January Art Show

If you didn't get a chance to see the pieces up at Virginia Discovery Museum, I have a few of them (plus some new ones!) over at Splendora's through the end of January -!

Come on by on Charlottesville's First Friday for a reception, with refreshments and plenty of artwork to look at (not to mention, access to gelato!)

January 7, 2011
5pm - 7pm

Splendora's Gelato Cafe
317 East Main St. (On the Downtown Mall)
Charlottesville, VA

This series focuses on moments of naïve and dangerous exploration – actions that come from an innocent place that might still bring about irrevocable knowledge.

Shark Fin, 10" x 13" Gouache and Pen on Paper, 2010


Winter's Love




Trying to stay warm and cozy in this recently chilled city of Charlottesville. I've been keeping myself busy at the restaurant, and have been making a lot of art! My work just came down at the Virginia Discovery Museum, but now those pieces will go up at Splendora's, a cute gelato place here in town! It's nice to feel that my artwork has legs of its own.






Also, I'd been volunteering for the Bridge's Holiday Craft Fair, which will be running into January, and decided to make some things for it. I've been honing my crochet skills this winter, and so I came up with some nice crocheted merit badges. Brendan came up with some awesome "merits" that go with each respective badge, and I think they're really nice.

Meet Stone Cold

This is the friend I made on my way to put up my work at the Virginia Discovery Museum at the beginning of November. He was so friendly that I just had to try to help him find his family. Eventually, we went to the SPCA, but I'm sure that he's back home by now. Isn't he adorable? Little stubby legs...

Art Show at The Virginia Discovery Museum

November 16 - December 6

Featuring:
Works on paper by Jesse Wells

A series which focuses on the interaction between individuals, and the gentle and ambivalent education that they approach each other with.

Virginia Discovery Museum
524 East Main Street (East end of Downtown Mall)
Charlottesville, VA 22902
www.vadm.org

While there is no opening or closing reception, the gallery is accessible for viewing during open hours. If you want to tour the exhibit with the artist, email Jesse at: jesskawells [at] gmail [dot] com

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-5:00; Sunday 1:00-5:00; Closed Mondays; Closed the day before Thanksgiving

To get to the gallery room: Go to the front desk to let them know you’d like to see the exhibit. The room is in the back on the left-hand side with a “Room In Use” sign on it.

Two hours free parking at Market Street Parking Garage (5th & Market) or Water Street Parking Garage (3rd & Water) with museum validation. Have ticket stamped at front desk.

Image: "With Suitcases" pen and gouache on paper. 9" x 7", 2010

cranbrook

Visiting Cranbrook was really fantastic. It's a beautiful campus that reminded me of boarding schools (like Hogwarts??), with older buildings, statues, fountains, ivy and wooded paths about. I stayed with Will for 5 or so days, absorbing the facets of his life up in Michigan.

I got to sit in on both Photography and Printmedia discussions and seminars. Will led one discussion (quite articulately, I might add), which included some of his favorite photographers (including Anna Gaskell, which he showed me a while back and stuck in my brain). Here are some photos that I liked:







gaskell x2, collishaw, dicorcia, gaskell x2

I also linked up with my friend Kate Daughdrill, a second year printmaker, and chatted with her and Randy Bolton, the current artist-in-residence for that department. I really dug the vibe of the department, and so... who knows. We'll see how Michigan plays into my life.

bloomfield hills


This past week, Lee and I trekked up to see Will in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Just to tell you a little bit about Michigan, it's shaped like a glove and its motto is: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."

I was lucky to see the onset of this year's autumn in this midwest suburb of Detroit. The leaves were beautiful, and we spent a lot of time driving around Will's neighborhood looking at them, as well as wonderful Halloween decorations on front stoops and porches while listening to Ryan Adams. Will's volume button got stuck, and so the volumes were loud and much louder. I'm sure that I annoyed him as I insisted on the same two songs over and over, but I loved it.

After Lee left, I stayed a few days longer to hang out with Will at his studio and campus at Cranbrook. One day while driving, we stumbled upon adverts for a Halloween Village run by the Henry Ford Museum, which we went to that very night.

It. Was. Awesome.

Kids in awesome costumes. A walk through a haunted village, lined with jack-o'-lanterns, and filled with visual attractions. There were, among other things:
  • a covered bridge with a dazzling, smokey green laser inside (a la Monster Squad wormhole and Pink Floyd, for visual reference)
  • a gazebo with black-lit skeletons dancing and playing bone xylophones
  • scarecrows, villagers, witches and valkyries
  • a haunted, strobe-lit carousel with ghostly tricks of the eye and spooky music

What a great time!

summer folk

It's already September, and I haven't even gotten used to the heat.

I've spent the summer going to the pool, eating tomatoes with cheese and bread, drinking coffee, watching Twin Peaks, applying for jobs, and thinking about porches.