St Johns + Art

Our homeschool group had the pleasure of a guided tour of the St Johns + Art exhibition by its organizer today. It was a lovely, foggy autumn day, the kind that makes the changing leaves pop as if the trees had all been wired for electricity. Forty different storefronts had art pieces ranging from embroidery to ceramics--so much to look at but sadly very little photographed well through glass so I'm mostly just sharing images from our walk. If you're in Portland you should get on up to St Johns right away as this is the last week of the exhibit.

My Tiniest Artist

The Princess recently got involved in an artist trading card swap for kids through the Wise Craft blog. She'll be sending out six of her lovely creations and hopefully getting the same number in return from kids as far away as Australia. I love the cards she made. Note the awesome sailboat noses on the portraits! And clearly she's got her mama's love of shiny things and collage.

And in other artist offspring news, it seems The Dark Lord has been asked to contribute something to regional show for high school artists later this year.

Iron Artist

I'm not sure why, but I've been in a bit of a slump and feeling like there's nothing new to write, no new photos to take, nothing new to make. Some attitude especially in the middle of a three week break!
I got a bright jolt of color today which might turn things around. The boys were asked to join a friend's team for the Iron Artist competition. The money raised benefits SCRAP which, like the swifts, is one of those uniquely quirky Portland institutions. Each team was given a box of materials and three hours in which to design and build a one-of-a-kind sculpture. Judges offered feedback, handed out demerits, and happily took bribes. It was a wildly colorful day of costumes, music, art, and particularly rich people watching. My camera was in constant use. We all had a fine time and are already looking forward to next year. Big thanks to Babs for inviting us.

from 5 to 6

Such a big jump, isn't it? From 4 to 5 seemed big, but not nearly as big. Five is a big little girl but 6 is a little big girl and that's a whole different thing in my opinion. I went through a year's worth of photos and enjoyed seeing the changes. A big girl, indeed.

Such a big girl that she understands we need to re-schedule celebrations because of a bar mitzvah and a friend's birthday party on her actual day. A day early there was art-making with a small group of friends, and a day after we head to the beach to celebrate with family.

And....opening just in time for this milestone we have a collage installation in our dining nook. She carefully looked through all her collages and chose a few to display, including a number of 3-D pieces which are hanging from the ceiling. It looks remarkably festive. If anyone wants to check out the art of a just turned 6 year old, do stop by.

New Paintings

Last month The Spouse and I happened upon a wonderful show of paintings at a coffeehouse in SE Portland. Ryan Dobrowski was showing 300 (!) 5.5" square paintings which were simply delightful: birds, bicycles, plants, and much more. We bought two of these tiny pieces of art--it was very hard to choose just 2--and waited all month for the show to come down. I picked up the paintings today and can't wait to get them up on the walls.

Tonight we'll be going to an opening at The Portland Art Center where my dear friend Laura has work in a group show entitled THE OTHER PORTLAND Art & Ecology in the 5th Quadrant. I find it odd that a show whose theme is North Portland is showing downtown, but no one ever asks my opinion.