Saturday I hung with the Krishna’s. Sunday it was off to Summerfest, the annual beer bash held here.
Bar Capital Corner of Atlanta
In no particular order, here are my favorite artists. Click on their names to visit their web-sites, and double click on the pictures posted here for a bigger, better look. Double click on the new image and an even bigger one without the side bars will appear. This is really the only way to take this tour. Double click. Wait a second. Double click again.
Karen Cohen. She is an artiste. I wanted to burn my own paint brushes after seeing her work. It’s not often that you see something totally original. Here’s your chance.
Art you can look at for hours
She has an original voice on canvas and she’s really passionate about her work. “My art represents events and times in my life,” she said with a great big smile.
She'll hate this picture, but check out the painting behind her. Go ahead. Double click.
You absolutely must check out her web site and see this stuff. She is the real deal and if you’re fortunate enough to be able to hang a piece of her art in your living room, then consider yourself blessed. Truly unique. She and her art blew me away.
Send his stuff straight to the gallery
Athlone Clarke. Don’t let the grim face fool you. Athlone is one of the most spiritual humans I’ve ever had the pleasure to shake hands with. He is arguably one of Folk Arts’ best artists. I am priviledged enough to have an original piece of his in my living room. Serious, seriously, serious art.
Elaine is human art!
Elaine Rader attacked me with her smile. I don’t usually do the jewelry thing, but she invited me to take a look and it was time well spent. I didn’t realize until I was writing this post that there was a ribbon hanging behind her head, and I don’t think it’s for wrapping presents. She gets my vote as Artist That Looks Most Like Her Booth. What a pleasure.
Hide your kids dolls from her!
Tiffany Yownbey. Next time you want a cute paper mache doll holding a handgun…Tiffany’s your girl. “What’s the story behind this?” I asked as I pointed to a piece with a tiny, tiny dolls head and a giant distorted paper mache body, “I found the head and had to put it on something,” she laughed. I tried everything but a chain hooked up to a truck to get a good photo of her, but nothing doing. “All artists hide behind their art don’t they?” Yep. Especially when it’s as good and original as this. Do hide your toys if you invite her over.
Time for one of these. Harp Lager...a standard bearer lager and sister of Guiness Stout
I portook a pint of Harp and continued my journey. I ignore every booth that involved pets and their cute names, pottery with poultry images and digitally altered photographs. Real artists use film…unless you’re me, and you’re not.
Look out boys...this girl can blow!
Deborah Martin. Didjeridoo Queen of the World. She was one of my favorite artists. This self-proclaimed hippy told me of a recent journey to Australia that involved a hitch-hiker, a bon-fire and some acid. You need a didjeridoo in your house. Admit you’ve always wanted one. Buy it from Deborah. Great people still exist. I loved my time with her.
Peace out! Deborah being Deborah.
I wasn’t quite ready for the acid trip story, but I was damn glad she told it to me. Made me immediately get another…
Yummy for my Tummy!
Lou is a serial exhibitor. I saw her at Inman Park Festival with the Fulton County Master Gardeners. I saw her again with the Tree People. Lou likes plants and she knows how to keep them alive. Look her up. She’s easy to find. Today she’s with…
Lou loves green stuff
Trees Atlanta. They’re the ones that plant trees all over the city. They need volunteers. You’re obviously not busy, so stop reading this and help them plant trees.
You're kidding, right?
There were two ass-hats that posted “No Photos” signs in their booths. One of them claimed, “Intellectual Property.” He made suns out of metal. Not intellectual, not original…who cares. I’m taking pictures anyway. It’s a festival. Lighten up.
What's that in your hand?
Paul Pearman. Rhymes with crazy mutha. We hit it off immediately. Within 30 seconds of arriving at his booth, Paul was pouring me a gigantic plastic cup of Sangria. Paul makes some of the coolest hand made belt buckles on this planet. He had a great story. “A few years back at a show, this 12 foot Norwegian woman came into my booth. A few days later she flew me and my wife out to L.A. to do a trunk show…on f#$%ing Rodeo Drive.”
Need some cool? I've got extra!
Damn near every celebrity in CA now owns one of Paul’s belt buckles. Couldn’t possibly have happened to a cooler guy. He can drink my beer any day. Check out his web-site and wear a real piece of art…not some crap you bought at Mark Shale’s.
Look what I did with my Ga Tech Degree!
Got a little extra time on your hands? Then by all means you need to meet Emily Ayers. I’m not usually a fan of quilts or the whole Batik thing, but her stuff is totally original art that you need to have hanging in your home. “When you sew through your thumbs, it’s probably time to take a break for a while.” She said it’s happened several times. I want a quilt with some blood on it.
Nine finger Emily
This is her current favorite piece. It’s called Robin. Next time you are thinking about buying some meaningless wall mounting from Kirkland’s, give Emily a call instead. She’s got great stuff, reasonably priced and it comes with a story….or two….or three…Emily likes to talk. Smiles Emily. Emily desperately needs help with her web-site, so if you know anyone, maybe you can work a trade.
Another one? Who's counting?
That’s it. That’s my tour of Summerfest, and for what it’s worth, I met all but one of these artists for the first time at the festival. None of them gave me a dime to be on here.
Local artists are some of the most important members of our community. Support them. Make the effort. Make a friend. I enjoyed each and every one of them, and these were the best the festival had to offer. Click on any of their names and get a better look at their stuff, double click a few times on the pics to get a better look at my stuff.
I’m a local artist too. Maybe you need some photos or a real wryter. I use the “day in the life” and “papparazzi” approach. No posing. Real photos of real people. No grinning allowed. Feel free to support me if you need what I can do.
Write. Take photos. Repeat.
I have to take a leak.
Cheers,
Jim
Thanks Jim! The picture is actually not that bad; It looks like me, and you caught me doing one of the three things I like most–next to doing the work, I like sharing. The third thing I don’t talk about.
I’ve linked to your blog from my facebook page. You’ve got great taste, you can handle both your camera and your beer (and you write well, too.) I’m impressed.
P.S. Don’t be too hard on artists who don’t like cameras. You’d be surprised at how many people will take pictures with their 12 megapixel camera because they like your work but don’t like it enough to buy even a small print. In MS the weekend before last, twice I asked people not to photograph–they’d just whipped out their cameras as though having a camera gives them the right to photo without asking permission. One woman retorted, “it’s just for my own ideas!” (yes, that unbelievable bit of drivel is verbatim) and another guy responded by saying “I’m writing a science fiction book and I need a picture so I can describe it in my book.” (No shit… again, an exact quote.) And while it may be flattering, it’s still a ripoff.
And speaking of ripoffs, “Artists” rip off each other’s work all the time. Any endeavor that results in a monetary exchange is going to beget cheats, charlatans and frauds. And if we’re not trying to protect ourselves (and our livelihoods) from other “artists” then we’re protecting ourselves from Chinese art factories–you’ve seen those commercials: “Two days only! Starving Artist show and sale at the Marriott–no painting priced over $49!”
In Chattanooga in April, a fabric artist had an expensive piece stolen from her booth. The victim reported the loss to the police and the article was found–in the thief’s car–who was the thief? another fiber artist!. On inspection of her booth, we discovered that the thief had reproduced signature pieces from 2 other well known fiber artists. Those of us who do a lot of these shows get to know each others’ work fairly well; and their work, even without a signature, is still identifiable as their work. For the most part, we’re a fairly small and very tight community, all in this together. We know each others’ work very well because we see it all the time. (in fact, I had no fewer than 5 artists come to my booth and congratulate me on my new pieces.) The best of us aren’t competitive because we’re always growing and changing, but still there are the few shits who have enough technical skill to be good craftsmen, but haven’t any ideas of their own and who will “borrow” yours and sign their name to them.
If someone comes and asks to photo me and my work, and they have a good reason, I’ll almost always allow it. And why not? I’m there for the exposure as much as for the sales. But I wouldn’t be critical of someone who’s maybe been burnt once or twice by an unscrupulous guy with a camera who says he’s from the paper or is doing a project for a class or is working for the show promoters….
Anyway, I’ve said almost enough…I haven’t yet told you how grateful I am for your kind words, kudos and coverage.
Any time you need a shout out, I’ll be there.
Thanks again,
Karen