Ardens Artists Studio Tour

I will be participating in the 4th Annual Ardens Artists Studio Tour in December.
The tour will be launched on Friday, December 7, as part of Wilmington’s Art on the Town. Visitors are encouraged to join the participating artists for a reception Friday December 7th 6-9 pm at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden.

Visitors to Arden undoubtedly notice that no two houses look alike. Maybe that’s why artists are so attracted to it. Since the founding of Arden in 1900 by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect William Price, this unique community has been a haven for visual artists, crafts people, musicians and actors. The three Ardens, consisting of Arden, Ardentown and Ardencroft, are Single Tax as well as Arts & Crafts communities. The Single Tax is an economic theory proposed by Henry George, an American economist and philosopher in the late nineteenth-century. George felt that a land value tax was the most fair and equitable tax and that any income tax was unfair by nature. The Ardens also were founded on the ideals of William Morris, as an Arts and Crafts community. The Arts & Crafts movement was a reaction against the industrial revolution and valued handcrafted goods and the incorporation of individualistic design.

The Arden Craft Shop Museum supports this idea today and hosts Afternoon with the Artist: One Sunday every month, a local artist displays their work.

The Annual Ardens Artists Studio Tour is the only opportunity to meet and see the artists in their studios, where they create their work. 20 plus artists are participating in this year’s tour, although not all are opening their studios. A group show will be mounted at the Buzz Ware Village Center; maps can be picked up at all locations for the self-guided tour. Lots of work will be for sale and you’ll have the opportunity to learn what went into the making of the work. 100% of the artist's sales benefit the artist. Shop locally for unique holiday gifts and support the arts.

In the Water, acrylic and oil on paper, 9 x 12 inches

This is the piece I will have in the art raffle. Each artist has donated a piece of art for a raffle. All proceeds will be used to finance future art events showcasing the talents of the many artists who live, work, and thrive in our villages. Tickets may be purchased at the Buzz Ware Village Center as well as all participating studios throughout the weekend. The prize drawing will be Sunday afternoon, December 9, at 5 p.m. Winners will be contacted by the artists.
“There is a resurgence of the visual arts in Arden as we artists become more aware of each other. The history of Arden as an artist colony is perhaps the reason that our residents and artists alike have been drawn here to live and work. It's as if the town itself and all of its creative activities have bred a mystical place in which to nurture creativity. Just as our own art that we produce could probably be made anywhere, it’s the acceptance and interest of what we do by the community at large and the contacts that we have with our own community of artists which really allows us to more freely be creative in our own private utopia.” said David Burslem.
Burslem grew up in Arden and cites among his influences well known Arden artists: Aurelius Renzetti, Bunni Hurlong and Ash and Mary Burslem.

“When I moved to Arden 19 years ago from Center City Philadelphia I wondered if I would fit in,” I found that my new surroundings influenced a return to nature themed work and I found myself stopping in on friends in their studios regularly something that never happened in the city.

“I love working in the "village" and being surrounded by so many artists and talented people. I walk into my studio and immediately get lost and totally absorbed in designing and making my jewelry.” said Joy Davis. Davis has shared a sun-drenched studio in Ardentown with Dolores Pye Josey since 1993.

“I don’t know if it’s because I feel so at home here or what, the shoots I do in Arden always turn out great.” photographer Joe del Tufo said.

Meet the Artists Reception
Buzz Ware Village Center
2119 The Highway, Arden, DE



Participating artists: Alan Burslem - Ceramics,

David Burslem – Sculptural Paintings

Kim Brainard Celis - Watercolor Paintings,

Linda Celestian – Paintings and Fiber Sculptures

Joy Davis – “Art to Wear” Jewelry

Joe delTufo - Photography

Pamela Dennis – Fiber Arts

Tom Dulin – Oil Paintings

Phil Fisher – Sculpture and Art Collection

Dolores Pye Josey – Ceramics and Paintings

Dick Lebeis – SilverWear Jewelry

Rhys McClure – Paintings and Drawings

Russ McKinney – Copper Embossings

Ashley Messatzzia - Photography

Eleanore Morrow – Paintings and Silk Scarves

Mary Mosaic – Jewelry and Clothing

Erica Orr – Ink and Watercolor

Jeanne Orr - Paintings

Marge Roberts - Paintings

Jen Saemann – Acrylic and Watercolor Paintings

Dotty Verne - Paintings

Arden Fair, Art Show

Arden, Delaware is a special place to live. Once a year the center of the village is transformed by many volunteers into a Fair grounds for the Arden Fair and Antiques Market held the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend. The Fair features children’s games and rides, handmade crafts by over 100 vendors, an Antiques Market, used books, plants, live music in the Shady Grove, food and drink, an art exhibit, and more. Proceeds from the Fair help maintain the Arden Gild Hall, where the public can enjoy concerts, musicals, plays, dances, suppers, and programs throughout the year.

The role I play is curation of the Art Show in the Backstage Gallery of the Gild Hall. It is always someone who lives in Arden, Adentown or Ardencroft,and often it is one featured artist. This year I sent out a call for entries to all women artists. The gallery which is used as a green room for Shakespeare productions and musical performers throughout the year, needed to be painted, thanks Shari Phalan for helping! Then Barbara Henry and I installed 37 pieces of artwork that coincidentally was the exactly right amount of artwork for the space. The mediums and techniques ran the gamut and included metal piercing, quilting, traditional rug hooking, oil painting, watercolor painting, nuno felting, shibori dying, restoration of leather chaps, pastel drawing, colored pencil drawing and ceramic and metal sculpting. Women Artists of the Ardens are a group of pretty talented individuals. But I have to give one shout out to a man. Alton Dahl does the machine stitching on Bev's beautiful quilts and he installed the ceiling lights Friday morning that made the show the success it was. Without him I don't know how anyone would have seen anything. The feedback was great and many stories were shared in typical Arden fashion. Thanks to everyone that participated. My photos aren't great. Sorry, Rhys I didn't get your work in the pictures and Shari, sorry your's is cropped.

Participating Artists:

Beverley Barnett, quilting,
Naomi Clark, metal piercing,
Hunter Clarke, painting,
Linda Celestian, painting and silk sculpture,
Ellen Dolmetsch, traditional hooked rugs,
Barbara Henry, nuno felted wearables,
Bunni Hurlong, pastel drawing,
Judith Kay, photography,
Rhys McClure, colored pencil,
Eleanore Morrow, oil painting,
Betty O’Regan, hand-made paper and collage,
Jeanne Orr, watercolor,
Erica Orr, pen and watercolor,
Linda Parks, ceramic and metal sculpture,
Shari Phalan, restoration of leather chaps and wreath,
Toby Ridings, cyanotypes,
Marjorie Roberts, oil painting,
Jeanne Stigler, oil painting and appliqued quilt,
Dorothy Verne, oil painting.

Nature Photography

Some photos taken recently on my walks through Arden.

My Opening in Arden

Thanks to everyone that made it out to my opening at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden this past Friday evening. It was nice to see so many neighbors and friends and meet some new people as well. It was a great turnout and I received really nice comments about the work. Here's how it looked minus one corner I didn't get a picture of.

I know it's not quite the same as seeing it in person.

My next show is in Wilmington at the Carvel State Office Building at 820 N. French Street in the Delaware Division of the Arts, Mezzanine Gallery for the month of July. The opening is July 8th, 5-8 p m. This is the second Friday due to the 4th of July weekend.

Marbleized Paper

I love marbleized paper but never really had much luck when I tried to make it in the past. I recently stumbled across the directions in a book for children's crafts so I thought I'd give it another try. The directions said to thin oil paint down with paint thinner and drip a few drops of a couple colors in the water, drag a toothpick though it to make designs and carefully lay the paper down to pick up the paint. Sounded easy so I played with it a bit in my studio. At first I had the paint too thin the directions said the consistency of cream so eventually I got it right. I wore gloves to lift the paper up after it touched the paint floating on the water. The results were beautiful. I let them dry and then brought them home but noticed they smelled strongly of oil paint and thinner even though I used Turpenoid instead of regular paint thinner.

Then my assistant Jeanne gave me a kit with supplies that were non toxic and water based. That prompted me to do an internet search and I learned about a method that uses liquid starch and watered down acrylic paint. Beautiful! I couldn't wait to try it. It worked really well once I got the paint to the right consistency. Now the kids could pull the paper up by themselves without having to worry if they got it on their hands and it smelled great, like fresh laundry.

Here's Shannon showing us the beautiful results. The kids loved it. I read that you should wash the starch off so we passed the prints though a tray of water after letting them dry a bit. I also just read that a 1/2 teaspoon alum mixed into 2 cups of starch helps the paint to adhere to the paper. I'll try that next time.

Sidney's using some tools from the kit to make patterns in the paint.

I started with a color story for each tray like red, yellow, orange in one tray and blue, green and purple in another tray.

This is April experimenting with all the colors.
I was worried that the starch would become too saturated with paint to be used but some of the paint sunk to the bottom and I freshened up the top with a bit more starch as needed. We were able to keep the same trays going for 3 hours.

ACRA

ACRA stands for Arden Community Recreation Association. This association was founded in 1948, and provides recreational, educational and social activities throughout the year to residents of the three Ardens. The summer program is free to children 3 years old though entering 8th grade. The summer program, which runs Monday through Friday from 9:30 to 12:30, provides sports activities, a game room, outdoor free play, art and music, field trips and many visiting artists from the community as well. Freedom of choice reigns at ACRA and children are allowed to go from activity to activity as their free spirits move them.

In the art room we provide fun art experiences daily. One experience I wasn't expecting this week was when I went to the shed to get supplies I was stung not once but twice by a very angry wasp. I apparently disturbed a nest above the door of the shed and the irate insect stung my finger and then on second pass dove right into my face and stung my eyelid. Ouch, is not all I yelled, believe me. So everyone on staff helped me set up the art room for junk art day as I barked orders while holding an ice pack on my eye. The kids didn’t seem to notice that anything was amiss as they plowed past me to get first dibs on the best junk and be first in line to use the hot glue guns. I was stung on Thursday but my finger and eye didn’t really swell until 2 days later. I’m having trouble typing this with one explosively fat finger and one eye swollen almost shut!

I love these junk people the kids made.

They make me smile and remind me why I like being the art director at ACRA. My job is to put out supplies, make suggestions, be ready to assist as needed and know when to step back as their creativity revs up to warp speed and takes off. I often forget to take pictures as I mentioned last post but here are some of the kids working on their papier mache projects last week.

Shannon and April

Phoenix, Madi, and Shane

Maddie and Riley

Remember the Ice

I'm in my second week working as the art director at Arden Community Recreation Association, Summer Program here in Arden. Last week we made spin art, dot art, our own art journals and printed leaves on fabric to make into pillows. Wow, and today we started papier mache. I will post pictures soon. I guess after I take some. I usually don't have a break in the art making frenzy to take any photos. At one point today I had to count how many kids were in the room and it was close to twenty. They're hard to count because they move, kind of like the fish in my pond. I came home exhausted today and took a long nap. It's only Monday, God help me!

Since it's been brutally hot lately I thought I'd take a moment to remember the cold winter storm, which I personally loved and thought was beautiful. While I was busy preparing the diptych and sculpture that comprised my June show I also painted 3 smaller canvases. These are 24 x 24 inches and were started on a black acrylic ground. The inspiration was icicles on shale walls that I always see along the highway to Syracuse, NY and some ice I photographed during our winter storm.

Rocky Shore, oil on canvas

Shale and Ice, oil on canvas

Layers, oil on canvas

Meagan Mika, an intern at the DCCA this summer has started a blog about the DCCA. She interviewed me a few weeks back. She wrote a really thoughtful post about my show and other work she saw in my studio, thanks Meagan. She happened to mention these canvases, in particular the one with rust in the composition that I titled, Shale and Ice. She stated that it was quite possibly her favorite piece.

Artist's Inspiration

If you asked 10 different artists where they get their inspiration from you'd probably get 10 different answers. I believe that artists are always being inspired by their surroundings either consciously or unconsciously. People usually choose to live in a surrounding that they find interesting or exciting in some capacity. City people like the vibrant social and cultural stimulation that is readily available in a city. Country folk like natural landscape, animals and the sky for instance.
I didn't paint nature until I moved to Arden, DE. When I moved here from center city Philadelphia it was like coming home. I grew up in a rural area and spent hours walking or just daydreaming in and around fields, lakes and rivers. Summers were spent literally living on our family boat. What a great way to grow up. My inspiration is nature and it never ceases to amaze me and stop me in my tracks. I'm really inspired by seasons in nature, the way a familiar landscape is always changing. I like the way you can see more of the sky in the winter and the way the bare branches look against the sky. Just in the past few weeks I took these photos of the sky through my skylights.

Here's my kitty named Winter, looking out at the snow. She showed up at our door 2 years ago in the winter and once she got a taste of the warm indoors she wasn't going anywhere.

This is a painting of a winter landscape inspired by how the sky looks through the trees when the sun is lowering on a hazy winter day. If you click on the title you'll see the progression of this painting, and how it evolved layer by layer. It took 14 layers before I called it done.
The link takes you to my progression page to see Winter Sky you have to click on it, it's the last one on the list.

Winter Sky

It is hard to know when to stop and sometimes I want to take it off the wall and add more trees or something. Hmm, I feel a winter series coming on.

More Art at ACRA

Last night I got frustrated with the blog software so I’m using something different now, let’s see how I do. Another project the kids love is Junk Art. I’m not sure when it started but it’s one of those projects that God help the person who ever tried to not include it on the calendar. I cover 2 large tables with all kinds of junk and then stand back. Here’s some of their work.Sidney and Bridget with their creation “Joe”.  Kali’s Junk Art, I wish I would have taken the time to get a better picture. There was much more that I didn’t photograph, I was usually too tired at the end of the day.

The last week we did needlepoint on plastic canvas, jute bracelets, beaded lizards and sun prints.  I was too busy to get any photos. Here’s some shots of the kids and the final display of art for the open house. Autumn and Molly working on papier mache. Serena and her God’s Eye.Phoenix, Delaney and Gryphon.Alex working on her cow.  Spin Art display.Handkerchief display. 

      Project Runway with Betty O’Regan. The kids were sent home with a box and a shopping bag full of their art on the last day.