My Turn

The spring Tucson Artists’ Open Studio Tour is coming up again next weekend, March 13 and 14. I will be here from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., so please come by and see what I’ve been up to (and get first dibs!). I may even have some work in progress on the lathe, as I’m busy getting ready for the Spring Artisans’ Market at the Tucson Museum of Art at the end of March. I’m especially trying to finish some mesquite vessels with stone inlay.

You can find all the details about the tour, including a complete list of participating artists and maps of the studio locations, online at the tour’s website or in the current issue of Zócalo magazine. (This “Tucson Urban Scene Magazine” is worth hunting down; read it online or find it at various locations around town.) Fellow Flux artists Steven Derks, Peter Eisner, and Maurice Sevigny will also be opening their studios.

This weekend, Friday–Sunday, February 26–28, I will be at the Fountain Hills Great Fair, in Fountain Hills, Arizona, in the greater Phoenix area. The show runs 10 a.m.–5 p.m. each day. I will be in booth D70, on Avenue of the Fountains between La Montana Drive and Verde River Drive, facing south. Please come by and say hello and see my new work!

Phoenix Home and Garden magazine has named me one of their four 2010 Emerging Artists in the March issue, now out on newsstands. Buy your own copy or see the spread here.

Last week, I finished the last of my shows for this year, and, boy, was I exhausted. It has been a good season: my inventory is the smallest I think it has ever been, a good problem to have. Thanks to all of you who helped to make it a good season. I‘m encouraged to think that the economy may be turning around with regard to art.

I would refer would-be customers to my website, but I am woefully behind in photographing my newest work, so my work-for-sale pages are seriously outdated. In the downtime between customers when I work at Flux Gallery, I have at least started updating my (also long-neglected) photo galleries of past work. In the next couple of weeks, while I take a break from turning to finish the house remodels I have been putting off for much too long, I will set about photographing what remains of my newest work and updating my work-for-sale pages. And by January, I will be back in the studio, creating.

In the meantime, I‘ve added a few pieces to the work displayed at Flux Gallery. In fact, all of us have just added or replaced work, so even if you‘ve visited recently, it‘s worth stopping in again.

My fellow gallery collective member Bryan Crow is on television! Arizona Public Media has made a short video about Bryan, his art and his backstory. Check it out online, and share it with your friends.

I am busy getting ready for my next two events. First up is the Tucson Open Studio Tour, this weekend. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, 167 artists all over Tucson will open their studios to the public. You can download a combination calendar and map guide showing the locations of all the studios at the Tucson Pima Arts Council site or pick one up at various locations around town, such as libraries and galleries. I am taking a short stack to Flux Gallery tomorrow (actually later today), when I staff the gallery. Five of the Flux artists will be opening their studios: me, Maurice Sevigny, and, at the same shared studio, Bryan Crow, Steven Derks, and Peter Eisner.

If you want more info, the Arizona Daily Star had an article about the tour in its Sunday paper. If you forgot to get the paper or already recycled it, and you’re willing to register and login, you can read it online at azstarnet.com.

The studio tour gives you a chance to see how (or at least, where) your favorite artists work. My studio will, of course, be a lot cleaner than it usually is (although I can never entirely get rid of the sawdust), but you can see my equipment and my wood and learn about my process. You can also see my work, of course, including some in progress, especially pieces I am trying to finish before the following weekend, when . . .

. . . the Tucson Museum of Art holds its annual Holiday Artisans’ Market at the museum (140 N. Main Ave.). The show is open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can find me in my usual spot, Booth 105, on the east side of the museum, catercorner from Old Town Artisans. This will be my last show of 2009, so after Thanksgiving I will finally get to finish laying the new floors in my house.

I just got a call from Phoenix Home and Garden magazine. It seems they like my work and are naming me one of their four Emerging Artists for 2010. This means a story and photos in their March issue. I will keep you posted.

As I get ready for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Southwest Flair A-Fair starting this Friday, I have been enjoying having a few days in the studio to make new vessels. Knowing my time was limited, I have focused on small vessels, which I always love. There is real sweetness in making things that just fit in a cupped hand. At the same time, I have been trying to finish a slightly more ambitious piece, a mesquite jar inspired by a revisiting of the classic book How to Wrap Five Eggs, about Japanese packaging. I am making a lid of shaped and dyed half-inch oak boards. As soon as the finish cures (which seems to be taking longer than expected—perhaps because of the dye I used—namely, Fiebing’s black leather dye), I will glue the handles to the lid and the vessel will be ready to go. The body of the jar is simple but handsome. I wirebrushed the exterior of the mesquite to give it an almost clay feel.

Ben McNitt of the Tucson Citizen just posted a piece on his “Artistic Tucson” blog about me. Please feel free to comment on the blog post—comments boosts readership, apparently. The item even appeared briefly on the msnbc.com Local News feed.

Whoa. Our opening at Flux Gallery on Friday night was overwhelming. We had hundreds of people come out, a constant crowd from 5 o’clock on. The crowd didn’t begin to thin until around 8:30, after the lovely string quartet had packed up and the food was down to crumbs. (Did people not realize we still had wine left?) No doubt the article that ran in the Arizona Daily Star Friday morning helped draw folks beyond our combined mailing lists.

People seemed enthusiastic about the artwork. We were certainly proud. If I can brag a little, the space looked great. Steven did a great job of hanging and displaying the work in a way that let each work both be its best self and complement the pieces surrounding it.
I didn’t take photographs, but you can see some of Karen’s shots here.