Manitou Galleries second home in Santa Fe at 225 Canyon Road
Manitou is the gallery in Santa Fe that shows my work.
Recently they snagged a second location in a cul de sac at the bottom of Canyon Road which actually has a wonderful sculpture garden, so it seemed fitting to let my sumo toads out for a romp around in the sun.
Since they are so aggressive by nature, we transported them from the other gallery in separate crates so they wouldn't be able to fight on the way across town, but as soon as we opened the lids they hopped out across the gravel to wrestle over who gets ownership of the large chunk of rock they both decided was so desirable.
They're still at it even now.
They seem to like being out of doors.
If you live around Santa Fe the gallery is having its official opening on Friday June 24 from 5-8pm.
Hop on over and say 'hello'! .
Manitou Gallery is having a joint show for the better behaved of my sculptures and Jennifer O'Cualain's paintings tomorrow (Friday March 4).
Pugnacious Mouse will be making his first public appearance 'in the flesh', so to speak - for order taking purposes only, since my other 'metal master' is on the way to the foundry and if it gets lost in the mail I'll have this back-up ready.
Rumpy and Pumpy Mice weren't invited to the show, in fact they were asked to stay away since they have no sense of public decency and simply can't control themselves in front of people.
There'll be plenty of other newly finished things besides Pugnacious which will be at the show, and they'll be making their way onto these pages soon enough...
...here's a tree frog you can hang on the wall (or book case, or anywhere!)
There's nothing like an upcoming show to make the gentle breeze of time passing turn into a gale and rip the pages off the calendar with frightening speed.
Especially when you're trying to get a few new pieces ready in time, and hoping a large piece arrives safely in time from a museum show the next state over.
Luckily I can rely on the handful of talented professionals I have come to know over the last few years to do a great job every time. Thanks guys.
Testing my tree frog shoe horn for hangability before finishing, while Lee welds on a mouse tail...
Tree frogs with their sprues cut off
Snail end of one of my shoehorns. I might do this snail also as a stand-alone in the future...
I've dropped off my artist's proof of 'Crossing Over' at Manitou, but several others (my tree frog clinging on a wall, my wall hanging tree frog shoe horn, snail shoe horn, Pugnacious Mouse) should be ready this week, with my chameleon plaques not getting into my hot little hands until likely Thursday, which will give me just enough time to patina them before hanging.
Some of these new pieces will be mostly for order taking only, since I've only had a few cast so far.
Anyhow, I'm very excited about it and I'm sure all will go well, even if it's just in time, although Manitou are also opening a new gallery at the bottom of Canyon Road which will have garden space to display outdoor sculptures, which is great!
So they'll be even busier than usual this next few weeks!
I'm the sculpture half of the show, so I'm proud to be sharing with painter Jennifer O'Cualain.
Her animal paintings will be the ideal complement to my bronze critters, and she generously painted a picture for my Mouse Project book.
Unfortunately my favorite mice are looking a bit too risque for this particular gallery.
I was a bit surprised since I never really saw myself as the Damien Hirst of Santa Fe!
Rumpy Mouse and Pumpy Mouse - metal master, pre-patina
I'll be forced to sell them shadily on ever changing street corners from the trunk of my roving mouse mobile!
Coded messages shall appear in the newspaper, alerting those in the know where and when the next secret rendezvous will be...
My Kickstarter project is almost over, and I'm very happy to say that I achieved my funding goal early and then some thanks to the enthusiastic support of my backers who I'm delighted to say love what I do!
Which is extremely gratifying, and makes being an artist all the more rewarding.
Thanks backers!
It ends around midnight at the end of SundayOOPS, I MEAN SATURDAY!, mountain time, so if you'd like a quick look before it ends you can click HERE.
Pugnacious metal master with a little metalwork to go before patina...
I've had a couple of emails this week that more than made my day!
Norma Evans won the bonus prize in my guess the length of the snake contest and she had this to say...
'Thank you so much for Alfie, my rabbit, I really love him. Thought you'd like to see where Nosey and Sprightly are spending their time lately getting an education. I made the books out of wood for them, they look like real books and fool everyone.'
Stunning! I can honestly say I never expected anyone to carve wooden books to arrange their mice around!
And then I learned that Gordon Lutz from Pasadena had bought one of my life sized laying down rabbits, Maxwell, from Manitou Galleries here in town during a recent visit to Santa Fe.
He contacted me and had this to say...
'He now sits proudly next to my reading chair. My wife and I volunteer for several local (Pasadena, CA area) rabbit rescues (mybunny.org) and have been rabbit people for quite some time. We curently have 18 house rabbits along with a couple of fosters, all rescues, so Maxwell is very much at home here.'
'BTW...the housekeeper came into the living room and saw Maxwell on the table next to my reading chair and she literally jumped. She thought one of the rabbits had escaped and was resting on the table. She could not believe how realistic the sculpture is. I think that is a nice compliment of your work.'
'I am attaching two pics of two bunnies that in a way remind me of Maxwell. they are not desert cottontails but are domestic rescues living with us. There is somewhat of a resemblance in the look I think.'
Thanks Norma and Gordon! And thanks for letting me quote you as well!
The best thing about being a sculptor is feedback like this! It's left me feeling quite puffed up this week!
So it’s a brand new decade. Who knows what any of us will be up to when it’s over?
I don’t know about you, but the world seems to be changing faster than I can keep up with.
But I’m trying! I wasn’t a sculptor when this last decade started. That was something I launched into in 2006.
In 2000 my world was yet to encounter facebook, YouTube and Etsy, in fact I don’t think I even had a computer or knew how to type (thanks Mavis!).
Thank you all for reading Globspot so far. I have a few things up my sleeve for 2010 which I hope you’ll also find interesting.
They will come tumbling out in good time.
Here’s something you might get a kick out of. I know I did!
Jessamine and Patricia at Manitou Gallery here in Santa Fe told me a story that I found really touching.
A mother and her two daughters were in the gallery shopping for art.
The two girls, aged six and seven, each had pre-paid American Express cards which had $50 credit on them.
Their mother was teaching them about credit cards, money, and collecting art.
They each picked out one of my very tiny turtles as their very first art purchases.
Apparently they were very self possessed, and matter of factly acknowledged in the affirmative when Nathalie asked if they would like to have appraisals mailed to them following their purchases!
When I heard I was so chuffed, I thought ‘how cool is that!’.
Thanks kids!
And Mom too, who also snapped up my next size up tiny turtle.
New year’s resolutions:
Keep trying new things.
Give away 60 mice to animal shelter art auctions (I give one away for every 5 I sell, and I gave 19 away since I started six months ago, with a few more standing by to kick things off this year). Next year on I will donate one for every five sold, up to 25 mice a year.
Everyone’s favorite- lose weight. 40 lbs with any luck by the end of the year. I’m posting my poundage monthly at the end of my email newsletter: Not because I imagine for one second any of you are all that interested, but because it will (hopefully) act as a major incentive for me to keep at it! Jan 1 2010, 210.2 lbs. I hope you can forgive the indulgence!
I had a blast last night at the reception for my sculpture show. It had been written up in Western Art Collector magazine , publicized by the gallery and me, and happily we were rewarded with a great turnout of strangers, neighbors and friends who all seemed to be having as good a time as me.
I got a real kick out of being present to answer questions from buyers who were thrilled with their purchases, which made me happier than ever.
Gigi bought a mid size bumper to bumper, and wanted to know how it was made. I cheerfully explained as much as I could, but of course suggested she find out more by searching for 'bumper to bumper' on this blog, since I’ve given detailed photo enhanced ‘how to’s’ on that piece in various sizes!
She’s off home again today after enjoying a re-union with friends.
They all seemed to like my suggestion of naming each one of the turtles after the re-united buddies!
Gerry from across the street added a Nosey mouse to her collection.
Bob and Aggie, who star in this video on YouTube (perfect for very tiny tots, it will DRIVE YOU NUTS if you aren't 3!) brought along some friends.
Thanks again for letting me invade your house with my video camera!
Lee Wilson, as good a mold maker as you’ll ever find.
Frank Fritzges, without who’s casting skills I wouldn’t have made much of a start at all into the miniature end of the world of bronzes.
I was delighted to run into many others, a few of which I’ll mention here…
Peter Wright, glass artist and bronze publisher . He’s been responsible for publishing many of my larger in physical size, smaller in edition size pieces. In fact I just got news (while writing this) that someone just snapped up one of those pieces, a turtle !
Michael Tatom, a jeweler and sculptor who I first met during Sculpture In The Park, at Loveland, CO.
Vince Maggiore, who did the patinas on my first bronzes, the life sized rabbits, while he was working at Shidoni foundry.
Michelle Chrisman, who paints regularly with Meridee came all the way from Taos with Phil (and then had to drive all the way back again to let the dogs out!).
Juanita who works at Nedra Matteucci’s gallery, and turned a blind eye over the release of my turtle who modeled for me, into the splendid pond they have in their sculpture garden. He’s doing very well, by the way, and is getting quite large now (but not nearly as big as the other turtles there).
Elizabeth who knew Meridee in a former existence, and Kent . They are a pair of authors who've had some very notable successes.
Lots more folks besides, I really appreciate your coming.
Thanks to everyone at Manitou , and of course an extra big thanks to Meridee.
I’ve bent her ears more than most people could ever stand to hear about all things clay and bronze!
I'm ecstatic to say a trip to the mail boxes was rewarded with a note saying my tiny turtle won second place for sculpture in this year's miniatures show held by the Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers society of Washington DC!
The show runs from Nov 22 thru Jan 2.
I popped into Manitou Galleries today and they'd just finished getting everything in place for next Friday's reception. They just have to get the lights all pointing in the right directions and they're all done.
I'm really looking forward to hanging around a room full of people enjoying my handiwork for the evening and answering lots of questions.
That's my hope; of course my secret fear is spending the evening all alone with my work in a big empty gallery to the sound of crickets chirping.
But don't tell that to anyone!
If you read my blog and live nearby, come and say 'hi'!
I'd love to meet you.
Thanks Bobbi for the pic you sent of your Sprightly mouse standing his ground against his mortal foe, the dreaded bull snake.
Mice dread them anyway, I find them quite appealing.
I just completely re-vamped my tree frog's home.
I'll get some pics up maybe next week. It's a froggy penthouse now.
Last night Meridee and I went to the Albuquerque Museum's miniatures and more show grand opening.
I'm lucky enough to have had three of my mice and tiny bunnies picked as two small sets of sculpture. I'd never been there before, but I was surprised by how grand it really was.
I've never seen so many people all dressed up to the nines around these parts before.
Maybe I've been hanging out in all the wrong places, but I felt strangely transported to New York City or something.
Anyhow, the way they sell stuff is quite interesting.
Every painting and sculpture has a price on it, and also has a number next to it, and a correspondingly numbered ballot box type thing mounted somewhere nearby.
You get a bunch of green paper slips when you go in, so you can fill out your info if you want to buy something, and drop it in the right box.
At the end of the evening the boxes are opened, and a name is drawn from each box, so that person gets to buy that piece.
Since paintings are one of a kind, most boxes will only have one winner.
But bronzes are different.
I had 5 available listed, so if there were more than five names in the box, the first five pulled would be winners.
Of course they don't actually win anything. Except the chance to buy their prize.
Since I'm one of those self obsessed artist types I contorted myself about so I could see down into my boxes (a bit tricky without blocking the light from getting in through the tiny slit in the top).
Of course I cunningly disguised my actions to resemble someone with some very serious muscle imbalances, thoughtfully peering closer at someone else's work.
It's what us artists do you know.
Is it the money, or the tickle to the ego that makes us do it?
It's either a bit of both, or a lot of both. Probably a lot.
The place was jammed with the elegantly dressed. But every once in a while I would glance around and see another strangely twisted person appearing to scrutinize some art, while hovering directly over a ballot box.
Well I was very happy to see more than one green slip in both my boxes.
So I felt rather pleased with myself when we left.
Which was a bit before the end, so I'll have to find out later how it all went.
Well, thanks to Lee Wilson, Mike Masse and Madd Castings I've got everything I need for my show.
Strangely I already sold all but one of my new small-ish turtles, so the one at Manitou will have to be for order taking only until I get more done.
So besides all the stuff already over there, there'll be tree frogs on balls, a mid size bumper to bumper, some wine bottle stoppers (turtle and rabbit), a toad on a leaf, and the small-ish turtle.
I should insist on putting it all in a sealed glass display case with a load of live crickets wandering about among them.
Besides art, I like critters.
They're interesting to watch, and fun to make. So when I'm not doing anything else (like drawing storyboards) I'm usually either watching or making critters of some sort or other.
