Guardian Angels over Seasons on my ArtOMatic 2012 wall

ArtOMatic opens this Friday, May 18 at 6pm. Vornado/Charles E. Smith’s Building  | 1851 S. Bell Street in Crystal City, VA.  Come join the mayhem!  Opening night is always wall to wall people so take my advice and skip the elevator, starting with a walk-up to the 2nd floor (where you’ll find my work in the open space on the back side of the building).  Go up while you’re fresh and then you can mosey on down after the night is over.

Do not think you will see all of it the first night or in just one day (unless you plan on opening and closing….and, take my advice, about half way through you are going to be on overload and unable to appreciate everything you see).  Plan several trips – why not come back Saturdays when ArtOMatic is hosting artists’ nights and you have more chances to meet the artists whose work you are going to buy!

Here’s a quick preview of some of the work to be shown:  ArtOMatic, Floor by Floor.

And here are photos from past ArtOMatics, too.

Hope you’ll look for me and say “hi!”

Springfest Ocean City MD 2012

You know the show.

You roll in with art – in my case I’m probably art AND craft which is what this show was supposed to be about.  Still it’s all one of a kind and hand made by ME.  You’ve done your research:  top ten in SunShine Artist magazine , rave reviews, reports of “some buy/sell”.  (Buy/sell = bought from China or Mexico, “enhanced” and sold as “handmade.”)

It’s a four-day show, the first 3 days 12 hours long.  They don’t offer booth sitters but expect you to be present all open hours.  Doing the math, either you have help or don’t drink anything beginning to end to forego mad dashes to the lovely portapotties.

Day one, very early on, it becomes obvious that this crowd is definitely not my demographic, and the energy is more carnival than art show.  Across from me is a booth where attendees gather, pat and (I can’t hear but it’s a good guess) “oooooh” and “aahhhh” over a picture with vanilla cream background and pale blue shells with a short saying on it.  Neither the picture nor the saying belong to the booth owner (as reported to my saviour of help on Saturday who asked,  ”did you write this”?  Of course she had on a vendor badge.  The booth owner replied, startled, “no!”  Followed directly by a potential customer walking up asking, “Did you make this?” answered, “yes!”)  The object in question is a publisher’s picture pasted onto paperboard, unframed, and covered in sand and glitter.  I personally counted at least 25 of them being sold over the course of the show.  Which is to say, I felt like banging my head against the wall because I had to watch it over and over and over again.

Yes, I did research and I trusted Sunshine Artist magazine, but I have learned that I did not delve deep enough.  ArtGalPal and fellow boothe sitter, Mary Ida, suggested going to past years’ photos and researching what the artists/vendors are actually showing, noting that if they don’t have a website that, too, is telling.  I learned NOT to trust Sunshine Artist’s take as it is influenced by all those buy/sell vendors who are delirious with their sales.  I have nothing against buy/sell, really, unless I am competing with it – I can’t.  There’s no way I can beat oversea’s prices, nor do I want to compete in that arena.

Anyways, I began to fret over the show I had applied to (and paid the booth fee in advance) in Georgia.  Sunshine Artist’s top show in the country.  $650 out of pocket.  If I were accepted and decided not to go (which I decided quickly that first day at Springfest), I would lose the fee.  Joyfully, a letter came in while I was away and I asked husband to open:  I was not juried in because (wait for it) my work is average.  When I came home I looked them up.  Their top artist last year was doing journal page art and guess what else?  According to pictures there was a lot of buy/sell there.  Whew!  Check’s in the mail!  I was so relieved I did some retail theraphy at the outlets on the way home.

The weather didn’t help.  It was cold and misty rainy when it had been forecast to be in the 80s – a front stalled off the coast and we got north-easterly winds off the ocean.

Fog

Saturday we were in a fog bank all day – so thick you could barely see to drive (all day long!).  None of that helped and all of that is the gamble of doing outdoors shows (though this was in big tents which helped bring people in out of the weather – those that bothered to come).  A while back I read something that equated artists doing shows with gamblesr and Las Vegas.  Did I mention I learned of several venues that are supposed to be good for artists from other artists at Springfest?

I credit Mary Ida for my sanity and for laughing a lot and for developing a collaborative line of work which we will create that captures the replication aspect while using our own art so that it is in fact art (each one individually hand made, along with lots of glitter).We will title it, Homage to Springfest.  That’s called pushing the negative  through to the positive.

And there was positive:  I learned that Sunshine Artist is more show oriented than artist oriented (and, thus, definitely not worth their $80+ yearly fee for their premier show ranking magazine).  This is good information.  I learned to dig deeper when I’m checking out a show.  We (Mary Ida and I) decided that if the buying public has to pay to get into a show, they have made a commitment and you are not getting casual passers-by, you are getting people interested in buying art.  And probably not too many kids (Let’s face it.  Any show billed for families and kids does not pull in serious art aficiandos.  It is family entertainment and they are not necessarily there to spend money in your booth so much as to find a way to entertain the kids for an afternoon).

Also, I again experienced traveling with my art and being able to rely on my very thorough and very complete show list to help me not forget one thing that I will need.

Anyone out there got any leads on good art shows?  Please share!

Technorati Tags: art show rankings, buy/sell "art" shows, pushing negative to positive, Springfest Ocean City MD 2012, Sunshine Artist magazine

Kiss the Frog So It Can Fly (36" x 36" Tammy Vitale)

This isn’t a romance post, unless you’re romancing yourself (which we all should absolutely do more of!).

This is me trying to figure out how to dwell in love when I would rather pout and be angry and point fingers at someone/thing over which I have no power, and that one/thing is not doing what I want.

Because my first reaction is anger.  And if I’ve learned anything, anger is *very* often an overlay of fear:  fear that I’ll never have whatever it is I’m trying to get to.  (I won’t fill in the details here because the details change and the reaction feels the same.  So use your imagination).

I guess, then, that the first thing that love looks like is taking a breath so that you can get to the second thing which is:  stop thinking in all or nothing:  ”never” “always.”  As someone who taught me a lot about a lot used to say:  ”Tammy, the world is not black and white.  It is shades of gray.”  I’ve never been a pastel type.  Sigh.

Take another breath (breathing always and everywhere helps whatever it is you are doing as hubby always points out when I’m lifting heavy stuff with him and holding my breath).

Ask:  What is it that is “never” or “always” going to happen and why does it upset me so?

Ask:  Am I just reacting from fear and there is indeed a path there that I’m not seeing?  Or am I starting a transition phase (kicking and screaming because I want THIS !).

Path?  go ahead and follow – put on your special glasses so you can see it.  Meander, pause, take your time.  No hurry – there it is for the walk.  Is there a map?  What do you think?

Transition?  15 minutes of screaming into the pillow and then you might as well get down to the work of going with it because it’s going to happen anyways at some point.

So maybe what love looks like is compassion for yourself:  where you are, whatever it is you are dealing with, the little girl who thinks she must be nice to everyone, the woman who knows she must honor herself first, take care of herself first before she can really give of herself to anyone else.

If this were easy, we’d all be doing it.  So that other one(s)/thing(s) that is blocking me – have compassion for them to as they are on the same path (this is where it gets hard). Speak your truth – you will know you are in the spot of it because you’ll be able to say it succinctly, clearly and without emotion – just a statement of fact/truth.  No anger because you love yourself enough to speak up and love the other (one/thing) enough to understand it isn’t *really* about them, it is about you.

Just thinking out loud.  If you’ve had experience with this – please share with me!

Wings and a Prayer, Tammy Vitale, piece for 2012 ArtOMatic

Chatting with other artists as I did some of my gallery sits over the weekend, I realized I am having a 10 year anniversary with ArtOMatic.  My first was in 2002, followed by 2004, 2006,  (2007?) 2008, 2009 and now 2012 (that covers all that were had; Artomatic isn’t a regularly scheduled event which is part of its charm).

Of course I am not the only returning artist, so I thought you might enjoy seeing who’s returning (this is a very short list made up of folks whose art I  actually made a good record of in the past.  My best record keeping was 2009, the last ArtOMatic).

An always favorite is Krissy Downing who’s surrealistic work never fails to make me stop and look. Here are 2009 and 2007 posts on her and her work, including interviews, and here is her catalog page for this year.

John Grunwell was next door to my space in my very first ArtOMatic and has participated in every once since. Like me, 2002 was his first ArOMaticHe had a great cat canvass that I really wanted.  Here’s his artist’s page for this year.  I interviewed him in 2009 here, where you can see some of his work from 3 years ago.

I last saw Annie Lunsford at the Frederick Md ArtOMatic this last fall, and keep one of her cards at my desk ( “Three out of four voices in my head say GO FOR IT!” – that’s too true not to keep).  Her AOM page here.

Body Politics  (on the 11th floor htis year) has been a collaborative installation between me and Heather Bartlett for the last 2 AOMs.  This year, Heather is taking on this installation on her own, but has kept my name on the work because she will be using a few of my torsos.   Here: from 2009  Writing on the Wall; 2008 Photo; 2008 news article from Southern Maryland On-Line.

Angela Raincatcher interviewed me last go round here.  I love her ritual based work – it definitely draws me in and asks me to stay a spell.  Here is her AOM 2012 catalog page.

Michael Auger (see my interview with Michael here - hmmm dated 2007…we had a show in 2007?  then not in 2006?  Now I have my dates confused!)  and Sherill Anne Gross (AOM 2012 catalog page here) are covered here along with a few others from a Volunteer night get together in 2009.

Here’s my blog on  a lot of other AOM 2008 blogs – a real roundup if you like wandering in the stacks.

A process piece on my gallery installation in 2009 with lots of pictures is here.

There was a spin off ArtOMatic in Frederick Md this past fall, where many of the regular AOM folks showed their work.  You can find artists and their work here and here in a two part blog on favorites.

I need to point out that “favorites” don’t mean better than everything else – these are folks whose work caught my eye.  And I’ll be the first to admit that the mood you’re in makes a difference in what you wind up seeing which is why you should plan several days to work your way through any ArtOMatic, but especially the 11 floors and 1000 (plus or minus – they’re still registering) artists at ArtOMatic 2012.

That should hold you a while!  Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Angela Raincatcher, Annie Lunsford, AOM Frederick MD, ArtOMatic (AOM) 2012, Body Politics, Heather Bartlett and Tammy Vitale, John Grunwell, Krissy Downing, Michael Auger, Sherill Anne Gross

Just over a year ago I blogged about the difference between project and process.  I thought I’d do a small followup here so that you can see the process of my developing Goddess Garden.

Shown here is one of the five panels made by artgalpals when I started the process of building this garden.  This panel is by Joan Humpries and I sited it on a hump of dirt that has been a hump of dirt for the over 15 years I’ve lived in this house.  Lots of clay – little grew, even with years and yars of oak leaves left to make soil over the years.

This is also my try out for playing with Magic Garden-type walls (I got the one piece done:  the blue bottles with center goddess.  Then was pretty much stymied).  The forms around the panel are meant for mosaic-ing.  Best intentions were squelched by the early and unrelenting heat of last year’s summer.  Once it arrived I was done for the year, and this project part of the whole process came to a screeching halt.

Except for the last two days, this spring has had beautiful weather and that weather is supposed to resume again tomorrow – I have plans to use it!

Last week, while the weather was mild and clear, I took advantage and began work on the process again – It may have looked as if I had given up totally, but:  NO!

Here are pictures side by side so you can see how the transformation is going:

I’ve made progress on other areas of the Lane – which is the area where the garden goddess is located.  I have added perennials that are coming up right now making things look very green, and  transplanted and repotted hostas which love the shade found in this area.  That’s another post.  Hope you enjoy this one!

Wylde Women’s Wisdom

If you could have anything at all, what would it be?  What is the most enjoyable dream you have ever had?  Where do your beliefs reflect your dreams?  What can you do to expand your dreams?  What is your greatest advantage in life?  If you knew for certain that you could have all you desire, what is the first thing you would do?  What would your ideal life look like?  What would you need to really believe in to live for the life of your dreams ow?  What has to happen for you to expand yourself  beyond what you think is currently possible?  If the range of possiblities for you is limitless, then what is attainable for you in your lifetime?  When you believe that you can’t have what you want, what do you know about yourself and how do you feel about yourself?  What would it take for you to use your mind, imagination and emotions to create heaven on earth?  We are the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of endless possibilities.  Ken D. Foster

ArtOMatic 2012

For all of you trying hard to register for Artomatic 2012, know that I am as anxious as you to get my slot!  I’ve paid (it isn’t showing yet), I’ve registered for my gallery sits (acknowledged and denied on the same page) and I do NOT have my confirmation email and registration number.  Which is to say that this wild, wooly, totally volunteer run show has grown even more than anyone expected!  This year they have 2000 visual arts slots!  It will take DAYS of roaming to see everything!  What could be cooler?!

For those of you wondering how this works, here’s my Guide to Participating in Artomatic written for Burgeon, an on-line magazine, for ArtoMatic 2009.  Enjoy!

p.s.:  Artomatic has a Facebook page where you can follow the ups and downs of the site (which is mostly down as they try to catchup with the needed bankwidth – have no fear.  They will prevail.  Trust the process).

*****

A Guide To Participating in ArtoMatic 2009

2009 promises to be one of the best Artomatics yet. Each time I participate, I learn a little bit more about how to work this huge event to support my art and increase my network of artist friends.

For the un-initiated: Artomatic is a D.C. original, a massive, volunteer-organized, un-juried art show that features hundreds of visual artists, musicians, and performers of all types. Artomatic 2009 will occur May 29th to July 5th at 55 M Street, S.E., a new – but unoccupied – 275,000 square feet office building developed by Monument Realty. The building is located atop the Navy Yard Metro stop and within a block of Nationals Park, home to the Nationals baseball team.

Artomatic events occur regularly, but not on a set schedule. There are two good ways to stay up with what’s happening with Artomatic. First: be subscribed to the Artomatic website (http://www.Artomatic.org), and second: belong to artdc.org (http://www.artdc.org), where many of the Artomatic regulars go to chat between shows. There’s a special Artomatic topic there, but participating in any of the calls for shows is more than likely to put you in the same rooms as other Artomatic artists. Makes for a great grapevine!

Once I know Artomatic is going to happen, I start planning postcards, business cards, brochures and signage. Most of these can be self-designed and printed through VistaPrint on line for not much more than $15 total (really – they are an artist’s best friend.)

Next comes the wait for registration day. Each year more and more folks have registered and this year, visual artist slots filled quickly. I sit with my computer so that I can register early. This merits an early site selection slot and a large range of volunteer slots to choose from. This year so many of us tried to register at noon opening, that we crashed the site. I finally made it in around 2:30. Alas, my new part time jobs (thank you economy) severely limited the times I could volunteer and I found many of the slots I had hoped to get already taken. Undaunted, I nevertheless found 3 workable slots and could relax for the day.

After registration is site selection. The volunteers who put the sites together – label and layout, and these last two years build the partitions and install electic – are amazing. They give untold hours of their time because they believe in this event. Each year everyone learns a bit more about how to deal with this many people (and don’t you know working with artists is like herding cats) effectively and efficiently. There are different strategies for making a site selection, but I’d say almost all are based around: how do I get my art where there will be lots of traffic and I can show to my art’s best advantage? Last year I tried for the top floor only to have several more floors above me open after I had already done site selection. This year we will be on the 2nd floor, which also has cabaret and a bar – not too close to the bar, but within shouting distance.

Now the fun begins. Some artists live in town and can be on site easily and regularly from the time they open the site up until opening. I, on the other hand, live almost 2 hours away. So I plan one trip (planning being harder this year not only because of my part-time job – now down to one – but also because this time we (Artomatic) are across from the Nationals’ Stadium and game days seem to be non-stop. Parking in the building this year is a “bit” more than in past years. One must suffer for one’s art. There is almost a month to complete your site prep and hanging, and a month to load out, on either side of the month-long show itself.

Because I have sold retail for about 5 years now, I always have a lot of work hanging around waiting to be “out there” but I still use Artomatic to push my own envelope a bit, trying to see what direction new work might take. This year, in addition to masks, several torsos and some tile work, I will be showing my new efforts at glass work (slumping), along with some abstracted clay work that I am, as I type, still trying to figure how best to mount for hanging. I love going to Artomatic to see how other artists display their work. There is so much innovation in presentation (which happens to be perhaps my weakest skill) that it becomes like taking a class in how to show art.

I make a list of things that need to come with me to install my work. Anything forgotten can put a real glitch in the plans. It all has to fit in my car (with the back seat out) including my marvelous handtruck which changes into a flatbed and can carry the world and make it feel like a feather. Having done this for other shows, including the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market, I’m getting pretty good at knowing what needs to come, and even better at stashing things afterward in self-contained groupings that make gathering it back together for a show like taking things off the shelf. For several years I have managed to plan my ArtOmatic load-in to occur with several of my volunteer dates so I go early, stay late, and get two things done (one trip: paint and then do shiftwork, one trip hang and then do shiftwork). This year that wasn’t workable, so I’ll just take a full day to paint and hang all at once (on a non-game day when hopefully the garage won’t be charging premium price).

My first two Artomatics were labors of love. I sold nothing. But the last two I’ve done very well. And, it is still a labor of love for me and I’m still always delighted when someone finds something they can’t live without (last year I had two return buyers from the year before – collectors!)

As a way to get to know other artists, and because I blog, I wander through Artomatic several times during the show, taking photos and making notes. Often I contact the artists and many have been kind enough to do interviews via email with me. This has led to getting to know other artists better. Originally my hope was to become more active in the DC art world, but my own inclination not to travel there regularly put an end to that. Now I do it to honor the artists whose work I enjoy and as a way to get to know more people at Artomatic.

I’ll admit that during the hard work of set up I often wonder if it’s all worth it. I think my returning again and again is its own answer!

Technorati Tags: ArtoMatic 2012, Guide to Participating in ArtoMatic, visual artists and artomatic

Permission, 12" clay and mixed media wall sculpture by Tammy Vitale $59.00

If I have learned anything as a coach it is this:  we all yearn for authenticity.

That is a much overused word.  Marketeers have picked it up (especially those marketing services to people who are yearning) and use it without defining it.  Because without a definition it just leaves more dark hole to fall into:  how am I not authentic?  why am I not authentic?  I need someone to fix me!

MY definition of authenticity:  following the whispers of your heart which will lead you to who you came here to be.

First, you are not broken.  You are on a path to your true self and that true self brings something no one else can bring to this world because there is only one you in all of the past, present and future (think about that for a minute!  In addition to being a tiny bit (or a lot) scarey, that makes you VERY special!).  We do not jump from not knowing to knowing in an hour or a day or even in 30 days or a year.  It is a process.  Each step we take unfolds the next step.  The choices we make create the steps we have to choose from.  There are no wrong steps.  There are multiple paths to the true you.  In fact, there’s no way to miss the true you because how can you be anyone but who you are?

The biggest barrier to following those heart whispers is fear:  fear that you’ll take a wrong step (you will); fear that you will be scared and won’t know what to do next (that will absolutely happen, and more than once); fear that someone you love will be angry at you (they will – because you are stepping out to do something they also want to do but they are still frozen by fear.  You show them it is indeed doable and they may hate you for it); fear that you will lose your comfortable life (actually all growth takes place outside of your comfort zone – so if you’re comfortable, you’re playing it safe.  If you’re playing it safe you are not listening to your heart whispers.  Hearts like adventure); fear that we will have to do it all alone (when you feel alone, look for walls that you have built to keep you “safe.”  You are never alone.  It always works out that way); fear that this dark tunnel you are in will never ever end (it will).

What we really want is permission – we want to know that when we take the wrong step, when we are scare, when someone we love is angry at us, when we are restless and antsy and uncomfortable, we are still okay.  And we figure that if  we can get someone else to give us permission (for whatever), then it’s their fault if we get it wrong.  Get over that.  Even if someone gives you permission you make the choice to take the actions that follow that permission.  It’s very empowering, making your own choices and taking responsibility for your actions.  It’s what you came here to learn.

Live Your Own Story

One size does not fit all because each of us comes with unique talents, unique high peaks and dark valleys, and unique ways of gifting the world.  And each of us knows when it is time to start paying attention to why we incarnated on this earth, to start living our dreams.  Becoming truly and wholly who you are, you become a model for those around you who are also yearning.  By moving step by step into your own power, you make a space for others to step into their own power.  Because you are listening to your own inner voice and tending your own story, you do not need to be involved in anyone else’s story.  Any need for power over another goes away because it takes time away from doing the work you came here to do.  Communities of people learning “power with” each other as opposed to “over” each other are what will save our world.  One authentic step at a time.

But just in case you need a helping hand to leap off the cliff,  here is permission.

Wylde Women’s Wisdom

1.  If you aren’t failing at anything, you aren’t trying anything new.  You’re playing it safe.

2.  Playing it safe will feel comfortable until you wake up (or are startled awakeby something the ever generous Universe sends your way) and start paying attention to the fact that you’re being pinched and scraped and bruised daily and have numbed yourself out to it.

3.  You came here for a reason.  Are you living your reason?  Have you even bothered to think about what your reason really is?  Not the one that will make you money, the one that makes your heart sing, and gets you out of the bed every morning with a “Hell YES! Can’t wait to meet this day!”

4. Can you tell me, without thinking hard, 5 things you’ve failed at in the past six months?  (and New Year’s resolutions don’t count).

5.  We don’t begin.  We reason there’s a better time, we need more money, someone else can do it better.  Maybe yes to all that.  But maybe they’re waiting  just as we are and so nothing changes because none of us will just face the fact that tho we might fail, we might also create the space where the next person, riding on the energy that comes through, succeeds.  We owe that to the world (see 3 above).

6.  If you don’t begin, you can’t finish.  You haven’t lost because you haven’t run.  But you ARE lost.

Ready, Set, GO!  Fail at something.  You just might find yourself along the way.

Tammy Vitale

Technorati Tags: authenticity, awake, Begin, dark, empowerment, one and only you, trust the process

Birhouse 2012

Once a year these past three years I sign up to make a Fairy House for a summer program at AnnMarie Sculpture Garden just down the road from where I live.  I have yet to go see all the houses installed – the kids love to track them down all summer.  I do it because at the end of the summer I get to bring them home.  What this does is focus me and force me to do something I wouldn’t do otherwise:  build a house like imaginary space.  It requires measurement, not something I’m fond of or have the patience for.  Except for this project (and this year I also made the birdhouse for their new Home Tweet Home program).  I’m greatly in favor of these program.  They definitely spruce up my yard!).

This year I challenged myself to go bigger with my Fairy House.  The result is 24″H x 14″wide x 14″ deep.

And I’ll tell you a secret:  I stacked the clay to fire, and the back wall bowed significantly.  So I just had to add things to make it look as if it was all planned (and isn’t that what art is all about?  Don’t get upset, see it as a part of the process and the energy making itself felt in its own unique way).

When I made my very first house, it was very “rustic.”  I assumed fairies would use materials at hand.

Fairy House 2010

And I had a lovely gifted oriole’s nest to adorn the house as a kind of hammock that was just waiting for the perfect place to be art.  It was simple and last minute.  It is my granddaughter’s favorite house because she can “open the door” and touch the “chair” and the “bed.”  But I was inspired to bigger and better each year as I participated and saw the fabulous fairy houses others brought to share (maybe this year I’ll get around to pictures!).

Iam grateful to AnnMarie Garden for supplying the impetus and to my Muse for hanging in there with the measuring and other things she pretty much loathes.    I am already thinking that if I start now, next year’s house can have a moss roof!

(click on the photo and it will take you to the photo on its own page.  Click again, and you’ll get a really nice enlargement that will let you see all the details!)

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: AnnMarie Garden Fairies in the Garden, fairy houses, Home Tweet Home

What would it be like if we all strived for ecstasy?  What if we were required to study it in school?  What if everybody in the first grade was taught that we are DIVINE BEINGS, each of us holding a unique gift to give that can bring forward the experience of ecstasy when we SHARE the gift with others/  What is more important than this?  This sharing of ourselves, the loving of others through our unique talents.  Katherin Q. Revoir

This morning I am striving to find something to write about.  I think perhaps I have spent enough time in the studio lately that I am moving from words to not words – I won’t call it vision because that means I’m seeing something spectacular or a premonition or something.  And I’m not. [I will note here that I have recently found Pinterest - talk about visions!]  I’m just more open to all the beautiful possibilties around me and isn’t that what this quote is all about?  Opening to the possibility that is uniquely each one of us and the gifts we bring and share (or don’t share, in the name of comfort, stability, “should,” etc etc etc).

I write that last sentence because it is  apparently the time of year for me to start thinking about how nice a regular pay check would be, how I’ve been blogging for 6 years with no earth shaking numbers are occurences to report.  I don’t know what I expected.  And you know expectations can just ruin your day (or at least that’s what the Buddhist’s say and they say a lot I’m inclined to agree with, if not this particular thing).

Outside it is the 1st day of March and it is acting like late April.  Things are blooming that shouldn’t for another week or so, and I am wandering around lost in Pinterest boards on gardens, or, more specifically, yards and the things people put in them.  Of course the whole time I’m wandering I’m getting filled up which is good, but not making art, which is not so good.  Let’s talk about the good:  I have a ton of ideas that I just need to implement.  They aren’t even hard, I just need to get moving and DO them – no techniques to figure out, they’re right in front of me.  I also have a good deal more product to make in case I get into the 3 shows I have applied to and haven’t heard from yet. (I’ve hear back from 3:  2 yeses and 1 no).  Which reminds me - if you live in the St Augustine, FL area, I will be there at the Old Towne show March 31 and April 1.  Do stop by and say “hi.”

I guess this is all by way of saying that a bit of restless is okay – Spring does that (even when it’s early).  And through the regular product lines and the shows I AM recommiting to my own unique skills of making art this life time around.  And slipping in some pieces that aren’t production (it’s still production, even if every one is made differently – the basic outlines are in place and I don’t have to think, just make).

So here are my latest pieces off the “production” line for your viewing enjoyment.  If you spot one you must have, drop me a line at info@TammyVitale.com and let me know.  Prices start at $55 and go up to $110 (2: the blue “tropical” one with bas relieve bird of paradise plant and the bronze one with the dragonfly jar).

I also want to turn you onto an amazing woman artist I discovered at The Baltimore Arts and Crafts Show last weekend, Kimberly Willcox.

Work by Kimberly Willcox at the Baltimore Craft Show 2012

Her art is amazing!  Do yourself a favor and click over and browse.  Best in show!    There was another wonderful ceramic artists but first I must find where I stuck my show book and find his card because I cannot remember his name (even though his work was fabulous! Doesn’t that intrigue you?!  Then you’ll just have to stay tuned – I know that book is around here somewhere.)

(Consider the quote at the top your Wylde Women’s Wisdom for the day!)

Wylde Woman with Cat and Bird by Tammy Vitale

I’m in the midst of an awful cold – too soon I congratulated myself on making it though the season without getting sick!  Anyways, not feeling well kind of puts a damper on new and exciting thoughts.  As does working with new software for my art pictures that has me about ready to tear my hair out (that would be LightRoom).  So I needed a new story to pick me up and give me a bit of energy for the studio today since yesterday I slept a lot and could probably do the same thing today.

A while back I was working through one of those on-line daily post things (I do this to make myself stretch now and then).  This one was a prompt:  Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.  (Karen Waldron, Reverb10 Day

I drew a blank on this.

So I asked Hubby.  He said: You question authority.  And you live your life not by any bottom line but by what feels right to you.

Well, doesn’t everyone?  Maybe not.  I needed a view from outside the pond to get me started on thinking about how I might be remarkable.  His comment was enough to click my own thoughts into place.

I am an amazing facilitator.  In 4 hours I can take a room of disparate folks and have them organized into working groups around issues they (not I) think are important.  Once, in Zambia, I had to do an 8 hour training that I had not been warned of.  About fundraising.  I had no idea what might work in Zambia so I broke the group out into 6 groups of 8 and had them list all the things that had every worked for them, including the organizations that had funded them (often a closely held secret).  Then the groups reported out.  At the end of 4 hours, they all had a fund raising plan, and I could leave them with the idea that they had done it themselves.  They didn’t need an American in the mix to tell them how.  They already knew, they just had to share information.

People trust me.  Strangers talk to be about their heart’s desires, and acquaintances tell me secrets knowing I won’t judge and won’t tell.  Clients think I can read minds.  The truth is that I’ve lived a lot of versions of “life” this go round, and have “been there and done that.”  And I’m happy to share what I’ve learned along the way.  Mostly I ask a lot of questions.  People know without knowing they know.  Like the Zambians, and like my needing my husband’s input, sometimes we just need someone to part the waters so we can see outside the pond.

I work well with all demographics but most especially with folks who find themselves marginalized because of a system (government, social, community).  I not only question authority, I am not afraid to fight city hall.  And when I fight city hall, I generally win.

I am a linchpin.  I know how to bring people together and make a safe place for them to explore new, often scarey ideas.  I am the connector who can link the dots among different groups and ideas.  I am a catalyst without trying.  It is in my very nature.  I don’t even have to think about it.  Sometimes this is a good thing.  Sometimes it makes people very uncomfortable.  Self included.

I am a synthesizer.  I read widely and quickly, digest information across disciplines and put it back out in a format that is understandable by someone not familiar with the subject matter(s).

I understand the power of story and know how to story to create change.

I understand power itself, and all the cloaks it hides itself in.  I can name it and pull it out of the shadows.

One of my greatest strengths is taking something abstract and making it concrete:  be it an idea or energy that wants to be art.

I realize I don’t think of these skills (or myself) as remarkable because they are my gifts in this life.  These abilities come to me without thought.  They are the pond that I swim in.

When was the last time you tallied up your strong points instead of your weak points?  Take a minute right now to do that!  I’d love to hear at least one of your strong points in the comments – go ahead:  toot your own horn!

Oh – and if tooting your own horn gives you the willies, time to get over it. You are one of a kind.  There will NEVER be another you!  Go ahead – tell me about your remarkable self!

Wylde Womens Wisdom

We must come together in a new way – consciously.  Our stories are of individuals but only as they are told collectively do they move us forward.  In the process of telling our stories as a conscious act, we begin to define ourselves and our reality.  ..In sharing experiences and stories, women learn to value themselves, to recognize stagnant and destructive patterns in their lives, to name their strengths and to begin to take responsibility for their lives.  Christ and Plaskow

Sooner or later someone walks through that door and pushes all out buttons.  We find ourselves hating those people or scared of them or feeling like we just can’t handle them.  The is true always, if we are sincere about wanting to benefit others.  Sooner or later, all of our own unresolved issues will cime up; we’l be confronted with ourselves.  Pema Chordon

The universe is made up of stories, not atoms.  Muriel Rukeyser