Mini TexasWAX meetup

Deanna in Gwen's studio

A couple of weeks ago, I had to go to Houston to switch out some artwork at Koelsch Gallery, and I stayed with Gwen Plunkett while I was there.

We had a lovely time visiting and she was nice enough to schlep me all over Houston.

Sharon Kyle-Kuhn drove from Austin and met us and we visited the Menil, The Cy Twombly Gallery, The Rothko Chapel, and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum. We all got together at Cynthia Robertson's home with some other members of the TexasWAX/Houston group - Julia Koivumaa and Suzanne Shield-Polk.

We discussed possible future group exhibitions and everyone seemed to like the idea of having a group show (combined Houston/Dallas/Austin members) at Sharon's Bay6 Gallery in Austin in March of 2009.

We decided on the theme of "Degrees," with each artist creating a piece interpreting that theme in some way. We also want to get someone to curate or jury the show. We're working on the details of that now.

I really enjoyed hanging out with Gwen and meeting Sharon, Julia, Cynthia, and Suzanne. And it always amazes me how much art there is in Houston... I just wish my camera hadn't decided to delete all the pictures that I took there! Gwen's camera was being weird, too, and the picture above is the only photographic evidence that remains of the trip.

April meeting

Diane and Junanne

Wow. I swear that I blogged about our April meeting. Guess not...

So here's what happened:
We had a wonderful meeting at Junanne's studio in Fort Worth. Her home and studio are quite lovely. Even with golfers peeing in the woods. :-)

Vet, Junanne, and Diane

We spent most of the time making etchings on Plexiglas. Junanne walked us through the process and everyone made a great print.

Members present: Junanne Peck, Deanna Wood, Shelly Thompson, Diane Dorn, Vidya Kagal, Silvia Thornton, and Junanne's friend and possible new member, Vet.

Shelly, Vidya, Junanne, and Diane

We had a very short meeting and talked about possible exhibitions. Gwen has submitted a proposal in Houston, Sharon is working on getting the Austin group together and has possible exhibition space there, and we're waiting on the response from the BathHouse in Dallas.

the finished prints

Junanne and I will work together to come up with a generic proposal for the Dallas group that will be available to everyone to print out and submit to different venues.

As we left, Vet, who creates work with recycled materials, unloaded, I mean, donated a bunch of stuff to us - rocks, paper (no scissors!), black fuzzy folders... All kinds of good stuff.

Shelly displaying her beautiful print

Vidya and Diane

Thanks, Junanne, for hosting the meeting!

Our next meeting is set for May 18, 1-3 at my studio.

March Meeting

one last look at the TexasWAX show at Collaborating Artists Media Projects...

The members of TexasWAX/Dallas met on March 16 at CAMP. We took down our work and then had a short meeting.

I didn't take great notes, but here's what I've got:

Participating members - Deanna Wood, Robin Walker, Cheryl McClure, Diane Dorn, Janet Reynolds, Junanne Peck, Franzi Bader, and Silvia Thornton. Shelly Thompson joined us to find out what we are all about.

Congratulations to Cheryl McClure. One of her pieces will be featured on the cover of Nita Leland's upcoming book.

Future exhibitions - Janet reported that the Bathhouse Cultural Center most likely won't get back to us until maybe April concerning the proposal that we submitted.

We briefly discussed approaching 14th Street Gallery in Plano and the MAC in Dallas. I'm going to a show at 14th Street soon, so I offered to speak with the gallery owner.

We also discussed the need for future shows to be curated or juried in some way - it's just more professional. Some possible juror/curator names were brought up.

TexasWAX Austin - I was contacted recently by Sharon Kyle Kuhn in Austin. She was interested in joining our group but I encouraged her to start her own "chapter" in Austin. And she did! She's just getting the blog started...

So there's a possibility of having some collaborative shows in Austin as well.

Upcoming encaustic classes - there's an R&F workshop in Boerne, Texas in May and October.

Also the 2nd Annual Encaustic Painting Conference in Massachusetts is coming up in June.

Next meeting - April 20, 1-3 pm at Junanne Peck's studio in Fort Worth.

TexasWAX/Austin!

I got an email recently from Sharon Kyle Kuhn, an artist who lives in Austin. She works in encaustic and was interested in learning more about our group.

So I encouraged her to start a group in Austin!

She's set up a blog and is in the process of finding some members. So if you know anyone in Austin who works in encaustic or uses wax in their work, send them Sharon's way.

We're looking forward to another collaborative show and adding Austin to the mix is really exciting.

March meeting

The next TexasWAX/Dallas meeting is scheduled for:

Sunday, March 16
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Collaborating Artists Media Project
2631 Commerce St. Suite B, Dallas, TX 75226

We will also be taking down the show at the end of the meeting.

Everyone welcome. Bring a waxy friend!

Opening Night

l to r: Kate Miller (with back to camera), Joanne Mattera, Cheryl McClure, Carolyn Fox-Hearne (with back to camera), Janet Reynolds

Our opening reception on Friday, February 22, was a great success! The people at CAMP really did it up nicely for us. They were extremely gracious and they put on a great spread. One really great touch was the video camera "hidden" in the main gallery space. It was streaming live video that was projected in another room (and someone said it was streaming on the internet, too, but I'm not sure about that).

We were extremely excited that several high-profile people from the "encaustic world" stopped by, including Joanne Mattera, author of The Art of Encaustic Painting; Richard Frumess of R&F Paints, and Kathryn Bevier of Enkaustikos Wax Art Supplies.

The show is up until March 16, so if you haven't seen it yet, please stop by and check it out!

Collaborating Artists Media Project
2631 Commerce St. Suite B, Dallas, TX 75226
Gallery hours M-F, 9 am - 5 pm

Here are some more photos from the opening:

Carolyn Fox-Hearne

Deanna Wood

Gwen Plunkett, Kate Miller, Franziska Bader

Diane reader Dorn

Trayc Claybrook

Diane reader Dorn and Carolyn Fox-Hearne

Our First Collaborative Exhibition

Well, I guess technically it's our first exhibition, period...

We're teaming up with the members of TexasWAX/Houston for a group show that coincides with the CAA conference.

Here's the information:
February 20 - March 16, 2008

Opening reception Friday, February 22, 6-8 pm

Collaborating Artists Media Project
2631 Commerce St. Suite B, Dallas, TX 75226

map to CAMP