Meet the Artist-Bonnie Dent watercolor

1.   What do you want to share with others in your work?

      I was an art teacher for 37 years, and my sharing through those years involved helping people learn what they could do with their own skills and creativity.  Now, my focus is on developing my own art, and sharing it with others.  Art is interactive…everyone looks at a piece of art through their own eyes, with their own experiences coloring what they see .  I enjoy doing realistic and impressionistic art, and then hearing what memories and feelings my art provokes in others.

2.    How do you make time for your art?

       I make time because I am excited about creating art. For many years I have put my own art on “the back burner” while my energies were used for teaching.  Now with time to paint, I am finding that I am thinking about painting and creating much more of the time.  I often get up in the middle of the night to work on an unfinished piece.  I also enjoy working on art at the gallery when not busy

3.    How does mall-town life help/hinder your work? http://www.experiencewilliams.com/

             This small town, after 40 years, seems filled with friends… supportive, caring friends.  

             Their interest and encouragement have been invaluable.   

      4.   Which Piece(s) would you never sell?

            A few pieces, not to be sold, are ones with special memories. One of these is"Rushing  

            Stream"

, my first 

with a friend, 

en plein aire painting done on location beside a rapids in 
            northern New Mexico.  It was such a joy to paint.    

          

          

  

     

5.  

  What (or whose) other artworks do you display in our home?

            My husband and I have a home filled with many artists' work including Drake Seaman,       

            David Drummond http://www.drummondart.com/ and Hopi artist, Richard Dawavendewa.  I   

            many countries and cultures, including China and Japan.  My 

have collected folk art from

            most recent acquisition is one 

of Tom Williams' bells, and I hope to add work by other   

            The Gallery in Williams  artists 

soon.

       

   

 6.

    

 What obstacles do you overcome to create?

             Time, money and organization are always challenges for me.  Since I "thrive in clutter", 

             keeping art supplies organized is a chore.  Recently we designated one room as my studio, 

             so the mess is now contained! 

         

             Speaking of challenges, one of the great amazements of life is how the medieval and  

             Renaissance painters found time to paint.  They often had to  locate their own pigments in 

             nature, grind them to make paint,and buy or make wood panels ,copper plates or woven 

             canvas just to be ready to paint.  Brushes were often home-made, too.  Boy, are we lucky.  

             If I had to do all that, then housework, a paying job,  bill-paying, shopping and child-care 

             would never get done...or more likely, painting would never get done!

      7.       Are your ever bored?  How do you break out of a slump?

            Bored? No, that is never a problem.  If I'm stuck away from my art supplies, I plan the next 

            painting in my head. I do this as I go to sleep, too.

         

Meet the Artist-Sandy Amazeen (Jewelry, Fiber...)

As promised here is the first interview in the series "Meet the Artist" By Paula Nord.

What do you want to share with others in your work?
A joy in the medium and perhaps allow others to see beauty in the everyday items around them

Which piece(s) would you never sell?
There are a few pieces of bead-work and other items that I couldn't part with because of the many hours involved or the memories attached.

What (or whose) other artworks do you display in your home?
Native American woven rugs, studio glass paperweights, a collection of my boxes and assorted hanging art I've made over the years.

How do you make time for your art?
Making time is a constant challenge, multitasking is a must and I try to work as efficiently as possible to maximize every minute.

What obstacles do you overcome to create?
Time, there's never enough time to do all the things I want to get accomplished.  Being largely self- taught there have often been times when a lack of knowledge has been frustrating but it has also led to some interesting discoveries as well.

Are you ever bored? How do you break out of a slump?
Bored? You must be joking! Being in a slump is seldom a problem as I work in so many mediums that when one doesn't sing I simply do something else for a while, then return to the project with renewed interest

Whose work inspires you?
Nature, William Morris, Ed Mell

What other mediums interest you?
Silversmithing is next on my list of things to learn.

Where are you "going" with your art?
The ideas just come to me so it's more a matter of where is the art taking me.  Would eventually like to use my lapidary work in fine silver settings, weave more rugs and add a more organic feel to my creations.

What kind of class/workshop would you most like to attend?
Silversmithing, glass blowing and who knows.

How does you artistic attitude affect your day job?
Am sometimes distracted by a distinctive pattern, coming up with a project solution or figuring out a new design idea.

How does small-town life help/hinder your work?
Limited access to artists with similar interests is a drawback which is balanced by having a nice quiet place to work?

Which family members are artistically inclined?
My uncle makes Beautiful hooked rugs and an aunt who knits lovely sweaters, makes baskets and does cross stitch on sweatshirts.

Describe your ideal work-space.
One huge room with a wall dedicated to storing my ever increasing inventory of beads, rocks, yarns and reference library.  Plenty of room for my two biggest looms (one is nearly as big as a small SUV), my jewelers bench, clay table, a lapidary station with water and more.  Maybe a warehouse would work!

What are your thoughts on the co-op experience? Is this new for your?
I've been involved with co-ops before and found them all interesting, each one was different.  The main problem I currently have is finding enough time to fit in my work shifts and fortunately, this gallery is very understanding about that.

To view some of Sandy's work check out our website thegalleryinwilliams.com

Still have questions? Post your questions for Sandy and get and answer from the artist.

"Hang em high and watch em swing"

No, this is not the 1968 Clint Eastwood film, but now that you mention it, how are we going to hang our artwork? Do we just pound holes in the walls of a 100 year old building with plaster walls? Many of the galleries we visited did just that. When they wanted to move or replace artwork... more holes and more holes. Soon your walls look like Swiss cheese. Since any holes in a plaster wall really need anchors, well, I think you begin to see our dilemma.  Coupled with wanting to have low impact on a historical building, we needed a better solution.

It was back to the streets or to the galleries anyway. Most of the galleries in Flagstaff used the pound first, ask questions later. Our timing was good,  because a new gallery opened in Flag. Its name is Gallery 113; here is a link to their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/gallery113. If you look through some of their pictures you can see the artwork is suspended with stainless steel cables. We didn't really like all of  the cables, as this distracted you from the actual art.

Armed with a basic knowledge of what was out there, I hit the internet. The stainless steel cable method seemed very popular, but then I came upon a similar method that used a clear tape and, while not completely invisible, it was much less distracting. http://www.gallerysystem.com/systems/detail/clear_tape_system When you check out the link,you will find they offer both the clear tape and the cable. Something to keep in mind is the weight limit. The tape will hold up to 33lbs, and each hook holds 22lbs. So you can put more than one picture on a single tape, as you can see in the photo.

The cables hold more weight, so if that is an issue you might want cables. Another plus was that you can attach lights to the track, which is the option we went with as seen to the left. The system is easy to use and the staff at Gallery System is very helpful. They will help in your layout and order, making sure you get all of the appropriate items. One thing to remember when laying out track is to leave a 2  5/8" gap between the 6.5' sections for ease of changing things around in the future.

Please check our Facebook page for more pictures at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Gallery-in-Williams/219532344759410 and while there, please Like us. Also, to see more of our artists and their art don't forget our website at www.thegalleryinwilliams.com.   As always, thanks for reading. 

Posts to look forward to are Meet the Artists by Paula Nord and The Interesting People You Meet While Working in an Art Gallery in a Tourist Town by Mary O'Brien. 

Tom Williams

The Gallery in Williams

Good music, good food, good wine + Art = a Great Event!

Our Grand Opening was truly a grand event. Art lovers and enthusiasts came from all over the country. No check that. From all over the world but, more on that in a minute. The day started out with Joni Pavarnik - one of our potters doing a demonstration right on the sidewalk in front of the gallery.                                       Passerby's were treated to a wonderful show by one of our more colorful artists. Everyone had fun and some were convinced to come inside to see what this was all about. Later it was Bonnie Dents turn. Bonnie does pastels, watercolor and more. Today she was drawing free portraits of who ever would sit in the chair.

                                                                                         

She was followed up by Mary O'brien who does watercolors which is what she was working on. Several customers asked her about classes which the gallery will be offering in the winter.

At 6 pm the real festivities began. Kerry-Lynn provided some wonderful music. Check her out and even listen to her at http://www.kerry-lynn.com You will get a good taste of what we enjoyed. 

Helen Gorney one of our artist - oil provided the food and wine. It was a great spread please check out our FaceBook page to see more pictures of the event. If you go to our website Thegalleryinwilliams.com click on contact and then click on FaceBook it will take you to our page.

As I said before we had people from all over. Arizona residents from Williams, Flagstaff, Kingman, St Johns, Phoenix, Parks, and Prescott. We also had people from California, Ohio, Florida, Oregon, and a little farther away as from England, British Columbia, Australia, and I even sent one of my sculptures off to live in Belgium.

What a wonderful night. I just want to thank all of our patrons, artists, the mayor who made an appearance, the Williams Chamber of Commerce http://www.experiencewilliams.com/ , and all of the locals, friends, and family who support us. Also thank you to our readers. I hope you all have the chance to come visit us in the future. Please introduce yourself.

Thank you for reading

Tom Williams 

Grand Opening today!

Today is our Grand Opening. Yes we have been open for 1 month. The decision to open early has to do with several factors. One - and probably the biggest was that the rodeo was in town. So...you might ask what does that mean? Well Williams is a tourist town and we have many draws that inflate the visitors to our little town such as: the big ditch or maybe you know it as the Grand Canyon, Route 66 which brings in car shows, motorcycles, Bearazona way cool and much more one of which is the Rodeo. Two - it gave us a chance to work out some of the bugs with the register, credit card machine, inventory, etc. and finally we were able to create a presence and develop local support.

 You may ask as we did "were we ready to open" and the answer would be NO! And, we may still not quite be ready. When we opened we still had many open spots, the sign was not completed, we had no accountant, our website was not up ( thegalleryinwilliams.com check it out) and the list goes on. Many of those things have been rectified but, we still have some open spots, our inventory system is still evolving as well as procedures.

Today's Grand Opening looks to be a Gala event with artists' demos during the day, music, food, and beverage from 6pm. We invited all the Galleries within a 100 mile radius, had a radio spot on NPR yesterday and invited all of the local businesses.  So "Ready or not" here we go!

Check tomorrow for a blow by blow of the action also check our website thegalleryinwilliams.com and our FaceBook page for pictures of the event.

 As always thanks for reading

Tom 

Lights, Camera, Action well...Lights anyway.

So next to the art (and I will talk about that in the next posting) what's the most important component in a great gallery? LIGHTS! At least that's what I believe. Now I have been in many art galleries as I am sure you have but, how much attention did you pay to the lights. Right!  Well I set out to rectify that by revisiting some of my favorite galleries. Like I need an excuse to do that.

Let me tell you right now that people are going to look at you funny when you walk into a gallery with beautiful art and all you do is stare at the lights. Even more so if you go with someone and you have already been to several galleries and you stand under the lights saying "I don't think I like these as well as the last ones." You might have and artist/sales person ask you to leave or "Why are you looking at our lights?" This is what happened to us

Now maybe you didn't know that lights and everything else involved in setting up and running an art gallery are aggressively protected trade secrets. I mean I have had a warmer reception from a mother grizzly protecting her cubs. O.K. that's not fair. There were some gracious gallery owners that were more than willing to share but, that's for another post.

After visiting a multitude of  galleries and countless online searches we did come up with a solution from Ylighting.com They were not only helpful but very knowledgeable.  You could call them first and not have to call anyone else.

Just a little about the lights. We have LED's around the walls but, in the middle we have halogen due to price. I will have to let you know if that was wise when I receive our first electricity bill. LED's are very expensive and the cost for our small gallery would have been well over $6,000.00 and that was just the lights and fixtures. We got all of the lights the drop down tracks and everything else for much less than that by going halogen.

Well I have taken enough of your time

Thanks for reading

location location location that's what they say anyway.

well I guess it has to start somewhere. We started with a meeting there were five of us to start. But in the end there ended up being three partners. In the first meetings we shared ideas , thoughts, and our vision of what the gallery would look like.eventually we got around to wear with this gallery be? One of the original members had an idea of some empty buildings in town. Well our town not being all that big we put on our walking shoes and proceeded to do a walkabout. This building was too small this one was too big but eventually we found one that was just right.

You have to know something about account before I go on. Williams is located on old Route 66. Route 66 is divided into two one way streets. The side going from east to west would be considered the wrong street put your business on so we focused on the side of the street going West to East. Now even on this side of the street you need to be in a very defined location of about three blocks. We found two or three vacant buildings that met our needs. One of those was for sale and beyond our budget. Another was already being used. The other building turned out to be perfect. The rent was not too high. And the building was in the three block Goldilocks zone but, only barely.

by this time we had dropped to its original members. So myself my wife and Mary O'Brien are other partner met with the landlord. After all of our concerns have been addressed we signed the lease. Our rent would not start for one month to give us time to clean up the building. The inside of the building was really rough it needed paint, it was currently being used as a storage area and all of that stuff needed to be moved but, we were on our way.

Thank you for reading.