Odds and ends...

Several people have asked about showing 3D work in the Member's show. There is a high mantle over the fireplace for larger pieces and there's a 4' x 4' locked display case, too.

We'd like to do an occasional "featured artist" entry on the blog. If you're interested, please send a short bio and some images of your work. Eventually, I'd like to have a link to a slide show of member's work.

We're going to start a list of artist websites and/or blog sites on our blog - and the Grand Arts Council is putting one together for their new site. We got a lot of your web addresses when we first started, but if we don't have yours or it's changed, please let us know and we'll forward it on to the Arts Council, too.

Does anyone have experience with "Go Daddy" and a little time to volunteer? When we first started the blog I tried to re-direct the old website to the blog site. Apparently, the changes I made only work if the website is "parked" or not up and running yet. There are instructions for re-directing an active site, but it's a bit over my head - any one out there who can help us out? I hate the thought of potential new members going to the website and having it still say our next meeting is January 29th!

Please bring some of your new work to Circle H on Thursday. If you have a piece you're stuck on or is giving you fits, bring it and get some fresh ideas.

I'm looking forward to getting together and talking art!

Exciting Upcoming Events

Happy Spring!

I'm sure the snow will be done one of these days...

There are a lot of exciting things going on. We're very pleased to announce our first members show! It's going to take place at the new Pole Creek Golf Course Clubhouse from July 2 - 23, with an opening reception on the 2nd. It would be wonderful if everyone entered a piece or two. Check out the previous blog post for the details.

Nancy Bjerken at the Winter Park Resort is excited to offer a local artist's festival. In her words, "I work for the Winter Park Resort and we would very much like to try and organize a festival and tribute to the local Grand County artists. I would like to call all Grand County Artists to come and show their art, sell their art, and hopefully teach a little bit about their art to the public.

I am looking at the weekend of July 11/12 this summer. This would a free event for the local artists with no booth fee. What I would like to see however is a schedule of free demonstrations or (very) low-cost classes running throughout the weekend and we can designate a specific tent/area for this. I especially want to get the kids hands-on and involved with activities so we would also get a tent designated for kids’ art and maybe rotating artists through there. We could subsidize a certain amount of dollars per artist for supplies."

This would be a great way to get exposure and sales for Grand County artists. If you're interested, please call Nancy at 726-6563 or email her at NBjerken@zmlwp.com. She'll be at our next gathering on April 30th at Circle H to talk about this event.

And, speaking of our next gathering, April Hilton is hosting us at the Circle H Resort from 5:30-7:30 this coming Thursday, the 30th. Robert (aka "Loose") Canon has very generously offered to play for us. He'll start playing at 6:30 and as long as you get there before 6:15 there won't be a cover charge. The Circle H is a very warm and cozy place - I hope everyone can make it.

Our May gathering will be at the new Brickhouse 40 Restaurant in Granby on the 28th from 5:30-7:30pm.

See you all this Thursday!

Patty

Please participate in our First Annual Member's Show!

We are excited to offer you an opportunity to participate in the First Art Out of Thin Air Member Show!

The Show will be held at the new Pole Creek Golf Course Club House in Tabernash, from July 2 through July 23, 2009 with a Show Opening and Artists’ Reception on Thursday, July 2. Participating artists should plan to attend and invite their friends!

ALL members are invited to participate in the Show and encouraged to display one or two works of their art. This is a non-juried show. The purpose is to introduce Art Out Of Thin Air to our community and let them see the breadth and depth of our talented local artists. We’re sure that by getting to know us, they will want to know more and show their support through purchases.

We encourage items in the Show to be for sale, but pieces that are NFS will be accepted as well. Purchases will be made directly from the participating artist whose contact information will be collected and formatted by AOTA into a leaflet that will be distributed to visitors of the Show by Pole Creek GC Club House. Pole Creek GC Club House will NOT negotiate any sales of artwork through their system. If a sale is made during the Show and the piece is removed from the Show, the artist will be able to replace the sold piece with another.

There is a small fee of $25 for one piece or $30 for two pieces. Collected fees will be used for expenses associated with putting on the best quality Show we can. The more participants we have, the better we will be able to advertise the Show. Any monies collected in excess of expenses will be returned to participants.

The DEADLINE to acknowledge your intention to participate is Friday, June 5. Please fill out the Entry Registration form and return it to Marie Johannes (address below). Participants will DELIVER their entries to the Fraser Valley Metropolitan Recreation District on Monday, June 22 and Tuesday, June 23. Each piece should be labeled according to directions on the Entry Registration Form. FVMRD is located in Fraser at 216 Eisenhower Dr. (Behind Conoco). You can drop off your artwork from 10-4 each day.

This should be a great event and we look forward to putting AOTA on the Grand County map!

Thank you!

AOTA Member Show Committee:

Marie Johannes, PO Box 1654, Fraser, CO 80442, 726-4698, bamjoh@yahoo.com

Patty Alander, 627-0517, palander@rkymtnhi.com

Donna Lyons, 627-8523, onahu@rkymtnhi.com

Elizabeth Kurtak's showing at Circle H this Thursday

Come out and enjoy another evening of Audio & Visual Enlightment this Thursday at Circle H. Elizabeth will have her beautiful watercolors on display and the musical entertainment will be provided by Gary Key.

The doors open at 5pm and the music begins at 6:30. There is a $5 charge for adults and $2 for students.

Circle H is located at 6732 Highway 34 on Lake Granby. If you have any questions, call April Hilton at 531-1267.

These events are a lot of fun and if we keep supporting them, they'll keep happening!

What's Up at the Circle H

I received the following from April about upcoming events at the Circle H:

Hello,

It is time of the season when all is quiet. We will be finishing up the winter AVE event the end of April. We will continue in the month of May if we have musicians wanting to continue playing here on Thursday nights and continue to have your support. The response of the musicians has been great, they all love this venue. They play for the cover charge at the door, so it is nice to see the locals supporting them. Please let us know if you think there would be support in May. Otherwise we will re-group for June.

This Thursday we have a returning musician combined with a new partner. Matt Brown and Andy Strauss from Hunker Down-don't want to miss this one. This will be Andy's first experience here. The visual artist is a friend of theirs, Sarah Burns, she is a painter and I heard her work is very interesting. The following Thursday will be a Grand County favorite, Gary Key and visual artist Beth Kurtak (Gary's special request), she is a long time local and favorite as well. Thursday April 23rd will be FAT AMBER, these guys are up and coming in our community and are building a following with not only the their peers from Middle Park High School but other locals as well. The featured artist is Wendy Ready who will be off to college next fall to study art. She is already a talented artist. The final Thursday in April is an artist meeting at the circle H, but we are still planning to have the live music of Robert Canon. He has supported all of our shows and now looking to show us his stuff.

We are planning a Barbeque at the Circle H over Memorial weekend May 23rd & 24th. We are looking to sell some wares of the lodge that are no longer needed and thought maybe folks would like to bring a few of their own treasures to sell from our lot. It's a great spot for traffic. We are taking reservations for a block of space in our lot to join our sale of treasures, so call in advance to hold and reserve. We are looking for $10 per day to reserve a spot, no other commissions or fees. We plan to have live music, the Barbie going and of course the lounge will be open. Come join the fun and get rid of some stuff.

Hope to see you Thursday.....

April & Ken

Next Donation for the MFC Food Bank

Donna Lyons has generously donated this beautiful water color to help fill the shelves at the Mountain Family Center Food Bank for the month of April:

This original painting is matted and framed. To get in the drawing, please bring at least two (and hopefully more!) non-perishable food items to the Grand Lake Art Gallery. The winning ticket will be drawn at the end of the month.

Interesting Thoughts on Creativity

I came across this link to a speech on creativity given by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray, Love". I think you'll find it worth listening to - her ideas have been on my mind for days. What she has to say isn't unique to writers; it applies to any creative person.

You may want to check out some of the other talks on Ted.com - amazing speeches on a variety of interesting topics. I can't watch youTube videos without constant buffering, but these vids come through with no interruption.

I'd like to hear your comments on her speech - I love her story about Ruth Stone's poems. To say nothing of Elizabeth's interesting thoughts about the creative process and how artists and society deal with it.