Juxtaposition--Solo Shows

This has been a bonanza year for me. Two solo shows. The first one in June was at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts in Highland, MI. The second one just opened in upstate New York at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake.

Pursuing these great opportunities has been a hard push, and only now am I able to take a breath and think about what this has meant. My goals have been modest from the beginning:

• expose my work to a broader audience
• continue to explore the medium of encaustic and develop my own vocabulary
• sell (and make room for new pieces)

These goals have been met. But along the way I now realize some cool things are happening:

• my willingness to take risks with a solo show has increased. Breaking out of the local area is a big step.
• my push for new work is improving the quality of my work and my work habits—more time at the studio, more focused time painting and creating.
• I’ve had a catalog printed of works from the first venue, and it is a great piece to use in marketing. A surprise has been how many people want to buy a copy.
• more of my work on view has increased the number of people visiting my website.
• a number of people are now asking about my teaching a workshop in encaustic.
• a piece from this body is now in the permanent collection of the Encaustic Art Institute in New Mexico.

This is opening doors as I look ahead to 2014. Now comes the hard part, which is thinking about where my work is to go from here and how I would like to shape the future. I am sorry more artists I know don’t do this for themselves. Click on the book cover for a preview.