What’s Up, 2023?
Happy New Year!
More than a year has come and gone since my last post, and Artventuring has languished. There are no excuses, but there are reasons: blogging has become a less immediate way of connecting with my readers, collectors, and potential collectors; Facebook has replaced blogging—(I interact there daily); long-form writing about my work has taken a back seat to creating work (not a bad thing!); and between teaching, volunteering, leading a local nonprofit board of directors, art directing a large local 2-day festival, co-directing a 3-day mixed media art retreat, and being a wife, mother, sister, business partner, and friend, there was (and still is) little time to sit down, collect my thoughts, and write.
Will I do better this year? We’ll see.
What I’m excited about for 2023:
Seaside Sessions 2023, presented by Your Creative Connection. This 3-day mixed media retreat in Surf City, NC is a labor of love with my business partner and master bookmaker, Penny Weaver. We provide memorable events to inspire creative discoveries, designed by women for women. This will be our second full retreat (the first was a lovely time in a pre-pandemic bubble in early March of 2020). From March 22—26 this year, we will welcome women from various parts of the country to a gorgeous oceanfront home, and conduct Studio Sessions in a variety of painting and bookmaking techniques. New this year will be our Saturday Salon, where we’ll answer our Creative Explorers’ questions about the business of art. If you’re interested in the Seaside Sessions details, you can find them here. And if you’re interested in joining us, you’re in luck; there are a limited number of spaces available. Please send an email to: contact.yccinc@gmail.com, and we’ll get you registered.
Arts in the Park, Richmond, VA and Columbia Festival of the Arts, Columbia, MD, these are two of our favorite venues. Last year’s shows were outstanding, and we’re hopeful that 2023 will be great, too. I’ve got some new ideas for my work which will build upon my Ancestral Stories series, and once Seaside Sessions is over, I will begin creating work for these shows, which happen in May and June.
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) Store, I was invited to be part of the local artist and artisan collaboration with the NCMA, and have had work from my Leaf Dance series (bamboo plates, MDF panels, and notecards) in the store since October. Sales have been excellent for the notecards, but slower for the larger pieces. It’s an honor to have my work included, and I love it when people tell me they’ve visited the Museum and seen it there.
My Leaf Dance series 12” bamboo plates and 5’x36” panels are on the back wall, far right.
And of course, there will be the unanticipated opportunities, chances to connect with collectors, and everything else a new year brings. I eagerly welcome it all, and hope you’ll join me.
Until next time (which I hope won’t be a year from now!),
Michelle
