My home studio was on the Tour, along with 5 other sites. At my house, Monika Lemmon, Chris Otten, and Kayo Nakamura showed their work this year, too. All four of us have been teaching studio art classes at YVC this year, with Monika teaching drawing online and in Grandview, Chris teaching photography online and in Yakima, and Monika teaching drawing, painting, and printmaking in Yakima.

Drawings by Monika Lemmon

Monika showed her drawings and paintings and had some prints for sale. Chris showed his photography, and you can tell he's the photographer, because his is the only work display that wasn't photographed (he took pictures of everyones work and I took pictures of mine).

Installation detail by Kayo Nakamura

Kayo was new to the tour this year. She is a versitile mixed media artists and at the show she had prints and drawings as well as sculpture and installation. We also got to see some of her video projects. 

My bulbs on display (see if you can find Kayo's addition)

It was great fun having these 3 artists at my studio because we all get along very well and we got to hang out and get to know each other better. Though the tour was a bit less busy than last year at my studio, we did a lot of laughing during the down times.

my bulbs with a Kayo sculpture joining in 

As with the past two years of tour shows, my daughter and her friends (Dezignosaur) also showed their jewelry. The older girls are now in high school and the younger in middle school which changes their dynamic a bit. They started making jewelry during the pandemic when they didn't have much school, but they are a lot busier than they used to be now.

thrown jewelry bowl

This year I made a lot of new functional work, including some jewelry display pieces for Dezignosaur.

jewelry display vase

My "throwing prescription" had me on the wheel a lot this summer. By default, and when I'm not thinking very hard, I naturally throw bowls, so I had a lot of bowls on display and for sale this year. Honestly, I might have had too many, as it was hard to fit them on on my shelves.

new bowls for the tour

All this throwing, and the required glazing that must follow, also explains my absence from this blog this summer. As Chris put it, I have four jobs (teaching, ceramics, the union, and being a band mom), so some stuff doesn't get done.

rainbow mugs and bowl 

Besides lots of functional stuff, I've been throwing sculptural forms using the wheel this summer, too. 

thrown wall sculptures

The sculptural forms take a bit more time after throwing. I throw them, but then have to alter or combine the thrown forms. 

thrown and altered sculpture

I made several standing sculptures, as well as some wall pieces that I intend to display at the Larson Gallery for our faculy show in January 2024. However, I also threw some sculptures that are a little more interactivem, where the bulbs can be picked up and moved around.

thrown and altered sculpture

One of these sculptures sold at my show. When the buyer came back to purchase the sculpture, he asked if he could swap out some of the bulbs for others (I had three sculptures with moveable bulbs and a few extra bulbs on the table as well). 

...with some of the bulbs removed

Today is my last day of summer, as convocation starts tomorrow at YVC. I've got a very full fall, but I hope to still be able to finish more work before the January show. With that in mind, I better post this and get to work.

another moveable bulb sculpture

Yakima Herald Article about June Art Fest

There was a nice article this morning in the Yakima Herald about this weekend's June Art Fest.

Read all about it.

Local Graffiti

A short time ago I posted about graffiti and street art because I had just finished about book on the topic. Even more recently I have noticed more and more graffiti and other street art near our house and school. There are some newish pieces on the "Addiction" tattoo place. You can see them from Summitview Ave just before it connects with Yakima Ave. 

painting on the north side of Addiction

I first noticed the paint splatters when I was driving past. I think I noticed them because of the irregular shapes of the splatters on the white background and the color contrast of the greyscale with the bright flat red and blue. The whole piece looks very clean, an unusual descriptor for graffiti.

to the right of the paint splatter piece

A ways over, there is a glasses-wearing turtle in a doorway and around the corner, a woman's portrait. I like the portrait less than the paint splatters, but it is unusual to see this more realistic style of painting on the walls around here. I'm generally a fan of street art becoming more carefully crafted and more varied.

I think particularly the irises and the lips work well here.

Near the various medical facilities south of Yakima Regional Hospital there are several fish stickers on stop signs and other surfaces. My camera died before I got a picture, but there were several and I plan to get back there soon. The fish were pretty small, maybe 4 to 6 inches long and done on mailing labels. I've seen the mailing labels around for years, but the fish were more fun than what I have usually seen on the labels. They had cut out sections and the two or three I saw were each a little different.

winner!

Last week I walked back from YVCC via one particular road that doesn't have a sidewalk just to see the purple and green piece on the fence a few blocks east of the school. I found out this week that the piece was the winner in a graffiti battle. I didn't get a picture of the second place piece --I liked this one better. I think the color works well, the shapes are fun and I particularly like the cracking detail near the top. The piece caught my attention from a few blocks away and pulled me down the street to look. I found out about the competition from someone who lives near the battle scene and came home to see it in progress.