Indie arts & craft show this weekend at Mad Art Gallery

For the second half of November I spent a good amount of time going through photos I took over the past year. Occasionally -- especially when I'm traveling -- I take maybe a few hundred photos and going through all of them takes some time and isn't as fun as getting out with my camera.

Having not taken a lot of photos in the last few months and spending a little more time at home lately kicked me into gear to get cracking on some of this year's photos -- many of them taken in South Carolina and Kansas this summer.

Also: I'm in the Bigass Indie Art & Craft Show this weekend at Mad Art Gallery in Soulard, and I like to bring some new work when I do a show like this.

The photos in this post are a preview of some of the photos that will be making their debut at the show. Are you coming? You totally should!

MadArt Gallery
2727 S. 12th Street (at Lynch, just north of the AB brewery)
St. Louis, MO 63118

Friday, December 4, 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.*
Saturday, December 5, 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.


*with entertainment by The Venice Gas House Trolley, which "hearkens back to the times when hipsters and cool-cats would chill out digging ecstatic poets and musicians and then aggressively explodes through the present and into the future with vocal effects, bass, and twisting rhythms."

Missouri

I hate the term "fly-over country." It's so stupid. As if all this land is just a buffer between the coasts. The coasts are plenty interesting and obviously they have their fans but man there is some interesting stuff here in the middle.

I find Missouri to be particularly interesting, probably because I've seen more of it than I've seen anyplace else. Yet there's so much I haven't seen. I'll get to it.

This sign makes my heart sing every time I see it. All the words, all together. The different script styles. The colors. It's so—not sure if optimistic is the word I'm looking for, but something that is an antonym of cynical would capture my meaning.

I made a commitment to myself that I would list a new item on Etsy every night for a week. I've been sort of behind on my photo-taking lately, and also way behind on going through photos I've taken in the last six months or so to see what I have. I've got a show coming up next weekend* and wanted to produce some new material for it, and just generally get back in the photo-taking-and-making saddle.

I've passed by this sign eleventy thousand times and photographed it many of those times, but haven't gotten a picture of it that really let it be a star**. Found this one in my recent investigations into what pictures I took this summer and fall, and here it is. Seemed a fitting capstone to my new-listing project as it's been sort of an ongoing project for me to get this thing how I wanted it.


*are you coming? you should you should!
**speaking of star—isn't the star over the I in Ballerina beautiful?

best intentions

I was at the grocery store today and I heard a little squeal and this woman asked about my earrings as she'd just made some earrings that were meant to be hamburgers and she thought mine looked like food and she's absolutely not the first person to tell me that about this particular pair of earrings. Her companion agreed, and at least two other people have independently told me that my earrings look like food.

They don't look anything like food to me. I generally don't attempt novelty jewelry creations unless it's for a kid or something, so I was/am sort of thrown off that what I thought was an interesting configuration of shapes looks like food to others. It wasn't meant to be anything in particular!

Nobody who has commented on their foodly appearance has disliked them. So I guess insofar as jewelry/art/etc. is meant to please people, they have done their job. But they're sending a message, and one that I didn't intend, and that's ... disconcerting is too strong of a word. But some milder form of disconcerting might fit.

This interaction today brought me back to a notion that cycles around in my head not infrequently. Of the photos I've taken -- and made public in some form or another -- those that I love the very best, those that turned out just as I'd hoped or even better, those that I think are exactly what I meant to "say", most don't seem to resonate strongly with anybody but me.

I want to be clear that this isn't a "please admire my photos" fishing expedition -- I have come to accept that some people really like some of my photos. But insofar as anything of mine is "popular"*, those photos aren't generally ones that I feel particularly reflect my style.

This one at the top of the page here? For sure in my personal top 10 of work that I think says "Hilary". I spent more than a little bit figuring out this composition, and I got it just as I wanted it and this is the photo I meant to take.

A few months ago a friend was looking through my photos and came across this one and said something about how this photo was frustrating because he wanted to see the whole sign and there was this stuff in the way and what I should have done was just take a picture of the whole sign.

This friend never says things just to be nice, and gives useful feedback that I don't get from a lot of other people, so it was interesting to hear that perspective**. It didn't hurt my feelings, because I know I got what I wanted and did what I intended to do.

It makes me wonder about others' work; if that's a common experience -- your personal favorites of your own work never really matching up with what others tend to be drawn to. Would love to hear thoughts on this (and see your personal favorites!)






* as measured by Flickr favorites or purchases of prints, as I don't have much else to go on
** although I'm not sure if it was especially useful, as we don't share much of an aesthetic -- I'm more Lou Reed than Lionel Richie, for example

in with the new

I'm not really out-with-the-olding much. But I am determined to produce some new work right now -- or at least post more stuff that has only been seen by me up to this point.

Have made a pledge to myself to post something new on Etsy every day this week. Here's the first -- I make most of my own prints because I want to know that the prints will be as I intended the photo to look. But on occasion I try something new, and I had a slew of photos professionally printed recently on metallic paper. The effect is odd and interesting and I really like it.

I don't think it will work with just any image, but I've been really pleased with how the ones I've chosen have turned out. Including this one. Find it on Etsy here.

Big sale -- THREE days only!

Hi all! Long time no post.

I just got back a stack of photos from a place where I had them on consignment. The business folded, so now I've got some duplicates in my inventory.* And I'm having a spot of surgery next week and won't be able to be shipping much for a while.

So now's as good of a time as any to have a sale I've been meaning to have.

Now through Thursday, October 29, all 8"x10" photos in my Etsy shop are $25 (regularly $40) and all 5"x7" photos are $10, instead of the regular price of $15 (these are savings of more than 30% if my math is correct!)

Postcard sets: Get a full set of 9 postcards for the price of 5.

I have to have all orders in by the end of Thursday (let's say midnight Eastern time) so I can make sure that I can get everything in the mail on time.

If you'd like to make a purchase in my Etsy store, please see the store for details on how to receive the discount(s).

If you'd prefer not to set up an account at Etsy, you can e-mail me via my web site and we can make arrangements.

And as always, if you would like something in a different size or don't see something you'd like to know if I can print, please let me know!



*But I've still got some at Paste in Soulard and Firecracker Press on Cherokee Street, so stop by and take a look!

Hie thee to Paste

I have posted before about Paste, the new art and craft supply store in Soulard.

I was able to preview it a bit when I brought some of my photos there for sale a couple of months ago. (I can't believe it's been that long already.) But the summer was packed and I hadn't gotten back there to shop until a couple of weeks ago.

Love this place! Beads and ribbon and yarn and stamps and beads and photographs and beads and I am a sucker for beads, especially.

Much as I was super excited when City Art Supply opened up in my neighborhood -- an art supply store in the city! -- I am also excited that Paste has made a home in the city.

It's been a while since there's been a great spot for craft supplies in the city of St. Louis. Plus, it's nice when the folks who open these stores have a love for and knowledge about what they are selling, and even cooler when they are supportive of local artists, both of which are true about both Paste and City Art Supply.

So: go check these folks out! Spend money with them so we can keep them in business and keep them in the city! And while you're at Paste, you'll see some of my photos for sale (no pressure, I swear!)

St. Louis Through the Lens

Aren't my nieces cute? When my little sister (their aunt) got married two years ago, we -- the wedding party -- traveled around town to various spots to take photos. The wedding photographer did a phenomenal job. I got a few photos off to the side when we weren't "on". Like this one.

This photo was accepted as a finalist (yay!) into this year's Irv Schankman Memorial Photography Contest, St. Louis Through the Lens.

The exhibition is intended to promote work by regional photographers and features the city of St. Louis as its subject. The jurors for the competition are Ellen Curlee, Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, and Bob Little.

In addition to the juried exhibition there will be a selected exhibition of work by Irv Schankman. Irv Schankman (1924-2004) was a professional photographer and the founder of Allied Photocolor and Imaging Center. His love of documenting St. Louis began as soon as he picked up his first camera in the 6th grade. In his junior year of high school he made his way through police lines to shoot an emblazoned gasoline storage facility. These photographs, which appeared in St. Louis’s Star Times as dramatic silhouettes, marked the beginning of his professional career.

The exhibit runs September 10-December 5, 2009 at Gallery 210 on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The opening reception and announcement of awards is this Thursday, September 10 from 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Come!