Mary Juhn – Kathy Nida

OK, well sleeping in is not a thing for dogs or the trash trucks or hangry cats or the weed-whacking neighbors. Apparently they don’t know it’s my Spring Break AND I stayed up way too late last night drawing because the inspiration finally smacked me upside the head, and I can’t show you anything until like July. So just know that I’m taking photos and there will be some pic-heavy posts in July explaining WTF I’m doing. Well, I’m entering a show I was invited to enter, and the jurors are all out there in my world, and they don’t wanna be swayed by seeing the stuff first, which I think is funny, cuz you’re totally gonna know it’s mine. But whatever. I’m willing to go along with it.

It makes it hard for the next two months though, because I usually post my entire process and that’s what I write about. I can still write about it, but it will be irrelevant pictures I guess. So I had a preliminary drawing I’d started for this piece a week or so ago, and then I cut the paper the right size the other night (that in itself is sometimes an issue!). Then last night, I started sketching for the final drawing and inked a good chunk of the structure of it. I still have a bunch of vignettes for it, so hopefully I’ll get those done today and tomorrow. I’m not really expecting to be able to start tracing Wonder Under before we leave, but I’d like it ready for when we come back. So drawing and numbering…

So here’s the rest of it. Today, I’m doing all the errands and shopping I need to do before we leave. I have to pack about 7 quilts to ship either before I go or right after I get back. I need to walk the dogs. I have a quilt group meeting tonight, if I can manage to get to it. I finished grading ONE assignment yesterday, so there are still 10 left to do. To be honest, that ONE was the biggest…and then I crazily emailed the 16 kids who didn’t turn it in and gave them a chance to not lose points…but they don’t check their email, so they’ll probably lose out. Oh well. I tried. Tomorrow will be about packing and food prep. Actually, there’s some food prep I’d like to do today if I can. We’ll see. The weather for the trip is finally looking bearable…no 18-degree temps staring us down for now! Still have rain and cold, but not as bad as it was going to be. We tested putting the new tent up last night at my parents’ house, and it was pretty easy. All good.

I meant to write yesterday, because we went to four different art exhibits on Saturday night, but I never got around to it. So here they are…first we went to Oye Como Va at La Bodega Gallery…the Flying Panther Tattoo family made all these. This is by Rob Benavides…here’s an article about him with some contact info.

In a totally different style, here’s one by Matt Howse…

And something different in the skull realm by Frank Chavez…

And this one by Thomas Fernandez…

Another by Frank Chavez…

I seem to like the graphic and highly colored ones the best…another by Rob Benavides…

And one by Marc “Beatle” Lindenmeier of Harry Dean Stanton in Repo Man. Good movie.

From there, we headed out to Bread & Salt for the opening of Warpaint, with Lynn Schuette’s work. A totally different vibe, but beautiful work…hinting at our trip that starts in a few days. I really liked this line of work…

She had a few different series of works in the building…

But the landscapes and this grouping were my favorites…

Beautiful work.

In Bread & Salt is the Athenaeum Art Center Gallery, where Alessandra Moctezuma was showing work with Hilary Paul McGuire in a show called Identity|Antiquity. I especially liked some of Moctezuma’s drawings and etchings…some political and more recent…

Some with kitchen implements…

And an older etching/drawing…a detail below…

Over by the print studio was work by Elena Lomakin…who did some collage with paper and other materials…

And then outside, there was this…Kenneth Capp’s sculpture, Rose.

You’d think we’d have been done by then, but there was one more, which would put us in a place where we could eat…at Visual Gallery+Design, an exhibit called Unfolding. I knew of two of the four artists…this is Sofia Silver’s Cosmic Eye…

And Laurie Nasica’s You and I, Highs and Lows, Down with the Current, and Le Tourbillon de la Vie…

Also Untitled by Melissa Walter…

I also liked Mary Juhn’s Memories…

And her Take It, My Love…

Then off to dinner, with this showing up on the walk…

Some people.

So what else this weekend? I delivered this, freshly ironed and with hanging hardware, for the Inside/Outside exhibit that will be opening at Art Produce on May 4…

And I don’t know what else I have…ahhh…grading on the deck…

And puppies…

Funky clouds at my parents’ house…

More puppies while embroidering…

Anyone who thinks embroidery is quick is nuts.

But it is relaxing…you’ll probably see a bunch of this going on for the next month. But now? Errands. Gotta go. Get it done. Yup. Now.

Rough night. Something stung my toe and it hurt. Or bit it. Or whatever’d it. And then whatever my innards are doing in response to the diabetes meds…doctor appointment on Thursday. If I can get there on time. Crazy hours that day. I don’t feel right. That’s always nerve-wracking. But teaching today should be easy, so I can grade and I don’t have to feel awesome. I just have to get it all done. ALL OF IT. Yeah right. I already had one group try to turn in their project even though I haven’t given them all of the instructions. Like CHILLAX you sweet little things. You’re doing it wrong. You don’t need to panic yet.

One of the things with diabetes is that they want you to be stress free. I get all these emails and mailers from the insurance company and the doctor’s office about how to reduce stress, but my doctor actually laughed at one point and said I’d have to quit my job and that would be stressful in itself. So there’s that. I’m not sure when I will hit “less stress” for work, but it isn’t going to be this week or next. I am just trying to stay as much in control of it as I can. Exercise, take breaks, stuff art in the cracks. As part of that, I try to go do something interesting or fun on Saturday nights. We went to see the Skull Art Show at La Bodega Gallery…kind of a manufactured thing because they all start with the same skull, but some of them were interesting enough…

Huichol bead technique always makes a statement…this is Jose Lopez…

Interesting composition…Franky Agostino…

Reminds me of my students when I ask where their late work is…Cesar Castaneda…

One of my favorite artists at La Bodega, Evgeniya Golik…

And the always intriguing Optimus Volts…

Maira Meza with her lilies…

Another interesting compilation of things, Renee Tay…

And I really should have taken a better picture of the side of this…Mary Juhn.

Then we ventured out to a new place for dinner. It was strange, but the food was good. Not many choices in the drinks arena, but all the caps were outside.

Nailed to the railing.

Came home and finished trimming all the Wonder Under…it was something over 7 hours or so total.

Then Sunday evening, after my fiber-art-group meeting, I was grading again…all the late work. Simba was very helpful…

As was Satchemo…

OK, he woke up, but mostly because he wanted me to take him out to pee.

Which I did. I finished the butterfly in the car on the way to and from the meeting…

So that’s July finally done, on to August…which are the three unembellished blocks on here…

Next in line.

So then I went to sort all those pieces. I don’t throw out the trash pile until I sift through it, which is good, because I found this piece…

And then I laid out all the bins…

And spent about 40 minutes sorting pieces by the 100s.

The last step? Coming into the office and cleaning up…putting all the fabrics away from the last quilt…hanging up the new drawing.

Now I’m ready to iron tonight. Looking forward to it. But before that, I have to take my achy body to school and get all the things done.

Tag: Mary Juhn

A Lot of Art…

Stuff Art in the Cracks