As I was saying in a much earlier blog, the line between fine art and craft gets very blurry ..especially after a few mai tai's.
Love Art? Wanna support emerging, talented artists, oggle some mighty fine art AND juggle your cocktail in one hand? Well, tomorrow night is your chance to do JUST that.
Elaine Barr of Rock n' Roll Crafts and Stencil1, an esteemed member of the PCM is heading on down to the sweet little city by the bay tomorrow night for her very first art show...go Elaine!
Here's the particulars:
NEW ART 08
September 17
HOTEL DES ARTS
447 BUSH (at Grant)
5:30 PM - 9:30 PM
featuring DJs:
SAMALA + ZAI + TOM THUMP
Free Drinks... yep, free drinks ...need we say more
• over 500 original works of art from emerging artists
• 100% of sales go to the artists..
• bring a checkbook + support emerging artists DIRECTLY
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Petaluma's Crafty First Famiglia
Its always kind of a trip to get recognized around town by complete strangers. I guess it's mostly due to my wacky writing and blogging (that I've been waay guilty of not doing much lately). My husband teases me that he feels like he's with a celebrity because, often times than not, we get comped free goodies and food around town, and thus in part why I've stopped blogging so much. Not that I don't appreciate kind folks in town and their generosity, that's really pretty freakin' cool! but it makes me feel kind of weird, and in spite of my rabble-rousing, I'm a pretty private gal. I loathe having my picture taken - just ask my friends, family or Elaine, who is often witness to me diving under tables and pulling disappearing acts when she gets her camera out. I was an Aborigine in another life. But blogging is my way to connect with my community in relative anonymity, and allows me to exercise another form of creativity.
Not that all my blogs have been hearts and flowers mind you, hey "truthiness" in journalism is important, and at least one or three reviews have not escaped my truthy if poisonous pen. :) But right now, things are uber busy around Moxieville, but I see more blogs on the horizon soon....shudder, some of you! ;) Be very afraid! :)
Some folks in Petaluma may know and heart my awesome crafty famiglia as well. I heart them too, and the unique talents and personality they bring to our famiglia. We're planning on doing a series of crafty film shorts, and a photo shoot soon for some promos. We are working with a talented local Indie Film maker, Don Lewis, "Hey Don!" And, we are cooking up some great ideas sure to set me off laughing so hard, that I won't be able to craft and keep a straight face during the shoot. but I don't believe you can ever be too rich or laugh too much ...or eat too many apple fritters. And though none of us may be rich, we are wealthy with laughter and have a great time. Now if I can manage not to bale under a tree or table during the shoot, it's gonna be a hoot! And we've not shortage of ideas and materials to work with! You might see us around Petaluma with Don, and if so, stop by and say "howdy!"
Speaking of my uber crafty sistahs, here is a shot of our crafty famiglia, (the core) goofing it up at a local Mexican joint. (they had to shut the joint down after we got through with it)!
From left to right is, Felt Baron, Moxieville (moi), Rock n' Roll Crafts and Pincurls and Peacoats. Motley crew we are, and dangerously crafty!
I'll be posting our film short here and on my various other blogs around cyberspace, so look for PCM , "Girls on Film" soon!
xoxo.
C.
Rejoice, working girls who heart handmade jewelry!
Okay, ya'll know I heart Jen Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club (very important to add "club" when googling Naughty Secretary) to death ...and I haven't even met her yet, she along with my mum are probably the sole reason I got back into crafting.
As an illustrator, I'm always trying to find new media in which to work my own original art into, and being a huge fan of resin, it was Jen's jewels that got me hooked on resin. She has a funky and unique spin on her jewelry which just speaks to me; Kitsch, soul and fun.
So, I've been anxiously tapping my foot waiting for her new book to come out, and at last it has! Woo hoo! My local bookstore, Copperfields, called me last week and delivered the good news!
I can't wait to get my hands on a brand spankin' new copy of, The Naughty Secretary, "The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry".... I love that Jen adds all kinds of fun tips, recipes - that's my kind of book!
Check it out now, hot off the presses!
Pom Thangs!
So, you may think Petaluma's Craft First Family had been drinking one too many craftini's (oh yes, a special PCM martini recipe) while dipping into the pom poms one crafty afternoon.
Nope, just coffee and birthday cake at this crafty meeting one lovely, sunny morning.
We decided we needed to leave business on the back burner and do some craft for some promos I'd concocted. My vague goal was to make "chicks" as P-Town is famous for our chickens, butter and eggs, film galore and of course wrist wrasslin' - yup, we got it all! However, I'd never worked with poms before, so my plan, per usual was off the cuff.
As these things go, sometimes you just can't premeditate, and as we talked we sort of got in a "craft zen" (you crafters know what I'm talking about) and our Pom Pom chicks, came out looking like bugs, chicks and punk rockers - -even a few KISS look-alikes in the bunch.
So, I'm not sure If we are gonna use these as promos or not (LOL) but they were hella fun to make, and I was amazed to see what my crafty famiglia came up with out of felt scrap, glue and pom poms. They did me proud with their ingenuity! Check 'em out. High art or low art, who cares? Making Pom Thangs works up an appetite, and so we celebrated Elaine's birthday with a great 'ol cake Allison baked, yummmers!
A great project to do with kiddies on a rainy day or at a make n' take table at our next craft fair ...hmmmm.
Happy birthday to all my Leo lions and lionesses,
Monday, July 28, 2008
PCM wins Arte y Pico Award!
Aww. I was just informed that our little blog over here at PCM, was chosen by a very talented blogger herself, Elaine Barr, and awarded the mucho coveted Arte y Pico Award! Whooo hooo!
So, when I find some time I mean to pay the Pico Award forward and choose five blogs I heart to pieces too. You know, so many blogs so little time! Thanks and mucho appreciato!
Cheers!
About Arte Y Pico Award...
The Arte y Pico Award is meant to be paid forward to five bloggers who you want to recognize for their creative talents, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community...helping to make the world a better place, one blog pots at a time!Now it's your turn...If you have been selected for the award, please pay it forward, following the steps below:1) Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.2) Post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog so everyone can view it.3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.4) The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the "Arte y pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.5) Please post these rules! - Be my guest to copy and paste from here..The Arte y Pico blog is in Spanish.To read it in English, click here. The translation is not perfect.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Artsy - Craftsy go together like ...
Okay. I don't know about you my fellow crafty compatriots, but do you ever get sick and tired of people asking the difference between "arts and crafts?"
I do! They always look at me, with that "look", as if I hold the answer to global warming, or third -world famine. You know what I mean? It happens at the most inopportune moments too, like at a party, you're juggling your blackberry margarita in one hand and a deep-fried cheeseball in the other, when you find yourself cornered, as your sneaking in a quick double-dipping of your chip. You think your about to get chided for such a careless display of hygiene, when instead you're asked "So, tell me, Cheryl, you're a crafter, explain the difference between craft and art?" This is generally, followed up with a quick disclaimer such as, "Oh, I'm an oil painter, by the way."
Crafty girls and boys, how often have you found yourself in this same scenario? Not long ago, I found myself cornered at the supermarket by a very earnest man, who seemed puzzled by my answer. He seemed to be looking for a definitive and concrete answer to this pressing question. He finally decided that he agreed with me. It was a strange conversation, but it got me thinking. I mean, why is it so important for people to segregate the two, or at the very least try to compare and categorize?
Guess what? My answer is that I do not separate the two. I know my artsy friends with the expensive degrees feel terribly slighted by my theory on arts and crafts, but I don't care. Craft has always been artsy and art has always been crafty. End of story.
If I had to break it down in a simplified manner, I might say that perhaps craft, or "craftsmanship" used to be assigned to the category of goods and products that were made out of necessity for humans to live and function comfortably. You need blankets, throws quilts to stay warm and cover you, hence, a necessary part of living life in relative comfort. You need a pair of shoes, you need a roof over your head, or pottery, or paper goods to write and express or communicate upon. However, nobody said these goods had to be pretty, just functional. But somewhere along the line, craftisans from way back decided that beauty in everyday, functional objects was important too. Look at ancient native Americans and their beading, basketry, etc. Look at any European immigrant and their needlework embroidery on such functional items as pillowcases and linens, tablecloths.
Art, is it a necessity? Can you live without that sculpture or water color painting, or that beootiful ring?
Some would argue that beauty is not a necessity. But I happen to think that what appeals to the eye, warms the heart, and is what makes us human. I think we crave to experience other human expression in it's varied art form, from music to drawing. So, I argue that art is craft, and craft is art.
In this crafter girl's head anyway, arts and crafts are like peanut butter and jelly. You cannot separate them. Why would anybody want to? A misplaced sense of elitism? I generally get sneers on my theory from the art camp, not the craft camp, but occasionally a craftisan will decry my theory and a few of you craftisans can be every bit as elitist as the artisans. ;)
I just got back from Portland last week. I heart Portland, with it's love of nature, awesome bookstores and coffee, and I love how Portandians aren't afraid to take on a good topic and rant about it - in a constructive way.
It was by sheer coincidence that I'd had this topic on the brain, when I came across an article in the Portland Mercury entitled, "Is it Art? or is it Craft? " You know that got my attention!
It seems my beloved Portland agrees with this crafty blogger's theory. So much so, they even opened a museum dedicated to just that, The Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft.
The museum was founded in 1937, seeing an evolution of American craft evolve and explode in the 1970's (yes, I remember my mum was HUGE into macrame). Since then, the 80's and 90's took a new perspective on craft from a fine arts point of view. Allegedly, it was during this period that Craft took on an "identity crisis." Now, from my perspective I'd say that it was the fine arts camp crying "foul" about that. But, I digress.
Here we are in the infancy of the 21st century, and critics ( don't we love to hate 'em) are now calling this new craft revolution which was spawned in America and now hitting the UK hard, "promiscuous." Le sigh.
Borders are dissolving, and this makes some folks mighty uncomfortable. Craft has always been rich and complex, and some craftistas are just wickedly fun and inventive with their chosen craft/art. Nothing wrong with that.
The curator at PDX, Namita Gupta Wiggners is a brave visionary, and I for one, admire her work. Wiggners says that, "We want to stay flexible, We think of 'craft' as a subject, as a verb, and through a range of perspectives." Amen, sistah, is all I have to say.
The PDX Craft Museum is a real museum and hosts a 1,000 plus project collection that maps the history of contemporary craft through such outposts as Etsy to Crafty Wonderland and hey, I just know my crafty sisters in the Portland Craft Mafia will be a part of this too.
Little did I know that while I was in Portland, the annual Craft PDX Block Party was going on right on 6th and Davis! Cripes! I missed it, and I was just minutes away.
But that 's what I love about craft and Portland, it's that community feel. You know that if you were to throw a block party, folks would actually come! Much like Petaluma!
So while some folks are still duking it out as to what makes art- art,and craft-craft, I say if you looked around lately at the work our craftisans are making, or took a trip to Craft PDX who showcase such talent, it could change your mind and blur those artsy-craftsy borders forever...and that's not just the blackberry margarita talking.
Happy birthday to my fellow watery sign cousin, you crabby Cancerians!
I do! They always look at me, with that "look", as if I hold the answer to global warming, or third -world famine. You know what I mean? It happens at the most inopportune moments too, like at a party, you're juggling your blackberry margarita in one hand and a deep-fried cheeseball in the other, when you find yourself cornered, as your sneaking in a quick double-dipping of your chip. You think your about to get chided for such a careless display of hygiene, when instead you're asked "So, tell me, Cheryl, you're a crafter, explain the difference between craft and art?" This is generally, followed up with a quick disclaimer such as, "Oh, I'm an oil painter, by the way."
Crafty girls and boys, how often have you found yourself in this same scenario? Not long ago, I found myself cornered at the supermarket by a very earnest man, who seemed puzzled by my answer. He seemed to be looking for a definitive and concrete answer to this pressing question. He finally decided that he agreed with me. It was a strange conversation, but it got me thinking. I mean, why is it so important for people to segregate the two, or at the very least try to compare and categorize?
Guess what? My answer is that I do not separate the two. I know my artsy friends with the expensive degrees feel terribly slighted by my theory on arts and crafts, but I don't care. Craft has always been artsy and art has always been crafty. End of story.
If I had to break it down in a simplified manner, I might say that perhaps craft, or "craftsmanship" used to be assigned to the category of goods and products that were made out of necessity for humans to live and function comfortably. You need blankets, throws quilts to stay warm and cover you, hence, a necessary part of living life in relative comfort. You need a pair of shoes, you need a roof over your head, or pottery, or paper goods to write and express or communicate upon. However, nobody said these goods had to be pretty, just functional. But somewhere along the line, craftisans from way back decided that beauty in everyday, functional objects was important too. Look at ancient native Americans and their beading, basketry, etc. Look at any European immigrant and their needlework embroidery on such functional items as pillowcases and linens, tablecloths.
Art, is it a necessity? Can you live without that sculpture or water color painting, or that beootiful ring?
Some would argue that beauty is not a necessity. But I happen to think that what appeals to the eye, warms the heart, and is what makes us human. I think we crave to experience other human expression in it's varied art form, from music to drawing. So, I argue that art is craft, and craft is art.
In this crafter girl's head anyway, arts and crafts are like peanut butter and jelly. You cannot separate them. Why would anybody want to? A misplaced sense of elitism? I generally get sneers on my theory from the art camp, not the craft camp, but occasionally a craftisan will decry my theory and a few of you craftisans can be every bit as elitist as the artisans. ;)
I just got back from Portland last week. I heart Portland, with it's love of nature, awesome bookstores and coffee, and I love how Portandians aren't afraid to take on a good topic and rant about it - in a constructive way.
It was by sheer coincidence that I'd had this topic on the brain, when I came across an article in the Portland Mercury entitled, "Is it Art? or is it Craft? " You know that got my attention!
It seems my beloved Portland agrees with this crafty blogger's theory. So much so, they even opened a museum dedicated to just that, The Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft.
The museum was founded in 1937, seeing an evolution of American craft evolve and explode in the 1970's (yes, I remember my mum was HUGE into macrame). Since then, the 80's and 90's took a new perspective on craft from a fine arts point of view. Allegedly, it was during this period that Craft took on an "identity crisis." Now, from my perspective I'd say that it was the fine arts camp crying "foul" about that. But, I digress.
Here we are in the infancy of the 21st century, and critics ( don't we love to hate 'em) are now calling this new craft revolution which was spawned in America and now hitting the UK hard, "promiscuous." Le sigh.
Borders are dissolving, and this makes some folks mighty uncomfortable. Craft has always been rich and complex, and some craftistas are just wickedly fun and inventive with their chosen craft/art. Nothing wrong with that.
The curator at PDX, Namita Gupta Wiggners is a brave visionary, and I for one, admire her work. Wiggners says that, "We want to stay flexible, We think of 'craft' as a subject, as a verb, and through a range of perspectives." Amen, sistah, is all I have to say.
The PDX Craft Museum is a real museum and hosts a 1,000 plus project collection that maps the history of contemporary craft through such outposts as Etsy to Crafty Wonderland and hey, I just know my crafty sisters in the Portland Craft Mafia will be a part of this too.
Little did I know that while I was in Portland, the annual Craft PDX Block Party was going on right on 6th and Davis! Cripes! I missed it, and I was just minutes away.
But that 's what I love about craft and Portland, it's that community feel. You know that if you were to throw a block party, folks would actually come! Much like Petaluma!
So while some folks are still duking it out as to what makes art- art,and craft-craft, I say if you looked around lately at the work our craftisans are making, or took a trip to Craft PDX who showcase such talent, it could change your mind and blur those artsy-craftsy borders forever...and that's not just the blackberry margarita talking.
Happy birthday to my fellow watery sign cousin, you crabby Cancerians!
Monday, June 30, 2008
We done did it!
I know, I sound like a Hee-Haw reject, but I guess my brain is a little fried from Craftaluma, and we sure are proud! Thanks everyone, our attendees, the fabulosa entertainment, our sponsors my entire crafty famiglia and all of you crafty vendors, you sweet craft things you, who make our hearts sing!
I'll post vid and or photos later. I'm done crafted out for now, folks.
Rest, work play and then on to the next show, Petaluma Craft Mafia presents, "Mafia Made Holiday Craftacular!"
I'll post vid and or photos later. I'm done crafted out for now, folks.
Rest, work play and then on to the next show, Petaluma Craft Mafia presents, "Mafia Made Holiday Craftacular!"
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