Whimsy Wednesday!!! All About Art PerChance-MIA!

Hello Everyone!!!
This post is all about my fabulous time at Art PerChance at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts!!! If you don't know what that is or missed the details about how I'm involved, click over here for an update!

I had so much fun at Art PerChance! I don't (yet!) receive many opportunities to be a VIP, so I was thrilled to be treated so well! There was scrumptious food, delicious drink and elegant surroundings populated intriguing people! But before I say more about the people, let me get started showing you the photos we took!!
Here is me, standing beside the display of my Sprite Creation.
I was so pleased by the beautiful mounting and other arranging work the MIA did with my Sprite Creation and it was enchanting to be in the company of so many other accomplished artists and their work!

Photos were taken by others, including some that are rumored to be included in Minneapolis-Saint Paul Magazine and October's edition of Minnesota Monthly, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

And now.. the people! The theme was Carnival and some wore elegant dress, some wore comfortable clothing and some of the Art PerChance folks were dressed and working as Carnival barkers to fit the Carnival theme. It was so much fun to play with them all because, as you can see above, I was in full wing-regalia!
I want to take a moment and give a quick shout out to some of my fellow artists here.

Sharon Wagner, an artist and illustrator with a fresh insight and bold colours that she weaves into her works. Sharon was also kind enough to mention and post a photo of me in her blog! THANK YOU SHARON!!!
Maren Kloppmann, who was the Mistress of Mingling and creates phenomenal ceramic works.
Yi Ellis, who exudes quiet exuberance and creates such meaningful work.
Joseph Wehrman, an all around pleasant and talented guy fresh from Seattle!
And!! Billy Curmano, a witty, "extreme peformance artist", who was gracious enough to spend bits of the evening here and there chatting with myself and my husband Paul.
These are, of course, only a few of the gifted artists that were there so feel free to hop over the Art PerChance page and peruse the links!

More photos!!! These are of me at one of the impressive entries to the building, which is flanked by guardian Temple Dogs and Greek-inspired columns.
Whimsical? I say YES!!! But seriously.. aren't they awesome Guardians?!

A mischievous pose, inspired by the famous photo with Marilyn Monroe..

My Sprite Creation was not sold at the Charity Auction, but was raffled off for charity later in the evening! In fact, I was standing less than 10 feet away from the lucky lady when she found out she won and was so excited to give her a congratulatory hug! as she zoomed away to claim her prize! WAHOO!!!

I'll end this now with a few last quite whimsical photos of me. I hope the elation and frivolity of the event and my time at it shines through and leaves you-all with a warm heart and big smiles!!



Until Friday!

Whimsy Wednesday!! Art PerChance at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts!!!

I'm so excited about tomorrow!!! What is tomorrow, you say? Art PerChance at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts!!!!
You didn't hear?
One of my Sprite Creations has been chosen to be part of Art Perchance 2011! This fabulous creation along with several excellent others of all sorts of media will be auctioned off on August 18th during Art Perchance . Here is MIA's explanation of Art Perchance!
"Art Perchance, an evening of art and artfully clever carnival games, will again partner with the MIA’s Third Thursday. On August 18, Target Park will become a midway where participants may play, feast, and frolic ­­-- and vie for a chance to win art generously donated by artists and galleries.
Art Perchance is a fundraiser benefiting the outreach programs of the Friends of the Institute. The Friends support the MIA in many ways: funding educational initiatives, busing schoolchildren to the museum for docent tours, purchasing and providing conservation for works of art, sponsoring major exhibitions such as “The Louvre and the Masterpiece” and the upcoming “Edo Pop” (opening this October), and much more."
Isn't that awesome!! I'm so excited!!

Where is the Whimsy in all of this, you ask? See below and all will be revealed!

Title: Roman the Universe
Ingredients: Hand-crafted lampwork glass pendant by A. Ray, ancient glass shard(dating back to Roman times), mood bead (with glow-in-the-dark stars), hand-dyed fiber (USA), furnace glass (USA), dichroic glass, lucite, goldstone, copper, sterling and bali silver, thread.


Isn't that gorgeous??!
I'm so pleased with how it turned out!!!
Did you get the pun in the title, too? Roman glass - Roman The Universe? Hee!!
All of the fiber you see here is hand-dyed by an artist in Idaho, USA. She actually is no longer dying fiber so these fibers are irreplaceable! I love the vibrant colors that peep out betwixt the more sedate blues and blacks. I especially love the bits of silver in some of the fiber that echoes the silver in the focal and elsewhere! The stunning lampwork glass pendant is by artist A. Ray and evokes galaxies within galaxies to me!
The shard of glass you see on the right is actually from Roman times (a nice tribute to a museum collection, don't you think?) and the lucite flower from which sparkly goldstone stars cascade nicely echoes the glow within the pendant and the universal(HA!) theme. There are furnace and dichroic beads nestled here and there as well as a mood bead with glow in the dark stars!!! How awesome is that??!!!
The necklace creation is finished with luminescent Bali silver cones (99% silver) and Sterling Silver wire and clasp. Both the cones and the clasp continue the galactic theme with spirals (Spirals are a type of galaxy!) stars and moons.
Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?
Whee!!!