"Flight" Exhibition - Good News

The exhibit at Covingto Arts looked wonderful; curator Saad Ghosn did a great job with placing the work and with the transitions from one artist to another.  The opening reception was well attended, with lots of interesting people to talk to...

Work by Jan Nickum, one of the other artists in the exhibit...

Work by Marsha Karagheusian...

Some of mine...





Unfortunately, the lighting was such that I was unable to get many decent photos of the show. The good news, however, is that two of my pieces sold at the opening!

Lost I - SOLD

Theory of Flight - SOLD

If you're interested in learning more about the exhibit, go here to read an excellent article about it written by Karen S. Chambers for aeqai magazine. It gives good insights into the work of each artist, and some better photos.
Have a great week, everyone!

Odds and Ends

Just a few "catch-ups" on things that I couldn't post when my computer was having its meltdown...


The Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen sponsored a one-day seminar with Arizona gallery owner Jason Horejs, which I attended a couple of months ago.  Jason is the owner and director of Xanadu Gallery in  Scottsdale, AZ, and the author of Starving to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries and Selling More Art.  This was the subject of the seminar, and each participant received a copy of the book as well as a CD containing the art business-organizing software Art Tracker.

 The seminar was well organized and packed with valuable information, and Jason is an entertaining speaker.  It was enlightening to hear about this subject from a gallery owner's viewpoint.  I don't know about you, but it doesn't seem to me that a lot of gallery owners are very forthcoming with practical advice concerning how an artist should approach them for representation.  Of course, the seminars, books, software, etc., are profitable ventures for him, beyond just sales from the gallery.  And if he is an able entrepreneur, then who better to go to for business advise? And no, I'm not being paid to advertise for Xanadu Gallery, I'm just passing this along in case you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these seminars.

Other than his information about how to get your work into a gallery, there were a couple of things Jason said that stood out in my mind.  They both have to do with treating your art career as a real job, not just a hobby.  He commented on the fact that many artists' families don't see it this way; they feel free to stroll into your studio at any time, interrupting you, asking for your help with something they're doing, or whatever.  Boy, did this ever resonate with everyone!  Apparently it's a common and widespread phenomenon- and I thought it was just me.  I could feel a long group therapy session in the making here.

The second piece of advice concerned the utter necessity of getting distractions out of your studio.  I'm paraphrasing here, but I believe his words were something like, "... and by distractions, I can sum them all up in one word- the computer."   He stressed the importance of not letting the flow of your work be derailed by emails, or by all the tantalizing eye candy on the internet. I know how easy it is for me to start out saying I'm only going to look up this one thing, only to have it turn into an hour-long click-fest. He told us that he designated one hour at the end of the day for answering emails- and I'm pretty sure he gets a lot more email than I do. (However, it's Saturday morning as I sit here typing this... which doesn't negate the fact that I totally agree with him on this point.)



As promised, here are some photos from the recent opening of the "Figuratively Speaking" exhibit, a three-person show of figurative work by Jan Boone, Suzanne Fisher, and me.  The gallery is in the offices of the Global Novations consulting firm in Cincinnati (Sharonville), OH.  Curator Steven Clark did a great job of pulling the pieces together and arranging them to best advantage.  The work of the artists played off of one another well, creating an interesting juxtaposition of styles and media within a common theme.  I didn't take many photos, probably because it was the night before the last day of school, and my brain was fried mush.  I didn't even get a photo of Jan, for which I have to apologize.

  Steven Clark and Suzanne Fisher

pieces by S. Davidson, Jan Boone, S. Davidson

Suzanne Fisher

 S. Davidson, Suzanne Fisher(2)

Jan Boone, Sharmon Davidson

Steven chatting with guests

And last but not least, my most important news is that I finally got a new computer.  As a Mother's Day/ birthday gift, my kids chipped in to help me buy it, we ordered the parts, and this past weekend my son came in from Virginia to build it for me...

... and voila! I'm using it right now.

Three Person Exhibition "Figuratively Speaking"

My work is part of a three-person show in Sharonville (a suburb of Cincinnati), Ohio, along with the wonderful art of Suzanne Fisher and Jan Boone.  It's called "Figuratively Speaking", because the pieces by all three artists depict the human figure, albeit in very different styles and media. For some reason, my work is not pictured on the invitation.  It's kind of strange- I don't really know how to interpret that.

Anyway, I'll be at the opening reception on Thursday evening, and you're all invited. Hope to see you there!

What's Going On

You may think I've fallen off the edge of the earth, but no, I haven't. I haven't been able to post, because my already ancient and ailing computer got very sick- it was infected with well over 300 viruses. So, long story short, it survived, but I now have no software. No Microsoft Office, and even worse, no Photoshop. I cannot scan anything, even though my scanner works, because there is no program to receive the scan, and I can't edit photos to make them a reasonable, internet-acceptable size.

The good news is that I will be getting a brand new computer in about a month. In the meantime, I wanted to update you on a couple of things. I have 2 pieces in this exhibit at the Living Arts and Science Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

I've always felt that animals are special, that they have a sort of ageless, wordless wisdom that humans, with all our sophistication, have lost. That's why I began writing my mythic folk tale about Raven and Crane, and why I found the theme of this exhibit so intriguing.

The Living Arts and Science Center is intriguing, too, both because of the historic building it's housed in, and because of the variety of creative and educational opportunities they offer the community.

According to their website, LASC "...annually presents more than 400 art classes and workshops for children 18 months-old to adults, 6 – 8 art exhibits, participatory field trips for over 6000 students, monthly Discovery Night programs, community arts projects, numerous free and low-cost family events, and on-going free art classes for thousands of at-risk, special needs and underserved children, teens and adults." It is a very cool place, so please visit if you get a chance.

Other news and observations:

I don't know how to make the links work in this new interface, so I apologize if they don't. I don't know what "Add mime type" or "MIME type is invalid " mean. Hopefully I catch on soon, so please bear with me.

I've started to make the rounds to some of your blogs again, and am having so much fun catching up on what all of you are doing. I will continue to do this, and look forward to visiting everyone.

I'm thinking that I can email my photos (the ones already on my computer) to my son; then he can edit them, and email them back to me so I can put them into posts. Should work, right? So, expect another post very soon.

Of course, I can't download any new photos from my camera, so I guess you'll have to wait to see what I'm working on now. Unless I figure something else out, which is possible. Anything's possible, right?

I Did It! (thanks to Eleanor)

This short quote has become my mantra:
You must do the thing you think you cannot do.  –Eleanor Roosevelt

You see, I've been a big chicken for a long, long time.  I made some unfortunate decisions, and the consequences left me nearly unable to make any decision whatsoever.  You could say that self confidence has not been my strong suit.  I've been working on it, though.  Whenever I begin thinking, "That's just too hard", or "I don't have the time or energy to do that", or, "I'm not good/strong/smart/whatever enough to...", I make myself repeat, over and over:

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." ...etc. ....

I applied for an exhibit at the Artspace Gallery in Richmond, Virginia, and to my surprise, I was notified that the jury had decided to offer me a show!  I was in shock; what had happened to the usual rejection letter?  Now what do I do?
The usual doubts flooded in.  How could I do this by myself?  Would I be able to drive so far alone?  Could I afford the trip?  How would I get everything done while working full time?  Would I be able to hang it by myself?  Could I take off work that long?  There were a thousand reasons it might not work out.  Maybe I should turn it down, I thought.  It seemed like, well- the safest thing to do.

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."  I don't remember where I first read them (probably on someone's blog), but I do remember the feeling of recognition, of knowing deep in my bones that those words were true.  How many times had I told my students the same thing- that self esteem comes only from accomplishing something difficult, that no growth comes from taking the easy way out?  So, I signed the contract, and did what I had to do.  Whenever I felt like chickening out, I repeated those words.

And here's what happened as a result.

 My husband was able to go with me, and we got the show hung on time, with no major problems.

The gallery was in an old warehouse, which also housed several other galleries that had openings the same night.  It was a nice space.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the opening was well attended.

Everything went pretty smoothly, and we had a great time!

In other words,

I did it!

That Eleanor, she really knew what she was talking about.