Dancesw/Purple's First Gallery Show/ Sneak Peek

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Hello All!

March 18th is my very first gallery show! Woo Hoo. When people ask you, "what will you be doing five years from now?" my response never would have been "well, I'll have my first gallery showing under my belt". Working with clay started off as an outlet to my empty nest syndrome.

I am sharing the gallery with two other awesome artists. My contribution is 42 clay masks, handsculpted, with different themes:

Salute to the Tribes
Maori Haka
Acrylic on clay
Various designs



Below:

Nocturnal Sun

Eye On Texas And I'm Feeling Puzzle

[deelovesyes]

Just awesome Patti!!!!

I am so excited for you

Dee

[BrianD]

Thats fantastic Patty - I like what I see so far so I hope we get to see more in coming days.

[Jackaranda]

Patty you rock!! :allhail:

[Sheerah]

Wow Patty!
Those masks are so creative!
The first one reminds me of Medussa.
The second one is so cool! It would look great on someone's face!

Congratulations to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cinderella]

Thats fantastic Patty - I like what I see so far so I hope we get to see more in coming days.

Yeah if you can, show some more. They're so colorful!

I'm really excited for you.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Haka Song


Haka Twilight


My tribute to the Maori people.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Acrylic on bisque


Peter's Palm


Iris Zoom Zoom

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Kiss Me Baby

Maori Trance

[Dances w/PURPLE]

OK, more to come soon. I have most of them in the gallery at this point and the rest, which are being hung over the threshold of the entrance to other rooms in the gallery, are laying across my kitchen counter.

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone! Wow, what a surge of energy you are.

And guess what is in the kiln cooking at this moment? MEDUSA!!!! YES. I did her in red mexo clay and she made it through the drying face with all her snakes but one which is in the rear of her head and it split (leaving it as it may be symbolic) and she made it to the kiln room without a drop and break and let's hope she makes it through the process. She rocks and I can't wait to show her to you.

Nocturnal Sun, the first in the pictures I showed you, is a glaze I made myself. So cool when I saw it come out of the kiln, it was like baking a cake from scratch and cutting it and tasting it and finding a wonderful surprise.

More to come. Thanks so much for the energy. I need it. I'm sooooooo nervous. Less than a week to go with a rehersal on Wednesday with sound and lights.

In the tribal area, I'm playing Rusted Root's Drum Trip/Ecstacy/Send Me On My Way

In the main hall, after the bassist completes his set, playing a CD mix of this and that.

I will photograph the gallery window from the street which has "heart of the Sunrise" and "Mind Drive" two pieces I named after our favorite band.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Maori Moko Haka

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Midas

(mixed)


African Tribal Mask

Red Mexo

[Silent_wings]

Wow Patty
Those are all just wonderful
you are an amazingly talented woman.

[JJGeers]

Excellent Patty! Just excellent!

Love,

Jasper

[deelovesyes]

They just keep getting better and better

I love Peters Palm

Dee

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Awwww...Jasper. You know don't you.

YES, Dee my favorites are Peter's Palm and Zoom Zoom. The Zoom Zoom just plain pulses with energy. Dee your siggy avitar rocks. The girl is beautiful.

Last night I made five more white clay masks and they are drying, I'll slow dry them in the kiln today and then fire them full on about 2 PM. Tomorrow night I'll paint them with acrylic.

Kathy thanks. I can't believe how nervous I am about this. Crazy to be this nervous over something I should be so excited about. Clay in my nails so deep right now I fear they are stained permanently.

Haka...I wanted to share with you that the Maori people of New Zealand use to perform a tribal dance before they went to war. Currently the "All Blacks" a rugby team, still perform this dance. It involves pounding the chest, thrusting the tongue and chanting a tribal cry.

Before actually going into battle, the warriors would generally assemble together. The warrior leading the "taua", or war party, would move into the centre of the men and cry :


"Tika tonu mai
Tika tonu mai
Ki ahau e noho nei
Tika tonu mai I a hei ha!"

Which means :

"Come forth this way, towards me
To this place where I now stand "Come forth this way, towards me
To this place where I now stand
Come straight this way
I a hei ha!"
Come straight this way
I a hei ha!"


This song in it's native language is being printed out and mounted on the wall near the masks I did of the tribals.

[deelovesyes]

Sounds so cool.
You should be very excited but I can certainly understand you being nervous too.

You will do great.

Dee

[Deliriumyes]

Wow, Patty, I am so impressed. Your work is so interesting and eclectic...I love them all, although they are all so different. My personal favorite is Midas.

Your first gallery showing of many, methinks.

Good Luck at the opening, and thank you for sharing a piece of yourself.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Stopping to thank each and every one of you for those words of encouragement. It only spurs me on.

I got a call from the gallery and they are wanting to fill every vacant space they can. The more I can produce in the next week, the more that goes up.
So onward I go.


Today I opened the kiln and MEDUSSA survived!!!!!!! Sharing with you two shots of her, red mexo clay, no glaze but I think I will put mirrors behind her eyes.

here she is:

[deelovesyes]

Wow!!! Shes great

Dee

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Thanks Dee. Just finished another one. This one is bigger, a Nymph. hee hee. Can't wait for Sheila's view of Medussa...gotta check the spelling on that.

[allpurechance]

All the best to you with the showing this week,Patti!
Remarkable work,remarkable.
I have a sister with an artistic bent,who has also found herself self-surprised at the interest in her art...when there was a showing of her work,she couldn't believe it,but we her siblings could...

ps...Medusa*(lol)

Again,all the best to you in this and future endeavors!

Frank

[Silent_wings]

Clay in my nails so deep right now I fear they are stained permanently.

That's a good thing!


"Tika tonu mai
Tika tonu mai
Ki ahau e noho nei
Tika tonu mai I a hei ha!"

Which means :

"Come forth this way, towards me
To this place where I now stand "Come forth this way, towards me
To this place where I now stand
Come straight this way
I a hei ha!"
Come straight this way
I a hei ha!"


This song in it's native language is being printed out and mounted on the wall near the masks I did of the tribals.
That's so cool

and Medusa is awesome!!!!!!!

[ham]

Wonderful... Vivid, rich andcaptivating...

[yesrolfer]

Patty, I am impressed by your artistry.
Congratulations on your exhibit!

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Everyone, Medusa died last night. She fell off the coffee table, an extending snake hooked to the fabric of my slacks and boom, she hit the floor.

The interesting thing is her snakes in the front stayed intact, the snake in the back broke completely, the face split into a "V" almost as if her nose were a beak now. So I may still show her but I made another just in case.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and ecnouragement. Thanks for the Medusa spelling, I hadn't had time to check myself.

Can't wait to show you THE BOWL. Should be ready by tomorrow.

[tardistraveler]

Wow - I just saw this thread, Patty - your masks are AWESOME!

I admire anyone with this kind of talent - I'm not artistic at all, and it constantly amazes me when people can do this kind of work!

I just KNOW your show will go smoothly and be a HUGE success!

[gt76yesman]

Wow, you have quite the talent. Those are beautiful.
When does the dancing purple mask set come out?

[Timmo]

Patty, those are awesome.

I particularly like the first one, with your own glaze.

Gorgeous!

[Sheerah]

Oh Man!
I am SOOOOOOOOO sorry to hear about Medusa. She actually frightened me. I have an insane fear of snakes.

Peter Palm is just gorgeous - absolutely gorgeous!
And of course, you know I love those irises.
But Patty, your Maori masks are wonderful! I love the rich colors of the glaze. I'm wondering why you made so many Maori masks. What inpsired you? I know I was very moved by the movie Whale Rider. Admittedly, prior to that movie, I never had heard of the Maori.

My absolute favorite though is the African Tribal Mask. I love it. It's so well formed and intricate.

I love all of the sound effects, et al, that you are putting to your show. It'll be wonderful. I'd love to see a couple of people dressed up in some sort of tribal costume beating on a drum or two, and wearing your masks. Living art!

I can't wait to see more of the pictures. I know that this show will be a screaming success!!!!!

Once again, Congratulations and best of luck!!!!

XOX

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Maori tribal inspiration:

If you haven't seen the film Whale Rider, see it. Yes, Sheila, that movie is one I have seen over and over. I also read the book. My inspiration for tribal masks went like this:

I was sitting in Geography class and we are studying Africa. We are studying Central, West and South Africa. The students have to memorize the languages, the economy, customs, traditions and so forth of these ethnic groups in the given areas. While the teacher was talking about Madagascar, a country off the south eastern coast of Africa, she did a little geographic jump from there and spoke about the different tribal customs and the similarities of these customs. One of the boys brought up the subject of tattoos, tribal tattoos. The teacher intelligently told these students that ACTUALLY the tribal tattoos originated as a way of identifying yourself with your tribe. She went on to talk about a painful tattooing the women of one tribal group had, to the face. The minute she got onto the subject of tattoos, everyone was sitting alert and listening.

From there the class broke off into groups and did their own projects. I grabbed a National Geographic and this time there was a picture of a Mayan temple. There were masks, ornamentations in the photos.

My next class was cancelled and I headed to the art room. In the bucket was a glob of soft, red Mexo clay. I rolled it and pressed my fingers into it and then again, again, and pretty soon I had a pattern that looked like wicker. I cut the mask edges and made eyes and put it on the drying rack.

I moved on to the white mexo clay and rolled it only this time I focused on making a wicker looking man. I used a nutmeg glaze after I fired it the first time and when it came out of the kiln, I had my first mask which looked so tribal. The tribal theme just kept going. I found myself on the internet searching out tribal customs and thought of the MOKO, facial tattoo. I found MOKO was the name it is known by in the Maori tribal custom. So I had this one, already glazed, and I got a purple Sharpee marker and began to draw on his face. I drew for an hour and when I was done. I had my first Maori Moko face. The HAKA, dance, is the warrior dance where the tongue is thrust out and the chest is pounded. Pounding the clay, red and dark, I kid you not when I tell you I heard drums...specifically

Drum Trip by Rusted Root

My fist would hit the clay, the roller pressing hard into it, and I rolled it and heeled it with my palm and then it just kept going.

I still have unfinished masks inside me.

Musicians....do you know what I mean? you have a song in your head. It's there, unfinished, you can feel it, hear it...it's that feeling.

[Sheerah]

VERY cool, Patty!

[tommyhawk]

I love them all. especially the multi-colored ones.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Wickerman

or

Gator man

.............the one that started them all.

[Sheerah]

Actually, I would say Rattan Man - and I LOVE it! I absolutely LOVE it!

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Actually, I would say Rattan Man - and I LOVE it! I absolutely LOVE it!

Haha..rattan man. Of course the UF fans like Gator man but Chris named him Wicker Man.

Nutmeg glaze turned out cool, aye?

[JJGeers]

Hey there...

Just asking...

You still need to do some more masks?? I can get you a picture of my grandmum, she's defenitely one of a kind! ;)

Love,

Jasper

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Hey there...

Just asking...

You still need to do some more masks?? I can get you a picture of my grandmum, she's defenitely one of a kind! ;)

Love,

Jasper

Send away! hee hee. I imagine no teeth would be a fun expression on the face, all gums and all.

Will post pics tonight of what is coming out of the kiln. One large bowl, crossing fingers on the glaze, that I made the glaze for. They are called "drape bowls" because you roll a large circle and drape it over a bowl or two or in my case, four, creating curves and rolls.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Betsy Ross Hero


*Betsy Ross designed our American flag for our international friends.*
Acrylic on bisque


Dalmation Man
glaze

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Fiji Breeze

This is a glaze that has copper and alum in it. Very cool result.


the second one is acrylic on bisque, a tribal mask from National Geographic.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

King Crimson

Acrylic on bisque (mixed and blended and it ended up crimson)

Magma man

This glaze rocks! Got to see it to believe it.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

The process for this bowl is this:

Roll a large circle of red mexo clay. Flip it over and roll it smooth and then take a sponge and swirl a pattern on one side for the outside. Take a wooden tray and place one quart sherbert containers around it. Drape the clay, pattern side up, on the cups. Let the clay fall down between the cups so you have a series of ups and down curls. Fire.

Inside the bowl make an interesting glaze. Fire to 06

Here is what you get

[deelovesyes]

Just Awesome Patty

You are going to do great on the weekend, keep the pictures coming, we love them

Dee

[BrianD]

That bowl is my favourite Patty - quite spectacular.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Thanks Dee! I hope so.

Brian, the glaze was suppose to be black speckled!...go figure. The kiln surprise is something I look forward to all the time.

[JJGeers]

Wow!...


....


....



....Ehr..

Anyone? Can someone smack me in my face please?


....



Love!


Jasper

[Amy]

Beautiful work Patty!
Congratulations on your first gallery show!

[Silent_wings]

Wow Patty

I love Fiji Breeze that's so way cool it moves
I also love King Crimson great colors

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Awww thanks! I'm getting excited. I go to the gallery tonight for a rehersal...candles, music/sound, layout of things on display posts and one final addition to the window which will probably be Peter's Palm.

We illuminate things, we walk through and see how it feels, setup the tables Thursday night and Friday...we are good to go! Can't believe it's here.

I will surely post pics. I have a few more things in the kiln tonight. Just fired my Medusa that replaced the broken one. My son says hang the old one anyway, "it's cool" so I just may do that. Let's hope she survived the firing.

All for now.

[Sheerah]

The glazes are awesome!
I love that bowl! Very, very unique!

I'm getting really, really excited right along with you!

[Dances w/PURPLE]

My kiln did not automatically shut off.......so I had my clay fire for 12 hours.
The nymph completely melted, so did the white clay pieces I had in there.

The only thing that survived was a fish I had done in red mexo clay. This is the same stuff Mexican tiles are made with. The outside surface actually bubbled and has a skin on it. so this will be the first picture I am attaching.

The kiln is damaged. I don't know what happened but I have a second kiln, a small one, so I am not completely out of a kiln. The gage needs to be unfused and it should work properly.

OK, now to the pics of the gallery...first up is the fish which I am calling "Muddy Waters" ...looks like he rolled in mud.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Lia, my girlfriend, inside fixing something...remember her from the parade last year? She was the flower next to me.

Recognize anything in the window?

[Dances w/PURPLE]

and a left view of the front window.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

The front Galley

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Make a right at the first turn in the front galley and this is what you see.


* Recognize the mask which I added wires to, spiraled them and now she is called

"Sistah"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Second photo is the second room if you keep walking straight through the first galley. This is a smaller room with a curio cabinet in the corner. Inside the curio cabinet are my masks

Charlie Chaplin

Mara...just a name I thought of when I saw her.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Siren of the Sea

Moon Shadow

Lily Fragrance

[Dances w/PURPLE]

I only took two shots of this section and the words aren't up yet. Tomorrow night we are going back to finish as we ran out of time.


Maori Moko Haka

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Whew


I am so glad this is Wednesday. Remind me to tell everyone when you have something big planned, do a rehersal and do it two days before so you have time to tweek.

Enjoy everyone!

[Silent_wings]

bummer about the kiln

but everything looks great

[JJGeers]

Looking at these I'm sure you can get yourself a kiln soon enough Patty!!!

I LOVE Siren of the Sea!!

Love..

Jasper.

[deelovesyes]

I agree with JJ, I said Wow when I saw Siren of The Sea.

Everything looks great, You must be so excited

Dee

[Earl Grey]

Patty.

You are amazing. Such beautiful images of delicacy and heart.

The 'Yesmoon Over Chicago' sticker you printed us for the Chicago 2003 Gathering still graces my guitar-case.

Few things grace my guitar-case, your painting does.

I love what you express.

All the best,
East and West
YES is YES
And so you are.

Kudos!

Earl:yesbird:

[Dances w/PURPLE]

*sigh* morning Earl! How sweet you are. I feel so touched by your post. Thanks so much.

Dee and JJ, every morning the first words I read are yours ( or Brian's) thanks so much.

Ya'll I'm so nervous. Tomorrow is the big day. I think I need to get my hair done, touched up. My mother bought me an iris sweater. The bassist who was going to thump us some funk couldn't make it. Everyone else has gigs. We're doing tracks. I have a request of some 32 songs to fill 4 hours of music. YES, my first pick was, of course, Acoustic Roundabout to pop some funk into those gallery halls.

More pics to come. Tonight I go back and two photos didn't turn out that I want you to see.

Everyone enjoy their day. Believe me I appreciate your support more than words can express.

[Earl Grey]

If I could be there, I would dance the dance of one who knows that life has been affirmed in the truest of senses.

You are a Sage, and You Go Girl!

url:yesbird:

[yesiam]

They're amazing Patty! I'm so excited for you - it's gonna be great! :D

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Carol! Hey it's great to see you post here. I hope things are superb in your koi world of art. I still remember that winter picture outside your window a few years back. or was it last winter? ahhh time flies.

[cinderella]

Gee I've not been here that much, and I almost missed these photos.
Your work is absolutely fantastic, Patty! Good luck tomorrow! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/Cinderella528/N99%20Smileys/echappyhug.gif

[Topographic][Sardaukar]

excellent creativity, amazing variation in style. Working with clay was always my favorite thing to do in art class, too bad I stunk at it :crybby: I always admire any kind of visual artist.

[sherriff_johnbrown]

Wow! Awesome stuff dw/p!
:thumbup:

NP: Spock's Beard ~ Surfing Down the Avalanche (Octane)

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Ohhhhhhh hugs to you all!

Well we are set and about as ready as we can get. We are so funk in this gallery we are almost ghetto. The musician who was going to thump some bass couldn't do it by Dave my guitar hero pal has the music under control although I want him to mingle and mix and not have to work.

(edited the song list)



This is the morning of.

I am a ball of nerves.

I have a mild headache.

I am sick to my stomach.

This is allowed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************** *****
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All anxieties please exit the room at 5 PM. Will Merlot, Liebfaumilch Riesling, Medici Lambrusco, Amaretto DiSarrono (from the islands), Malibu Coconut Rum and Mr. Pineapple please join the Chardonnays, Ports and other APOTHECARY liquids at the ice bucket. Miss Patty will be waiting there for you promptly at 5 PM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************** *****
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[MoonGateClimber]

My favorites are the Midas & Medusa (sorry for your loss) masks. They are all great!!!

I remember making clay masks in art class, it was really fun, but we could never finish them, because the school's kiln was "eternally" broken...

[cinderella]

Hey Patty I hope everything went well.

Hurry back and give us all the details!

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Wow,

Post party report here...what a night!

I started off the evening by putting a 4:20 cap on my stress level. No stressing after 4:20 and a toast by 5 PM. At 5 PM, I toasted to my first opening with a gallery worker and also with the other artist Ralph. Now let me paint a picture for you of what you could experience as you entered the gallery.

Nag Champa incensed burned in all three galleys with carnation candles. What a scent in made. If you see the bright and bold colors, you can get a feel for the funky pop atmosphere we tried to set. We had hugefunky glass colored bowls of M & M's all around the gallery. I made my cheese ball and put it in one of my dragon bowls, a thickly molded bowl with a dragon in the bottom. We had no less than 8 kinds of wines and spumantis and sparkling grape juice and cider for my friends who gave up the booze a while ago.

Music...everything from YES to Santana to Rusted Root to Stevie Ray. Crazy stuff blasting from my son's pimp daddy boom box that is covered with band stickers which sat prominently in the front.

The crowd was an ecclectic group of lookers. Several of my compadres came, my girls who I have known for years and let the cat out of the bag I had a show. I didn't tell many people because, if this can make sense to you, I am very private and protective about my art. They came, they saw they cheered.

I met a great girl who is a poet and writer, she is quite young but fell in love with my Medusa. She is pagan and gravitated towards Bacchas but wondered why I did not do an Apollo. She would like to read to me as I create an Apollo so we have a tentative appointment back at the gallery for the Odd Monday support group of artists of all mediums. There I'm going to create Apollo as she reads to me.

The highlight of my night was Larry, a musician I know, who is the pinnacle of a front man's dream. He can make you laugh on virtually any subject but he says I am so easy to humor ...anyway, I think Land of 1000 dances (or something like that) was playing and he and another friend of mine who is in the same band as Larry started dancing the mashed potato only imagine your grandmother pressing hot potatoes with a masher in a bowl, this was their version, which led into other "AMISH" dances, in fact, according to Larry those Amish parties are wild, "they can BRING IT". (tears rolling down my eyes by now) He demonstrates other Amish dances..."the shun" hands up in the air and turning away, "the shame" hand in face (for those rebellious children who wear the color red) Larry and Dave had me laughing so hard the patrons were probably wondering what on EARTH one of the artists was doing.

The artist. For the first time in my life, I was called "the artist" over and over I heard people say "she is the artist". Folks this is addicting. To create something, give birth to this piece of art that has your essence all over it and then to have people look at it and smile and point and call their friend over and nod and ...wow. I can't describe that feeling. It was a treasured night and I am thankful I didn't take in too much vino so that I could cherish the memory.

I'm sending pics now of the night. Here it comes. Thanks to all who sent me words of support. ~Patty

first pics
The front display case in the front gally

Peeping Ralph Annan, the other artist peering at me through the front window.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

My mother and her husband Wayne.

[Dances w/PURPLE]

More pics.


This is it for now.

[BrianD]

Congratulations artist Patty! What a wonderful night you had -and now you are going to make an Apollo while being influenced by a reading - that might be an interesting experience.

[cinderella]

Sounds like you had an amazing night Patty. I can imagine how good it felt to be called "the artist". It makes it all worth while. You should be so proud. You have some beautiful pieces, and I'll be waiting to see how Apollo turns out.

I love the photos. I'm glad your Mom got to be there for you. She's lovely.

[paulovajao]

Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing Artwork Patty!!!wooohooo!!

[Deliriumyes]

Spectacular, Patty! Or shall I say, the Artist formerly known as Patty?

[deelovesyes]

Sounds like a great experience Patty. I am so thrilled for you
Glad it all went so good for you, you deserve it,

Dee

[Dances w/PURPLE]

Spectacular, Patty! Or shall I say, the Artist formerly known as Patty?


Oh, I so needed this laugh. :lmao:

You all are Magnificationists! (new word)