Category Archives: Events

Talented pals showcase their work in upcoming events – most free, all priceless

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Coming attractions – be there!

Happily and often, I get email notices from friends who are very talented in very diverse ways – I love to pass along these opportunities so that we may support our arts and letters community.

Here are just a few for your calendar – and don’t forget to read all the way to the bottom of the post for an event from one of my favorite creative women!!

Carol Coffee Reposa, Poet

Featured this evening at Lyn Belisle Studio at 6:00

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Barbara Dean Hendricks: Author

Book Signing and Reception at the Twig

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Susanna Morrow: Collagists

“Now I Become Myself: Explorations in Collage”

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Susanna Morrow began exploring collage as a complement to her daily journal writing practice a decade ago. She has a developed a body of work that is dream-like and deeply personal, revealing what she is becoming as she moves through life’s changes. There are three series of collages in this exhibit: larger “portraits” of self and others, journal cover designs (“self studies”), and a visual discernment process about stepping into the second half of life.

Exhibit is at the Church of Reconciliation, Brown Hall, 8900 Starcrest. Exhibit hours are Sundays through October 30, 8AM-1PM, and weekdays by appointment. Contact susannacreates@gmail.com

All are welcome to wine and cheese reception Saturday, October 15, 6-8PM
Please visit susannamorrow.com for more information.

Alison Schockner, Lesta Frank, Jan Longfellow

Artist’s Garden Party

Saturday & Sunday,
Oct. 15th and 16th
11:00-4:00
at Alison’s studio
Come through the garden gate
by the carport on Flores St.

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 Join us for a multi-media exhibition.
 Alison’s garden art totems and plate flowers
 Carrie Bye’s printmaking magic
 Amy Jones’s felted critters
 Jan Longfellow’s cast silver clay jewelry
 Lesta’s mini abstract paintings,
bookmarks and cards

Bryce Milligan, Poet, Picker and Publisher

(click the image for details)

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Every year Gemini Ink honors a great San Antonio writer with the Award of Literary Excellence at our annual gala, Inkstravaganza. This year our honoree is the beloved journalist and distinguished author…

Jan Jarboe Russell

October 13, 2016

Pearl Stable

6PM

Click on the image for details!

AND FINALLY . . .

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Get out and support our beloved creative friends at any or all of these events!

♥Lyn

 

 

 

 

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2016 National Juried Photo Encaustic Exhibition

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“Untitled” © Kathryn Oliver

Clare O’Neill has pulled together a fascinating and eclectic exhibit that goes a long way in defining the relatively new art genre, “Photo Encaustic.”

As juror of  the 2016 National Juried Photo Encaustic Exhibition, Clare writes, “This newest exhibition of photo encaustic work beautifully blurs the lines between photography and painting; melding together what the camera captures with the vision of the what the artists sees.”

The show opens on June 2 at the Sage Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

D is for Dragonfly © Darren Terpstra

Michelle Belto introduced me to encaustic painting several years ago (thanks, Michelle!). And then I worked with Clare in her online class in January of 2015. With her guidance, I was able to craft a personal encaustic style that worked well for me. Clare and I became friends, and her sold-out classes at my Studio this past January were hugely inspiring to all of us. It’s an exciting medium with unlimited possibilities for both the photographer and the painter.

“No Good Outcome” © Lyn Belisle

I’m delighted to be included in the 2016 National Juried Photo Encaustic Exhibition Michelle Belto’s work is included as well. You can see all of the selected works on this page. It’s obvious that the old chicken-and-egg question applies – “which came first?’ – did the medium inspire the image or did the image call out for the medium? Fun stuff.

“Soul Boxes” © Michelle Belto

If you’d like to know more about Clare’s photoencaustic workshops, here’s a link. I’m also teaching three encaustic workshops in August which have sold out, but I’ll be added a second session of Vintage Veils: Encaustic Photocollage on Saturday, August 13th. It isn’t listed yet on my Workshop Calendar, but if you’d like a spot, email me and I’ll put you on the list.

Now  get out your camera and melt some sweet-smelling warm beeswax to enhance your images!

 

Saturday Show and Tell, April 30th

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My cup runneth over with good stuff! Yesterday’s Show and Tell was a feast of creativity and sharing. It was an almost serene experience – everyone’s work seemed to be somehow connected, and the afternoon flowed from fiber to metal to painting to digital images and poetry.

When other artists and friends take the time to come to these sessions, it truly makes Lyn Belisle Studio a Place of Creative Belonging. Thanks to all of you – I am pretty dang blessed.

If you see some work here that you’d like to know more about, feel free to email me and I’ll put you in touch with the artist. Happy May Day!!

Words as art – it’s National Poetry Month

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Are you a poet?If you think like an artist, you probably are – art has always inspired poetry, and poetry has always inspired art. I saw Express-News poetry editor Jim LaVilla Havelin  at the Voices de la Luna gala on Sunday, and I can testify from hearing his crazy schedule for National Poetry Month that poetry is alive and well in San Antonio.

Jim and his wife, Lucia (a fantastic fiber artist), are long-time arts advocates. Jim was the Master of Ceremonies for the Sunday event which honored Bryce Milligan of Wings Press and the Writers in Communities program at Gemini Ink. These people share a passion and commitment to the power of poetry and writing as tools of personal freedom through self-expression.

If you are a poet but don’t know it (remember that old poem –your feet show it, they’re Longfellows? Sorry!),  you might want to come by the Studio on the second Wednesday of every month to hear some of the city’s best poets gather to share their work. Our own Studio Poet Laureate, Harold Rodinsky, is usually there – and the guest poet at tomorrow’s meeting is Paul Pineda, whose work is gentle and powerful, always eloquent. . Here’s the info:

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And if you need inspiration for your art through poetry (or vice-versa), I highly recommend the J. Paul Getty Museum Connecting Art and Poetry site – it’s written for little kids, but it’s a fun exploration of  writing from art – I mean, if a giant bug with a pin stuck in it doesn’t inspire you to verse, what will? Get out there and write a poem – it’s National Poetry Month, for heaven’s sake.

 

 

A Gift from Joanna

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joannamadonnaDear friend Joanna Powell Colbert sent me a beautiful gift, a limited edition print of her newest artwork, Dark Madonna and Daughter. I found the perfect home for this lovely work in an old tin retablo frame from the early 1900’s. It’s hanging in my study on the wall above my computer. I love the serenity of this piece – it reminds me to slow down and take a breath when I get too rushed. You can order this print for yourself from her site, Gaian Soul.

I would encourage you to read Joanna’s blog post on how this piece came about. It speaks to the creative process in all of us. She also has a wonderful online series which has just started called 30 Days of Yuletide: A Daily Sacred Pause to Welcome the Return of the Sun. Just reading it each day helps keep me grounded to the season and the earth. And, boy, don’t we all need some grounding this time of year! Thank you, Joanna!

A quick reminder to San Antonio folks, Linda Lucretia Shuler will be signing her novel, Hidden Shadows, at my Studio this evening from 5-7. Her book (which I am thoroughly enjoying) explores how we ground ourselves to a homeplace – in this case, the beautiful Texas Hill Country. I hope you can join us for some informal literary conversation with Linda and share some refreshments.

Seek serenity, y’all – and celebrate the season!

 

2016 Spring Workshops open for registration

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Yay! It took most of the day yesterday, glued to my computer instead of playing in the Studio, but the spring workshop calendar is finally up on my website. I hope you find something that you like! Thanks to everyone who helped me out with the workshop preference survey – I included most of the things you suggested (like three Composition Camps) and I still have the rest of the year (and some Saturdays) to add new stuff.

And I have some great guest teachers right off the bat – Clare O’Neill, of course (can’t believe she’s actually coming to MY studio – woohoo). There may be one or two spots in her workshops as things shift around, so email me if you are interested.

Also coming are Kelly Schneider Conkling who is teaching meditation as an art process – I saw how she worked with Zelime Matthews and was just amazed. And my friend Lisa Stamper Meyer is going to teach a workshop on simple screen printing for mixed media artists. When she showed it to me, I couldn’t believe how really easy it was. 

handsAnd then there’s ME – I’m teaching 10 workshops this spring, including some on Wednesdays.

Hope to see you in the new workshops! Thanks for making this so much fun – big ol’ group hug!!

 

Home from The Prairie

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belIt’s hard to know where to start when you’ve just experienced an amazing four days in an unfamiliar but totally inspiring place. Teaching with the gifted instructors at Vivi Magoo in Round Top was an honor – and the students taught me as much I taught them! My friend Bonnie said that it was like going off to camp – how true. Except the camp cabins at The Prairie were furnished with lace and soft pillows and rose chintz.

I did miss my pal Michelle Belto – she was a huge help preparing botanical prints and papers for our demonstrations. And I couldn’t have done it without help from Lorri Scott, whose advice kept me focused and confident in a new environment – so glad she’s feeling better! Each of the three classes had its own personality – and I loved them all. Remarks heard during the three days, “I love your residue!” – “Those look like tie-dyed underpants” – “Ow, ow, that rebar’s hot!!” – “Look, it’s an alien!” – and especially, “I feel like I’ve know you guys all my life.”

I’ll let the video give you a taste of all the truly fun things we did and learned, but videos can’t show the welcoming warmth of the students and instructors at Vivi Magoo (by the way, I did find out where the name came from). Many thanks to Barb Solem and her family. And what a thrill it was to meet fellow Artful Gathering (yay!) instructors Diane Cook and Debby Anderson in person. So Viva, Vivi Magoo, and y’all in San Antonio stay tuned for workshops at my Studio sharing all of this good stuff!

The timeless art of The Prairie – a gentle retreat

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viviUntil I was asked to teach at the Vivi Magoo art retreat, I had never heard of The Prairie, a meeting and event venue in Round Top, Texas. People from all over the country fly in to Austin or Houston to stay at The Prairie, but since it’s just a couple of hours away from San Antonio, we drove up on a quiet Monday to check it out. I knew it had been founded by Rachel Ashwell (the inventor of “Shabby Chic”) but I was curious to see how art classes would work there.

Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t wait for next week to get here! We saw no one when we first drove up to the collection of lovely old houses and barns – the only sound was the breeze, and the only signs of life were the white linen sheets blowing on the clothesline and a white horse in the pasture.

We explored a bit, and then found Sarah, a lovely young woman who was readying the main house for next week’s gathering. The whole place is otherworldly and serene – I really felt as if I had gone back in time. Here’s a collection of photos that I took while we were there – it’s truly a beautiful environment. If you want information on the upcoming Vivi Magoo retreat, click here. And if you want to visit The Prairie, you’ll discover it down a secluded gravel road about five miles out of Round Top, Texas – but be prepared to find yourself in another time zone!

Dyeing to Show and Tell

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New painting by Lesta Frank, from Sunday’s Show and Tell

From dyeing on Saturday to Show and Tell on Sunday, this weekend rocked. It started with an afternoon of small-space dyeing with Rosemary Uchniat and ended with a Show and Tell with the usual suspects and some new ones, as well. Part of Show and Tell is always sharing upcoming shows, so here are two to pass along:

Small-Space Dyeing has become one of the fastest sold-out workshops at the Studio. Rosemary’s unique formula for fabric dyeing success produces fun, no fail results every time, even for novices. Take a look at the video from Saturday.

Sunday’s Show and Tell photo gallery gives you a clue to the diversity and talent of the participants – everything from Acrylics to Zentangle – I am grateful to the generous and highly creative people who share their ideas with all of us at  these get-togethers.

milagroLast but not least, the winner of the Friday Freebie heart milagro is lucky SHARDS subscriber #134, Arwen Lynch Poe, a friend who has just moved from Texas to New Mexico. Arwen, send me your new address and I’ll send you this little gift to remind you of how much we miss you!

I had lots of requests for info about this piece, and I plan to have some for sale at the Black Saturday Studio sale on November 28th with Lesta Frank and Alison Schockner! Happy Monday, everyone, and thanks, as always, for reading SHARDS.

Potters and gourders

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I’m presenting a program to the San Antonio Potters Guild tonight. It’s called Earthenware, Ornament, and Assemblage. While collecting photos photos of my clay pieces, I realized that working in earthenware has been part of my art practice for almost 50 years! These days it’s mostly face shard production and some small sculptural pieces, and I love exploring finishes for fired unglazed clay. Here’s one of the finishes I’m showing the potters tonight – it’s a wax-based custom metallic patina that starts with neutral shoe polish! I used it as a finish on the piece at the left and thought you might like to see how it’s done.

Kathleen Peet: "Diamonds on the soles of her shoes"

Kathleen Peet: “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes”

Just as I was working on my Potters Guild presentation, I got a message from Kathleen Peet, a mixed-media artist from Prineville, Oregon who uses my shard faces in her work. She works with gourds in a unique way – look at this gorgeous piece, left.

Kathleen has an Etsy shop called  Full Circle Art and you can contact her there to see the full scope of her creativity with gourds.

This is what she says about her passion: “When I started in 1996, gourds were a relatively new medium, especially in rural eastern Oregon. The most frequently asked questions were: “What are those?” and “Do you grow them?” Now, gourds are much better known, and some are recognized as ‘fine art’ rather than just craft. I have enjoyed taking this medium in many different directions, and just when I think I’ve tried everything, some new idea hits me. While still enjoying painting, spinning/weaving, ceramics and abalone jewelery….I always come back to gourds!”

Here are some photos of more of Kathleen’s work, including a look at her Oregon studio – thanks, Kathleen! Clay and gourds are a natural pairing!