Recap of Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale

The Holiday Sale last Thursday, Friday and Saturday felt slow, it seemed empty and there were lots of lookers.  We were all quite discouraged.  However, on Saturday (usually our slowest day) we had a steady stream of people.  Lo and behold, things started moving for everyone.  When I completed my inventory after the sale I discovered, my to my surprise, that I had my best show in years.  Maybe things are looking up folks!  Maybe three years in the dumps is enough.  We can hope, can't we?

We have the sale with the Kalamazoo Valley Potters and an art group called Art Etc.  The Weavers' Guild also is there and brings in lots of people.  We are at the Kalamazoo Expo Center (fairgrounds).  The best thing about this space is that we have lots of space!  It also, however, contributes to that feeling of not much activity because it is so cavernous.

As you can see, I really concentrated on the paper mosaics this year.

While I did well, I still have lots left.  Let me know the color you need for that special someone and I'll see what I've got.  (I know, I know, get on Etsy!)

To those of you that attended:  many thanks.  To those that continue to support me in various ways:  many thanks.  And so I'll end with my attitude of gratitude.  Happy Thanksgiving all.

Lorrie

Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale this Weekend

After the Brick House opening I immediately switched gears to paper mosaics.  The Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale is this weekend and I have lots of fun gifty things to look at, as do many other handmade paper artists.  You'll find handmade paper stationery, artwork, journals, frames, mirrors, cards, ornaments, jewelry and lots of other cool things.  Additionally, The Kalamazoo Potters, Art Etc. and the Weaver's Guild will all be there.  So many things to choose from for the special people in your lives (including you!).

The sale is at the Kalamazoo County Expo Center (Kalamazoo Fairgrounds), 2900 Lake Street, Kalamazoo, MI  49048.  Hours are:

Thursday, November 17th, 5-8pm
Friday, November 18th, from 9am to 8pm
Saturday, November 19th, 9am to 4pm

Here's a sampling of what I will have available...

Four lined handmade paper cards, $10.  Nicely packaged so they don't even need to be wrapped!

Paper mosaic picture frames and mirrors,  $40 - $75.  Lots of colors and sizes available.

Fun side table.  $80.  Perfect  place to put that morning cup of tea.

Eight paste painted notecards per package, $12.  So many colors to choose from your mind will be boggled.

This picture is from last year's sale.

Hope you'll stop by.  I'm working Friday morning/afternoon and Saturday morning.  If you see me please be sure to say hello.

Lorrie

Brick House Pictures

I was pleased with the opening for my show Brick House.  Officially it started at 5:30 last Friday evening.  At about 5:45 I started to panic a bit because no one was coming by yet.  But from 6 to 8 there was a really nice steady flow of people and comments were positive.  And, if someone thought the work was awful they, thankfully, kept their thoughts to themselves.

The series features my own handmade paper on canvas.  Each brick is a separate piece of paper painted using a variety of painting techniques.  The grout texture is made by using the surface of the canvas along with modeling paste and sand swiped from the neighbor's sandbox.  What really makes these work is that I finally figured out how to use shadowing to enhance the texture of the papers.  Ah, progress!

Here are some pictures from the evening...

This picture gives you an idea of the scale of the work.  It also shows me looking better than usual.

I talked at length with a very interesting and interested lady about this piece.  It was sold in my mind.  However, this gallery at the college doesn't allow for immediate purchase and as of this minute I haven't heard from the lady.  I'm still hopeful; however, if you need to have this piece in your home it's yours for $350.

I like the size of this one and the colors turned out really nice.  I plan to use this one as my "show" piece and will finally have something to enter into the Kalamazoo Area Show this year.

Here's the entire wall, about 30 feet.  The comment I heard most often is "I want to touch this".  I say go ahead.  The texture of the handmade paper along with the various painting techniques encourage it.  I think most wanted to touch the pieces because they couldn't figure out the materials used.

This is the smallest painting, 24" x 18" but the most involved.  The patches are plaster, the bricks are handmade paper.

The show is up at the Center for New Media/KVCC (downtown Kalamazoo, across the mall from the Raddison) until the 28th of November.

Lorrie

Brick House - Opening on Friday

I have some exciting news!  I've been working on a series that I'm calling Brick House.  The work will be shown for the first time this month.  The opening reception is Friday, November 4 at the Center for New Media, KVCC, downtown Kalamazoo from 5:30 - 8:30.  I'll be part of Art Hop.  Come on down and take a look at my new work as well as the work of other artists showing that evening.  It's always a fun night out.

This new work is a huge step forward for me.  I really feel like I've made great artistic strides with this series as I'm incorporating handmade paper into paintings on canvas.  The handmade paper, while already very textural, actually looks dimensional because of the painting efforts with regard to shadowing and color.  The piece shown on the postcard is 24" x 24".  I will have other pieces that are bigger too.

The reception is Friday.  But, the work is up for the entire month.  I hope you'll stop by.

Lorrie

What's New?

Oh my, it has been ages since my last post.   So much has been going on, some art-related but mostly not.  The biggest and best news is that since August 14 we have a new member of the family.  Our Spanish exchange student, Victor, is a super addition and we love him already.  He will be with us for the entire school year. 

Artwise, I finished my second painting class at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and as a result of that class I was invited to have a solo show at the Center for New Media for the month of November.  Truth be told though, when the class finished at the end of July, I totally shifted gears and am only now getting back to creative endeavors.  So, you'd be right if you guessed that it is a bit frantic around here now as I get ready for that show as well as the usual holiday sales. 

You know that the holiday sales are around the corner when I start making stationery...

Board drying sheets at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.

Finished sheets in all colors with many different inclusions.  These will be folded and packaged into sets of four and then sold.

So, what's happening in your world?

Lorrie

KVCC Student Show

Each year Kalamazoo Valley Community College has its annual student art show.  Well, since I'm an official student now I decided to enter.  I was juried in with my piece called Bailey Park.  I completed this painting well before I took the Painting class this semester but rules stated that the piece entered had to have been created within the last two years so it qualified.

I haven't shown it on the blog in a while so here you go...

All the colors in this photo are too "hot".  Adding it to my "Please Get a Good Photo" pile.

This 24" x 48" piece uses many of the techniques that I am hoping to explore on my own and in Art 205.  Basically, I am incorporating highly textured handmade paper into an acrylic painting on canvas.  In this case the houses are handmade paper and the background is plaster and paint.  For a look at how this was done you can begin with this post. 

I just completed my first ever college art class (Art 105).  Good experience, weak instructor.  I debated about continuing with another class.  KVCC has an artist-in-residence from the Netherlands right now and she visited our last class and contributed greatly.  That one experience, that took less than 45 minutes, was enough to sway me.  Yep, I'm registered for Art 205 and it starts this Thursday.

Lorrie

PS.  Our garage sale (mentioned in my last post) was a huge success.  Lots of stuff gone including piles and piles of new toys from Steve's sample room.  Still have a sleeper/sofa left as well as a nice office credenza.  Anyone?

Waiting for the Opportunity - Close Ups

Here are some close ups of Waiting for the Opportunity.  I love how the tight crops turn the piece into an abstract.  I've always been about color and texture.  With these up-close-and-personal shots you really get a look at both.

Water.  I love this.  In fact, my final for my painting class took the water idea a bit further.  I'll show you this painting soon.

If you hadn't seen the completed piece you'd never guess that this is a handmade paper fish!

This looks like a topographical map to me.  Hills, valleys, water, etc.

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This one shows one of the handmade paper fish on the left, the painted canvas in the blue and then the raised plaster "lock". 

And back to my favorite part:  water.

Here's the finished piece again for reference on the close ups.  One of these days I'm going to actually have a good picture taken of my finished work.

We're having a garage sale this weekend.  It takes so much time and preparation.  However, since we do this every year, my husband and I have a pretty good routine down.  Nonetheless, it is exhausting.  See you again from the other side of the (hopefully empty) garage.

Lorrie

Waiting for the Opportunity

The Artists Co-op that I belong to recently had a show opening at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.  Called Earth:  the Power and Fragility, this show had some super work from about 15 members.  So, in the middle of the basement remodel, my painting class, a trip to NY as well as interviewing for a job and ferrying the kids around, I had a show-quality (shouldn't they all be show-quality?) piece to create. 

I juried into this group as a handmade paper and paper mosaic artist so this is the type of work that I needed to make.  It felt good working with the heavily textured handmade paper again!

My idea on this theme was to highlight the plight of the Great Lakes with regard to the very invasive Asian Carp. These fish are expected to enter the Lakes via the Mississippi River and Illinois Canals.  Currently there are "zappers" in the canals that are supposed to keep the fish from entering Lake Michigan through the Locks but it is inevitable that these fish, with their voracious appetites, will get into the Lakes and alter the ecosystems.  These fish are just Waiting for the Opportunity.

Here's my progression over several days:



Back to working with handmade paper again.  Yeh!  The fish are handmade paper fish glued onto a canvas.  The chair that is supporting the canvas gives you an idea of scale.



A coat of tan paint went over the whole thing then I started to build the colors of the water.

Each fish received it's own color.  My formerly bright and fun fish had to become rather dark and menacing.  Asian Carp are not pretty fish!  The white over the blue on the right is plaster.

Continuing to layer blue on blue on blue on blue.  I used my fingers for about 90% of the water on this piece.  Very little brush work involved.

The fish get a bit of highlighting with copper paint and the Lock is put in.  The lock is more plaster so it is raised.  Lots of dimension on this piece.



The Lock is painted copper as well.



OMG!!  What happened?!?  Stay tuned...

Lorrie

PS. That is what they call a cliff hanger. :)

Hand Papermaking Magazine and the Handmade Paper Guild

At a recent Handmade Paper Guild meeting we had an opportunity to help out papermaker extraordinaire, Andrea Peterson, and the Hand Papermaking Magazine.  The magazine is publishing a 25th anniversary book that celebrates the art of hand papermaking and the artists that are at the top of their game. 

This book, spearheaded by Andrea from LaPorte, IN, features amazing paper swatches of 25 papermakers.  As Guild members, we touched the swatches, drooled over the swatches :) and then glued the swatches into the books.  This project is monstrous.  With a group of about 12 we only finished 30 and a limited edition of 1,000 is planned for.  Andrea has been assembling these by herself and others in her studio too. 

We were glad to help and it was fun.  In return for our labor, Andrea showed us two of the past Hand Papermaking Magazine portfolios.  These were filled with incredible gems.  One portfolio featured watermark samples and the other was filled with pulp painting samples.  Oh my!

Handmade Paper Guild helpers assembling the books at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center.

One of the finished books.

As you can immediately see just by looking at the type, this book was well designed.

Each page has an entry by the artist as well as a description of the sample.

Another beauty.

At one point I remembered what artist did which swatch.  I'm sorry I can't remember anymore.  Note to self:  write things down!

Can you read the artists featured for each year?  Not household names perhaps, but in the world of paper:  wow!

If you're interested in more information, here is the post on the Hand Papermaking website.  It was written by Andrea:

I chair a committee of Hand Papermaking’s board of directors working on a project called “Hand Papermaking 25” to commemorate our upcoming anniversary. This exciting project will bring together 25 paper artists who previously appeared in Hand Papermaking magazine. Each will represent a particular year in which they were featured, and each will produce a distinctive new paper specimen.

These noteworthy contributors to the advancement of the field will be asked to write a short text reflecting on their magazine article, and the evolution of their work from that year to the present. This statement will appear with a 4x4 sample of the handmade paper they produce for this project, along with a description addressing the materials and techniques they employed. The book will include a preface by Tom Bannister and an introductory essay by Michael Durgin, one spread for each of the 25 artists, and some concluding remarks. Each copy in the edition of 1000 will be uniquely bound into a letterpress printed cover commissioned from one of four distinguished mills.


“Hand Papermaking 25” will be published in October, 2010, and sell for $65 per copy. A special price of $50 each is offered to those who purchase four copies, with unique covers commissioned from four different mills. Postage is $4 in North America and $9 overseas. Please support Hand Papermaking, as we look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary year in 2011.



If you want to purchase these books you can go here.   This book is beautifully made.


Lorrie

Signature Artists Cooperative Gallery Sale

In May I was thrilled to jury into an area artists' coop. The group, Signature, meets monthly, has an annual exhibition and also opens a wonderful Gallery each December. The Gallery features the artwork of about 20 different artists. Incredible handmade gifts and artwork is available: jewelry, photography, pastels, ceramics, wood, stained glass, fiber, steel, blown glass, handmade paper, and paintings. If you still need that special something and live in southwest Michigan, check us out.

The picture is of my space on opening day. The work of pastel artist Melody Allen is beyond mine. I didn't take any pictures of the entire space because I wasn't sure about "permissions". Next year I will show you the whole store.

Hours for the remainder of the "run":

Tuesday - Thursday: 10 - 7

Christmas Eve: 10 - 3

Christmas Day: closed

December 26: 12 - 5

December 27: 12 - 7

We're located at 4644 West Main, Kalamazoo, MI 49006. The store is in the Westwood Plaza next to Coney Island. 269-382-4134.

For those of you that have already been there. Many thanks for coming and encouraging local artists with your presence and support.

Lorrie

Tis the Season

Recently a collage artist and FB friend, Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson, has been posting about her best friend from childhood having suffered paralysis from the shoulders down as a result of a car accident.  The world of Cherie Stannard and her family has been turned upside down since September 30, 2010.  In such a case, what's an artist to do?  Cry?  Of course.  Then Elizabeth decided to try to help.

A book, called Art with Heart, has been created with the profits ($12 of each book) going to Cherie's family for her round-the-clock care.  The wonderful art of about 50 different artists, from around the country, was donated for use in the book.  You can take a look at it here:

Art with Heart by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson | Make Your Own Book

Yep, I'm in the book and am honored to be a small part in this effort.  The peacock on the opening spread was created by Elizabeth.

This would be a great gift for an artist or the person on your list that has everything.  You must order soon to get it by Christmas.  If you're not in a holiday rush, this book will be available after Christmas too.

Thanks for looking.

Lorrie

Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale

I would judge this year's Handmade Paper Guild Holiday a success! We joined with the Kalamazoo Valley Potters, the Weaver's Guild and Art Etc. to put on a really nice holiday gift show the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Some challenges:

* We were in a new venue so we had to organize ourselves a bit better than usual ahead of time. I wasn't one of these organizer people so I'm very grateful to our Holiday Chairperson, Barb Stewart and her committee. One big change was that members had to commit to a table or two (or three or four) way ahead of time and stick to the commitment: no dropping out at the last minute because it would leave a big hole in the table layout.

* We were in a new venue, way across town from our usual spot, so our customers had to find us. The Weaver's have a big following so that certainly helped but our postcard to our mailing list seemed to do the trick. More advertising would certainly be a plus, but how to do it economically?

* We were in a new, much bigger, venue so we had lots of room to spread out but how to make it a bit cozy too? Thirty customers in this cavernous place made it seem like no customers were there at all. But, thirty customers at our old space made it seem like we were crazy busy.

* We were in a new venue but it is still located in Michigan: my lovely, but suffering, State with regard to most economic news. Enough said about this as I'm quite tired of hearing about it and the experts' guesses as to when it will be getting better.

Getting the idea that the new venue was a problem and an opportunity? Mostly opportunity, IMO, and I hope the groups decide to remain there for next year. My sales were about even with last year. (I haven't heard a total for the group yet.) It's not what I had hoped for but it wasn't down and I met some new wonderful people along the way. One gal from my yoga class that I didn't know beyond a smile and nod before each class, even made the effort to call me after the sale and tell me how much she and her daughter liked my work. Now that's a nice phone call to get!

This is my little corner of the world. Notice some of the work of the Potters behind my work.

This gives you a view of the work of one the Handmade Paper Guild artists as well as a look at the entire space. Big, big, big.

The soft lighting from the handmade paper lamps made by Liz Faust helped to cozy up the space a bit.

Many thanks to all that stopped by...

Lorrie

Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale - November 18, 19 and 20

The annual Handmade Paper Guild Holiday Sale is fast approaching.  We always have lots of wonderful artwork and gifts available at a variety of prices.  You can find journals, cards, stationery, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, lamps, picture frames, mirror frames, gift boxes, scrap packs, and artwork all made from handmade paper.  It's quite an assortment!

Some good news this year:

*  We are once again showing our work along with the Kalamazoo Weaver's Guild!  This makes for a wonderful opportunity to see and purchase work by area weavers, as well as by papermakers, potters and a variety of area artists that display with Art Etc., all under one roof.  Plenty of parking too.

*  To accommodate the four groups, we're at a new, larger location.  Come find us at the Kalamazoo County Fairground, 2900 Lake Street, Kalamazoo, MI.

The show is Thursday, November 18 from 5 to 8; Friday, November 19 from 9 to 8; and Saturday, November 20 from 9 to 4.

Here are some pictures from past sales...

Hope to see all you locals there!

Lorrie

Current Exhibition - Better Homes and Gardens

I was asked to exhibit my work at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church, Portage, MI.  I was pleased with the offer and gladly accepted.

Here is the Artist Statement for the show titled Better Homes and Gardens:

Lorrie Grainger Abdo is a local paper artist. One July weekend in 1995 she took a papermaking workshop in northern Wisconsin and it changed her life. Inspired by the textural possibilities of the medium she began exploring different ways to push paper pulp to its structural limits yet maintaining a 2D format. Adding bright paint highlights the hills and valleys of the paper texture. Recently she has begun to use various painting techniques and canvas to progress further with handmade paper.

Additionally, she works extensively with paste paint. This is a surface design technique that she uses on commercial papers. These papers have movement and infinite possibilities. The papers are turned into paper mosaic art pieces as well as for home decor accents.


The show Better Homes and Gardens combines her handmade paper artwork and paper mosaic home decor pieces. She often uses the graphic shape of a house in her work as well as simplistic flower forms. These basic forms, while childlike, inspire powerful memories for those living in the adult world.

From left to right:  Heavy House, Hopeful House, Hell House, Healthy House and Harmony House.  Each is 100% cotton fiber and acrylic paints.  Each measures about 2' x 4'.

The house form on these is handmade paper, the background on each is a paste painted sheet of commercial paper.  The one second from the left sold during the show.  Others are awaiting a good home:  maybe yours?

These are paper mosaic pieces, each measuring about 9" x 12".  It's hard to take decent  pictures of artwork when it has a high gloss finish coat.

The mosaic wall.

These are small, about 9" x  12".  I'm showing you these because they incorporate handmade paper (the flowers) on a textured canvas.

I took more pictures but they are too terrible (glare, blurry, etc.) to show you.  Instead, I'd like to share with you something that they have on the alter of the church.  It is a large, multi-panel screen that is decorated with...

tiny paper pieces.  What are the odds of that?  Apparently this was done by church members.  Various commerical papers (mostly magazines and scrap) were used.  I think it's lovely.

The show has already been up for about a month and comes down on Monday, October 25.  If you'd like to see it before then, let me know.

Lorrie