Material Afterlife

for the last week i've been running on 13 hour days. my day job and then my volunteer work on the Visual Art Curatorial Committee at UICA at night and weekends. I've been a part of a subcommittee who developed a prospectus for a jury show titled 'Material Afterlife'. The exhibit explores the growing relevance of artwork that examines environmental degradation, consumerism, personal value, and frugality, as well as celebrates the significance of recycling, sustainable methods, and thrift-store culture as medium and subject matter for artists. After a lot of hard work, the show came together quite well and the opening was well attended this past Good Friday. here's a stream of photos from the opening.

Material Afterlife Group Exhibition

Doug Russel, Entangled Worlds in the Race Street Gallery

Live Coverage

This was my 5th year I've participated in Live Coverage, UICA's annual fundraiser, where over 50 of West Michigan's premier artists all come to create work Live and offers guests the opportunity to watch artists create and then purchase one-of-a-kind works of art. This was by far, the best LC to date. The new layout and organization of the evening had a good flow and the crowd was thick. I injured my tail bone in Friday so by the end of the night Saturday I was one crabby Michele, but it was nice to see so many familiar faces and be social for a day. I created two pieces, one which is featured below. This is the first time I've tried figurative graphite/watercolor on paper and I was quite pleased with the results. I'm feeling a new series coming on...

Art #2 in progress
Detail of #2
Deb Rockman's drawing on Acrylic Medium. I'm her biggest fan.