Sidney Museum and Arts Association Blog

January 19, 2012 — I recently had the fortunate experience to talk with some students from our local schools at the Sidney Art Gallery Student Art Show reception on January 8.  I'm so impressed with our youth and their creative ability to express, with freedom, the world of art.  This January show features artwork by South Kitsap High School and John Sedgwick Junior HS students.

One young man I talked with sketched, in colored pencil, the Twin Towers.  You have to look closely.  It is made with the names of the people who were in the Twin Towers on that fateful day.  It is a very impressive piece of work.  When art evokes all sorts of emotions such as this one does, you have to give the artist credit for his genius. 

I also spoke with a young photographer who recently entered one of her photos in a National Geographic competition.  She was one of the top contenders, but was not the one chosen for the magazine.  Isn't that amazing?  And, so is her photo.

It was so much fun to talk with these young people to see their excitement and learn about their inspiration for creating the various pieces displayed.  Another young lady took a picture of a cat called Jelly Bean.  The pose, with cat's neck stretched, makes you want to tickle him under the chin.

The freedom of color used, where one never would imagine, made me smile when viewing the junior high youths works.  They definitely get "out of the box".  The 3-D cardboard sculptures were astonishing and the drawing art class' brilliantly colored pictures were amazing.

I spent some time talking with the dedicated and proud teachers of these students.  Even with the many challenges they face with cut backs in school funding, they realize the importance of inspiring our youth in the fascinating art world.  I hold teachers in high esteem and truly appreciate their dedication and "beyond the call of duty" effort to keep our youth interested in the arts.  They are to be commended.  Based on the look on the faces of all those parents and grandparents I met that Sunday afternoon, they too are very proud of what those teachers have taught their children.

For an inspirational visit come see this show.  You'll be impressed.

Art Of The Quilter ~ A quilt and needlework exhibition and competition.

Every year we just keep getting better.  Eight years ago I moved a textile show into a theme show slot on our featured show calendar and BAM!  We found out real fast how many people are into quilting, knitting, just stitching of every kind.  I had no idea how many ways there was to use a needle, and all the different sizes!  Some needles look big enough to peg a tent down and others I would never hope to find  again if I ever put them down.  I took a look at what these quilters were doing and swore I would never make a quilt.  That looks way too hard.  Then one day I'm down at the gallery and there is my friend Virginia, (she's the volunteer coordinator and is most often at the gallery, we all think she secretly lives there), doing some kind of sewing and I looked on intrigued with the colorful geometric pieces.  Several months later I was the proud owner of a king size Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, made entirely by me.  It was a good choice as patterns go since I didn't own a sewing machine. 

Shortly after starting the quilt show we incorporated a needlework show into it and things just got more interesting, and the needles!  I look at some of these and think, wow, now we're getting into the twilight zone.  You should see what these tools can produce in the hands of the very talented (magic fingers).  The most gorgeous sweaters, shawls, blankets and the cross-stitch that could be a painting in itself.  So now the month of August sizzles with the mind blowing work made by all the magic fingers living right here in our neighborhoods. 

In September, when the wild days of summer begin to fizzle out, we will have the sweetest little realist paintings featured.  Carol Ward will capture your heart and slide it right back into the warm days of summer.

The Frames Down Show is up! Bit of an oxymoron there.  It's a good show.  Affordable prices and you get to see the work in the "Raw".  No enhancements or cover-ups. I wanted this show to help the artists and the customers save money while participating in the creative process.

It took took three of us two days to get the show up.  Once done with the prep work on the paper paintings it went pretty quickly.  The canvases came in pre-wired to the stretcher bars.  Then it was make the labels and done!

We are looking forward to our opening reception on Feb. 13th.  I know it's bit later in the month than usual for our receptions but the Super Bowl can be a bit of a conflict for people so we took care of that.