Local Art Show a Smashing Success!

This past Sunday was the opening reception for "Speak to Me" by Beth Whitlow and "Just Breathe" by Jeannie Stone at the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center.

[Jeannie and Beth before the show]

We really could not have asked for a better turnout!

It really felt like the whole town came out to show their support!

[Emory Molitor, recent inductee to the Beaux Arts Academy for her work in performing arts]

And many members from the Lemley House were there too!

[Maysel Teeter and Sherry Killingsworth]

[Troy and Sandi Whitlow]

[Joy Mason and her sister]

And, of course, Betty LaGrone, executive director for the ARV Arts Center, and one of our lovely hostesses, Amy Whitlow.

Jeannie and I were so pleased to see so many of our wonderful friends there!

[Beth Whitlow and Rachel Trusty]

[Jeannie Stone]

If you or someone you know would still like to view the show, it will be up all month at the River Valley Art Center.  So hop on over and take a look!

Alternative Ways to Market Artwork

 Opening this month's Country Living, I was struck by a wonderful monthly segment called "Making a Country Living."

I often try to think of alternative ways to sell my art.  Most artists offer prints and note cards because most people can't afford original pieces. But why limit ourselves?  There are so many other ways to market our artwork.  I've actually put my art on handmade throw pillows before, but I used iron-on transfer paper.  I LOVE the idea of having an original fabric made!  

Most recently I created an iPhone cover from Zazzle.  I love that I can carry my art around with me and market myself everywhere I go.  And speaking of marketing, why not offer buttons (if your artwork is conducive to this) or totebags?  Many people would love to carry around a small piece of happiness!

All that being said, it is important to remember not to sell out or make yourself look cheap.  Pick one or two things.  Selling online?  Offer a couple postcards or a button with a sold piece to entice buyers back.  Going to art fairs, how about small magnets?  Your target audience will take these pieces home and see them everyday.  And maybe when they need a present or just something fun for themselves, they'll be back because they just can't get enough!

Feature Friday

by Sherry Killingsworth

Artist Spotlight - Elizabeth Lennie

"The reconstruction of past experiences and retrieval of small radiant moments that exist in my memory define the images I chose to paint. The paintings that emerge come from the subconscious trigger of memory, of swimming in the liquid landscapes of northern Ontario and the deep aqua waters of the Caribbean.

 I work primarily with oil paint on canvas, layering thin washes with thicker impasto, occasionally working on wood panel and incorporating cold wax and graphite.  

The work is both abstract and figurative and explores the memory myth of summer. The paintings are a map of my internal logic in both abstract and narrative form. I look to explore notions of self within the resonance of shared memory.  

 This drives me to paint the same image repeatedly, looking for an entry point into the subconscious, occasionally scratching notes into the paint as symbols to carry the work forward. The luminescence of water continues to fascinate me in its three elemental forms." - Elizabeth Lennie, Artist Statement 2012 

Creative Space

Claire Basler via pinterest

Feature Friday

by Sarah Keathley

Artist Spotlight - Hooper Turner

"I love and hate advertising. Advertising targets suckers, the naïve consumers who are convinced they can purchase the fantasies in the richly printed catalogs or imagine themselves the protagonist of arousing editorial spreads in fashion magazines. 

The truth is that desire doesn’t function rationally; I can’t sit calmly analyzing the semiotics of commercial imagery, carefully dissecting the palette of references that some photographer and creative director have decided will sell the season’s line.

Like every other sucker, I get too involved. I have to make paintings of the images that fascinate me and of the many objects I can’t afford. By painting them, spending many hours looking and remaking, I learn the image, explore the details, and hope to see the pictures with new eyes.

 The paintings become larger than the source and much more materially present. Sometimes I notice the Old Master reference in the pose or the unforeseen crops and strange angles found only in photographs. I wonder why the doorknob for purchase looks so much like a piece of coral instead of like a doorknob. I wish I knew what the woman with her head turned away is contemplating and realize that if someone were voyeuristically watching me, they would see me in the same absorbed reverie.

I am honest with my paintings and paint what I like. They are not my private vision but rather a collection of our ideals and archetypes. I often include the text, which can create a dissonant note when juxtaposed with the image. 

Words and pictures coexist in tension, and the strain is intensified in a painting. In the best of my paintings, the stress is enough to force both artist and viewer to confront our desires. Rather than anxiously judge them, we learn more about ourselves". - Hooper Turner,March 2011

via Skidmore Contemporary Art and Hooper Turner