Roots Up Gallery - Savannah 2017

Roots Up Gallery is just a terrific place.  Up the stairs you go to enter a world of 'rootsy' art, outsider art and other oddling art - all in a lovely Savannah vintage building. Like visiting your favorite eccentric aunt. No auntie, but you'll be pleased to meet the charming Russell or Leslie Lovell, the owner.

I posted about Roots Up last year, when I was lucky enough to get a piece by Reverend Johnny Ace. My husband saw how taken I was with it and got it for me for my birthday. Woo hoo.

Everyday Scenes in Rock & Roll Heaven by Rev. Johnny Ace

This year I fell in love with the oddlings created by Lisa Ocampo, a Savannah artist. I loved this painting of this unique 'couple' and got myself a print of the lovely Wanda and Her Death Heads Moth. Was also excited to see some Howard Finster  - an iconoclast rootsy artist - pieces for sale and work of his grandson, Michael Finster.  

Lisa Ocampo

But most exciting was the mixed-media assemblage by Betty Nathan.  I was especially attracted by the fact that all the components within the piece were totally vintage, but it was not for sale.  I then learned Mz Betty had lived into her late 80's and Roots Up were working with her estate to begin valuing and sharing her work. I considered that because of her lengthy life, Mz Betty could actually have done this piece not with vintage items, but contemporary ones.  Join the Roots Up mailing list to be apprised of when Mz. Betty's work will be available.

Mixed-Media Assemblage by Betty Nathan @ Roots Up Gallery

So Roots Up is a favorite Savannah place.  And I'm totally sure Patsy Kline would appreciate Roots Up too.

Roots Up - Savannah

SCAD Art - Savannah 2017

SCAD - Savannah College of Art & Design - pops up all over town.  The SCAD Museum of Art showcases amazing contemporary art.  There is a wonderful courtyard/garden area that features this very cool installation of oversize plastic chairs and sofas, which I found caught my fancy.

Chairs SCAD Museum of Art Courtyard

Garden Party @ SCAD - Savannah

Sofa With Pink @ SCAD - Savannah

The SCAD shop on Bull Street - ShopSCAD - is another place where I like to wander.  It features student and other artists work and artsy fun things and jewelry, and offers an online store.  And being right down the street from our favorite coffee place, Gallery Espresso,  makes it a great place for frequent browsing.

I was quite taken by the huge painting in the window, The Guardian by Alea Hurst, a SCAD student, The painting features an Indonesian mask as the subject's head. I am all about altering heads in both my collage and assemblage - animal heads, appliance heads, musical instrument heads - so this really spoke to me.  Here's my little tip-o-the-hat to The Guardian.  More about Alea below.

Shop SCAD - homage to The Guardian by Alea Hurst

  See Alea Hurst's work at her website  aleahurst,com

Here's a great interview with Alea  at Common Creative about her work and  what drew her to masks.

Savannah! 2017

Savannah is such a favorite city of mine.  It's home to SCAD - Savannah College of Art & Design, and that adds such a vibrant element to the Historic & Midtown districts. In addition to art and creativity, SCAD is involved in preserving buildings, for the school use and more.  An eminently walkable town, it fills my cravings for the urban walk-about vibe,   

We're here longer than other times and that has opened up a lot of creative space for collage.  Like in Cedar Key, I am inspired by the sights I find in our wanderings and all these collages are based on my own photographs. Amplified and altered, of course.  I said to my husband that I'm a regional artist who goes to other regions.

Garden of Lambs - Savannah

Eat Pie - Savannah

I couldn't help but have my own response to the Ascension Parking Only sign.  These vintage characters were perfect for the mood,

Ascension - Savannah

Bradley's Lock & Key was founded in 1893 and is still fixing, unlocking, re-keying and so on. Peering through the windows, the place is chock full of vintage things of all kinds. Bradley's also has a ghost past.  Savannah supposedly is the most haunted city. I loved the sign.

We Fix Anything But A Broken Heart - Savannah

You can check out previous years' Savannah posts by entering Savannah in the blog search box.

You go girls! Saturday January 21, 2017

More Cedar Key 2017

Cedar Key is an artsy town. Two galleries, funky colors everywhere, signage, art-ed walls on homes and businesses and lots of found-object gardens. Yes!!

This 'gallery' is a mystery.  An old, unused building right downtown on 2nd Street, which is the main street.  Last year I noticed a few found object sculptures nailed to the wall. This year more, including a painting.  So far I apparently haven't asked the right person, as I have not found out who the artist/s are.

      

The Dollar General store is a big deal here. 12 miles out of town on Route 24 on the 'mainland' it is the biggest store nearby.  There is the very neat and a bit pricey Market At Cedar Key right in town and a 7-11 type liquor store as well.  But for 'stuff' off to the Dollar General.  I found the donut mug featured in this collage there, A true 'gotta have it' item and for only a buck, why not indulge?

Dollar General Route 24

I love the look of the Blue Desert Cafe, but have yet to eat here.  It's a tiny place. Reviews say the food is good but everything takes a really long time. Those in the know bring a bottle of wine and are happy to hang out.

Blue Desert Cafe - Cedar Key

 

Cedar Key 2017 - my 'Old Florida' retreat

Cedar Key is a wonderful little town. an island at the end of Route 24 on the Gulf Coast, an area sometimes called the Nature Coast or the Forgotten Coast. We've made it part of our winter retreat for years now. 

Cedar Key is in Central Florida and the nearest city is Gainesville, an hour or so away.  We always make a day trip to Gainesville to the wonderful Harn Museum of Art, with a stop at the Gainesville Artisans Guild gallery, but mostly our time in Cedar Key is being off the grid by the Gulf and walking around town, which boasts two art galleries - The Island Arts Gallery and  Cedar Key Arts Center and a half dozen restaurants, our favorite hang-out is Steamers. 

The "Old Florida' architecture. colorful, vintage with a dash of funky and a smidge of chaos, always inspires me. And being 'off the grid' of doing, creates a wide open space for collage.

Breakfast Lunch - Cedar Key

Snake Plant Cottage - Cedar Key

Carts and Truck - Cedar Key

Live Oak Cottage - Cedar Key

The collages use my own photographs, amplified and altered and many of the elements are also from my photographs, extracted and 'amped', others are found images. The octopi are not from my own photographs - lol, but I do like to use octopi - they're always unexpected.

You can see past posts from Cedar Key by just entering Cedar Key in the blog search box.

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Merry Merry Happy Happy

Holiday time has ups and downs.  But still time for a bit of fun.

I was inspired by my Red Retro Collage to make a Retro Christmas.  It has retro touches, the ceramic christmas tree so popular back in the day, a Slinky and of course, the forever 'retro', fruitcake.

Red Retro Christmas

I love to do custom cards for friends, but a friend suggested I do some cards for our gallery.  So this year I did a series of Joy cards. Here's a few.  Enjoy!

Joy

More Joy

Cats Joy

Stars Joy

And thinking of my SVAC Art Gals.  You know who you are.

Wishing you all, all good things in all ways.  

All Hallows Eve, Art and Fashion

Halloween always asks for a collage or an oooky pooky assemblage.  But this year, inspired by Frida Kahlo, I'm in an All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day mood, thinking of those who have passed. But yeah, with a bit of the oooky pooky too. Thanks to Mischief Circus for some inspiring images.

All Hollows Eve

Got a lovely respite in Ashville, NC thanks to dearhearts Liz and Morris.  We went  a bit out of town to Hendersonville, NC and came across Art on 4th. There a many places to get 'gift-ie' art in Hendersonville,  but Art on 4th is truly a gallery.  Wonderful stuff, great people and you've got to love their motto 'Where love at first sight, happens all the time.' 

To top it all off, they even made a great lunch recommendation and we had a fine Shepherd's Pie at Hannah Flannigans Pub.

Art On 4th - Hendersonville, NC

The background image in Fashionistas was found in the trash and happily passed along to me by the wonder-full Mimi.  She knows what makes me happy. Just needed a little amping, of course.  And the original image didn't have animals heads on the lovely high-fashion models - you knew that! - but they were certainly called for.  And pink cake!  Necessary. Totally.

Fashionistas

Jerk Taco and Gators!

Life can just come and take you in another direction and it has.  I see it's been months since I've posted and really, if it weren't for birthdays and the chance to create a collage card, I've had little emotional and actual space and energy for art.  Yay for birthdays!

But my sister is coming along well, the intense time of setting up how to manage things is beyond the crunch time and space is opening for art.

My old friend JP Folly posted a wonderful photo of the Jerk Taco Man in Chicago and it just caught my eye.  I've done my usual 'amping' of the original photo and added the elements that called to me. Would love one day to actually have Jerk Chicken right there.

Jerk Taco Man collage

And while zooming around on the net, I found a great old-school postcard of a favorite place of mine, the Mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida.  I've used images of Weeki Wachee before and I have actually been there for the Mermaid show.  I'm sure Weeki Wachee imagery will still call to me.

Weeki Wachee Gator Girls collage

While noodling along it my own files, I found this fun collage I've never posted.  It was inspired by a FaceBook post of a friend and I've set in in her home town of Staunton, Va.   pronounced 'stan ton' by the way.  Now you're in the know.

Staunton Girls collage

What would you think about if you weren't worrying?

As I shared in my last post, it has been a stressful time with my sister's hospitalization.  But I am so happy to report that she is finally at home and recovering well.  There will be some more out-patient therapy and other medical tweaks but she seems on the way to a full recovery. Yay!

On the way to her recovery I've had to work on handling stress.  The query 'What would you think about if you weren't worrying?' popped into my head one day and it seemed a perfect question indeed.  So I made a quote collage to remind me of it.  Less worrying freed up some collageability!

The wonderful oddling figures are dolls that I came across in someone's blog.  They were unattributed but good old Google image-search  discovered the source.  You can see more work from dollmaker Kateryna Kalinina.  

What Would You Think About If you Weren't Worrying? collage

The figures here, while contemporary, seemed just right for a retro setting.  Wonder Bread and Pie A'la Mode seemed good comrades for this scene. And what can be seen just out the window?  Google image-search revealed the people are custom-designed paper dolls!  You can be captured in paper-dollness your very self by checking out Jordan Grace Owens' Etsy shop.

Red Retro Dining collage

I came across this super 'It's not you, it's me' image and loved it's great retro feel and tough-girl message.  Google image-search let's us know that you can have this design, 'Breaking Up Is Hard to Do' by Leon Ryan as a t-shirt at Threadless.com.  Cool beans.

It's Not You, It's Me collage

An Outback Steakhouse commercial prompted a conversation that reminded me when I was young my best pal Janis and I used to frequent Tad's Steakhouse in Philadelphia after work on a Friday night.  It was a big treat.  The place was kind of cafeteria-style and you got a steak, a baked potato wrapped in foil and a salad in those retro wood bowls..  I found some photos of the Tad's Steakhouse and with a little altering and combining came up with this version.  The $1.29 price was true!  This was a long time ago.

Friday Night At Tad's Steakhouse collage