Next year we're definitely going without the kid.

Now, I know that sounds really negative and grumpy (seems to be a trend for me), so let me rephrase that.

::

The New York Art Book Fair is awesome. All around. Tim and I were still talking about it way after we'd turned out the lights last night. There was so much to see and think about. So much great energy-the coolest looking crowd, and everyone so friendly. PS 1 is an incredible building, both for what they've done to it, and what they haven't.

And, we had the chance to meet two people whose work we admire greatly, and they are of course as lovely as one would expect them to be. The books they were showing were all so beautiful and interesting, it was hard to choose from among them. (I did come home with the first issue of Lines and Shapes, as well as Journal of Plants, which is exquisite.)

All around, everywhere we looked: the books, the 'zines, the posters, the photography! All of it so, so inspiring and original and, well...cool.

There it is, see, folks. Truth is, I'm a forty-two year old nerd with a thirty-three pound kid strapped to my back, walking around in my clogs just in awe of the hipness that is all around me.
(I am so starting to wear my engineer boots everyday, even if they do look like overkill in the line at Whole Foods.)

::

In all seriousness, this was an incredible experience for us, and we already can't wait for next years' show.

But we're definitely leaving the kid at home.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Friday Happiness [Public Bookstore]

[work visible here by: Stephanie Dennis, Ilse Schreiber Noll, and Bret Wills]

The show is up, and we think it is excellent. Much black and white work in the exhibit, as this first issue of the 'zine is black+ white, so we were looking towards that as we edited the selections. But some color, here and there, lending the gallery overall a clean, cohesive look that we love.

We encountered some delays when we received the first printing of the book; we had used an online self-publishing site, and we were disappointed with the quality. So we started from scratch and went with a different printer.

Now, back on track, we are ready to move forward, and excited to get this project, six months in the making, on it's way.

::

We are also looking forward to this weekend, and the New York Art Book Fair, put on by Printed Matter. Can't wait to see all the inspirational work that others are doing. I have a feeling Tim and I will come home from the show reinvigorated and with our heads full of ideas for our next project.

::

Other than that event, this is one of those weekends where the girls' social schedule trumps ours, so mostly we'll be driving and picking up from various birthday parties. The thirteen-year-old crowd now apparently are no longer into sleepovers, so much, but rather into having parties that run well after the grown-ups around here are usually in bed.

I'm personally of a mind that if you are going to keep my kids up past ten o'clock, you should keep them overnight. Although, I'm not a big fan of sleepovers, either.

I'm a lot of fun, huh? Oh, don't worry. I'll get over it.

After all, it's the weekend, again. And this one promises to be cool enough for the first outdoor fire, a big scarf and my favorite boots, and definitely something cooked long and slow in the kitchen.

Certainly that's worth staying up late for?

Enjoy the weekend! Thanks for reading.
tt

Little celebrations

Yesterday was the first day in two weeks that I dropped off a happy four-year-old, and I ran walked away from her school at last without feeling some sense of regret.
I drove myself up to the farm market at Stone Barns, and bought some eggplants and eggs and sweet potatoes. Then I sat, alone, and ate the most sublime piece of bacon and corn quiche (with a whole wheat crust-really amazing).

As I ate, I flipped through the pages of a new book which had arrived in my mailbox as I was pulling out of my drive-way.
I think that anyone who is familiar with Stephanie and Maria's work will recognize the degree to which I admire and emulate their sensibilities. There is an aura of calmness, stillness, and beauty in everything they show us, that I need and wish to find around me in my own life.

Needless to say I enjoyed my lunch, and the book, very much. It felt like a little celebration of Anna's gentle separation that afternoon, of the gradual but near complete transition into a new school year and my favorite season, and of having arrived, perhaps, at a new place of my own.

And then I went home and did some laundry.

::

My friend Jen has a new show opening tomorrow, one that I know she's been looking forward to ,and which will be an inspired collaboration of two very talented artists. And this just makes me happy!

::

I hope you all find a little something to celebrate today. Thanks for reading.
tt

Public Bookstore [Introducing Stephanie Dennis]

We are thrilled to have Stephanie Dennis be a part of the first issue of our 'zine. As we begin this project with a black and white printing, we felt her drawings would be a wonderful part of the collection.

We first admired Stephanie's work when she was featured by This Joy + Ride(thank you Shari and Sheri!), which if you've been paying attention (ahem) is one of my most favorite photographic inspirations. I was particularly pleased that Tim shared my enthusiasm for Stephanie's drawings (and paintings, although they would deserve a color printing...) and we were excited that she was interested in being a part of Public Bookstore.

Stephanie has also agreed to exhibit one of her originals with us in the gallery show that will accompany the launch of the 'zine. When it arrived here in New York, and I opened the package, I actually gasped. I knew I liked the drawings, but was not prepared for how gorgeous it is first hand. Thank you, Stephanie!

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Public Bookstore [Introducing Beth Billups]

I was introduced to Beth Billups' work last winter, and just had to have one of her little love paintings,which then I just had to give to away to my friend, whose birthday just happens to fall dangerously close to Valentine's Day. Beth told me I wasn't the first person to do that: buy a painting for myself and then want to pass it on to a friend. I think Beth's paintings strike an emotional chord that makes you want to share them.

Never mind that I love Beth's blog as much for her bits and pieces about parenting her kids, and cooking, and moving the family across half the country this summer, as for her wonderful posts about works in progress and her process. Her paintings just absolutely charm me, and seem to put into visual form ideas and emotions that I connect with very personally.

Please go check out her work and her words and pictures. And then come in to the gallery next week to see one of Beth's encaustic paintings in living color.

I know you will be as charmed as I.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

New beginnings, and an introduction.

[drawing by Lois Cremmins]

Hello! Today is the first day of the school year, here. I know we are a bit behind the rest of the country, but for us, today's the day!

And so, five-sixths of our girls are out making their own way in the world again. I'm so pleased to report that it went off with out a hitch, with out a tussle, with out much fuss at all, actually. Little Miss A. will start a pre-K program in two weeks, and I'm sure that will be a different story (for at least one of us), but today, all is smooth sailing.

Which leaves me to focus now on the work at hand: Public Bookstore. Our release date is near, and thus I thought I would begin to introduce a few of our contributors to this first issue.

::

Public Bookstore [Introducing Lois Cremmins]

We first met Lois in 2007, and took an instant liking to her work, her home, and Lois herself. You can see more of Lois' paintings(and read an interview with Lois) here on the gallery site, and here on her own site. Lois provided us with a recipe for the bio page of Public Bookstore, and I have a copy of it written out and pinned to the wall behind my computer screen. I think it works well as a guide for not just art, but life in general. See if you agree.


[drawing by Lois Cremmins]

HOW TO BE AN ARTIST
By Lois Cremmins

Here is my personal recipe:

Be open - everyday - to observing, listening, reading and feeling.
Stop to record these things.
Mix them up with past, present, inside, outside and whatever else comes to mind.
Throw in some interesting composition and a whole lot of color.
Be true to yourself – no matter how weird or ugly the work is.
Don’t care if anyone likes it.
Do this and it will usually turn out alright.

::

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Friday Happiness

Hello, Friday! This week has flown by, of course. And this will be my last Friday here in Maine...by next week it will be all about back to school, and back to work, and looking forward to our September show. Next week I'll start telling you a little about some of the artists who are a part of Public Bookstore. I can't wait to share some of the wonderful work that will be included in our first collective volume.

::

Today, another show begins; this one at Nahcotta, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and although we can not make the opening reception tonight, we are planning to stop on our way home and check it out. I can not wait! I've wanted to see the space and the show since I first laid eyes on the extraordinary work of Jennifer Judd-McGee. Go check out the list of artists, here. There are so many names on that list that I'm looking forward to finally seeing (their work) in person.

::

For now, for a few more days here, it is still all about tea in the morning and the beach in the afternoon. Good bread from the bakery down the road, walks through the wooded path, watercolors, and Our Daily Red. Snuggling on the porch, and collecting rocks.

And finding that your favorite flowers right now seem to be something you grew up calling a weed. But loving them, nonetheless; finding them everywhere, and appreciating their prettiness, despite their ordinariness.

Isn't that what it's all about, after all?

Quotidian beauty.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

A post in which she (finally) talks about the gallery (and the beach).

Hi. Remember me?

Not me, the mother of many, lover of flowers and fruit pictures, follower of design*sponge, navel-gazing forty-something.

It's me, the partner in a small, contemporary art gallery, and co-curator of the first issue of a collaborative art journal.

I just thought I'd stop in to update you on what's going on downtown.

Well, we sort of took the summer off. The gallery is still open during the week, for a few hours, when Tim is in there, mostly working on this stuff. We were in-between shows, and when we decided to put off the publication of the book until the Fall, we looked around the back of the gallery and realized we have some pretty exceptional work from our various artists on the shelves.

So, we cleaned the walls and hung a few of them, in a sort of informal retrospective of the work we've shown over the last year. I put out a few of the postcards and posters we've printed in the window, and it struck me: we've shown excellent work. And built a community of artists that we're both proud to show, and eager to promote.

Which is how Public Bookstore began in the first place: wanting to be able to give more artists more exposure than we can in our little space here in Tarrytown alone.

So, while we may have taken a bit of a break as far as gallery hours this summer, we have not been idle. The book is complete and ready to go, and we can not wait to introduce it when we get back to business-as-usual in September.

::

Between then and now, though, we've got a lot of vacationing to do. Turns out I'm going to get to spend nearly four weeks in my beloved Maine in August, with some side trips for us to Ithaca, a friend's house in New Hampshire, and another short camping trip thrown in for good measure.

And today, we're headed off to a nearby beach in Connecticut for an afternoon swim and early picnic dinner. I'm loading the car, and picking Tim up from the gallery...See, I told you he's down there sometimes.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Holiday

This weekend.

This weekend was::
having an "only child" for four whole days.

brothers and nephew and grandfather and son-in-law, all around the same table; a table usually surrounded by girls.

taking a road trip to Hudson, NY. Date night for three: beer and books, organic pizza, and a drive-in movie!

keeping a four-year-old up later than ever, and staying in bed in the mornings, later than ever.

making plans for small improvements around the house. Being invigorated and inspired by this . (Notice Eunju Kang's work on the walls!) It's amazing what moving a few things around the house can do. I find I look at our rooms and our "stuff" with a fresh pair of eyes.

supper at the beach club, with unexpected friends, a fire ring, and an amazing sunset. It was hard to remember the weeks on end of rain. (I'll tell you about the supper recipe, later on.)

I miss the girls so much-always more than I anticipate-but I feel rejuvenated and ready for the next few weeks of summer, when that only child turns back into the youngest of six.

Hope your weekend was peaceful and sun-filled, too. Thanks for reading.
tt

Road trip::Woodstock NY

Road trip with a purpose: to bring back the work for Bill Mead's next eyebuzz show, starting May 14.

Years ago, in Provincetown, Bill was making paintings with a vessel motif: mostly teapot shapes. They became so admired, coveted and sellable, that he was turned off from making them any more.

Until recently. He has come back to the abstracted still lifes of vessel shapes, with much success. His next show at the gallery will be made up of recent works in this theme.

Here are some shots from Bill's current studio outside of Woodstock, NY.

We also had a tour, with a very cute guide, of the "green" house Bill has been building for the last year or so. We look forward to the next studio visit, when the "fours" are almost "five", and the "new house" is home.

::Jennifer Judd-McGee's show will run until May 8.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt

Tuesday:: some links, and some navel gazing

I don't know what time is going to show on this post, but I'm telling you: again, it's late.

We are both totally overworked, and yet completely under-employed.

Tim wears two or three different hats, jobwise. All with incredibly flexible hours (read: he works all day, until late at night), but very few benefits. Except for the invaluable benefit of being able to go to occasional lacrosse games, walk Anna to school, come home for lunch one day a week, and do what he loves to do. And the boss is very friendly.

I'm working just the one job. Our family is my job. And it's full time.

Again: incredibly flexible hours (see above), no benefits. Except for numerous hugs, the chance to nap, hearing their voices rising up through the windows on the way home from school, and the gift of being around while they are still here.

But...

Sometimes. I suspect I hide behind all this usefulness, busy-ness, neediness. How can I possibly worry about what's next for me to do with my life, while there are lunches to be made? Laundry to be folded. Cheeks to kiss.

Am I kicking up the dirt, so I don't have to look too far down the road?

::

We're up late again, putting together our new baby: Public Bookstore.

I'd like to introduce you to one of our contributors, Stephanie Dennis. I "met" Stephanie through This Joy + Ride, and loved her drawings. They are perfect for our project. But she also has wonderful paintings, which you can see here.

::

Another Stephanie, whom many of us know from 3191, has given us a glimpse into her home, here, and it's wonderful. I hope you like it, too.

::

In the house to our right, a three-week-old grandson is being put to bed, along with his two-year-old brother.

In the house to our left, our neighbors have brought home a baby girl, and a baby boy. When I saw their dad(!) leave to pick them up from the hospital today, I thought: there he goes to get his children. And I couldn't keep from crying. Tim and I just perched by the open window to hear a new-baby-cry.

It's a crazy thing we do, this child-having. This parenting. This hopeful ignoring of the inevitable.

Thankfully, we are rewarded for our stupidity with all of those hugs and kisses.

::

I've been posting all sorts of pictures over here. Go have a look, if you like.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Sunday night, when I should be sleeping.

It's late. Out the open window by my desk I hear what sounds like repeated gunshots, and subsequent shouting-a girl, more amused than scared. I'm guessing some teenagers are doing the sort of thing that, while tempting to call the police about, would be much less interesting upon close inspection. I'm hoping.

It's been that sort of day, actually. As if "that sort of day" routinely includes scary episodes in places you least expect. We went for a miserable hike this morning. Tim would not support that assessment, but he knows what I mean.

Along the wooded path we navigated, on the other side of the Hudson, some misguided being with a blue spray paint can left all sorts of hostile and scary graffiti. I've posted an awful lot of new shots for my suburban graffiti project today, but I've left out all the ugly ones. Curse words. Pictures. Swastikas. I didn't even take pictures of those.

I pulled Anna into the shower with me the minute we got home.

On the way back to the car, we saw a snake. I'm not a fan. Tim picked Anna up and pointed out the critter slithering away. Good enough, until the entire ground cover started to move, and we realized we had startled some sort of snake haven into action. I can't even write any more about it. Not a good walk.

Funny, the rest of Sunday was wonderful. But I'm left with this odd sense of malaise from the snakes, and the graffiti.

::

For anyone wondering: meeting Jen last night was wonderful. She is sweet and smart and lovely, and I hope we cross paths over and over again in the future. Thank you to everyone who came out to the gallery to help welcome her to Tarrytown.

::

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

Saturday

I am so excited/nervous about meeting Jen at the opening tonight; I've been happy all day, and things look so beautiful to me everywhere. Tim and Anna planted the flowers this morning along Kaldenberg(we'll probably get a ticket for it!), while I went cheese/flower/wine shopping.

She's like a celebrity to me, which would probably mortify her, and the minute I see her she will not be like that anymore, but rather like the coolest friend I've known for years.
I'm a geek.
I'm a blog geek. That may be the worst kind.

This day is so perfect and warm and like a gift for all of us for hanging in there through the crappy winter. Mostly I keep thinking how glad I am that Jen & her family are having good weather in New York.
I want the whole state to lay out a soft,green welcome mat for her.
I'm a geek.

I'm going to go now, because Jen will probably read this sometime, and be scared.

I hope you are all enjoying this gift of a day, too!

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

This is not a Claritin ad.

Blogger was completely uncooperative for me today, and so, left blogless, I wasted some time playing around with Picnik. (Thanks, Beth! Just what I needed. Another black hole of time.)

This morning, Tim and I made a run to the nursery, to pick up some plants. We're planning on doing some guerrilla gardening along Kaldenberg Place, to spruce up the block in anticipation of the opening reception for Jen's show on Saturday.

I was hesitant to go with Tim, but I'm loathe to turn down a kid-free outing with my husband, even if it is just to buy some impatiens.

At some point in the greenhouse, though, it became clear that I may have had ulterior motives. I've got this picture taking thing real bad. I'm starting to view life as one big photo-op. At least the store cat was willing to go along.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt

The View

from eyebuzz. Eighth in a series.


We're having the opening reception for Jennifer Judd-McGee later in the show than usual, so come in and visit us this Third Friday to see her work. And keep us company.

Sweet Grass Grill will be open for dinner that night, too. We were treated to some pre-opening samples at the bar*,while the chef was warming up the kitchen this past weekend. So.so.good.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
tt
*Yeah, you heard me right. We were at the bar. We actually went out. Alone. Together. Yippee!

Matt Licari at Purchase College

Matt's show at eyebuzz was pre-blog, so I haven't told you here before how much we admire Matt's work, and how much we like Matt himself, Matt's family, and Matt's friends. A lot.

He'll be showing again with us sometime next Fall. We went to see his photography exhibit at the Purchase College School of Art + Design. His work is displayed here in a way we hadn't seen before, and it looked amazing.

Callie's budding photography interest is coinciding with my own (although, to be fair, hers began first!) She thinks she might like to study photography in college, except in London. I'm happy to encourage her in anything she's dreaming of, but maybe, she could stay a little, um, closer to home?

The experience of browsing around the School of A+D was, in general, awesome for us and the kids. We saw a lot of work in progress, students hanging out and in the middle of projects, a few other exhibitions: some good, and some, well, not so good.

The truth is, art can be dirty. Literally and figuratively.

We could feel the dust in the air from studios and workshops, see photo sessions going on, digital labs in use, smell cigarette smoke from the courtyard.

And, found lots of good stuff for my suburban graffiti project.*

All in all, a really good afternoon.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt

*Please remember, my Flickr skills are pathetic. I'm working on it. But really, did I need another black-hole for my "free" time?

eyebuzz interviews::Jennifer Judd-McGee

Jennifer Judd-McGee is a Portland, Maine artist whom I have admired from afar for quite some time now. We are proud to have her show opening today in the gallery, and pleased to present here a question and answer session with Jen, complemented by her own photographs. You can find more images of Jen's work here, and here, and read about her work, process, and a bit of her life, here.

tt::When did you first start drawing and creating, and when did you first consider yourself an artist?

jj-m::I've been making things since I was a kid. I took a lot of art classes in college, but then ended up pursuing a career in women's healthcare. I started making things again in about 2006, and it suddenly seemed I couldn't stop. I've been making art full time since 2007. I still have a hard time calling myself an artist.

tt::Where do you go, what do you do, to find inspiration for your work?
jj-m::I love living along the coast of Maine, and find lots of inspiration in nature. I love to sit outside with a sketchbook, or gather a bunch of bits and bobs while out on a walk with my kids and then come home and draw them. I am really attracted to patterns I see in nature, like moss, striped rocks, bark, pebbles, mussel shells, tree buds and branches, etc. I am interested in taking little patterns and recreating them in my palette and style. I'm also really drawn to vintage stitch and embroidery books and mid-century modern design.

tt::Do you have a favorite spot in your house? Portland? The world?

jj-m::My favorite spot in my house is my dining room, because it is light and sunny and I find it a nice space to spread out and work. Around Portland I like to go to the beach at Kettle Cove, dig my toes into the sand and hang out with my sketchbook and pens while my kids play in the tide pools. My favorite place in the world is anywhere on or in Mount Desert Island/Acadia National Park, where I grew up. So much of how I see the world has been shaped by the natural beauty there. It's a really special place.

tt::Has trying to develop your artwork into a means of earning a living changed either your work or your process?
jj-m::Since I started pursuing art as a career in 2007, I've been extremely lucky in terms of not having to seek out a lot of opportunities - they've largely come to me and I feel very grateful to the Internet and the online art/design community for the connections I've made and the opportunities that have come my way. I've been feeling super busy over the past year, which is a great problem to have but I find myself really wishing for a stretch of down time to 'refill the well' or even go back to school for an MFA one day. My process these days mostly involves trying to juggle lots of different projects I'm working on while not checking out as parent.

tt::Is there anything you miss about your “old life” with a job outside of your home?
jj-m::I miss the daily dose of being around co-workers + friends I respected and thought really highly of. Working at home alone can sometimes feel pretty isolating. I also miss the 9-5 schedule and the ability to walk away from work at the end of the day. It's hard to walk away when it's in your house.

tt::How do you maintain a balance between the demands and desires of being a mom (and a wife) and being an artist?
jj-m::This is the $64,000 question. I honestly don't feel like I'm balancing anything very well right now. My kids are at a great age and I love to be around them when they're not at school - and I hate having to say "sorry, I'm busy." We do listen to a lot of audio books together at the dining room table - I do my work and they draw or do homework. It's one of my favorite ways to be together.

tt::Does having an “audience” via your blog affect your work or how you think about your work?

jj-m::I am a really shy person and it still feels weird to me that I even have a blog, even after 2 1/2 years of writing it. I try not to think about the audience too much when I write my blog or put my recent art out there on the blog. My goal for the blog has always been to share a hodgepodge of lots of things..stuff I make, what I'm inspired by (music, art, links, whatever,) stuff around the house, and kid related goings-on...but to try and maintain my family's privacy at the same time. In this sense I am just writing it for me and not for whoever the audience is out there in the world. I don't know if it works for everyone, but it works for me. I am really attracted to blogs that keep it real and show slices of everyday living.

tt::Do you do any other sort of art or crafting or writing, etc…? Did you start out just drawing, and move to mixed media, or the opposite; or did you start out painting and evolve into other forms of expression?
jj-m::I've dabbled in all kinds of things. I used to like to write, but not so much anymore. Mixed media and drawing have always sort of gone hand in hand for me. I taught myself how to do rug hooking with hand-dyed wool strips a few years ago, and I found that really enjoyable. I'd like to get back into it. I love printmaking too, and while I still do it a little bit here and there in the forms of gocco and linoleum block printing, I'd love to really dive into some other methods.

tt::Would you describe the general path you take to start on and complete a piece?
jj-m::If it's a drawing, I usually do a bunch of sketches ahead of time and then just sit down and dive in once I feel ready. For my mixed media work I go in phases: collecting materials + sorting them into color families, drawing lots of little bits to be cut up, painting backgrounds (sometimes) or painting smaller bits I'll cut up, and making bits of gocco or silkscreen prints that I'll cut up and reuse. Once I've got all of the parts, I tend to work on several pieces at once and it's a big giant mess until I'm done playing around with each piece (which often takes a longer time than I'd like it to.) I have recently been reassured that the holy mess I make seems to be common among mixed media artists - seeing other people's studio spaces (and messes) is one of my favorite things to find on Flickr or various design blogs.

tt::What would you like to do next? In a year from now, what do you imagine yourself working on?
jj-m::I'd like to dive into encaustic painting once I get some better ventilation in my work space. Also, I've been drawing repeating patterns for years but am alarmingly illiterate with Photoshop or Illustrator. I'd love to learn those programs and start making patterns that could be reproduced on textiles or paper goods.

A sincere thank you to Jen for her words + pictures.

Jen will be in Tarrytown for the opening reception on Saturday, April 25, from 6-8pm. We'd love to see you there!

The show opens today and will run through May 8.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

tt