This is one of my all time favorite gallery piece entitled "Resurrection"

This is one of my all time favorite gallery piece entitled "Resurrection"

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Yay!!!

Maps often seemed like more of a suggestion - I may have mentioned before that the tried and true paths often aren't of interest to me. There have been many nights that I've laid awake wondering why I couldn't be like everyone else - well, at least like my perception of everyone else. I'm not that special - I think we all have those feelings. When I encounter a fork in the road I ask myself, How did I even get here? And I have to smile because its really been quite the unpredictable journey......

I never would have guessed that art would be my world - my high school art teacher was less than inspired by me - and I didn't feel a connection. Writing and books were my passions,and of course travel. But sure enough, almost by accident I stumbled upon mosaics and the rest is history. I didn't know in those early years that I would achieve the things I have, I only knew that I loved creating them, and that no matter what, that is the work that I wanted to do. Once I knew that this was my path, I set forth determinedly - thinking that I knew the rest of the story. But life would be pretty boring if things wrapped up that easily. And I can certainly say it hasn't been boring.

While fundraising for my second large mural - I thought it would be fun to co ordinate a performance piece featuring an artist friend of mine and a gallery owner. He was playing blues guitar and she the ukulele and they had begun playing together once a week just for fun. I convinced them to do this to raise money for my project (I will skip how I begged and pleaded - no one is really interested in those details anyway, right?). The event was a huge success and after we celebrated reaching our fundraising mission I thought to myself - How fun! I'd like to do something like this again!

And I did. Not exactly the same, but I made events a regular occurrence at my Gallery 26, from artist talks and demos to writers promoting their books as well as showcasing local musicians. I never would have dreamed how much I would love this work, maybe didn't even realize it while I was doing it, but when I stepped away from life as a gallery owner, I felt that loss. It had inspired me creatively and stretched me personally. When I expressed this a lot of people told me not to worry about it - those things were distractions from my art. But I found the opposite to be true;  the energy, the excitement, the people, all fed my creativity. I volunteered for Plein Air Easton! and became a part of the excellent group St. Michaels Events. Feeling that energy was exciting and I knew I wanted more.

So it is with much pride, excitement and enthusiasm to announce that I will be taking on the Events Manager position with the Avalon Foundation.  I love this group of people and have enjoyed working on  various projects with them! I am excited and inspired to begin. I have big shoes to fill; Colleen Brighton is leaving the position to pursue other interests, and I can only hope to continue her work in a way that makes her proud. I'm guessing that every "emergency" phone call from me to her over the course of the last year will come back to me via karma, and I'll probably bug her a few times just for old times sake.

And so, like every time I've entered into a creative, inspiring environment, I've begun a new mosaic. And I love it, like the twisty, crazy road that I've been on in this life. Who even knows what's up around the next bend?

Monday, October 28, 2013

that's how I roll...

I don't always do things the easy way. In fact - I tend to go the hardest route, doing the opposite of what everyone tells me, and learning lessons the hard way. Sometimes I wish I did things differently but at the end of the day I'm just not willing to change! Using artist-speak I would say that it's part of my process....translation: that's how I roll.

My hands are always in bad shape - sometimes worse than others. I get cuts and scratches when I'm handling the glass - also when I grout. I get all kinds of unsolicited advice: wear gloves, use a trowel, or hire someone to do the dirty work. So far my favorite was a well intentioned e-mail link about using robots to create mosaics. Robots?!?!? Creating art?!?!?!

All of this advice came from a good place; a helping, caring place that makes me feel loved. However, when I think about it, I really don't mind the scratches, cuts or even stitches (and I only needed stitches once, OK!!!).  The whole reason I chose this crazy profession (actually, it kind of chose me, but that's a whole other blog....), was the feeling that I get while I'm creating. There is nothing like it. To stand in front of a huge blank wall is to stand in front of an empty canvas and I become overwhelmed with its potential. Cutting glass into tiny pieces that together make a beautiful design fills me with a joy that is still to this day indescribable. To see it done is not enough. I want to touch the glass, break it, adhere it and grout it in. That is where the excitement comes from - not simply the finished product.

It makes me think that our society puts too much into "safe perfection." I have to undo a lot of this mentality when I'm working with both children and adults. The idea of making a mistake or not doing something perfectly right away can inspire enough fear that one often chooses not to even try. What a joyful discovery that even when the work doesn't turn out exactly as planned, it is still wonderful. To me what differentiates the artist from the hobbyist is the ability to set forth on a path, encounter new ideas and celebrate the happy accidents instead of becoming frustrated that the end result was different than the original plan.

I can live with the cuts on my hands. Instead of worrying about it, I just think about how awesome it is to be working and creating. No gloves, trowels, or robots for me.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Keeping the Wheels Rolling

Sometimes I am full of energy. I jump out of bed and my mind is racing before my feet even hit the floor. I easily construct timelines and view complicated schedules as a fun challenge. At home I am fun, patient and light hearted. I roll with the punches and even when situations are turned upside down I can still find the good in it all.

Those are great days.

I am currently in a different mode. I'm tired and craving a little more slow time. I am pretty sure that I'm setting the world record for Most Trips To Easton Per Week. You might think that this would make my day pretty mundane, but just the opposite is true! Better than any casino is the gambling that I engage in every time I guess how long my drive to Easton will be! Last Friday, my first trip to Easton took 11 minutes. My second trip took 24 minutes. The third, a half an hour. Sigh. Can I just go home now???

I have to be my most disciplined at this time. Everything takes extra effort and I really just want to eat a giant bowl of pasta and nap on the couch. If the Jen Wagner Mosaics company offered paid vacation time I might be okay, but the reality is that if my feet don't hit the floor running then I will have some explaining to do to my landlord and the electric company.

 However, I have a super secret weapon that allows me to thrive during these times. It's simply that I love my work. I dig deep, make things happen, juggle everyone's needs and schedules, talk to a million people, and stay up late to get it all done. I take my exhaustion and frustration and create from it. And I have truly found that the victories are sweeter, and that it's at these times that I can amaze myself. When I am cruising easily through life, I am often moving so fast that I don't even appreciate what is being accomplished. When I have to work harder, I savor every hard fought battle, and use it to fuel myself to take on the next task.

That, and  I usually take one day to indulge in some Bravo and spaghetti. But just one day.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Is there an app for that???

Yikes! I am just coming out of a state of mind known as the Plein Air Easton! hangover. The week of Plein Air was, as always, exciting and fast paced -  full of fun events and lots of opportunity for us artists. This year I was allowed to co-ordinate a multi-media show called The Out of the Box Art Exhibit and Sale. The event was a success! The energy was amazing! Exhilarating! Oh, and also......exhausting.

The week of Plein Air flies by - I always have fun but it can often feel like I'm trying to survive the week as much as enjoy it. The kids are given a stern talking to - they are busy trying to make a few bucks at their annual lemonade stand - but they know not to test me during this time. Arguing, whining, complaining and all other annoying behaviors are banned during this week. Any infraction of this rule will result in an overzealous lecture from their stressed out, preoccupied mother. I always promise that it will all be over and things will go back to the normal, acceptable level of craziness the following week.

Another side effect of that busy week is that absolutely no housework or yard maintenance is accomplished. Miraculously I cannot even see the dishes or laundry that need to be done, grass that needs to be cut or demon weeds that threaten to take over flowerbeds or even the driveway. Mosaic "stations" pop up all over the house. It is normal to have two or three projects in the living room, several stations in the family room, where most of the frame painting takes place, as well as multiple projects on the back porch and in my studio. I am grateful for this temporary blindness -without it the mere thought of housework at this point in time can send me straight to Crazy Town, a place where logic and reason don't exist, and overwhelmed, exhausted, emotional responses dwell.

When it's all over - there is a long period of rest. And then re-emergence into regular life. It can be shocking - there is work to be done everywhere! And there's no food in the house! And we have no clean clothes! Oh my! A bit overwhelming, and has me asking, do I really have to do all of it??? Is there an app for that?