Lark Artists Handmade Holiday Show

Don't forget to come out to the Lark Artists Handmade Holiday Show tomorrow in Asheboro from 11am - 5pm. I will be there along with 40 other artists. It is a great opportunity to buy handmade, buy local! I have lots of note cards, posters, earrings and many small paintings on sale just for this event!

Lark Artists Handmade Holiday Art Show

Skip the hectic shopping at the mall and start your holiday shopping on Saturday, December 3 at the Lark Artists Handmade Holiday art show.  This extravaganza of 40+ North Carolina artists will be in uptown Asheboro, NC at The Exchange, 204 S. Fayetteville Street (parking located in the city municipal lot behind The Exchange---come in the rear entrance).  This is a free event----open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  I will be selling notecards and posters featuring my artwork as well as earrings and lots of small paintings on sale just for this event!

Lark Artists, producers of the Handmade Holiday art show are Laurie Abela, Amy Keith Barney, Cori Cagle, Et Hacskaylo, Mary Murkin, Rich Powell, Brooke Sides, Debra Spinks and Melissa Walker will also be joined by guest artists Hank Allred, Carey Linville Benson, Cathy Branscom, Betsy Browne, Kim Brownie, Janice Carroll, Wanda Cox, Robert Crutchfield, Henrietta Cummings, Joseph Ezzell, Eve Fenberg, Clanci Foxx, Sandy Johnson, Brenda Jones, Rick Kondracki, Melissa Lowery, Sandy McGhee, Lisa Moore, Mandy Nelson, Jill Painter, Kenye Pierce, Debbie Pike, Jodi Ohl, Flossie Reed, Suzanne Rehbock, Sonya Coulson Rook, Jean Rogers, Jean Skipper, Amy Smith, Dawn Tagawa, Emily Thompson and Tiffany Wheless.

This juried art show is the largest mixed-arts/crafts holiday show in Randolph County area.  Original works from over 40+ North Carolina artists will include:  Pottery, glasswork, paintings, drawings, hand-woven baskets, woodwork, hand-poured candles, bath and body products, toys, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces, hand-sewn items, hand-stitched fiber wearables, metal sculptures, garden and home décor pieces, baked goods, jams/jellies, homemade honey, and much more!  

In addition to providing an amazing local shopping opportunity, this event will also feature live music by "Our Two Cents"-featuring the very talented local musicians extraordinaire Ray Betts and Steve Cain.  Their music is described as "acoustic blues and stuff".  Also available will be local business, BrewBakes Coffee and Cake, located at 323 Sutie H Hwy 49 South, Asheboro, NC 27205 will be on-site offering a selection of gourmet box lunches, sweet treats and drinks for purchase during the show.

A silent auction of donated items from participating Handmade Holiday artists will be available for bid.  Proceeds from the silent auction will be given to the Christians United Outreach Center (CUOC) in an effort to give back to an organization that gives so much to the community all year long.  Canned goods will be accepted at the door and donated to CUOC to help restock the food pantry shelves for the holidays as well as monetary donations.

Don't miss this one-of-a-kind one-day art show filled with all handmade original artwork, talented musicians and scrumptious food.  Your holiday season will be complete after spending the day at the Handmade Holiday!  For more information about the Lark Artists Handmade Holiday art show email larkartists@gmail.com or visit www.larkartists.org.

Captions!

Sort of got the captions in. Still some issues.

Playing Around in Blogger

Having fun today figuring out how to add a thumbnail gallery to my portfolio page. I have added slide shows of my ATC"S and Journal pages, but wanted something more traditional for my portfolio page. After finding a tutorial on the web, Blogger Thumbnail Gallery, I got it to work. The HTML code looks overwhelming at first, but you really just need to copy and paste most things. I still need to add label info to all my images. That will take some additional work. Take a look! Portfolio

Big Weekend of Art in Alamance County!

Next weekend (October 15 & 16) is going to be a BIG weekend for art in Alamance County when the Alamance Studio Tour 2011 will be held.  (www.alamancestudiotour.com )  

As one of the 52 featured artists on the tour, my new studio at 2203 Lakeview Terrace in Burlington, NC  will be open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 10-5 & Sunday, Oct. 16 from 12-5.  There will be refreshments, door prizes and a free art lesson on Zentangles to all who stop by for a visit. My studio is in the basement, so be sure to enter from the back.

I am also teaming up with three other tour artists, potter Peggy McCormick, jeweler and spirit portrait artist, Carolyn Hill, and mixed media artist, India Cain.  We have created a ‘tour within the tour.’  Plan to spend the morning or afternoon visiting all three studio destinations on our ‘tour within the tour’ where you will have the opportunity to register to win some of our beautiful original artwork.

Here is a sneak preview of my new studio and teaching space. I have computer access and wireless internet for those that need instruction on using the internet to promote their business. There is a comfortable seating area, a full kitchen and bathroom facilities for my longer workshops. The spacious teaching area is fully equiped with a variety of supplies and large tables. My own working space is there as well.

Red Hat Corporate Show

 



















Dropped off a lot of new work for the Red Hat Corporate Show in Raleigh. The work will be up through December. Unfortunately, only people that work there will see the show. I should be able to get pictures, once everything is hung. Now to get busy painting for my show in Charleston in Dec!

Visit Me at the Studio Tour!

Join me on Saturday Oct 15 from 10am-5pm and Sunday Oct. 16 from 12pm- 5pm for the 2nd annual Alamance Artisans Studio Tour. My new studio and teaching space will be open for you to see.The address is:

Stanfield Walker Studio

2203 Lakeview Terrace

Burlington, NC

There will be refreshments, door prizes and a special art project, Zentangles, that I will be teaching for those that are interested. There are over 50 artists on the tour. Visit the webpage at http://alamancestudiotour.com/artists.html for more information and the facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AlamanceStudioTour . Hope to see you there!

Book Arts Workshop: Layer It On!

  These are some pictures from the 3 hour workshop I offered at Barton College last Saturday. My focus in on using layers to create visually interesting journal pages. Everyone had a great time. Other workshop instructors offered bookbinding classes. The exhibit in conjunction with the workshops included some beautiful examples of book arts as well.

 I will be teaching another Visual Journaling class at Hickory Mountain Weavery  on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9-3pm. I will be teaching a number of different techniques to add interest and excitement to your journals or altered books. For more information, email me at melissa@melissawalkerartist.com

Two of my visual journals will be included in the “Il Libro: The Art of the Book” exhibition in the Case Art Building on the Barton College campus in Wilson. The exhibition will run through September 24 with a public reception on Sunday, Aug. 28, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Artworks featured in this exhibition represent contemporary bookmaking trends. The editioned books and one-of-a-kind artists’ books showcase include traditional sewn structures, altered books, sculptural books, broadsides and innovative approaches created in various media including letterpress, handmade paper, printmaking, photography, collage, fiber and ceramics.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Barton Art Galleries will host “Book Arts Extravaganza Workshops” on Saturday, Sept. 10. Join other participants for a day of hands-on bookmaking and artistic journaling techniques. Instructors include: Lisa Beth Robinson, Gérard Lange, and Susan Fecho and myself. My workhop is on visual journaling and will run from 1-4pm.

For more information about these upcoming events or to make reservations for the workshop, please contact Bonnie LoSchiavo in the Barton Art Galleries at 252-399-6477, email: blloschiavo@barton.edu,  or visit: http://www.barton.edu/galleries/education.

ECU School of Art Alumni Exhibition

 The East Carolina University School of Art and Design Alumni Exhibition 2011 will feature the work of 234 graduates from the state’s largest art school. I am proud to be included in this exhibit. The show is so large that it will be a joint exhibition by three venues: the Wellington B. Gray Art Gallery at ECU, the Greenville Museum of Art, and the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge. The exhibition will be on display from September 2 through October 1. Participating artists live in 28 states plus the District of Columbia.

My work is located in the Greenville Museum of Art  located at 802 South Evans Street in Greenville.  The Museum is open Tuesday – Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.  Call 252-758-1946 or visit www.gmoa.org for more information.

Latest News

Finally back in town after a very busy summer. I started off the summer by finishing a lot of new work for my show in Clayton. These are just a small sampling. I am still using nautical charts as my collage, experimenting with new colors and adding silhouettes. Then 3 days in Charleston and a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas gave me some needed down time.

My new studio space in Burlington is finished, though it still needs some organizing. I taught my first classes there this July! My studio will be open Oct. 15 and 16 for the Alamance Studio Tour. Be sure to stop in for refreshments, door prizes and to see my new work. I will also be doing demos on ATC's and Zentangles.

School has started and the kids will be back on the 25th of this month.
I am looking forward to a creative year. This will be my 22nd year teaching
art. I love working with the high school age students. I am hoping to teach
private and semi private lessons as well in my Burlington studio this coming year.
Let me know if you or your student is interested. To see some of my students'
artwork, visit my RHS art department page at
Randleman High School Art Department

 

I have a couple of workshops coming up. This Saturday, Aug. 27, I will be teaching a visual journal workshop at the Hickory Mountain Weavery
on Hwy 64 near Siler City. This is a great opportunity to learn an assortment of techniques for creating journal pages. A handout with 100 journal topics is included in the class along with all your supplies. I will be doing another journaling workshop at Barton College on Saturday, Sept 10. Hope to see you at one of these!

I also have 2 shows scheduled for this fall. The first will be at the Red Hat Corporate offices in Raleigh and will run from Oct. through Jan.
The second show is at the North Charleston Gallery in SC and will run during the month of December. The opening is Thursday,
Dec 1 from 5-7pm.

I am staying busy. Guess that is good!

New Show Opening in Clayton NC

Finally back from Charleston and the Bahamas. Had a great time. Now time to get back to work. My opening in Clayton is this Thursday evening. Hope you can make it!  show info

Helping Set Up a New Blog

Today, I am helping a friend get her blog set up. Wish us luck!

Got a picture edited today of my painting. Title: Drifting Past Cedar Island" , acrylic and collage. Trying some new colors and using a handcarved linoleum block to add texture. What is your favorite part?

Monoprinting Workshop

Had a great time yesterday with Debra, Lana and Didi during my workshop. They
were able to make over 45 prints using my printing press and supplies. Let me know if you would like to take this workshop in the future!

Newsletter Coming Out Tomorrow!

My newsletter is going out tomorrow. Ten Steps to a Creative Life is my theme for the year. This issue talks about Discovering Something New. Upcoming workshops and shows are listed as well as the poster winner for this issue. Sign up now for your chance to win one of my 18"x24" posters in the next issue!

New Zentangles

Finished these 2 zentangles at the open house at Hickory Mountain Weavery a couple of weekends ago. Hope you get a chance to go. If not be sure to visit this beautiful location. Check out their webpage for upcoming class schedules. There is a lot going on there!

Art Biz Coach Workshop

What an informative workshop this past Friday and Saturday with Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Coach.

It will take me weeks to put into place all the tips I learned!

Posting your Blog to Your FaceBook Page

Just learned how to send my blog entries to Facebook through my RSS feed. Should save me a lot of time because I won't have to post to 2 different places. To see if this actually is working, go to my Facebook page, Melissa Walker, artist and look for this post. This is thanks to Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Coach who gave a very informative workshop this past weekend. Pictures from the workshop will be coming soon.

State of the Art, Art of the State

I had a whirlwind trip through the east coast of NC this past weekend. It started with a trip to the Cameron Museum to drop off a piece of artwork for the State of the Art, Art of the State exhibit. Over 800 works of art were included by any artist that brought work in during a 24 hour period. The show will be up for 6 months and is a wonderful opportunity for me to exhibit in a new part of the state. My piece is below and is entitled "Afternoon Sail On Broad Creek". It includes nautical charts as well as scraping and stamping techniques in acrylic.

From Wilmington, I traveled to New Bern to drop off several pieces at the New Bern Artworks Gallery on Middle St. I was excited to learn that they will soon be moving to a much larger space on Pollock St. If you happen to be in either New Bern or Wilmington, stop by to see my work!

The Faces of Education

Over 2000 educators came together on May 3 to urge the legislature to keep the one cent sales tax and avoid massive public educaton layoffs and cuts. Keeping the sales tax, along with some much smaller cuts will almost single-handedly wipe out the state budget deficit. To me, it makes no sense that at a time when we need to be most competitive with the rest of the world, some in our legislature is hellbent on destroying public education, one of the main things businesses need to compete. Look at my photos and see all the faces of teachers and assistants who are in education because they truly care about their students, and not because of the money!

see more photos

Chihuly Glass in San Antonio

I was in San Antonio recently for my son and son-in-law's graduation from Air Force BMT. Had the chance to visit the San Antonio Museum of Art, located on the riverwalk. It is a large and beautiful museum and included this work by Dale Chihuly. These are just 2 parts of a large piece hanging from the ceiling. I always enjoy the colors, textures and massiveness of Chihuly's work.

Ten Steps To A Creative Life!

 Just finished sending out my 3rd newsletter, Ten steps to a Creative Life 

I am starting a series of short articles on the steps I have taken to get my artist life back on track. This first step is on "Carving Out Your Space", probably the most important step for me. With each newsletter, I will write about a different step I have taken and how it has helped me as an artist. Please join me on my creative journey by signing up for my newsletter. Join in with comments about your own journey. For those that post comments or pictures of their studio spaces between now and May 30, you will have the chance to win a poster of one of my artworks. Let's get creative!

Such Beauty!

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to see the most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. This photo doesn't do it justice since it was taken with my phone. The rainbow stretched from horizon to horizon, completely unbroken and even had a second, very faint rainbow over top of it. You can see it if you look closely. Hope you enjoy this photo!

More New Journals

 Here are 2 more pages from my current journal. This one, when I finish it, will be on display at Barton College this August. I will also be giving a workshop there on journaling as well. More on that later.

First Workshop at Hickory Mountain Weavery

 

 












The weather was beautiful this past Saturday for my first workshop at  the Hickory Mountain Weavery near Siler City. Although I was expecting 5, I had 3 students who made it. A couple were camera shy, but one student was happy to show off his finished paintings. Here is some of the work that was finished.

New Journal Pages

I started these journal pages as a demo for a workshop I gave this past summer. I was showing students how to add a window to their books. Finished them off recently with a couple of different sayings.