Studio Visits

This month I've been visiting sculptor's studios for our May show titled.."Art In Place". I've been taking one day each week to drive to their homes and studios. I feel that by doing this I can share their workings with clients and give glimpses of the personal side of each of these artists. I'm the lucky one.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure to visit Bill Blix from Eugene, Oregon. His studio/home is on the outskirts of downtown Eugene, tucked away amongst trees and beautiful natural habitat....also close to the amazing Eugene City Bakery I might add!



We walked outside and were greeted by the many grand sculptures that rimmed the property.


The front gate had stacked rock construction which was a collaboration between Bill and his friend sculptor Tom Marandi.


Just the detail from Bill's pieces stopped me in my tracks. Bill and his wife charmed us for the afternoon with their warm hospitality.

Next.....

For my last studio visit, my husband and I drove outside of Portland to Troutdale to meet Bud Egger. I know this sounds corny...but I now have met a "Gentle Giant".


While following him to his studio I was taken back...this man made incredible sculptures, he pounded bronze, he chipped away at stone, his favorite tool was a grinder and he looked as though he could move a mountain.... but he was soft spoken and contemplative. As I followed him I had a thought....If a small bird were to drop from the sky, he would gently pick it up in his large hands, carefully move it around for a quick anatomy study and then gently set it free. Corny but true.



And then there were the tools You've got to love the hand wrapped fettling knife and the table with the years of cutting and hammering. I loved this!


What a great day..did I mention just how lucky I AM to meet these wonderful people? Yes, this is going to be a great show.


As we were preparing to leave, Bud shared a joke...."What's the difference between a pizza and a sculptor? A pizza can feed a family of four."
We all laughed but then sighed...a joke that really held some truth.

What's for dinner?

I've never professed to being a good cook but I do like to try things. I picked up a sweater from goodwill, cut it to pieces, boiled it, sewed it back together to make a scarf and am now felting designs onto it.
I loved this picture showing a "sweater stew".

Preview our book!

Blurb has updated a "preview" of my book by just clicking below on the front cover. You can preview the first 15 pages while visiting the blog. Pretty cool.

Nourish and Sustain by Mary Lou Zeek Gallery

Visiting Studios

We are presently working on our "beyond the gallery door" show that will take place in May 2010.
The title of this show is "Art in Place" and will feature sculptors from the Northwest. (Did I mention "The best sculptors?). I love meeting artists.
For this show, I am gathering images of the studios and the artists and will try to put together a personal glimpse of how each each artist works to carry out their ideas. Lucky me.

My week has been busy with my first visit to Andries Fourie from Willamette University. Hands and wheels


Next was a trip to McMinnville where I met up with Stu Jacobson.


I took a short break and drove to Sheridan to visit Marilyn Higginson. She's someone who can paint beautiful landscapes, throw pots and also build amazing sculptures. Such a talented lady.

Upon leaving her studio we encountered some friends.

Jill Torberson was our next stop.


While in Portland I just had to visit my "little friend". Gramps.
Did I mention that I REALLY want a fuzzy little dog?

Today was the best.
Visiting the studio of Robert Hess. He is one of Oregon's treasures. Lucky us.

Buildings with REAL artwork!

I recently attended the open house (or building) for Chemeketa Community College Center For Business & Industry.


It does happen...Chemeketa Community College purchased artwork for their new Business and Industry Center. They knew how important it was to support artists and have REAL art in this magnificent piece of architecture. Four of our gallery artists have work displayed; Sue-Del McCulloch, Robert Schlegel, Shari Lord and Maria Simon. The selection committee came to Gallery 2 and invested many hours debating about what to choose. I couldn't be more pleased to see the results of the selection.

Robert Schlegel's painting shows off industry while Sue-Del and Maria's pieces nod to our beautiful Willamette Valley.


This board room is in the center of the building on the second floor. There is glass on one wall so that when passing down the hall you can see the artwork that is hanging inside.
Sigh, there is an "Art God".

Buildings with REAL artwork!

This is REALLY an Art Car

that was painted by Phyllis Yes many years ago. The total car is painted to look like lace and it was spectacular! She would like to sell the car but the one person interested wants to repaint it! I promise to throw myself over the hood to keep that from happening!

Take a closer look....such detail.

While visiting, I was blown away by her talent. Her studio was full of her paintings that took our breath away. I felt like I was visiting a "Art movie star".

Cleaning and organizing...

just isn't one of those things I enjoy doing but....this last weekend I finally was given back my studio.

I am a potter. Yes, it feels good when I say that. Many people don't know that I spent 28 years working in a studio behind my home before I opened the gallery.

Six years ago we moved into our current home which didn't have a studio. I really didn't miss not having one because the gallery downtown became my creative outlet. I exercised my learning curve by doing things that pushed me in other ways. But...I still missed clay.
At home, everything was stacked high in the basement and my husband asked...Are you going to sell your wheel? I could never do that (I asked him if he would be willing to amputate his right arm!) and lucky for me...he built me a wonderful studio.

So after much work we finally have a great space for the power tools, the car and all that other mindless stuff that for so long covered my clay tools and equipment. I now have my working studio and it's fantasticl. Although my bisqueware has been piled high on the shelves I know I'll be working soon.

The book is ready!

Just click on the image below and it will take you directly to the Blurb website. You can then order your book in hardcover or softcover! Pretty cool!

Nourish and Su...

100 Artists Show - ...

By Mary Lou Zeek Gal...

Book Preview

What a great opening....

We decided to pass out fortune cookies and asked everyone to make a wish...that no one would go hungry.

Excitement was in the air...seeing the many artists and meeting some for the first time.


I loved being around all these creatives!

Some spent some quiet time looking over the artwork...

while others were bidding fast and furious!
Be sure and call us...we're ready to place that bid for you!

Finally.

The 100 Artists show opened today with lots of activity! The best thing about this show are the people who come to see it. They usually lots of questions and comments such as; "how did you send this through the mail", "I bet the post office LOVES to see you bring these odd things to them", "how do you find these artists?" and "How do these artists come up with these ideas?".

We love these conversations because it lets us talk about all of these 100 amazing creative people.
Hope to see all of you soon! Our reception is tomorrow night from 5-7pm

Ready, set, go!

We set the show up on Saturday night and are now fine tuning all the details. We realized that many of the pieces needed to sit and so of course...we needed more shelves! Waiting until last minute is my usual, thinking of course there would be MORE shelves waiting for me and all I needed to do was go get them. Wrong...no more of the same shelves. I had a fleeting wave of panic but...



Black seemed to work just fine so we made do. The show looks great and I can't wait for Tuesday, can you?

Almost ready!!!!

I've spent the day working on our Blurb book and I think I'm going to send it in tonight.
I've been rereading names, repositioning photos and correcting spelling errors...did you know that when doing spell check on the same word "benefitting or benefiting" they both come up correct?
I still will need to add images of those that are late in getting their pieces to me but I think for now I am going to push the "send" button to publish.
I need to do this now so that we can have a finished book for our opening...so here goes.

Can you believe this?????

more art!!!!!
Today I've been attempting to make our 100 Artists book for this year's show and can't believe how fast the day has gone. I find myself looking out my window, day dreaming, listening to the kids play basketball outside in the alley...forgetting that this has to be done before the opening....oh my.