by Holly Nowak
Disclaimer: I mean this in the nicest, most unbitchy, no-I’m-not-annoyed way possible…
On behalf of all professional artists, and speaking from an actual personal experience…
DON’T
DO:
This happens every year and we all swap stories, roll our eyes and laugh.
Professional artists want to work with business owners, organizations and charities but we also would like to be treated with the consideration and respect our work/time/business deserves.
Thank you…carry on
I welcome feedback.
I know many friends have experienced this who aren’t artists but, like artists, are small business owners.
Related: Market manager Mitch Cohen covers why artists can’t deduct the value of their donated art, in his art column, Art Valet. Read more. >
by Lisa Hilton
On November 3rd, 2017 I will turn 45 and in a whole other way I am really only 5, let me explain.
On November 3rd, 2012 I suffered a stroke while on stage competing in Texas State Natural Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships in Austin, TX. I was given the clot-busting drug TPA and was in ICU for 6 days. One year later I had my second stroke, but only in ICU 4 days. I suffered some Paralysis to my left side, Severe Photophobia, Depression, Memory Loss, Aphasia, Severe Fatigue Syndrome, Anxiety and PTSD. I still battle with some of these invisible limitations but I am not here to play the violin and whip out some wine with my cheese NO MAAM!! NO SIR!!!! I will save THAT for the day I have my own solo show but trading the violin for a guitar!! lol
I am here sharing my story of how I SURVIVED and more important how ART saved my life.
I never took a class or ever really painted before being introduced to Art Therapy. I became the legal guardian of my niece, who I see as my own child, and when she was in college pursuing a psychology degree she suggested Music & Art Therapy in my recovery to help regain the full use of my left hand and arm. I was not having a good experience with the medications I was given at all, in fact, I was in the deepest darkest part of my depression and ready to just give up. I did NOT want to live, I really felt everyone would be better off if I had just not made it and I was scaring myself with my own thoughts.
I decided to give Music & Art Therapy a try and after finding out I couldn’t play any instruments we started buying art supplies. My mother, who remains my caretaker, even emptied out an extra room and made it my art room ( Yep, I had to move in with my parents with my two kids).
It took a while to figure out just what type of painting or media I fell into or enjoyed. I finally figured it out when I broke up with a local musician I had been dating and put his CD in the microwave!! (DO NOT DO THAT VER
Y DANGEROUS) BUT I did and at 3 seconds I thought I was gonna blow up my parent’s house so I stopped it and took it out, I looked at the CD and the back looked SOOOO COOL I mean CDs are already so memorizing and I thought ” Hey, I can make something with this…..” I wound up making some Resin coasters and I cut up that CD and that CD Cover along with our favorite momentums and crap only he would get ya know.
Anyway, I basically put all my heart ache my pain and my happy memories in those coasters…….
I FELT SO MUCH BETTER and I gave them to him.
I felt like I literally got rid of all that negative energy and when it left my house it left me. So I started doing that with some songs and they would trigger memories good and bad and BOOM when they were done I was like hey I just made something so cool out of something I thought was so horrible. I am a single mother and decided THIS WAS MY THING , I chose Recycled Art to show my kids that even though something is damaged and not what it once was (LIKE ME POST STROKE) doesn’t mean that someone won’t still find beauty in it and that you can still make something amazing out of it.
BUT I had to purchase a barn and move my workshop down my by parents pond and chickens because of my misuse of the microwave and a couple fires with the blowtorch hahahahaha nothing serious but I was just mastering my craft and resin use. I finish all of my work, which is all recycled broken and unplayable music related items, in Art Resin that’s kinda my niche.
I truly feel that my soul is awake now and I am happier than I have been even when I am sad. I have a great support system of family, amazing fellow artists & good friends. So when I say I am really only 5 years old I mean I feel like I was given a chance to start over and I really feel the need to share how much ART really saved my life.
5 years ago I was going down a path that wasn’t meant for me or my kids.
Today I am working as a full time artist it is my job and I love my job. I am a regular at First Saturday Arts Market, The Market at Sawyer Yards, I am a featured Gallery Artist at Rockstar Gallery and have even shown at The Woodlands Waterway Art Festival. I have many goals and strive to soar to new heights!!!! (Pun totally intended) I have a whole new outlook on life in general. I AM ALIVE AND I AM HAPPY.
Art Therapy & Music Therapy helped bring me back to life.
Music helped bring back some memories and the amazing ability to purge your soul through Art Therapy is better than colonics. Lmao
All of my artwork pieces embrace a story…….. Come out and check it out in person or online on www.facebook,com/LoveCactus88
I was angry and full of so much pain and hurt for so long……. for the past 5 years I have been making art and burning sage and just praying and thanking GOD that I am on this side of the dirt!!!!
Lisa M. Hilton
What started as a hobby has turned into a creative venture for Edwin
and Elizabeth Ennis, who make wall art from recycled wood with a
modern edge to it. Each piece is 100% handcrafted and carved by this
husband and wife team. While many are similar, each piece has it’s own
uniqueness. Their best sellers focus on Houston, incorporating the
Houston skyline, neighborhoods and street names. They love their
hometown of Houston and find it a privilege to showcase her
originality. www.facebook.com/alittleyum/shop
https://www.facebook.com/LoveCactus88
First Saturday Arts Market
The Market at Sawyer Yards
Volunteering is fun! As an artist, you get to meet other artists you don’t normally have time to when you’re in the show. The market artists requested I try to keep the artist relief “in-house” as much as possible, and it turns out y’all like it!
We’re not a big show – an hour is usually enough time to make the rounds, visit and watch a booth for a few minutes.
*With the new location, I’m finding that I must have help. We no longer have two entrances for load-in. If you do join me (Mitch) early, I’ll buy you lunch! (Most likely a gift card to a local restaurant for use anytime!)
At a young age, Sarah discovered her love for art. The process of creating was what sparked her interest. As her love for art continued to grow, she knew the right career choice was to become an artist & art educator. She has now taught art in Houston for 4 years. In 2016, after a life-changing experience, she knew she needed to rediscover her passion for creating. It wasn’t until she started to create again, that she was able to see her true potential as an artist. Her approach to art is intuitive & free flowing as she dives into each new work. She is inspired by color & the process of applying it to her canvas.
“And though the process can sometimes be ugly, it is the final moment that makes it all worth it,” Rimboch said. “Complete satisfaction knowing there is something sitting in front of me that only exists because I created it. And that, is ultimately what fuels my passion.”
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in art. People who are familiar with my work would probably be surprised to learn that my first love was pen and ink. I chose to draw because, at the time, I did not have a true understanding of how color works.
Through the years, I acquired formal training, attending The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, where I studied advertising art. I then went to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena California concentrating in illustration. At this point in my life, I needed to pursue a career, so I received training by attending audio/visual, photo retouching, and illustration software classes at Houston Community College.
My formal training in college dealt with realism, drawing, design, painting, and some three-dimensional work. I gradually developed my own style.
At the age of 29, the world of color opened up to me when I was fortunate to study with Leo Davis, a professor at the University of Arkansas. It was there that I experimented with silkscreen, calligraphy, watercolor, and graphic design.
Because I am somewhat colorblind I use the color straight from the tube mixed with water onto the watercolor paper and let the colors blend by lifting the paper up and down and right to left, allowing the colors to flow into one another, creating pure color blends.
I use watercolor on yupo paper as well as the traditional watercolor paper. I have experimented with alcohol inks on yupo paper as well. I also enjoy computer graphics and programs designed for painting on the computer.
Watercolor is truly an exciting and rewarding medium to work with.
Woodblock prints large and small as well as abstracted figurative paintings, large and small. Allegorical musings on the nature of humans and their relationships to environment and culture.
kevin-cromwell.squarespace.com
