I meant to post in May but the month got away from me. I do have a fairly good reason, though, since I got to go to Alaska to see my nephew graduate from high school in Anchorage, had a tiny solo gallery in a fantastic show called Microcosm at the Oak Park Art League for the month, and after five months of healing tennis elbow with physical therapy twice a week I got to start playing tennis again!
Alaska, as one would expect, was so beautiful! Just like last year’s late June visit, I found myself believing I could happily live there. It’s easy to do without experiencing the long dark days of winter, earthquakes, or the volcano 80 miles from Anchorage that was threatening to erupt recently. This time around I went to Talkeetna, a Russian Orthodox/Spirit House Cemetery in Eklutna, Seward, and a few nice days in the city of Anchorage. I went because my mom wanted to go to see her grandson graduate, so we had a really nice visit as a family, too.
The Microcosm show opening was the day after I got home from the Alaska trip, and that was such a delightful surprise to see so many happy people walking around the gallery taking in all the tiny artwork, most in little gallery solo shows and some on the walls, too. I assumed it was such a niche show that not many people would be interested, and boy was I wrong! There were a lot of sales, too, which makes sense since people could buy original artwork in miniature sizes so the price points were reasonable. I don’t know what it is about the miniature that is so captivating – probably the feeling of childhood memories, along with the amazing detail and imagination in so much of the work in the show. Also, good art is good art no matter the size. A huge thank you to Elaine Luther for being the juror and for curating! I was honored to be part of it, and to Bryan Northup Grayson for taking care of everything else for the month! (See previous post that describes what my particular show was about, but in a nutshell it was inspired by last year’s visit to Alaska)
I have two Saturday workshops coming up! One is next weekend – CAIRNS: a Meditative Mixed Media Exploration, on Saturday, June 21, from 10:00-4:00 at the Oak Park Art League. The second is EXPLORING THE SUMMER GARDEN IN MIXED MEDIA, on Saturday, July 19, from 10:00-4:00. I hope you can join me for some summer creativity and community.
I’ll have at least one session of classes this fall and definitely more workshops (creating a miniature series, a color study one, and one geared toward the holiday market coming up in December).
As for tennis, I am thrilled to be back on the court, especially in the close to perfect weather we’ve been having. I just have to be disciplined about playing only a few times a week instead of my usual as-many-times-as-I-can-fit-in. It’s a good lesson in knowing my limitations, I guess. I know I don’t want to revisit needing physical therapy twice a week again for 5 months if I can help it.
If you have questions about artwork for sale, classes or workshops, please feel free to email me at jackielakely@mac.com. Happy Summer!
Jackie
