Concrete Quilt Inspiration

   Lately I have become quite hooked on taking the bus downtown.  It saves me money on gas and parking and I get to notice so many things that driving neglects to reveal.  It is not unusual for me to snap photos of broken pavement, but yesterday I was especially smitten by the wonderful compositions of the cracks in the sidewalk within a quarter mile of my house.  The cracked sidewalks with clusters of grass and debris invite lots of embellishments. Deep inside of my artist self is a series of art quilts that may or may not consist of these kinds of designs, but I think I'm getting there.

  

A Trip to the City

   Today I took a trip downtown on the Metro to meet my great friend so we could drop off a certain something to a certain office for a certain event coming up in November (it's a secret, for now).  Before we met I waltzed into the Public Library just to see what's going on.  Visited the gift shop, which has a ton of great used books for sale for cheap.  Some are library discards while some are donated.  All are in pretty great shape.  I purchased two massively successful inspirational books (easy to read on a bus or in public), a paper-piecing book and two movies.  Thank Baby Jesus I didn't ditch my VCR before the last one rolled off the assembly line...you can get movies CHEAP.  Anyway, I then went to the 3rd floor where the art department is and piled on more books, so my messenger bag was overstuffed and quite heavy. 

(If you need a creative pick-me-up, I highly recommend the book in red, Fiberarts Design Book 7.)

   There is an exhibit on the ground floor about the history of Cincinnati's public transportation.  Lots of historical photos and ephemera in Lucite boxes on pedestals.  The article below was under glass in a HUGE bound book of some kind that contained mainly vintage ads.  I did not look to see what the year was but there was also an article about when the last 100 streetcars were being sold off.  You can probably find that info out on the inter-web. 

Lastly, here are two photos I took on my walk to the bus stop.  After a couple of days of rain, the lichen are very happy.  The mushrooms have been there for a few days so they are in varying stages of their life cycle.  I can see both of these being inspiration for fiber art pieces.  The moss would be great needle-punched.  The mushrooms would be great as applique' with lots of embroidered grass.  Why don't I just make simple stuff?

Time to get busy on art!

   Sooo, lots of changes happening this year..this is usually the kind of thing that prompts me to write.  I moved, got married and now am working hard to devote as much time to my art as possible.  The art studio is settled and is a fabulous cave of creative energy.  Makes me wonder if anyone has ever used it as an art studio before.  Clearly an artists' sanctuary is not a room one needs to dress up to show the world, so here are some candid shots of how it looks this morning.  If work surfaces are empty and there aren't piles of something somewhere, then it's not being properly used, right?

Excellent south-facing view of the sky.

Messy!  No, not messy, just busy!

This hutch is absolutely full of beads.

  The UFO box has been opened and is being attacked hard and heavy.  There are some half-finished parts of things that finally NOW have a new use.  Partially made components are coming to life.  It's a wonderful feeling to relieve myself of the backup of ideas that I thought would be lost.

  I'm also fortunate to become part of the team at the Cincinnati Nature Center.  My part-time weekend job in the gift shop will allow me to be around like-minded nature nuts and be smack in the middle of one of the most beautiful landscapes in southwestern Ohio.  It's an endless source of artistic inspiration.  My newest piece is directly inspired by this beautiful plant :

 
  You can see the work in progress on my Facebook artist page.
  Thanks for hanging out this morning.  I plan on being more active here now that I have the time.


 

New Name, Same Game

For 44 years anyone who met me knew me as Amy Wallace.  On August 6, I married the best guy I've ever known, and now I am Amy Nicolai.  My art business name is AmyEclectic.

In the past few months I moved and got married, so there hasn't been a lot of new work in my world, except for a scarf I'm knitting.

My studio is pretty much settled, but I haven't settled in it yet.  It has become a studio/bedroom due to the single window AC unit on the second floor.  Once the heat breaks and I get the bed outta there, I anticipate a much more creative environment to unfold.

Here is an updated list of ways to find me and my work. 

Etsy 
Purchase my artwork here!

Facebook
Follow me here!

Flickr
Check out my art archive here!

Tumblr
Nature photography galore!

artsBridge Appearance November 7-10

(Lazy update January 24, 2016.  Here is the link to the artsBridge Episode.)


I'm excited to announce that this weekend yours truly will be featured on the Cincinnati area public television show called artsBridge.  It's a really cool show that I've seen several times prior to the taping in September.  Some of my favorite artists that I know and don't know have been on.  In a nutshell, someone from CET saw my artwork at the Kennedy Heights Art Center during a Fiber Arts show in September.  A CET film crew came to my home and filmed me in my basement art studio.  There's some interview action and some art-making action.  I'm really interested in seeing how they edit it to make me make sense.  Some of the questions were challenging to answer on-the-spot.  I don't wear makeup and I didn't then, so I hope the 1000 watt light bulb didn't penetrate the first 6 layers of my skin.  I'm really really nervous, as this isn't a one-time showing.  It airs 8 over the course of 4 days, then will be on repeat from time to time.  Here are the viewing times:

November 7 at 6PM on channel 48
November 8 at 5:30PM on channel 16
November 9^th at 8AM, 1PM, and 5PM on channel 48.3
November 10 at 10AM, 3PM, and 10PM on channel 48.3

It will be available to watch online about a week after this.   If you go to the link above you can scroll down a smidge and see my face.

Make some popcorn and have fun!

Nature's Vessel and Nature's Creature

Seems like I'm always a little late on blogging about things that are time-sensitive.  I've confessed in the past that it's much more enjoyable to create items than talk about them.  Marketing my work is not one of my strengths, but this show is definitely worth talking about. 

Nature's Vessel

Nature's Creature

The Kennedy Heights Art Center in Cincinnati currently is exhibiting some AMAZING 3-D art in a show called Fibers: The Next Dimension...curated by Carole Staples, a woman whose confidence and encouragement in my own art has helped me really push some boundaries.  Two of my items, Nature's Vessel and Nature's Creature, were juried in to the show.  My work is on display with gorgeous fiber art from Cincinnati folks like Pam Kravetz, Robbie Porter, Robin Kusten Hartmann and Larry McKenna (not sure if I'm spelling his name right...will correct when I find out.).  Photos above depict my two pieces....the felted log on the bottom of the top photo, and the suspended figure on the bottom.  I did not catch the names of the pieces in the spaces my work shares, but I'll just say if you live in the Cincinnati area, you should go check out this show.  It offers a lot of great color and texture therapy and is on display through Saturday, September 26, 2015.

There is also a small gift shop that features gifty items by participating artists (but there is also another amazing gift shop right inside the front door.)  Yes, my pieces are for sale!  Treat yourself to something weird!  My selection of gifts consists of my "Femmes of the Forest" decorative art dolls, beaded portrait brooches (collaboration between me and Heather Zimmerman) and some felted wool cuffs and coffee cozies.

The KHAC has a gorgeous garden on the south side of the property.  Found another Monarch Butterfly today.  All smiles!

Call 'em what you want.

I'm selling off my sweet vintage glass tribal beads.  "Vertebrae", "Chevron", "Zig-zag".  They're wavy and they nestle together to make a solid striped necklace or bracelet when strung.  These are available for sale in my Etsy shop only. When a color is gone, there are no more of that color.  Get 'em soon before I change my mind!  Speaking of that, I have created a section for Clearance/Destash stuff.  While I consider the beads below a "destash" of sorts, I'm not opposed to using them for an inspired art project.  They're cool and deserve a spot in the "Vintage Beads" section instead.  Each photo is linked directly to the listing.  Shop away!