Artsplosure 2015 at Moore Square in Raleigh, North Carolina

Thanks to Kim Curry-Evans at Raleigh Public Art and my new best friends at “Go Raleigh / Raleigh Rides” for getting my bus to the event!  What a great time.  Lot’s of fun meeting people and saying hello to the other artists.  I have to say a special “Thank you” to Jeanette Neyman and her students with the West Johnston High School Wildcat News Team for spending a HOT Saturday coming to the event (looking forward to seeing that video.)  More thanks to: Penny Prichard, Josie Carter and Renee Moore for stopping by.  Thanks to Megan for taking a couple of quick shots of me and my family in front of the bus.

 

Wow!  What a weekend in Lake City, South Carolina!  Artfields 2015 was a whirlwind experience for myself, my family and our good friend, Marina (thanks for making the trip!)  First off, Darla Moore has some foresight.  She’s the founder of Artfileds, being from there originally.  After speaking with local resident (Mike) regarding the plight of Lake City, you can see first-hand what Artfileds means to this community.  It used to be a “tobacco town” and with the decline of that cash crop and its economic impact, Lake City’s been in need of a new “crop”, hence Artfields!  Later in the day, I spoke to one of the event coordinators and he gave me more context and it made me proud to be a part of that town’s new chapter.

The venues hosting all of the artwork were great spaces.  I spoke to one artist who was skeptical at first about showing his work in clothing boutique:  “At first when I saw the space, they had clothes on racks, blocking the walls and I thought, “this is not going to work”.  Boy, was I wrong! The Artfields staff did a great job arranging the space and when my art was up, it looked spectacular”.  I have to agree.  My Artfields representative, Sandy Cook was professional and helped turn the ROB into a great space to host art.

 

 

 

 

 

My son, Grant, had a great time meeting all the “cool artists” with daddy.  We spent most of the day gathering signatures of as many artists as we could find. I definitely enjoyed being with fellow artists.  It’s so easy to talk about the things we create and how we enjoy the creative spark.  Here’s special “shout out” to fellow R.O.B artists: Alex Podesta, Chris White and Emily Reach White. Hey Alex, “We need to collaborate and have that “Adult Circus” show”.  Chris and Emily: “Looks like you guys were the winners in the “I’m floored that I met Bill Murray” award category!” These and other stories, I won’t soon forget. Hope to see you guys soon.

 

I even met the Grand Prize winner Charles Anderson (before he was “the” winner) while we were at the Artists’ “champagne toast at “The Inn at the Crossroads”.  I got a kick out of the jacket he made for the event and I think he (and fellow Artfields artist, Tonya Gregg) appreciated the 3D glasses to view his jacket!  We saw the 2013 Artfields winners artworks:  Kirland Smith’s “Steve Jobs” and Jim Arendt’s denim piece “Jamie”.  We even got to meet Jim in person (very nice guy!)  Heck, every artist I talked to was awesome. Richard Mafong and I found out that we are fellow Alumni of San Diego State University and that we both had the same Jewelry Professor, Fisch ! What a small world.

Many more stories…too many tell in one blog.  It will have to wait.

Even though I didn’t sell, or win an award, I was a winner with the experience that Artfields gave back to me.  It is and honor to be shown with other artists: the “best of the best” from the South East.  I’m looking forward to entering again next year and already have a piece in mind.

 

Tune in next week (Sat. May 16th in Moore Square, Raleigh, NC) when “FRANKY RIDES THE BUS”!