Speaking of puppetry

Speaking of puppetry in my last post brings me to share this big puppet with you.

This "Charlie Chaplin" puppet is the creation of John Manders.  John is the National Transit Studios resident children's book illustrator.  Now John of course had help with this guy.  He drew up the plans for the puppet and created the skeleton.  But other transit artists, Carol McDonald and Joann Wheeler created his head, hands and feet.  Help with the puppet wasn't limited to just the Transit artists.  The Giant unicycle was created by Bill Kapp and Charlie's clothes were made by Ecclesiastical Threads.  And of course the puppet wouldn't have gone anywhere without  the crew who helped Charlie take part in the Oil Heritage Parade.  Charlie started out pedaling his bike, but by the time he reached the end of the parade (where I was) he needed a little help getting across the finish line.  

Usually the Transit Artists paint a car for the parade but this year they took a different approach.  (A very clever one I think.)  The reason being is that 2014 has been designated as "The Year of Charlie Chaplin."  Many activities are planned around Chaplin for the year, culminating in the First night activities on New Year's Eve.  For more information visit  Oil City Special Events and download a copy of Chaplin Calendar events.  

The reason Chaplin has been adopted as a theme is because he supposedly signed his first movie contract in Oil City.  

This "Charlie" will be making more than one appearance.  He may be seen in upcoming Graffiti Gallery shows and will be present at the Halloween party at the end of October.  

I have Charlie Chaplin's Biography on my Kindle.  Guess it's time to read it....... may lead to some Charlie "inspired" jewelry.  (Mini-bot is telling me to get to it!)

Art Inside Studio Tour

This weekend is a busy one in Oil City.  Lots to do and see and it's all free!

Indie Fest starts on Friday with a variety of bands.  Locations will be all over the place.  Some will be in establishments and some will be set up on the street, along with some other outdoor activities.

Grafitti Gallery has a new show opening on Friday night.  The opening runs from 5:00-7:00.  Come meet the artists and share in some good food.

Saturday and Sunday things continue with the addition of the  (first and I hope annual ) Art Inside Studio Tour.  It is a self-guided tour of 20 artist's studios.  See first hand the various artist's talents.

I'll be in my studio on Saturday only, but the tour runs on Sunday too.  If you are out and about this Saturday stop in and visit.  See what's new or if it's your first time..... Welcome!

  

Duh!

It's been about a month now since Oil City had their Oil Heritage Festival.  About ten of the National
Transit Artists set up in the Grafitti Gallery for the arts and crafts show.  We could set up out in the street, but that involves having a tent, setting up at 6 in the morning (and I am sooooo not a morning person), sitting out in the heat (and maybe rain), and taking it all back down the next day.

Instead we chose to set up in the Gallery where we could leave our pieces for several weeks and not just two days.  It's still a lot of work hauling everything down to the gallery and figuring out where to put everything.  It involves hauling down the tables, the jewelry and all the displays.  True to form, the elevator always seems to give out at this time of year.  So, it's a lot of running up and down the stairs carrying heavy loads.

Swan Daashuur (another jeweler in the Transit Studios) and I had displays that took up the most room.  As we were setting our displays up we kept talking about what we did last year.  Notice...... I said talked about what we did.  And..... tried to remember.  Sometimes we remembered and sometimes we did not.

This year we wised up and took a picture of our set ups.  Duh!  How easy is that?

This isn't how it looked last year but I think it was better.  I even had a couple of people make a comment on how nice the display looked.  

Next year I won't have to strain my brain trying to remember what I did.  Duh!  An easy solution.  

"One man's trash is another man's art"

On June 9th, the Graffiti Gallery is having it's opening for the "Junk Art Show" from 4:00-7:00.  I'm actually working on a couple of pieces to enter in the show.  (My first.)  Entering shows is not in my nature so this has been a struggle.

I've always said that artists are pack rats (at least I know I am) as everything is a potential art material.  It makes it really hard to throw things out.  

During "Art all Night", there were several artist's whose work would fit the exhibit's theme.  James Dworek was one of those artists.  His modem, "Gone but not Forgotten" is created from "outdated" technology.  Hopefully, he'll be able to share his work at the show.

Join us for Open Studios on the 9th and stay for the opening of the show!