Columbus Avant-Garde Art & Craft Shows: July 2012

Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Passion for Creation!

Meet Ryan Demaree from ReVGaunge...

My name is Ryan Demaree and I have been painting and into the arts all my life and my work reflects alot of my real life interests and studies. I am an avid star-gazer and often incorporate Astro-photography and astronomy related themes in alot of my artwork.

I would say that a majority of my inspiration comes everyday experience and studies. a huge inspiration for me is astronomy and my star gazing. I have always been into art in general all throughout my life, but it wasnt until my high school years that I got into painting. I really took to oil painting when I first tried it in my high school painting class. I've been painting seriously for about 4 years now.

I would describe my creative process as bringing my own thoughts and ideas to a 2D surface through paint.

As far as my favorite piece.. This is a difficult question for me to answer, as it is for any artist, but in terms of most time and money and effort put into a project I'de have to say my 5 1/2 X 7 ft [2 in.] oil painting titled "Lascaux" in tribute to the cave paintings in the Lascaux cave of France. This painting took me 55+ hours to paint over the course of 1 week.

My goal as an artist is to ultimately achieve a way to reveal my own ideas and thoughts onto a surface and to find ways to challenge myself and the viewers mentally. I figure if I am good at painting, enjoy it, and id like to share it with others, it would be nice to also make profit from it as well.

The message behind my work varies depending on what im doing but it is always about expressing my own personal thoughts and ideas.

Meet Dale Benedict from Honey Heath Farms...

I'm an 8th child from a family of 11. I have a passion for learning and sharing. I'm an entrepreneur, author, patent holder, a retired consultant to Fortune 500 companies, business owner, and I have a passion for Mother Nature and honeybees.

I got into this craft after retirement. I started to raise honeybees in order to ensure future pollination of our fruits, vegetables, nuts, and farm crops. I have been doing this for roughly 12 years now.

I also got started in my business so others could benefit from the health benefits of honeybee products as an alternative healthcare solution.

My creative process is based upon thorough market research, discovery of new market trends and fulfilling unique customer needs.

My goal with my business is to pass onto my children the values I’ve gained from education, hard work and positive thinking.

Meet Susana La Luz from Hello Knitty Designs...

I'm 31 and still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I have a BFA in Fine Arts Photography and an MFA in Design Think & Design Leadership. I live in a historical neighborhood with my boyfriend (and sometimes knitting model), our 7 year-old lab named Socks, and our 9 week-old Great Dane named Ajax. I have a tendency to get bored without projects, so currently I'm teaching myself how to home brew beer, I'm training our new puppy, I'm cultivating a cucumber garden to make pickles, I'm writing 3 research papers to submit to international conferences, and I'm knitting like crazy to get ready for the Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show in Columbus.

For my day job, I'm a design researcher with a local consultancy in Columbus called Lextant. We do research for clients to help them innovate. When trying to explain what I do, I usually just tell people that I get paid to be curious. Our research is really about understanding everyday people's experience in various aspects of their lives so we can communicate to our clients how to better design their products and services.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist. In high school I took a biology class and realized that I had to actually like science to be a marine biologist. I had to admit that I would probably lead a much happier life if I just accepted that the only reason I wanted to be a marine biologist was because fish were pretty and sparkly. From that point on, I figured out that I was meant to make the world a prettier and sparklier place.

In my freshman year of college, me and a bunch of friends were bored one weekend and decided to take a knitting class at our dorm. I was a fine arts major and one of my favorite classes was a fiber arts class that taught me a true love for all things yarn. That first weekend knitting class was 13 years ago! Ever since then, knitting has seen me through everything from sucky diets to quitting smoking.

I knit all the time and I knit pretty fast and I finally got to the point where everyone around me got sick of me giving them knitting as gifts. I didn't stop knitting and the finished projects started piling up. A friend told me about Etsy and I figured I might as well give it a shot!

I get inspired by the materials. I wander yarn stores and get seduced by a sparkle, a drape, a color, or a heft and I buy yarn like there's no tomorrow. After I have yarns I love, I search for patterns that would show off what I love about that yarn.

I have two all time favorites items...

The first is the signature piece of my Etsy shop, Hello Knitty Design. It's a cloud-soft ear flap hat with pom-poms and has ears and a sparkly bow that lets anyone who wears it fly their Hello Kitty cute flag high. I actually make four style types in the signature line--this ear flap hat, a regular stocking cap, a headband, headphones. When someone buys one, they get to choose between four sparkly colored bows--light pink, hot pink, red and purple. I love this line, it shows the silly fun side of me that refuses to let my age determine my maturity level.

My second favorite piece is actually not completed yet, but I feel like it's going to be one of my greatest accomplishments when it's done. The pattern is called Firmaments Lace Shawl designed by Bonnie Sennott. I'm doing it in a cranberry colored 100% Peruvian baby alpaca, lace weight yarn. It's simply gorgeous yarn and a breathtaking pattern. I think it shows the romantic side of me that wants to swoon like a damsel in distress.

My goal... If I can make someone realize that knitting can be glamorous, then I've done my job. When people think about knitting, they typically think about grandmas and bad Christmas sweaters. Knitting isn't just for that aunt you hate to visit because her house smells like cabbage and she makes you wear her snowflake sweater. In the last few years, there have been a number of us trying to change people's perceptions about knitting. It can be glamorous. It can be delicate. It can be beautiful. it can be funky and fun and crazy and silly. I want people to see my work and smile or sigh.

Check out these featured vendors at the 2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. This eclectic show will feature over 125 of the area's most talented artisans and crafters. A portion of the show's proceeds will be donated to Columbus Ohio's Local Matters, a non-profit that teaches kids and families about healthy Ohio-grown foods, provides access to wholesome foods in local area communities, and advocates for fair food policies.

2012 Columbus Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show

Sunday, August 19, 2012, 1:30pm-6:30pm

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral

555 N. High St

Columbus, OH 43215

For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at info@avantgardes hows.co m

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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Capturing an Image, the Art of Painting and Photography

Meet Angie Ulrich from Brite Eyed and Bushy Tailed...

My name is Angie Ulrich. I’m a passionate teacher, a loyal friend, and an enthusiastic artist. I teach and coordinate the gifted program at Walnut Township Local School District. I work with gifted and talented students in grades 3-6 as well as in after school programs for gifted seventh and eighth graders. My goal is to keep my students challenged and interested in learning. I extend their grade level curriculum and provide high interest learning opportunities. Among other things, we have researched unsolved mysteries, practiced leadership skills, studied Latin and Greek language, and painted a school mural. Outside of my job, I love playing softball and kickball, jogging, ziplining, cheering on the Ohio State Buckeyes, shopping, and doing any and all things creative.

Where I get my creativity is still the mystery in our family… where do my brother and I get our creativity from? We haven’t determined that. While my parents are both incredibly intelligent and loving people, they would be the first to tell you that they are not overly creative-minded. Despite this, my younger brother and I have been highly creative individuals since birth. Both of us won awards and art contests in grade school, and paint in our free time as adults. While our styles are very different, our love for creative endeavors is shared.

How I got into my craft.. As I mentioned, my brother is very creative. He got into painting in high school after he had already covered every drawing surface he could find. He made it look effortless and fun- so when the opportunity arose I knew I wanted to give it a try. The opportunity came in my masters program at Ashland University. I was in a course called “Creative Studies for Teachers of the Gifted and Talented” and our final project was presented as a challenge to ourselves to do something creative which we had wanted to do and never done. I guess we all need that extra push sometimes. I bought the materials that I would need and got some advice from my brother before I began a series of three paintings all of which represented the idea of “potential.” It was a power word that held significance in the world of gifted education and I wanted to create a visual interpretation of that. I painted a rose surrounded by larger trees that had moved aside to provide light from the sun, a caterpillar on a blossoming tree, and a baby giraffe not quite tall enough to reach his meal. Through this experience I immediately fell in love with painting. It was calming. I found myself losing track of time and becoming so immersed in what I was painting that stresses from the day seemed to just dissolve. Once I received positive feedback from my class and my professor, I knew I was going to need a lot more materials.

I am fortunate to have many loving family and friends that encouraged me to sell my artwork. It was originally an idea I was pretty resistant to. It is truly a hobby. I don’t do it for money, I paint because I love to paint. But, as my paintings began to pile up in my apartment and my friends and family continued to encourage me, I finally gave in. Today I have a shop on Etsy called Brite Eyed and Bushy Tailed, have done several art shows, and work with TOMS shoes and their vendors for Style Your Sole events around Ohio. I have been painting for the last four years and plan to continue for many, many years to come!

My favorite piece is probably either one of the first pieces I did, the baby giraffe, or the painting of a hermit crab. I can’t even explain why I love the hermit crab, except to say that he has an ornery look about him and he reminds me of a beach vacation.

My paintings usually begin in my sketchbook. Whatever inspires me finds its way into my sketchbook. There are magazine cut outs, quotes, photos, drawings, music lyrics, and even clothing tags taped inside. Creative ideas are everywhere, if you’re looking carefully. From there my concepts for a painting emerge over a few hours, a few days, or even after several weeks. It’s like a brewing coffee pot that doesn’t seem to have any concept of time constraints. Ideas will often come to me at the most inopportune times.

My profession seems to guide my style of painting. It is typically very whimsical, friendly, and child-like. I try to portray the innocence and zest for life that I adore in my students in the characters and images that I paint. I suppose my message is to value and hold on to that childhood innocence, that zest for absorbing all that is new and different and exciting. As adults, we often don’t stop to truly enjoy life. We rush around from one duty to the next. Children are wonderful reminders that there is so much to be enjoyed. I suppose I want my paintings to serve as a reminder too.

Meet Annie Stipek from Heart Ohio Art...

My name is Annie - I am originally from the Cleveland area (Rocky River), went to school at Ohio University in Athens and currently reside in Columbus. I have always had a passion for photography, and love to freestyle with my photos. I do offer portrait, family and wedding photography as well, but really have my heart in my artistic pics.

I currently work as a toddler teacher with 2-3 year olds. I have always worked with people of all ages in different stages of care. I also have a wonderful husband who I have been with for 7 1/2 years and just wed last October. We have a German Shepherd and love taking on home projects! I also just completed my first half marathon!

Art of all forms has always been an outlet for me. In my younger years I wrote poetry, did ceramics, drawing, painting and photography. The one that really stuck with me is the photography. I also have an eye for decorating (even if its just picking things out on Pinterest!)

I developed my first role of film in a dark room about 12 years ago in high school, but had been snapping away long before that. I also took photography classes in college. I always saw it as a fun activity that only I appreciated, but I started seriously selling my work a couple years ago.

How I got started.. I actually used to attend craft fairs when I was younger with my grandpa. He would see baseball cards at a table and at the end he would save me some space to sell whatever I was crafting on that moment. I loved having the people around, being interested in my creations and talking to people about what they are passionate about!

I started doing photography shoots for friends when they started having kids. From there I have grown to family portraits, baby pics and weddings. I started selling my OHIO themed pictures on etsy.com after people starting showing an interest in the pictures I had in my home. I saw that there wasn't a store like mine on Esty.com and wanted to put it out there so people could find my products.

My creative process... Sometimes I see something that I would like to have a picture of on my wall - or I think of photos that might collage well together. I know a lot of people are loyal to their hometowns and colleges and I like to think that I provide some memories for them in some way. I like to try to capture things that other people might overlook on a daily basis!

One of my favorite items is in my house. I have a series of photographs that I love from each city that is important to me. Each frame has a series of 3 photos in it.

My goal with my work is that I just want people to look at my work and feel something. Maybe relive a memory from the past. Or have a link to a place they loved!

The message behind my works is that it's fun, and Ohio loyalty. We are really proud of our state and we have a lot of great stuff happening in our cities.