Traveling Workshops

Doing what you love to do, and having other people enjoy it is the best! Teaching children to sculpt is just that. I find it amazing that high school students, middle schoolers, and even elementary school students in the third grade are excited to learn how to carve stone. In as little as two hours they can make an animal fetish from Brazilian soapstone.

In addition to my usual schedule of after-school classes at Roanoke City and County Schools, and adult classes at the Art Museum in Roanoke, I did a series of "two-a-day" two-hour workshops at schools in Augusta County in November. Liz Moss of the Artisan Center of Virginia arranged them as part of the Center's outreach program. It gave me a chance to visit new schools and meet new teachers and students.

Thanks to the Artis Council of the Blue Ridge for organizing the Roanoke City School program, The Art Museum of Western Virginia for the adult program, and KICS for the Roanoke County schools. And special thanks for the efforts of Nancy Newhart Farrar for the Artist in Residency at Allegheny High School, and Liz Moss at the Artisan Center of Virginia for the Augusta County program.

Fall Show Season

October is Show Month for us, and this year was no exception. With an outdoor show every weekend, plus four month-long indoor exhibits, we were on the road most of the time. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. Shows are the lifeblood of our business. Thanks to all you buyers and fans!

We ended the month in San Francisco, a great city to inspire all that visit. We went to a shopping mall to see Bernie Buffano's sculpture - elegant yet simple, just what I want to create!

Next we visited the zoo to see the bears. California's state flag has a grizzly bear on it, yet there are no grizzlies left in the state - except at the San Francisco Zoo: two one-year old cubs. Wow! They are massive even when this young. The hair is long and the fat bump on their backs is very distinctive. Their original home was Montana. Mom was killed and the San Francisco Zoo built them a huge house and took them in. Great place with lots of room for them to grow.

The polar bears were great also. Huge, resting by the pool, waiting for the next meal, and mugging for the amateur photographers. Both the polar bears and the grizzlies looked strong and healthy.

The bears gave me food for the creative process. I am ready to start a new series of carvings. I also saw a baby elephant that will be in my pewter collection very soon.

Lynchburg Art Club Show

I love the Lynchburg Art Club Show at E. C. Glass! It is the first "out-of-town" show I ever did, about 18 years ago, and I've done it every year since. We always see lots of old friends from Lynchburg, and many fellow artists from Roanoke.This year I won a prize - the E. B. Fleet Award! Thanks to judge Andras J. Bality, organizer David Eakins, and all the people to work to make this a special day every year. And Congratulations to Michale Farrar of Clifton Forge for winning Best in Show! (That was Michael's Barbeque Dance on the cover of City Magazine last month.)

An Occasion for the Arts

We just returned from An Occasion for the Arts in Williamsburg. It was probably our best show ever! I love Williamsburg, for the art, for the history, and especially for the shopping! We always go a day early, so we will have time to visit the outlet mall.

This year we drove to Rocky Mount, NC to pick up Bella at the Rocky Mount Arts Center on Friday afternoon. We continued to Williamsburg after the reception, expecting to arrive by 11 or so. Surprize! Our GPS was set for the scenic route instead for the fastest, so we arrived after midnight. We did get to enjoy the Virginia Byway, which we had never seen (or heard of) before. Turns out it is a favorite route for our son Thom's scooter club. Too bad it was too dark and we were too tired to enjoy it.

We saw lots of old friends at AOFTA, both patrons and fellow artists. One lady in particular was waiting for us when we arrived to set up a 8 AM. (She's the owner of Kat-Kat Pal, one of my favorite commission pieces). We weren't there last year, so it was gratifying to hear folks say they missed us.

It was the hottest day we can remember for the show. I was dissappointed when they moved my booth from Duke of Glouster Street to Prince George, but it was a blessing. We were in the shade all day, and the reduced traffic on the side street gave people more time to browse. Altogether a wonderful experience!

Bath County Art Show

The Bath County Art Show was bigger than ever this year, with over six hundred works from nearly two hundred artists on display. The selection of sculpture was also much larger.

Many of our friends won prizes, including Mei Shu - 1st place for watercolor, and Betty Branch - 1st place for sculpture. Yumiko Ichikawa, Z.L. Feng, Barry Wolfe, Gina Lothian-Stanley, Michael Farrar, and Nancy Newhard also won prizes. Congratulations everyone!

As usual, many works were sold from the show.

The Columbus Arts Festival was an astounding success for us! The weather was perfect, the crowds were enthusiastic, and best of all, they bought our work! For a first-time show it was great! We had some concerns about doing a four-day show that runs from 11 AM to 10 PM every day. It was exhausting, but it was worth it.

We met several students, and an instructor, from the Columbus College of Art and Design. Our neighbors were friendly and helpful, and we even met some visitors from Roanoke.
posted 6/18/07

Columbus OH Arts Festival

My next outdoor show is the
Columbus Arts Festival
Columbus, OH
Downtown Riverfront
June 7 - 10, 2007
Thursday - Saturday
11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Sunday 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

See you there!

Art Show at Historic Yellow Springs, PA

Criis had a wonderful show at Historic Yellow Springs this year. Thanks to everyone who came, and especially the volunteers who work so hard to organize it!

posted 5/19/07

New Work

I've been busy this Spring!

See Bears and New Work pages on my web site for my latest work.

2007 Sidewalk Art Show

Congratulations to Ann Glover for winning Best in Show, and to all the winning artists at the Roanoke Sidewalk Art Show this year!

posted 6/3/07