On Saturday Susan and two of Jake’s sisters, Kathleen and Nancy, attended the Laumeier Sculpture Park’s Annual Art Fair.

This is a great art exhibit and Fair featuring 160 juried artists. I found a few things that I couldn’t leave without! The combination of talent and the beautiful setting of Laumeier Sculpture Park make for a great day! The Park sits on 105 acres of lush green grounds and meandering pathways and features over 100 pieces of contemporary sculpture placed throughout the park. You should definitely put this on your list of things to do next time you visit St Louis. With or without a special show, it is worth the time to stop and see the magnificent collection. www.laumeier.org

Sunday brought rain and wind, but lots of fun with family as we celebrated Mother’s Day at Jake’s brother Rich’s house in the suburb of St Charles, MO. Like all family gatherings, the food was fantastic. Rich prepared a variety of smoked meats - turkey, brisket and brats - yum! The rest of the family brought lots of side dishes and deserts. You never leave hungry from a Potje gathering!

Monday the sun was shining and the temperature rose to 70 degrees. We headed out with Jake’s mom and dad to the world-renowned Missouri Botanical Garden. Founded in 1859, this is the oldest botanical garden in the country and holds a spot on the National Historic Landmark list. The garden sits on 79 acres of beautiful gardens including a peaceful Japanese Garden- the largest traditional Japanese Garden in North America , Victorian District and a Climatron Dome that houses a tropical rain forest. In addition, you’ll find a wonderful opportunities for family fun including a maze of shrubs and a Frontier Town. The collection of flowers is amazing. We enjoyed the blooms of hundreds of Iris plants and I can only imagine what the rose garden and daylily garden will look like when the blooms start to open. Currently, you can also enjoy the sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002).

Her pieces will be on exhibit throughout the Garden now through October 31, 2008. There are many other pieces of sculpture that are part of the Garden’s permanent collection, including some fabulous Chihuly pieces.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a “must-see” if you find your self traveling through St Louis. www.mobot.org.

Until next time! Susan

The artists have begun moving out now. Reversing the process they began over 10 weeks ago.

Soon the tents will come down and everyone will get a much needed rest. We will be back on January 17, 2009 for our 19th year, at the same location. If, in the mean time, you get a yen for some art by one of our artists please feel free to give us a call or email and we will help get you that painting or sculpture you want.

As any artist who deals with ceramics knows the firing is full of fear and sometimes delightful surprises. Whitney and Joe paced and crossed their fingers. After all their hard work the results were spectacular. The pot came our of the fire in one piece and the glazes all did their thing of creating beautiful colors to enhance the carved designs. Everyone is ecstatic. The photo just doesn’t do it justice but here it is and yes, it is available for sale.

Sue Averell has always looked at the world with the eyes of an artist. Her father gave her her first drawing lessons. Being both a teacher and a retired Disney animator he was able to help her draw objects in perspective. Always encouraged by her family Sue continued pursuing her talents throughout school which included the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.

In 1996 she opened Moonshot Media and began her own design and illustration company. In her spare time she continued to pursue her painting and develop what she calls her “painting voice”. In 1999 she began selling works from her San Francisco studio. In 2002 she began participating in the Celebration of Fine Art. Her work stuns visitors who immediately relate to her cityscapes and other work with great emotion. Using vibrant color and a great sense of design with unusual perspective her work always draws comments and great conversations with visitors.

Her city scapes range from the Bay Area to New York with stops in between at Chicago. In addition to her city scapes her botanical paintings and lake scenes are so inviting they have attracted buyers from across the country to own a piece of her work.

Until March 23rd Sue and her work can be seen at the Celebration of Fine Art.

These two very talented artists admire each others work and enjoy the thrill of experimenting. This piece is due to be fired, weather permitting, on Thursday. The artists are discussing glazes and colors now. Each step in the process brings new challanges. While Joe knows his ceramics and glazes the design and what impact it should have is Whitney’s. It is difficult for artists who haven’t spent a lot of time with ceramic glazes to understand that both the chemical reactions and the heat work together to create each color. We are all very excited to see the results.

One of the great joys of the Celebration of Fine Art is that we encourage the artists to grow and reach for new goals constantly. They encourage each other, push each other, help each other in many ways. It is truly a creatively charged atmosphere. 

Liberty Wildlife and St. Mary’s Food bank each received checks from the Celebration to start the funding and each artist at the 2008 event has selected one of the charities to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of a selected work of art.  Each piece is marked with a special tag indicating their charity of choice.  

Liberty Wildlife has been bringing birds out to visit the Celebration for two years.  Many of the artists enjoy using the birds as live models or take reference photos to use in creating their works of art.  Liberty Wildlife provides shelter and rehabilitation to native animals who have been orphaned, injured or displaced.    

St Mary’s Food Bank, the original Food Bank in America, provides enough food for 200,000 meals a day across Arizona.  Our annual Art of Food Event, which takes place on March 5, 2008 will showcase St. Mary’s Food Bank Community Kitchen, which is a 16-week food service training program for low-income adults.  In addition, local restaruants including Abuelo’s, Cantina Laredo, Gordon Biersch and Nothing Bundt Cakes will offer samplings of their favorite menu items.  There is a non-perishable food donation box located by the front entrance where visitors can bring donations now through March 23.         

All of the artists and the management are proud to be supporting these wonderful local organizations who give so much to our community!  To learn more about each, please visit their respective websites:

www.fistfoodbank.org

www.libertywildlife.org

Eric Poulson

Eric is a painter. He creates lush oil landscape scenes with palette knife. His work is filled with light and beauty created by rich textures and vivid color. Born and raised in Scottsdale AZ his first art exhibit was at age nine when a display of local grade school talent was presented at the Scottsdale Civic Center. After college, he developed his skills as a painter with help from individual artists and classes at the Scottsdale Artists’ School. Besides his skill as a painter he is an accomplished graphic artist and adept in 3D computer annimation.

Kristine Poulson

Kristine Poulson is a talented sculptor. She creates original bronze sculptures with nature as the subject. The foundation of her art career began with an interest in ornate tiles and textile designs during her trips to India and Mexico. She became a self taught mosaic artist using all manor of ceramic and glass materials to create her detailed designs. In 2004 while participating in the Celebration of Fine Art she became interested in creating her designs in a more three dimensional medium. She was encourage to try sculpture by Celebration artists Martha and Del Pettigrew who literally placed the clay into her hands. With the mentorship and support of artists like the Pettigrews and Scott Rogers Kristine has developed her bronze vessels into masterpieces of detail and intricacy of nature.

Ken Newman’s bronze pheasant sculpture called, “Tail of Respect”

Carrie Quade’s bronze piglets called, “Petals’ piglets“

Vala Ola bronze sculpture called,”River Song“

An artist’s inspiration comes from many places. Curt’s inspiration comes from his life working on ranches and breaking horses from California to Alberta Canada.

Curt says, “Western art is a uniquely American Art form. My background with ranching and horses is what inspires me. Whether it is a contemporary buckaroo or one of my historical pieces, it is the nobility and challenge of the life in the West that is of inspiration. These people are in many ways unsung heroes and their lives reflect what it is to be the quintessential American. Sculpture, by its mass and permanence demands subjects and compositions that are worthy of it. That is what I try to do. To let the viewer experience a life or event in a deeper sense.”

Curt’s work has received many awards, pages in fact of honors too numerous to list here, but we will mention just the latest two:

“The Hoolihan Man” (shown above) received the Frank C. Wright Jr. Medal of Honor from the American Artists Professional League 2007 at the 79th Grand National Exhibition, in New York.

At the 31st annual National Western Art Exhibition in San Dimas, CA, he was honored with 3 awards: Festival Choice ~Purchase Award and the Gold medal for Sculpture for “Two Old Pro’s” and Best of Show for “Short End of a Long Rope”.

As Curt says, “I have only two skills, starting colts and sculpture. Sculpture and its tactilness, permanence and mass truly draw me like no other medium. I want my art to be of true excellence and to speak to others of the greatness of the American West and the people that live here.”

Visiting with the Mattson’s is a great experience. Take the time to talk with them and stay to admire this inspirational sculpture that so captures the people and trials of the West. You can also get the full list of all those awards and honors.

With big crowds and record breaking sales the 18th annual Celebration of Fine Art is off to a smashing start.

The 18th annual Celebration of Fine Art broke sales records yesterday with art flying out the door. A wide variety of work in all styles is available and people flocked to the show in record numbers to enjoy the art and the artists.

Here are just a few of the comments from visitors:

“Each year it just gets better and better, I don’t know how you do it!” P.M., Scottsdale AZ

“Everyone has really kicked it up a notch this year. This displays are outstanding and the art is just incredible.” V.R., Scottsdale, AZ

“We have waited all year and it was worth the wait.” L.C., Chandler, AZ

“The new artists are outstanding, it just gets better and better.” J.R., Michigan

We also get rave reviews about our Celebration Cafe that serves some of the best food in the valley. The Celebration salad is always a hit and with a different delicious soup daily along with an outstanding selection of sandwiches everyone can enjoy lunch with their art fix.