What better gift?

Today is Black Friday, the day when masses move to shop—ostensibly to buy gifts for loved ones. If that is the phenomenon behind that odd nomenclature, I hope that is the reason for it.

If you are starting to think about gifts for loved ones, think about giving art or art objects made by local artists.

Art lasts forever. 
Art creates a meaningful communication and bond between giver and recipient. And, in the process, you will help support a segment of our workforce that is suffering disproportionately from the lack of money moving in our economy-- people who are hard-working and deserving of help. Bigger than that, you help keep a critical part of our culture alive.

Where to find this kind of special gift? First, don’t go to any big box or brand stores for it. I personally wouldn’t call anything “art” that is available in places like Macy’s or Nordstrom or any of the big mall stores. Whatever you find there is more than likely to be manufactured far away, and in the millions.

Instead, find a locally owned gallery populated with works by local artists. While many of them have disappeared in the last few years, there are still some who are ready and open, such as Kelly Street Gallery in Half Moon Bay (full disclosure: I am one of the four partners of this fine art photography gallery), Gallery House on Cal Ave in Palo Alto, or Palo Alto Art League (ditto, member of these cooperatives). There are also the Cubberley artists in Palo Alto. I bring these galleries up because I know the artists personally, and how talented and hard working most of them are. Whatever town you are in likely has a gallery or collective like these, an "Open Studios [your town name]" or any number of artists who are happy to show and sell their work individually.  

I am also familiar with the many items that artists have spent months working on to make ready for holiday giving. Framed art photos, illustrations, paintings, encaustic (wax) paintings, silk scarves, boxed cards, single note cards, sculptures, ornaments, prints, decorated boxes, glass objects, calendars, jewelry, ceramics, art-decorated market bags, and more. 

Some of these things are functional, but probably most are not. But the point of art is not to function in the world in ways that we normally think of as useful. It is there to communicate thoughts, feelings or concepts; to remind us of seminal events or moments in our lives; to punctuate corners of our world with visual beauty; to make us wonder and think. Or even to inspire us to create something ourselves, even if it is to re-create the world we live in.

What better gift could you give than that?


Note: The image above is titled Flaming Dahlia. Like the other works shown throughout this blog, it is available as a pigment print either framed or unframed, or mounted on wood with an encaustic (wax) glaze. Just email me at n(at)nancycoleman.com for more info. I also now sell cards (and soon prints) in my Etsy store, "Being Present," and my book Garden Poetry can be viewed here.

Transformation

You are cordially invited to come to Transformation, 

a special exhibit of wabi-sabi to contemporary 

ceramics and digital art by 

Kiyoco Michot and Nancy Coleman (that would be me) 

September 21-October 16. 

Opening reception on Friday, September 24 from 6-8 pm

with refreshments and live music.

Gallery House, 320 California Ave., Palo Alto (entrance through Printers Cafe)

  Before Show and After Show... I am starting to believe that my life this year is bifurcated into these two segments. You'd think that preparing for an art show wouldn't be such an effort – after all, many artists do this regularly, do they not? Well, this one will find my work on all four walls. Fellow artist-ceramicist Kiyoco is also showing with her gorgeous ceramics  on pedestals through the room, leaving me horizons of white walls to fill. Because most of it is to be "new" work, it has been daunting.

For this show, I have created not only new images but experimented with additional ways of creating them and producing them, including using Alias Sketchbook Pro as an additional digital method, printing on aluminum panels and mounting prints on wood and layering with beeswax medium. There is also quite a bit more to it all beyond making the new work and framing much of it (I do my own matting and framing), to all of the planning, producing and promoting. (It's the P-factor.)

If you have ever been intrigued or just curious about my work, this is the time to come see it  ~ and talk to me about it. I appreciate your support, and your friendship. I will also be staffing the gallery on Sept. 22 from 11-4 and on Sept. 30 from 11-4 if you want to stop by during the show's regular hours when I am scheduled to be there. 


Note about the image: The flower hand image (on the left side of the postcard, above) is one of my new works that will be at the show, and is titled Compassion. The background is a Loving Kindness Mediation in my own script, which I drew using Alias Sketchbook Pro on top of a Photoshop collage of digital images that took me weeks to complete. The blue bowl and the three vases are some of Kiyoco's works, beautiful and functional.

Choose Your News

   It’s very difficult to be an aware person in this current environment (double entendre intended) and not spiral, slowly or quickly, into a deep funk. So many things are wrong, sad, horrible, insufferable and worsening at every level of community. You know what I am talking about. Every time you turn on your radio, pick up a newspaper, or watch TV, the bad news drowns out all the other messages.

    Yesterday I heard a program on NPR in which the speaker was recommending, for people who are feeling burdened by the negativity going on, to just turn off the radio, take a break from reading the papers, eschew TV. He’s absolutely right. It’s a good start. But if you are still hungering to stay in contact with our culture and community, there’s more you can do and a clear way to accentuate the positive.

    You can choose Art for your connection. Art has the capacity to uplift and inspire no matter what or how it is communicating. And it doesn’t have to be old news – in fact, the conclusion of Dr. Leonard Shlain’s study culminating in his book Art & Physics (subtitled Parallel Visions In Space, Time & Light), is that artists through the ages have actually expressed new scientific theories before the scientists articulated them. The concept that there is a global consciousness is surely borne out by Art, which many of us understand as a behavior process of expression, not just a product or discipline.

    But there are even more important reasons to make Art an intrinsic part of your life, whether by creating it or observing it, or both. Three compelling reasons are:
      1. Art uplifts the spirit and inspires us.

2. Art informs our thought processes and gives us access to our own creative inventiveness.

      ...and last but not least...

3. It’s fun. 

                         
    What’s not to like about that list?

Note to image: These adorable little guys are hand carved chess pieces I brought back from my stay in India as a “foreign exchange student” in 1968 as a gift to my dad and as a thank you for opening my eyes up to the world. The chess pieces are ivory, which in those days we were woefully unaware as to the context of its existence and harvesting. That is another story. Having these players traveling from right to left and the happy atmosphere of the flowers makes me see them as going back in time to an earlier, more innocent time.

This time it's Art!

It's been difficult to cast off the cape I wore for so many years as Marketer, Writer, Business Coach, and all-round Entrepreneur. But, I am shrugging it off in fits and starts as I step down from some of the professional association boards I have been on and eschew marketing project involvements. It's hard to do; I had been hustling work for so many decades that letting go has been akin to scuttling an addiction. Is there a 12-Step Program for those attached to their market-carved identities? Being a marketer and design manager had been so satisfying on so many levels.

But now I am ready for this new challenge. I know that to be true because it feels more like my new vocation has chosen me rather than me choosing it. I mean, why else would anyone choose Art as a career in an economy like this? 

I just find that when I am creating something or producing framed prints from my digital images, hours go by without 

my noticing. In general, I have a much higher spirit level than usual and I look forward to getting back to the studio or to working on new concepts. It is a wonderful way to live.

One of the things that I like about this process the most is how warm and supportive everyone has been as I tell them what I am doing -- business colleagues, other artists, friends and all of my family. Indeed, my family has asked me consistently for decades "When are you going to do your art?" Recently when I told one of my daughters that I was declaring myself an artist, she replied, "Mom. We all knew it. It's like you're gay or something and you think you're coming out." An apt metaphor.

So...this blog will now be dedicated to all things Art: my work and thoughts and processes, plus my role as a Commissioner on the Palo Alto Public Art Commission, sharing the spotlight with fellow artists when I feel like it, and more. I will also post a new image or two from time to time just to share what I am doing, and whatever takes my artist fancy. Comments and feedback would be welcome and fun.