Tag Archives: artist blog

The End of Summer

August 2, 2012 by Chris | 1 Comment

Four more days until Kyle and I are off for our NorthWest tour. With the heat here at home, it couldn’t come a moment too soon, but with the amount we need to get done before we leave, we could certainly use an extra moment or two! And this year we will be traveling with the camper we purchased in Idaho on last year’s tour, which adds another whole level of complexity to the preparations, but a new level of fun to the trip. Continue reading »

By the numbers

July 26, 2012 by Chris | 2 Comments

With the unrelenting triple digit temperatures in Kansas City, Kyle and I are counting the days (ten) until we leave for our NorthWest tour. So being the number geek that I am, and facing a full day of writing, I decided to count a few things first.

 

Our trip by the numbers:

 

  • 38 days of travel
  • 3 shows
  • 8 days of showing
  • 5,000+ miles of driving
  • 82+ hours of driving
  • 4 hours before we run out of things to talk about
  • 10 states
  • 1 province
  • 41 feet of vehicle
  • 1,230 number of songs we have time to listen to while driving
  • 19,595 number of songs we will have with us
  • 5,920 elevation of Sun Valley Art Fair
  • 60 lineal feet of display space in Art in the Pearl
  • 130,000 patrons at Saint Louis Art Fair
  • 95 pieces of artwork
  • ??? number of days it will take to recover

So many more things I could count today, but for now I need to write 1400 words, to answer 10 questions, to prepare for Artist Inc 2.

 

Pick of the week, July 2

July 2, 2012 by Chris | 0 Comments

Happy July!

“The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”   Tim Kreider

Be sure to read the rest of Kreider’s recent article: “The Busy Trap”

MIle Marker 274, 16" x 22"

 

What one thing can you scratch off the list today to avoid the busy trap?

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Editing

June 28, 2012 by Chris | Comments Off

 

This morning, we decided that we needed to thin the bumper crop of apples growing on our apple tree. For anyone that knows anything about growing apples you can plainly see that this was a decision that should have been made some time ago. Of course we know that by decreasing the amount of apples we will make them larger, healthier, and tastier, and the overall tree health will improve. But sometimes, despite facts, pruning/editing is a difficult thing to do. This is evident in our own lives; sometimes we need to remove some of our own load to improve the health of others and ourselves. And increasingly our role as editor of our own lives is becoming overwhelming, as more and more information is coming at us and more decisions are required. Continue reading »

My refuge

June 21, 2012 by Chris | 0 Comments

Our van and bags are packed and we are driving to the Des Moines Arts Festival today. I love the show. I love the citywide support. I love the director and his team of staff and volunteers. And I will be happy to be there and to see everyone, including some of my best friends.

But that doesn’t mean that I am not always a bit sad to leave my studio. When the work tables are cleared and the artwork from the walls is packed for travel, I usually find myself lingering. There is something about the bareness that allows my mind to wander and dream up all of the things I wish to make on my return. The freedom provided when the last thing is checked off the pre-travel to-do list fills me with energy and inspiration like no other time. A conundrum I suppose…

Good-bye studio, until we meet again.

 

Front studio with empty walls
back studio

Can you relate?

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Pick of the week, June 18

June 18, 2012 by Chris | 0 Comments

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”
― Rumi

Mile Marker 270, 22x34

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The rest stop

June 14, 2012 by Chris | 2 Comments


I just returned from my 6th show of the year, this one in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood. It was a fairly typical fair, with all the stimulus that entails: the thousands of people in the hot sun, the hundreds of fantastically talented artists’ booths, bands playing, dogs and strollers jockeying for position and making their standard noises, the smell of the brats being cooked on the corner. It can be overwhelming, and occasionally I have to seek a reprieve in the back of my booth, a quiet moment to myself that acts as a reset of sorts.

At this particular show, however, my booth space backed up against the front stoop of an apartment building. For this weekend, it too became a place of respite, the rest stop for the tired or overwhelmed fair goers. I was fascinated by how this public place had become a quiet, intimate place of rest, and began documenting the people that sometimes needed a break like I do. The ones that need a moment to themselves to reset, to recompose. And it struck me that it was all the same – the back of my booth, the front stoop, the open plain. They all can become a place to catch your breath, a quiet interlude before diving into the fray once more.

frame48.jpg

Move Your Hands

June 7, 2012 by Chris | 1 Comment

One the road

Kyle and I are on the road – heading to one of our favorite shows in one of our favorite neighborhoods, the Old Town Art Fair in Chicago. We are excited to have a full extra day in Chicago to see some galleries and spend some non-work time with our friends (and gracious hosts) Gregory and Clark.

So while my face is planted in the windshield of our van, I thought I would share a piece from our great friend Lynn Whipple. I have a print of it above my desk and I LOVE IT! If you endeavor to make anything, from cupcakes, to artwork, to the next great american novel, this is the guide for you. You should buy one here!

 

The Arc of Making Something – Lynn Whipple

 

The Arc of Making Something by Lynn Whipple

 

From Lynn-

Heres how it goes:

Step 1 MOVE YOUR HANDS!!

Step 2 Happy moving hands will let your instincts take over- follow them

Step 3 WHOOPS! Now, you might have a big ol’ mess- no worries- that is perfectly normal, perfectly healthy

Step 4 Take a break, relax, chill, your brain will continue to solve the problem

Step 5 Return to your work with enthusiasm and feeling refreshed! Keep going

Step 5.5 Positive Feedback

Step 6 Go for the big finish, edit, be clear about your bigger idea and what you want to communicate

Step 7 REPEAT!!

Step 8 This is super important. Keep the cycle going and going…….

MR. DEADLINE!! He is kind of bossy, but he’s a poophead that keeps you in line and causes a FINISH, which is very important! Now you can relax and start again….and again…..and again!!

 

What do you want to get your hands moving on? join the conversation

Post Rock

May 24, 2012 by Chris | 1 Comment

Post Rock

One supposes something should be said
about these rows of earthen posts–
stones only in composition, stretching sandstone-yellow red

as far as wire strands will lead them, hosts
along some prairie pasture, or down deserted tractor lanes,
hunkered up against the snow and wind, lost

out in fields of swishing grain,
not rock or post to the untrained eye,
rather an innuendo of both; the plain

truth is how alone the sky
can set them off the best.
After a rain perhaps, their rich brown dye

infests the air around them as if to test
the theories of application. Whoever thought
that quarried limestone could bless

this flattened landscape, then wrought
stones from the earth and fought them–
each a squarish, irregular gem–into place . . .
his mark the winds have not erased.

Jeff Boyer

 

Jeff and I met last summer while I was doing a show here in Kansas City, and we had a great conversation about art, literature and the Kansas Flint Hills. Thank you Jeff for sharing your work with us – it is beautiful.

 

Have you seen post rocks? Are they used anywhere besides Kansas?

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Pick of the week, May 21

May 22, 2012 by Chris | 0 Comments

ma·jes·tic

[muh-jes-tik] adjective

characterized by or possessing majesty; of lofty dignity or imposing aspect; stately; grand:

;

Mile Marker 281, 35″ x 51″
Why do we reserve this word for mountains?