June

        Mid June brings the annual Boardwalk Show in Virginia Beach.  Usually this is a weather show.  Too hot, too rainy, too windy……  but not this year.  Great weather on the beach.  Went to dinner with an old friend from Missouri, Steve Ayers.  Got to gossip about everyone I used to know before I came east.

July

        Did the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in State College, Pa.  What a beautiful area.  This show is laid out in a sort of square pattern with one loop on the Penn State campus and the other loop through the town.  My booth was on campus and under some wonderful huge old Elm trees.  Had some great people on our block and spent much time socializing.

   Our block on Penn State campus.

        On the way home, took the back roads and visited Antietam Civil War battlefield and just a little further south, Harper’s Ferry. 

   Antietam Battlefield                  Burnside Bridge                Harper's Ferry railroad bridge, Maryland Heights in background

News Flash......

One of my "Gator Gal" pieces will be featured in Art Doll Quarterly magazine's Autumn edition.  The magazine should be on the newsstand soon.

Here is a reproduction of one of their pages.  The original looks much better, get your copy and check it out.

   Gator Gal as seen in Art Doll Quarterly

September

    The weather was lovely for a change for Centerfest.  It was a near perfect fall weekend.  Because of construction in downtown Durham, the show was held in a nicely landscaped parking lot just north of its original location.  There was plenty of room for artists and patrons alike and the organizers did a great job of putting the show together.  The area surrounding the show is becoming an arts center.  There is a metal pouring facility, a couple of clay studios, galleries, a nice park, and the Scrap Exchange.  This is a non-profit organization that sells various and sundry materials donated from area businesses.  You never know what you’ll find there – foam tubes, glass laboratory equipment, fabrics, plastic springs, wood scraps.  I picked up a wonderful rusty metal furnace grate!  The Scrap Exchange has expanded over the years and now has a classroom and gallery.  What a fascinating place for creative people.

    Centerfest in its 33^rd year, as usual had great entertainment.  Wonderful local groups with a wide variety of styles – everything from jazz to folk and even polka.  The festival is worth attending simply to see the art.  Throw in the fabulous entertainment and a host of children’s activities and you’ve got a great way to spend an autumn weekend.  You should plan to attend next year.

  This is Lucy Sumner and the Second Third group.  We've heard her before and she is one

  of the best blues singers in the area.   All of the entertainment was excellent.

    Oh, by the way.  We continued our tradition of meeting celebrities.  In Mt. Dora, Blake got to speak with Maud Adams of James Bond fame. In Atlanta, I talked to Xavier Roberts, the creator of Cabbage Patch dolls.  Then Saturday afternoon in Durham, Dee Wallace who was in ET and Cujo among many other movies came by my booth and talked for awhile.  She was appearing at the Femme Fatale Film Series sponsored by the Carolina Theatre of Durham.  Attention famous people… check out our November schedule and drop by for a visit.  My booth is the “in” place to be.

  My thanks to the Centerfest Show for

  presenting me with an award for "Best of Show".         

November

    The first week in November, went to the lovely city of Savannah for the Telfair Museum show.  Although it was unseasonably cold for this time of year, we were quite comfortable in the large tents provided by the show organizers.  There were 100 artists under the six big tops and plenty of visitors all three days.  On opening evening Friday, the sponsors threw a wonderful party for the artists and special patrons.  There were a lot of hors d’oeuvres and libations and nice people passing through the tents.

    The next weekend after Savannah, I did the Disney Festival of Masters show in Orlando.  To even be considered for this show an artist has to have won an award at another major art show.  Needless to say, the quality of art from the 200 artists was very high.  All the artists' booths were set up in Downtown Disney.

    Disney certainly treats the artists very well.  For load in and out, there were carts large enough to hold about three times what my dolly holds and Disney cast members help you as much as possible.  They also provided lunch every day and water whenever you needed it.  As an added bonus, we got two complimentary tickets to Disney World and to Pleasure Island.  If you’re familiar with Downtown Disney you may recognize where we were located from the picture below.  I was flattered to win 3^rd place in sculpture and got my picture taken with Mickey Mouse, thus fulfilling a lifelong dream.  (he’s actually shorter in person)

   We were right beside the House of Blues             Beautiful sunset Friday evening             Finally got to meet Mickey Mouse

    Third weekend in a row doing shows.  Am I crazy?  I did the Richmond Craft and Design show for the first time.  There was a lot of interesting work there.  Too much I guess, since we ended up buying quite a bit of it.  We also met a lot of nice people.  The show was held in the sprawling convention center, but the room layout afforded us the opportunity to visit with artists new to us and with artists that I've known for awhile.  The organizers treated us well, including hosting a wonderful artist dinner on Saturday night.  Everything was prepared by volunteers and it was outstanding.  The dinner was held in the Art Center on Main Street and we got to tour this great resource for Richmond artists.

    My thanks to the show for the first place award in Clay.  You can see the surprised look on my face and this was an hour later.

   I can't believe it! 

Miscellaneous notes

    From Savannah.  A customer told this story.  She's a graphics designer and thinks this does not bode well for her career field.  She was walking through the event tents and as she went in front of a young girl about seven years old, the girl took a photo with a digital camera.  She apologized to the youngster for getting in her way.  The little girl said, "No problem.  I'll just Photoshop you out!" 

    For those of us who struggle to keep up with the changing technology, it's unnerving to see kids who almost instinctively pick up the latest trends.

    From Orlando.  Blake spent a lot of time walking around Downtown Disney, taking photos, people watching, and staring at the lake full of bass.  One thing he noticed was that even people on vacation seem to be attached to their cell phones instead of enjoying their surroundings.  As he walked by a lady sitting on a bench, he heard this one-sided snippet of conversation that he guessed she was having with one of her offspring.

    "You set it on fire?"

            (pause)

    "You're not supposed to do that."

            (pause)

    "How much damage did it do?"

            (pause)

    "You burned the dock?"

    Blake said he so wanted to go back, sit down beside her, and hear the rest of that conversation.

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