Open house at The Shirt Factory!

OPEN HOUSE!

The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls holds its annual Spring Open House on Saturday, May 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Shirt Factory, located at the corner of Cooper and Lawrence Streets, houses artists' studios, galleries, a holistic healing center and shops. The tenants offer demonstrations, art receptions, sales and information on classes, custom work and services. In the building: Artists working in paint, textiles, pastel, clay, glass, fine jewelry, photography and more; plus shops selling tea, quilting supplies, art supplies, art, framing services, gift items and more. Admission is free.

Come see me on the third floor! You can meet my new studiomate, pottery girl Sarah Bates!

Studiomate needed, once more!

Hey you out there in internet-land,
It's that time again! We're looking for a studio-mate.

Right now, it's Larissa Cardone (teaching children's classes and "sprucing" up furniture), Cindy Gorman (master metalsmith), Mitzi Miller (making awesome paintings) and me (mixed media artist).

The studio's on the third floor of The Shirt Factory, which is an artist's community in Glens Falls on the corner of Cooper and Lawrence Streets.

- There's 1200 square feet of room total and you'd get a decent chunk of that.
- There's a sink handy, we have a fridge and a microwave you can use, and a fetching green couch.
- The bathroom's close, in the hallway.
- You can paint your walls any color you choose (and we're working together on a co-op gallery/shop idea, which you could be in on).
- You can get in to do your thing any time you want.
- You can keep and do whatever you want there (as long as it's not stinky, dead or [very] illegal).
- Lots of light.
- Your new built-in studiomates are pretty awesome.
- It's great for artists, crafters, musicians, or people in need of some storage space.
- It's $120 a month.

Interested? Drop a line, we'll talk. I have pictures, or can give you a tour.
kate@kateaustin.net or (518) 353-2121

The new studio & open house

Well, the planets aligned and there are likely to be five of us in the studio rather than four, which means a cheaper rent and more exciting things happening in one room. I'm psyched about it! We've got Mitzi, who's a painter and a friend of mine, and Cindy, who's a metalsmith and jewelry designer. They'll be moving in (Cindy is still a maybe at the moment) as of December, and Larissa, who is taking old things and sprucing them up, is already moved in! I really am lucky.

But before December, there's the annual Shirt Factory Holiday Showcase! It's this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Come in and see what the Shirt Factory is all about!

Studiomate needed!

Well, our studiomate Zack Zoll is looking to move out, and that leaves us with a gap in the rent. Right now, it's Casey the Candy Thief (seamstress and funkmaster), Steve Gallucci (piano rockstar) and me (messy person visual artist-slash-stuffmaker).

The studio's on the third floor of The Shirt Factory, which, in case you didn't know, is an artist's community in Glens Falls on the corner of Cooper and Lawrence Streets.

- There's 1200 square feet of room total and you'd get a corner of that.
- There's a sink handy, we have fridges and a microwave you can use, and a fetching green couch.
- The bathroom's close, down the hall.
- You can paint your walls any color you choose.
- You can get in to do your thing any time you want.
- You can keep and do whatever you want there (as long as it's not stinky, dead or [very] illegal).
- Lots of light.
- Casey, Steve and I are pretty awesome.
- It's great for artists, crafters, musicians, or people in need of some storage space.
- It's $150 a month.

Interested? Drop a line, we'll talk. I have pictures, or can give you a tour.

mantras, wishes and prayers.

Tonight I won a prize at bjsartworks' "From Victim to Victory: A Domestic Violence Awareness Project" art show. It was a good show - normally I'm not wowed by every single piece in a show, but there was so much emotion in every single one of them that I really was in awe. The reception itself was powerful, too, with a sing-along and original song by Pam Barker, who had inspired Bev Saunders to put this show together.

The painting I put in is called "STOP." I have a way of trying to use my art as a way to wish, pray, do mantras or voodoo or - I don't know what. It's like if I painted this hard enough, it would stop. I've done that with others - if you look on the website's gallery and click "Tell the Sky" or "Wish" you'll see the same sort of thing. Let's hope this stuff works.

Here's the winning painting, and the ribbon. Thanks to Bev for putting it all together - this was a really wonderful show and I'm glad I could be a part of it.



Bjsartworks is located on the second floor of The Shirt Factory, on the corner of Lawrence and Cooper Streets in Glens Falls, New York. The show is up until Halloween, and I really recommend checking it out.

Obama vs. McCain: Arts policy

What just came through my email inbox? Why, it's Barack Obama's Arts Policy. Just skim the headlines - funding for the arts and arts education, cultural diplomacy, this Artist Corps sounds fun... even... WHAT? HEALTH CARE for artists. Wow. WOW. I think I'm hooked. Reading through this is like eating candy, like reading a wish list of mine. Even if most of these things don't happen in real life, I can't believe we've actually got a guy running for President that's actually thinking this way. Artists are so used to working late into the night for little to no recognition that this nod our way seems way too good to be true.

However, in the interest of fairness - and I don't mean this sarcastically. I work for a newspaper now and am increasingly aware of the importance of fairness - I thought I ought to look up John McCain's arts policy.

From what I can find on the internet, he doesn't have one. I'm not the first blogger to bring this up, either. A google search on "McCain's arts policy" brings up several posts about this very topic. Artocracy has actually tried contacting McCain's campaign to figure out his policy and gotten no response.

Elizabeth Currid of Election 2008 writes, "McCain doesn’t have an arts policy, other than a desire to eliminate spending directed toward the arts."

Her entire article is worth reading, as it outlines what cuts have been made to arts funding in the last 15 years and provides statistics that are hard to argue with about how the arts makes up a good percent of the workforce.

I have to say that this is very smart marketing on Senator Obama's part. Senator McCain must not realize how many of us there are who, while are also concerned about the economy and safety of our country, really struggle every day with this stuff.

I'm open to rebuttals -- has anybody out there seen otherwise on this issue?

Okay, maybe I get it now.

I just may have figured out why so many people around here paint pictures of Lake George.



Some background, if you're not from around here: When you're checking out the local art scene, it's kind of a "blah blah blah Lake George" thing. EVERYONE does paintings of Lake George, and it's a serious snooze. Sure, it's pretty, but it's decorative. My idea of good art isn't decorative. Blecch.

My idea of good art is that it means something. It pushes envelopes. It's personal, it's emotional, it's important, it invokes a reaction and conveys something real and human. It makes people angry, or sad, or joyful, and number one, it's original - it's not just blahhhh, ANOTHER painting of a lake - how very exciting for you. There's so much "pretty" art out there, and I really have no desire to clutter up the world with more of it. How many times can people paint the same thing before the painting police put a stop to this!?

Honestly, I realize that people want to have something pretty in their homes, but gosh, it's so boring. Admittedly, I've done a landscape or three, done my small share of florals, succumbing to the sad fact that nobody really wants to buy my angsty life on paper.

However, I had the opportunity last week to go out on Lake George for the first time, for an Editorial meeting in my boss Mark Frost's boat. And I think I get it.

When you're actually there, soaking up Lake George, you want more than anything to paint it, to take that feeling of exhilaration and relaxation and capture it so you can share it with everyone else. When people buy paintings of Lake George, they can point out the islands - Lake George vacationers and natives know the names of them, and have good memories associated with them. It is a personal thing. I took lots of pictures...



I even liked it so much that I went back to the Lake with my boyfriend Cory. We hiked in, laid out a picnic, jumped in the water and laid in the sun. I took pictures of that, too. Watch out - you just might see some Lake George paintings from me yet!



... I'm not gonna pretend they're anything original, though.