Diva Reunion photos

Just adding another photo of our fabulous and creative
adventure here in Saluda . 12 of us gathered together
again for a 2 year reunion with Kristi Steiner
here in Saluda at Snails Pace.


The weather was certainly
in our favor as several of us took a short hike
to Pearson Falls right here in Saluda.
Along the way we gathered interesting fragments from
nature to inspire our afternoon journaling and collage.

An ATC a day... .continued

No, not mine but that of Gerard and Amanda from
Wilson, NC. Check it out. They are amazing and
talented, just like us. Every day
he creates a drawing on an ATC
and gives it to her.
Follow their blog to see their
newest additions.

It's finally here!

Cloth Paper Scissors® Studios
This special issue is dedicated to creating beautiful, inviting, unique, and functional studios for making collages, quilts, handmade books, and other types of fiber and mixed-media art. You will enjoy a full color zine with fascinating looks at studios and spaces of artist such as Cheryl Prater, Debbie Crane, Beryl Taylor, Tracie Lyn Huskamp, Judi Coates Perez, Lesley Riley and many more. They graciously open the doors to their studios and show us
where "the magic happens"

STUDIOS
" A Spa for the Creative Soul" from the publishers of Cloth Paper Scissors

• 10 projects to personalize your creative space
• Budget storage solutions
• 101 ways to organize your art and fabric supplies
• Extreme studio makeover with Patricia Bolton, Editor CPS

and much, much more.
Available now at Random Arts

Cleveland County Arts Workshops

9 enthusiastic participants joined me in Shelby, NC at
the Cleveland County Arts Council this past Tuesday night.
Each person created their own interpretation
of a self portrait...or not. Some chose to do
favorite animals, or very abstract images.
From glossy magazine pages to
a complete "work of art" -
a fun time was had by all.
Thanks to everyone who
attended and thanks
to Ellen Yunker for asking me
to be a part of their awesome facility.

Look who's here!

A surprise and unexpected visit from Barbara McGuire, PMC & polymer clay artist, author, craftsperson, teacher, TV Star and more.....

You all know her, right? You have seen her books, read her books, seen her name in all the publications? She called to say that she was in the area and she had heard all about our shop and wanted to come by. We had a fabulous time visiting and catching up on who's where, who is doing what in the industry. Anyone interested in doing some extraordinary classes in polymer clay please let me know. We have an accomplished artist near by who is anxious to be a part of our shop.

Saluda Shelf

Update on the shelf
Yes, the "Q" went missing the day after it was placed on the shelf
but we sort of expected that. See.......................it's gone!
We are just wondering what is going to show up next.
Each day another piece of art, nature, frivolity, garbage, what?
Who is going to add the next item? Follow up to continue with YOU
as a participant.

Look at this... Last week I cut some branches off of my

flowering quince and forsythia shrubs and brought them
into my kitchen. This is something that I had always wanted to do
but for some reason I either cut them too late or I was too early.
This year.... perfection.

Unexpected visitors to Random Arts on Saturday...
Gerard Lange -(check out the portfolio on artist books)
Art Professor at Barton College, Wilson,
NC and Amanda, a High School Art teacher overjoyed me
with their presence and shared their stories, journals and
ATC's with me. Gerard creates an ATC each & every day....
He draws these with fine art pencils on 2ply water color
paper & is inspired from his beautiful relationship with
his fiance, Amanda. One day it might be a shopping cart
drawing from their trip to the market. Next time it might
be the calculator they used & the next day it might be
a drawing of her jeep. She has kept each & every one of
his ATC's in 3 separate wooden boxes that she obviously
treasures more than anything. She teaches her high
school art students, among other things,
altered books and he teaches photo shop
at Barton College which includes transferring the process
into journals. Both of them have done such amazing work
as you can see from her journal pages.
I could not help but be inspired by all that they
shared with me... including their loving
relationship...aaahhhhhhh. I think I might have
encouraged him to do a blog of his ATC's so I will
keep you posted on that. They are incredible & Amanda is sure
that his work will be published some day and I think that
she might be right.Be sure to check out his web site.

Diva retreat update...

As promised, updates and photos from our Diva Retreat will continue.
Linda just sent a few awesome pictures so I wanted to included them
for all to see.

Have you seen it?

A mysterious shelf, attached to a telephone pole,
right here on Main Street in Saluda has found it's
resting spot. Some call it a shrine, an altar, a drop
spot or work of art waiting to be.
From what I hear, people are visiting and dropping
off all sorts of "personal treasures" on this shelf.
Some may choose to "take" from it instead of
giving, but that too is part of the universal process ---
to add, to subtract --- to give---to take----
to create. Let's just observe and see what happens.