The Four Dharmas of Gampopa

Grant your blessing so that my mind may move towards the Dharma.
Grant your blessing so that the Dharma may progress along the path.
Grant your blessing so that the path may clarify confusion.
Grant your blessing so that confusion may dawn as wisdom. 


FRIENDS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Rozie Vajda at GroundSwell Gallery

What a fun month at the gallery with the complex and beautiful characters created by Rozie Vajda.  Each marionette with it's own detailed expression, components, and stage is an example of Rozie's true investment into the whole creation of personality and placement.  We are honored to show this work and we welcome you, if you haven't already, to visit GroundSwell Gallery during this heartwarming season - open through January 10, 2012. 

GroundSwell Gallery is located at 3121 E. Colfax Ave. Denver, CO 80206 (Bluebird District). 

Open Monday - Saturday 11am - 7pm, Sunday 12 - 5pm

Gift Givers, this is your jam.

Hello friends!
Just want to shout out about the Holiday Gift Givers Sale we're hosting at GroundSwell Gallery this Saturday (tomorrow) from 5 - 9pm.
There are 10 amazing designers selling their hand-crafted wares (including jewelry, accessories, art, toys, etc.).
Also, it's the holidays after all, so we'll warm you up and sweeten your teeth with a cup of home-made chai and a cupcake from the Shoppe!  Looking forward to seeing you all!

I made these Heads-N-Tails toys!  These little critters' heads and tails can be swapped from one to the other allowing you to create funny little foxy-turtles and hippo-fish. 

City Smiles

Today an Open House at City Smiles Dentistry, 100 Spruce Street, Suite 100 Denver, CO 80230.  Everyone is invited from 5:30p - 8:30p.  This is a great chance to see what Chelsea Mayer, DDS has done to build out a beautiful new dentist office that all who care about design and good space can really enjoy!  She smartly requested good art curation for the office and I reached out to local Denver Artists.  The result, the best dressed Dentist office I've ever been to!  I'm honored to work with the artists:
Sara Guindon
Sandra Fettingis
Rob Mack
Shayna Cohn
Debbie Clapper
Alan Kitchen
Paul Langway
Bethany DeMarco
Derek Keenan 
Jared David Paul

Rozie Vajda at GroundSwell - through Jan. 10

I call this a successful art opening.  The highly detailed and exquisitely constructed characters that are Rozie Vajda's marionettes now grace GroundSwell Gallery.  I am so proud to curate with such a talented and hard working artist!

Please visit the gallery before Jan. 10, 2012 to see this incredible show. 

Below, please find Rozie Vajda's artist statement. 

"I work with found objects. Some discarded, some given, others forgotten, all rediscovered and repurposed. I help these treasures discover a new life with new companions in a new story.

My studio has a floor to ceiling collection of these found, gifted, and salvaged treasures and art parts collected over a lifetime. Chosen for the emotion as much as the aesthetic, in this show can be found roots, twigs, and seaweed, accordion parts and the keys to my first car. When these parts make their way into my art, so too do the people, places, and experiences they represent.

In these most recent pieces, my explorations with assemblage art, doll-making, sewing and felting have come together in a whimsical way that surprises and delights me. With the pull of a string these characters come to life with motion and dance."

-Rozie Vajda

3115)| +! |(3121 East Colfax Ave.

MAD KING  In Transit  2011

Running the gallery at GroundSwell with Danette Montoya has been immensely enjoyable for me in the months since we opened in May 2011.  I find that I have more fulfilling and inspiring conversations with artists around Denver than I would have thought available to me.  I happily do this work and I'm inspired to keep on with my own art work.

The current show at the gallery with MAD KING is definitely worth a visit.  GroundSwell is open daily from 10a - 7pm and this show runs through November 8th.  If you're like me, you may find yourself brightened by MAD KING's layered patterns, colors, textures and characters.  I especially invite those interested in enriching their visual promotion and representation materials with the skillful and soulful imagery of this artist.
http://www.madkingproductions.com/

Finally, I want to share, through pictures (below), the happenings between 3115 East Colfax and 3121 East Colfax (GroundSwell).   Artists working this week, and pictured in the first photo here are Denver's own Max Kaufman and Nice One, Denver native, now working from Chicago. 

Max Kaufman and Nice One work out the details of what will be a very large mural on the side of GroundSwell Gallery and Cannabis Boutique

newest stencil in the past month

This wheat pasted painting appeared in the past month as well.  We're into that on our unpainted brick wall, but the stencil to the Right is totally inconsiderate of the brick material.  Boo.  Also, see left, part of Paul Langway's mural from last Summer on the low wall bordering the alley.

"Own Your Soul, Monster."  We're especially into the painting, being not the expected xerox, and the poeticism of this wheat paste.

In closing,
Thank you Denver Artists.

ART by CRAFT at REDLINE

I  am honored to show my work, Migration newly formatted as a stand-on-it's-own sculpture piece, at the Denver Handmade Alliance's Art by Craft exhibition this coming Saturday!  The show runs through October 16th and coincides with a craft Market held on Sunday Oct. 9th.  Exhibiting the work of the artists listed below, Art by Craft explores craft-based mediums in fine art.  I hope you will consider visiting!!

Migration (detail), Rebecca Peebles

Art by Craft Exhibiting Artists:

Adriane Horovitz & Marc Horovitz 
Andrea Thurber
Becky Wareing Steele
Beth Wood
Dea Webb
Hope Morgan of Haunted Sparrow
Lara Nickel
Martina Grbac
Pamela Webb
Patrice Washington
Rebecca Peebles
Sandra Fettingis
Sarah Wallace Scott
Vanessa Gochnour

303

Laney McVicker of 303 Magazine wrote an  article about myself and my work.  You can see "The Hol Sum Art of Meditation" article on 303's site for the Fall Fashion Issue 2011.

I'm especially grateful to Laney for quoting me when I said about my art work, "Really, it's just a practice of working toward something beautiful or peaceful."  This is true for me.  I am most accurate as an artist when I'm creating work that offers beauty and opportunity to rest in one's own peace. 

hats, sculpture, call them what you will...

The Bard Graduate Center is hosting an exhibit of 250+ hats curated by Stephen Jones!  If I were able to drop everything and travel right now, I'd hop to NYC to see these as part of a long list of shows, meals and otherwise gorgeous outings! 

lettering mantras

Dedication of Merit

By this merit may all attain omniscience.

May it defeat the enemy, wrongdoing.

From the stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death,

From the ocean of samsara, may I free all beings.

By the confidence of the golden sun of the great east,

May the lotus garden of the Rigden’s wisdom bloom.

May the dark ignorance of sentient beings be dispelled.

May all beings enjoy profound brilliant glory.

Studying mantras and poetry for a new project....  Such awesome study. 

Microclimates!

An installation art exhibition by
Rob Mack &
Samuel Schimek

Ripped from Microclimates' Info Page:  "The Super Ordinary Gallery in the RiNo art district of Denver, CO will be transformed for two months into a large scale graphic art environment. Three distinctive microclimates will lead the viewer on an exciting visual journey using life scale graphic installations. Denver Underground artists Samuel Schimek and Rob Mack have come together to manifest this exhibition and will be using their skills in graphic design, found object, and the collaborative art experience. Leading up to the exhibition, viewers are invited to become involved from the ground up by following the online campaign via facebook, twitter, and the website. Followers will have the opportunity to experience exhibition production and see how this exciting collaboration will come together. 

During the opening of this exhibition on June 4th, event attendees will have a chance to see the full collaborative power of the Denver art scene. In addition to the exhibition there will be a live fashion show by Denver Designer, Hol Sum, special music project integrated with the graphic environment, and special art POP-Up store containing purchasable pieces of the graphic environments."

This is the work that I'm working on! Hol Sum will produce garments that are integral to the graphic, thematic and environments of the Microclimates exhibition. We are even having fabric printed with graphic elements directly related to the designs produced by Rob and Samuel! Working with these two is a great opportunity for me. Microclimates is a challenge that we're all excited for because Denver needs it's artists and designers to stand up, stand out, and represent this awesome city of creative industry!

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our project on Kickstarter!! Anything you can give will contribute to the Kickstarter grant program - if we can rase our minimum, then Kickstarter doubles it! If we can't raise our minimum, we get nothing. Let's get the minimum!!! Thank you for your help, and please pass on our information to anyone who supports the arts, supports real culture in their cities, and wants to support people who work very hard at what we do!