a little GIVEAWAY ...

eco-deco by Polli

One of my favorite pairs of earrings is from the amazing Australian company Polli. I know we are all trying to grasp the last straws of summer here - but honestly, we know that the hols are right around the corner, right? I do like to start in on my holiday making early in September to keep my December as merry as possible and time for cooking and family then! This little package would speed up anyones decorating process and allow you to feel good about the product too.

So: for all of you who love a good giveaway - please leave your comments in the section below and on Monday of next week we will randomly draw a winner for this beautiful eco-minded garland, tags, or decorations kit!

About the decorations:

These are decorations that don't cost the earth and enable you

to decorate a tree sustainably for under $20. The boxed kit contains 30

decorations with 6 meters of ribbon to either make a garland, hanging

decorations or gift tags. Each kit contains the Tree, Dove and Olive Branch

designs and are naturally printed in Australia on 100% recycled card.

Available from: www.polli.com.au

Stone Soup

dr. billie bondar from last year's shoe project
OK, this project from the non profit arts group I belong to here in Rochester, is just pure fun. Taken blatantly from the Brooklyn Feast project and borrowed a bit from SLOOP in St. Louis, we are thrilled to start this baby up this fall. Here's the scoop:

Stone Soup, produced by Art Esprit, provides an opportunity for a local artist to receive funding up to $1,000 for a specific art project. Community members are invited to a dinner of homemade soup and bread, where they will have the chance to decide which one of five projects will be funded. The first of these dinners will take place on Saturday, Nov. 6 at the Roberge Center.

A call for proposals will be put out for artists who plan to execute their project in the Greater Rochester area. Requests may include, but are not limited to, equipment, supplies, seed money, or whatever else the artist deems necessary to complete the project. The call for proposals will be issued ASAP. Proposals must be submitted electronically stonesoup(at) artesprit(dot)org and must be received by midnight on Oct. 23.

From the proposals received, a panel of six from the members of Art Esprit will choose five artists to present their proposals at the Stone Soup event. Selected artists will be notified by Oct. 25. Artists not selected will be invited to submit their project again for the next Stone Soup.

Guests at the Stone Soup event will each pay $10, and receive a ballot for voting — and will be entertained with music, poetry, and/or stories while enjoying their soup. Each artist will be introduced, and then guests will have the opportunity to see the artists' presentations and to vote on the one they would like to see receive the funds. Each artist will set up their presentation on a table in the perimeter of the room and will have a chance to speak to everyone in the room as they pass by. There will be a voting box at the door which will be manned and they will collect the ballots (printed on the back of the entrance tickets).

At a specified time, the votes will be tallied and the winner announced. The artist will immediately be awarded the funding for his/her project. They will get a big bag of money with a dollar sign on the outside! He will be expected to present a very short but concise report on the project (photos, demonstration, etc.) at the next Stone Soup event!

It's all so exciting!

Printmaking the next steps ...

More layers are always in order with my process so here are the next textural layers which I added. These were done with direct relief from found objects I have laying around the studio.

In the studio ... printing the first layer

A few more process shots of some printmaking I am enjoying today. Color guides me. What guides you?

Terra cotta projects

Just a peek at three new handbuilt pieces I finished glazing this morning. I have been having a lot of fun with the clay class and here is a peek at the results.

Printmaking Processes

Printmaking was a concentration of mine in college and well, it's been a life long passion for me too. It's never a dull day when the tools come out to make multiples in my studio. Sometimes people ask where to begin for ideas. I decided today to show a few inspirational photos to encapsulate just that. Where to begin. In a few days I will show some more progress from the beginning: inspiration and then on to the next steps. I think that it will be fun to try this here.

What sort of things inspire you to begin some work? Let me know in the comments below!

Poking around artstream

wall of animal portraits by Amy Ruppel

some new Lisa Congdon!

a wall of Tim Wirth

looking in

beautiful Kim Westad in the window

untitled by Tim Wirth
Happy Monday all! It's a perfect time of year for me here at artstream. Gearing up for my 18th year of classes, setting up our lower level at artstream for some big surprises later this year and dusting off the dry summer air in our gallery. The doors are open with the soft rain falling - so it makes for a perfect day to gather thoughts for autumn. Our gallery hasn't looked more wonderful in a while, so take a peek here with me!

Love Letters

It's never too late to send a love letter. This project happened appropriately in February 2010,but I just was pointed in it's general direction today. I really LOVE it. Philadelphia -- the mural city. Check out this website right away. So inspiring!

Ashley G "in situ"

It's always so rewarding to meet wonderful art collectors who enjoy their collection so much that they send us photos of their purchases all hung in their homes. A couple of weeks ago a lovely couple dropped by to pick up one of Ashley G's recent works - Progress. They sent this photo over today and well, it really made my day. Thanks so much Heather!

Terra Cotta cups

I made some little cups. First run, most likely I will make more. They were fun!

2 snowy tiny worlds

2 snowy tiny worlds, originally uploaded by Mimi K.

Just wanted to quickly share two of the lovely tiny worlds which Mimi K had on her flickr today. She is going to be teaching at The Art Weekend in October and we are just so excited to have her with us!

Summer is winding down

Summer Camps here at artstream are almost over. Summer classes are too - except for those fabulous Clay class students who have wheedled another two weeks out of me. That's just fine as we love them so much! Here are a few highlights of the summer classes at artstream. Did you get the memo that The Art Weekend is open for registration now? Well - it is!

100 fish

Each year we (my daughters and I) make small clay tokens for the Rochester Children's reading program at the library. One year it was aliens, the next small traffic cones and then tokens. This year's theme was involving the ocean so we made fish. This all comes from my childhood in Cedar Rapids Iowa where the local public library handed out such items after reading a designated amount of books. I always loved our library as a child and also now as an adult. So it's fitting to give back. This year we ran out of time and so some have more detail than others. I think they all made a big splash however ... (pardon the pun) Thanks have to go to Bella too as she helped out with half of them! Stay tuned for big news about The Art Weekend - registration is OPEN!

a bumbler

the weekend in the garden and lots of flower gathering. notice that the bumbler has a friend. the japanese beetle. he is a maker of holes and as pretty as his colorful outside is, i am really not happy with his appetite for our flowers.

Sushi-etiquette

via the fabulous Swissmiss how great is this?

A little this and that!

overalls in porcelain

silkscreened porcelain vase
Presenting some porcelain workshop pieces which I enjoyed making -- (which really is a little preview of what YOU canexpect to doat Megan's offerings at The Art Workshop at artstream! )

Stop by our site for more information -- registration opens on Monday - August 9,2010!!

We love our design clients so much that we let them ride their bikes right in to see us! (hee hee Dean!)

Did you happen to see these colorful Jen Mastre necklaces in the shop? We also have quite a few Amy Rice pieces on found objects!

amy rice

Here are a couple of our happy art campers this past week here at artstream. Summer camps are closed up - but there are all new classes ready to go the week of September 13th and registration is open now for them!

Giant Doily

amber and her giant doily, originally uploaded by artstreamstudios.

and Amber. She made this with her grandma and it's magnificent. Just had to share! On our way to getting the show hung for Saturday night and everything spiffed up!

Tim Wirth :: Modern Machinery

New exhibition in the works here at artstream -- Tim Wirth - Modern Machinery" Lots of goodness being sorted out to hang tomorrow afternoon. Drop by on Saturday from 5-7 p.m. for the opening party. Really. amazing. works. Check them all out in the pre-sale catagory of the shop.

psst: The Art Workshop site will be live later this afternoon - will give everyone a heads up!