I submitted a couple of pieces to the Hott Sheet show at the Wonder Fair gallery here in Lawrence. I don’t show much of my “art” all that often, so I thought I’d post what I submitted to the show. The show’s opening sounds like it’s going to be a big party, so if you’re looking for something to do on Friday, you should definitely stop by!

Hott Sheets Art Exhibition
When: Friday, June 25, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: Wonder Fair: Art Gallery, Shoppe and Studio, Lawrence

I’ve been thinking about starting a series of flat, graphic African masks since I really love working with the shapes, colors and emotion. This piece is an initial exploration of this concept, painted in acrylics.

This piece is based on the nursery rhyme:
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

There are some very colorful explanations of what this nursery rhyme means, so I thought I’d work that into the piece as well! I also wanted to work on some drawn type, so this seemed like a great place to experiment with that.

Sub-zero wind chills here in Lawrence this morning. I think it’s safe to say that winter has arrived!

There’s one more show I’d like to encourage everyone to go check out! Heather Smith Jones has some of her beautiful work up at The Merc at 901 Iowa St. in Lawrence, KS. The show ends on February 1, 2009, but if you can’t make it to the gallery, be sure and check out her Etsy shop.

Also, if you didn’t see it, I did a studio visit with Heather recently and showcased some of her great artwork!

I have to say that it’s been a power week for gallery shows. There’s a lot to see right now, so get out there and support some artists!

This coming Thursday, December 4, 2008, the Wonder Fair: Art Gallery will be having an opening of new work by Justin Marable. Justin’s art is always wonderful to see, so I highly recommend checking out his work.

In case you missed it, I did a studio tour with Justin in early 2008 that was a lot of fun!
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Pok Chi Lau is a photographer and teacher from Lawrence, KS who has made Chinese migration and the emergence of China a focal point of his work over the past 40 years. Pok Chi was my photography teacher in college and had an enormous influence on me and my work in terms of how I approached image making as well as how I looked at different cultures through the lens of a camera. He still remains a strong influence of mine as well as a friend and so I was very excited to learn that he has a new book of his work out called Flow China!

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