Today I give thanks for my family most of all.  This cast of delightful characters – Brent, Nicholas, Reilly, Sam, Eve, Veronica and Piper –  makes my life wealthy and meaningful. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you, Readers.  May you have much to be thankful for!

After nearly a year, I have suspended my miniature auction due to lack of bids.  I’m considering adding a For Sale section to my website to list experimental pieces that won’t go to galleries.  For now though, these fun little pieces will remain with me.

One of my pieces, “Sun Pods”, is a finalist for the 2009 Frabel Award.

Hans Godo Frabel was born in Jena, East Germany in 1941. In 1965 he came to the United States and settled in Atlanta. Hans Godo Frabel is one of the world’s first modern flameworking glass artists. Most galleries at that time felt glass was not an art medium. Determined to change the view of the art world, he saved up enough money to open his own gallery in 1968.  In 1971 the Birmingham Museum of Art acquired one of his works for their permanent collection. In the 1970’s Frabel’s art received much attention in the United States, and in 1979 he had his international breakthrough as a glass artist. His pop art sculpture “Hammer and Nails” was utilized as the feature piece of the New Glass Art Exhibition, organized by the Corning Museum of Glass. Frabel’s art can presently be found in museums around the world, such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Valencia Museum of Art.

A couple of years ago Frabel launched a website for glass artists to convene, meet and share our talents, and he hosts a competition open to all forms of glass art. 

See the award finalists and profiles of other artists at www.MyGlassArt.org

A few years back I set out to draw a family portrait.  Not wanting a traditional, representational portrait, I went for abstract.  

We have a very character-ful family.  Each of our personlities, styles, appearances, moods, and interests are quite different, and each of us is engaged in interesting pursuits.  We are in the semiconductor industry; glass sculpting, casting, fusing, beadmaking, and jewelry making; drawing; baseball playing and umpiring; softball; music, with family members playing classical and jazz piano, euphonium, saxophone, clarinet and baritone; writing; childcare; volunteering; kayaking; beekeeping; classic car restoration; languages including mandarin, french and japanese; vegetarianism; recycling; wrestling; pets including a great dane and a python; and each person has their own brand of intelligence and humor.

I depicted us as a giant sunflower, one of my favorites.  Each family member has a section of the sunflower face, with each of us a “puzzle piece” of the whole.  Within each family member’s section, I have drawn details about them, their personality and interests.  Brent’s and my marriage vows are the thread that ties our whole family together. 

Recently I submitted my drawing to the Statewide Drawing and Print Competition and Exhibition at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara.  Last week I received a letter with acceptance to the exhibition!  Over 600 drawings were submitted and 70 chosen for the exhibition.  I am completely pleased to be included!

For local people, the opening reception for the exhibition will be December 11, 7:00 – 9:00pm.  www.TritonMuseum.org

Friday evening I attended the opening reception for the 2009 Bay Area Annual Juried Exhibition at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, CA.  The exhibition was juried by JoAnne Northrup, Chief Curator of the San Jose Museum of Art. 

Over 400 works of art were submitted and of those, Ms. Northrup chose 43 works for the exhibition, including paintings, pastels, works on paper, photography, collage, prints, and my sculpture “Homage to Castaneda”. 

Of the 43 exhibited works, Ms. Northrup chose 5 artists to receive awards for their work.  I am thrilled to be one of the awarded artists!  An award from such an important person in the art world means a great deal to me!

Saturday I went back to the exhibition to hear a talk given by Ms. Northrup.  I was surprised and pleased to discover that she planned to talk about each artist’s work.  It’s a rare and valuable opportunity to hear the criteria with which a museum curator looks at art, and particularly her assessments of my work.  I took a notepad to capture her comments about everyone’s work.   

Ms. Northrup said that with a couple of the pieces in the exhibition, she looked at the prices and was pleased to see how I had priced mine.  She said it’s appropriate that I price them high, as she could tell my pieces are difficult to make.  She spoke that she liked all the negative spaces I left in this piece.  Also that my work is unexpected for glass sculpture, it doesn’t look as one would expect glass to look.  It is fresh.  She liked the allusion to 50’s style wall hangings people used to have in their homes, yet it’s contemporary; contemporary sculpture.  And she found my story about the influence of alternative spiritual disciplines and Carlos Castaneda to be very interesting. 

I’m so glad I decided to submit work to this exhibition and that it turned into such a fruitful experience.  These opportunities are vital to artists.  We need them both from a psychological perspective to help get us through the dark patches when we lose faith in ourselves, and to help us connect to the broader art world.  Thank you JoAnne Northrup!