The Studios of Stacey Kirby

Ok, you have to promise not to tell anyone… I’m not supposed to show you yet… but I just finished my part of the collaborative painting this morning and I can’t keep it to myself. It’s just a little sneak peak!

This is a tiny part of a big painting that has gone the rounds among The Artist’s Group. By the time it’s finished, the work of about ten artist’s will be represented in one painting. I’ve never done a collaborative painting like this before, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how such distinctive styles can merge, creating one successful piece. Earlier today one of the painters commented on how this painting is very symbolic of our group; a range of unique individuals contributing their talent and skill to create one fantastic whole, The Artist’s Group!

This special work of art will be raffled off as a fund raiser for OCALS (Orleans County Adult Learning Services) an organization I’ve mentioned here before.  Discussions between Patty Hawley, (a member of OCALS and a very inspired woman) and members of our group led to the formation of a very beneficial partnership. Our two young organizations came together and planned a show of artwork created along the theme of literacy, with this collaborative painting as the centerpiece.

The show runs November 21st until January 8th 2010. Raffle tickets will be sold as the painting travels to different locations around Orleans County, while the show hangs in Elsewhere Coffeehouse in Albion. The raffle will take place at Elsewhere during the closing reception on December 18th. I’ll post more details as the date draws near!

Show Opening: Saturday, November 21, 6pm – 8pm

Unveiling of the Painting: 7:30

At Elsewhere Coffee House

November! Bringing us a brilliant show of color before winter paints the world white.

It’s time for another First Friday gallery event at Marti’s on Main! There are so many things going on in our scenic little town of Albion, (three art exhibits and two live music performances)  it looks like it will be quite a night!

• Apple-icious First Friday Live music at Spotlight Studio, a variety of shops open late along Main St for a little early holiday shopping, Apple Wine and Hard Cider tastings for $7 at Elsewhere Coffee House, with more live music upstairs.
• Closing Reception of Voices of the Earth at the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce 7pm-9pm. “The exhibit features more than a dozen pieces of pottery hand-crafted by Hispanic farm worker women who participated in a creative arts and English language program provided by the World Life Institute in Waterport. The program is supported by Orleans-Niagara BOCES and with a Reach Grant administered by GO ART!, funded by the state Council on the Arts.”
• Art Opening at Salih Studio. Salih Studio is a beautiful space. I’m not sure what will be hanging this Friday, but judging by the shows I’ve seen there in the past it will be full of great artwork.
• And of course the Exhibit at Marti’s. 5:30 – 9pm.  There are only two more First Friday events this year before Marti’s closes for the winter to begin renovations. When they reopen in the Spring, the gallery will have twice as much space to exhibit.

I hope you all have an opportunity to stop by and join in the fun – be sure to say hello if you see me there! It’s not just the events and activities that make First Friday great – it’s the friendly people and small town atmosphere. I love it.

This month I find myself revisited by certain thoughts, over and over again.

“Each project teaches something new.” This line can be reassuring and also intimidating. When I find myself ignorant of any aspect of a project, I remind myself that each mural presents different problems to solve, guaranteed. There’s no way you can be prepared for everything life throws at you. Deal with it all as best you can, use your innate skills to solve whatever problems come your way, and remember for the future.  Have faith that, if nothing else, you will learn something. It also means that no matter how many murals I do, no matter how many situations I’m prepared to deal with, there will always be a new and surprising challenge waiting somewhere in the future. Scary? Maybe a little. But definitely exciting.

“You reap what you sow.”A simple straightforward decorative mural, done well, is a satisfying accomplishment. But a community mural installation that increases tourism and bolsters the economy is even better. One of them takes a little more effort, time and energy then the other and sometimes it may seem like the end will never be in sight.  But if you let yourself get scared off by the big ones, if you never give yourself the opportunity to prove that you can handle it, you’ll never enjoy the accomplishment and the rewards that come with tackling an ambitious project and seeing it through to success. Personally, I like a good mix of simple and ambitious.  I love to concoct big convoluted projects like ToH, and the straightforward portrait or observational drawing is a wonderful refreshing break now and then.

“If only I would just sit down and paint.” Ah, procrastination. I have an ungodly amount of painting to do in the next month. But lately it seems that the amount of work piling up in the studio inspires the same level of procrastination. Are there any other painters out there feeling the same thing? How do you get yourself into the studio on those days where even the vaccuumm is more enticing then a paintbrush? Regardless of the fact that painting is usually the very best thing for my own personal well being, sometimes I just can’t do it. The life of a creative professional!

On that note, I’d better get back to work!

Two hundred years ago, my hometown of Gaines was founded. At the time, it was probably little more then a narrow log road through the wilderness, maybe with a general store and a tavern thrown in amongst the scattering of churches and log cabins. Before the canal, Ridge Rd was one of the few tracts through the tractless, and before white settlers it was an Indian trail. For WNY it doesn’t get any more historical then that!

If you’re interested in some bona fide facts from a knowledgeable person (unlike the above paragraph – we’ll call that a bunch of educated guesses) then you should definitely stop by the Gaines Bicentennial Festivities. For such a little town, there’s an impressive amount of stuff going on. Starting with a Pancake Breakfast at 7am, followed by a pretty fantastic parade (my family has a float!), Quilt Show, Car Show, food and the annual Old Timer’s Day at the Cobblestone Museum (which has many activities unto itself) followed by an outdoor movie and then fireworks at 8.

And of course there is the FINE ART SHOW! This is where I will be with the usual ToH setup: a finished panel, and an in progress-panel with brochures and question answering! At least ten other members of the Artist’s Alliance will be there with their work.  It will be a great day, and the weatherman promises just a light sprinkle in the morning with sun in the afternoon. Don’t miss it! You’ll have to wait another two hundred years for the next one.

Stumbling across an online reference to the studio or ToH is always a fun surprise . Here is an article from the Batavia Daily News that I found today. Virgina Kropf stopped by to interview me just after I began to really get into the painting. At the time, I wasn’t very confident a that I was making a lot of sense – whenever my braincells are preoccupied with 500 shades of green, it can be challenging to put intelligent sentences together! But thankfully Virginia interpreted everything well, with the help of a brochure.

I actually found this article as I was looking for a different one from the Batavia Daily News. Several weeks ago I met a reporter to talk about ToH and I have yet to see it. I’m pretty sure I sounded a lot less paint-addled that day, so it must have been a good one!

Someday soon I will put together a better post about the fair. It was a lot of fun, and I have a few drawings to share as well as the progress I made on the map panel shown in the article.  Now I’d better get to work, I have a lot of painting to do today!