Celebrating My First Gallery Exhibit

Four years ago on May 11th, Nathan and I hit the road for the Southwest. We really only look back when Facebook sends us the Memories of life in Florida. Our new life here is very different and very satisfying. At least once a week we celebrate the barely explainable freedom we feel from making a major move in our senior years. The most recent benefit is the new friendships we have found by joining clubs in our area. Before leaving Florida, we just did not consider how a cross country move (and a pandemic) would strip us from in-person contact with nourishing community interaction.

For me, joining the Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild has been a life saver. The extremely talented resources there are well established in their artistry, and they are encouraging and motivational. They accept me as an artist which helps me see myself as an Artist.

As a result of my growing confidence in that role, this week I'm celebrating having been...

accepted by the Tohono Chul Gallery in Tucson for a summer long exhibit called The Exotic Sublime | land and sky. I was one of 36 Artists selected from 160 Artists who submitted. Only 52 works were selected from 450 pieces submitted. Two of mine were chosen. This will be my very first formal Gallery Exhibition. My feelings about it continue to toggle between ecstatic and a stunned numbness. LOL Here are the details on the Reception With The Artists,  You are invited to help me celebrate on May 18th! The exhibit runs through August 7th. Woot Woot!

My exhibit pieces are something I've been calling beadscapes but I have since been advised they "might be" related to the practice of "surface design". Whatever they're called - and I have been looking for their naming convention for years - I so enjoy making them as the designer within continues to concoct ways to enhance raw rocks with beads.

Not accepted for this Exhibit, one of my submissions is considered to be "wearable art" as it is a necklace and can be worn or on artistic display. It was considered too large for this particular event but I will find a place for it eventually. Stay tuned.

Nathan and I just enjoyed our first vacation in four years by revisiting and exploring the Utah / Arizona border in all its Spring glory. My rock collecting husband was all smiles for a whole week and I managed to find small bits of vermillion red stones that spin in my head with ideas. It was the best vacation we have ever had - so far. Long overdue and delayed by moving fatigue and the pandemic, the entire week was spent exploring, hiking, and gazing at desert flowers spanning mountains, fields and desert with glances at an occasional oasis of green forests in the middle of the desert fed by streams we unable to see.

Sleeping within view of the Vermillion Cliffs was a highlight of the vacation! We stayed in a Motel at Marble Canyon. The vast parking lot was gravel and in the distance there was a camper, a truck and a few designer homes. Framing the background were the Vermilion Cliffs in all their glory. We slept our best sleep there.

I wish for you a vacation that will refresh your spirit.

Be well... Tina