Saturday, March 01, 2008

Leap Day!

Even an extra day in the month wasn't enough for me to catch up.

I spent a big part of the day on Friday with my friend and fellow artist Beata Szechy who runs the Hungarian Multicultural Center, with artist residency programs in Hungary. She lives in Dallas, but I actually met her when I attended a residency. She's a very accomplished artist in her own right, with a lifelong exhibition schedule worldwide. The residencies are a way for her to give back to other artists, and provide them a space for working away from their "real" lives, plus international exposure. When I attended in 2005 I sold both my paintings at our first show. Beata was kind enough to retrieve the paintings from the owners to enter them in a large show last year in Budapest. Of course an Eastern European residency isn't for everyone. It's not America in any sense of the world, and most artists are open-minded explorers who appreciate that. I know I did.

Last night I attended the opening reception for Trayc Claybrook, who is showing her whimsical-on-the-surface encaustic paintings. The colors are light and playful, the meaning much darker. I love them all! If you are in Dallas, you must go see her work at Times Ten Cellars (it's a wine bar!) 6324 Prospect Ave, Dallas, TX 75214 through March.

I'm designing the 20 piece installation for behind registration at the renovated Westin here in Dallas. It's really fun, but tedious. I never was good at spatial relations, and it seems I've been needing that skill more and more lately. How do you learn that?? I've noticed that most of my "cool" ideas are a little too "out there" for the lobby of a high end hotel.

And I've almost got the purchase order for the shells. "Almost" because I don't have it in my hand, but my client said go ahead. That's the project in California, and I'm sculpting a shell shape which will have a mold made from it, and 15 castings in colored resin. They are 8" in diameter, so not too big. That's going to be fun!

I planted poppies in my flower beds this week, and there are pink, orange and yellow blooms already. They won't last long, but I'm enjoying watching their bobbing heads in the breeze out my office window.

Inspiration of the day: spring blooms



3 comments:

Annette Bush said...

Hey, Robin
Glad to see you still have some contact with the Hungarian residency -- keeps it a fresh experience for you, doesn't it?

'Spatial relations" . . . I have trouble with all kinds of relations! You mean I need to learn a new skill? -very big grin-

Looking forward to seeing the shell results. Interesting.
AAB

Anonymous said...

Robin,

Given the forecast for possible snow today, you might want to cover the poppies! Can you believe this weather??

Thanks for the info about the wine bar. I'll try and get by to see her work.

How do you go about making the shell molds? Sounds like fun!

Marsha

Walker said...

of course it's going to snow in Dallas in March, after I've planted poppies. I hope one night of freezing temps won't hurt them too much. Just in case I laid down in the dirt and photographed them yesterday!