Call for Entries - Nudashank Gallery, Baltimore.

CHROMATOSE - Call for entries!
Submission Deadline: Postmarked by July 10th
Exhibition Dates: August 21st – September 19th 2009
Awards:
-Best In Show: a $500 Liquitex grant to be presented by Baltimore painter- Dale Ihnken
-Two artists selected for a two-person show at Nudashank in 2010.
Application Requirements:
-One CD with 3-5 images (jpeg) of available work. larger dimension at 800 pixels, 72dpi. Jpegs labeled- Lastname_Title.jpg.
Maximum work size: 36inches x 36 inches.
-A works list sheet including Name, email, website, and mailing address. For each piece list title, media, dimensions, and year.
-$15 entry fee in the form of a check made out to Nudashank Gallery.
Please mail your applications to:
Nudashank
C/O Seth Adelsberger and Alex Ebstein
405 W. Franklin Street, 3rd Floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
15-20 artists will be selected for the exhibition

Chocoland

There appears to be a dessert theme in my life recently.
Combined with the cease of all exercise, these are dangerous times...
Wanted to give a sneak peak of the chocolates I designed for a shop in MD called Artisan Confections.
Info on how to get your hands on these tasty morsels to come... this is just a test run, and the actual chocolates won't be available for a while as the shop is moving to a new location. Still. Art on chocolate? You can't go wrong really.
My design is the one with blue tulips. In case you couldn't tell.

What a fun project!

Birthday Cake

My favorite art objects conservator celebrated her birthday this weekend, and we have begun a tradition of attempting to one-up each other with fancy birthday cakes, so I had my work cut out for me. Last year, Duncan Hines helped me out, but this year, I made a fancy cake, from scratch for what seems like the first time ever. And after three months of admiring it in our kitchen, I also used our kitchen aid mixer to do so.
This is Pistachio cake with marzipan, apricot preserves and chocolate ganache that I found on Smitten Kitchen. Decorated with marzipan versions of the flowers in Angie's beautiful garden. Phil made the little furry friend on the bottom of the cake... modeled after the sometimes present UNwanted living things in her garden.

Goodbye to Michael

Phil is annoyed at how much I'm pouting over it, but I can't seem to think about much else today.
We found out last night from the checkout lady at Superfresh. She said it felt like family had died, and told us about watching the Jackson 5 on a black & white T.V. with this funny filter thing you could buy to cover the screen and pretend it was a color TV.
I thought about how many times in the 90's Kim and I dressed up with one white glove in her living room in NH and attempted to moonwalk. How many times we made lipsynch videos to Billy Jean and Thriller. The first time I watched MTV was a Michael Jackson video (followed by Madonna).
So many mixtapes made better. Wedding receptions and school dances made more fun.
As many strange and unfortunate things that happened during his career, there sure were a lot of good times made better with his music, and today in the car, listening to the Jackson 5 sing "just call my name......" I will admit, I teared up a little bit.

In fact, I got so emotional, that I accidentally got out of the car with it still running (and the Jackson 5 still singing), and locked myself out.

Peanut Noodles and Limes

You know those desperate times where you look in the kitchen and see you have no food - nothing at all - and then you somehow come up with the most delicious thing EVER by using the ingredients that are cowering at the bottom of drawers? I think those might be my proudest moments.

Last night's such story starts with Alicia & Seth. They ditched Baltimore for Portland TWO YEARS AGO and left us with a box of random food from their kitchen. Most of it is long gone, but somehow a package of Soba noodles remained, and I have always been intimidated by them. (i know. lame.) I realize they aren't the normal noodle used for peanut noodles, but looking at them got me thinking that I wanted peanut noodles, and I took inventory and found I also had peanut butter, sesame oil, sesame seeds, carrots, lime juice, vinegar and some near-death scallions. Mixed all together, I cannot begin to tell you how tasty this was.

combined with some Superfresh Vegetarian Sushi, and a Gin & tonic, my infinite lime and peanut butter cravings were satisfied for at least 24 hours. My two favorite foods are excellent at collaborating.

Trash it.

We are in the midst of buying a house in Baltimore (Charles Village), during one of the busiest times of year! Craft fairs, two painting exhibitions, commission printing, Phil is 6 days away from the end of his job at Hopkins, working on a music video and moving all of his stuff into an office at Towson. Somehow the hours in which we're not working seem less worthy of photo documentation... and more worthy of pure enjoyment.
Last week (or was it the week before) however, we saw "UP" at the Landmark Theater, and when we came out and walked past the theater bar, I couldn't resist photographing the trash can sign. Is this really a common problem??
Mr Sammy is having no trouble finding time to relax, and has no problem reminding us how hot he is on a regular basis- whining and flopping dramatically at our feet, rolling on his back, four paws up in the air. When he finds a new cool surface to sleep on, he takes it over. He would NOT give up the plastic recycling bin this morning, and after I'd recovered it and turned it back over, he got pouty and ornary when I wouldn't let him get in with the trash. Luckily, he's easily distracted these days with his new favorite toy: plastic zipties. There are few things funnier than watching him try to get traction on the wood floor to go chase them. His legs wind up, running in place like a cartoon and then when he finally starts moving, he's so surprised that he forgets what he's doing, and occasionally whacks face first into the wall before tackling the ziptie.

I relate to teenagers. And how.

O-M-G.
Hermione loves donkey's too!!????!!!!!!!

I promise this will not turn into a celebrity blog, but come ON. This HAS to be mentioned. How ironic is it that Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame was just photographed with these awesome donkeys, the same week that Phil and I did our photoshoot while farm-sitting? So what if Hermione was being photographed for Teen Vogue, and I was being photographed for my own paintings.
We are clearly on the same level here.
Emma Watson loves donkeys... I love donkeys. Emma Watson is in Harry Potter movies... and the date of the new Harry Potter movie is written in my day planner because I'm so excited for it.

Go ahead and make fun of that. I dare you.
you and I both know you love Harry Potter.
And if you haven't read the books, then you're a ninny, and shouldn't be wasting time reading this blog while they sit in the library FREE for your enjoyment.

Thank You Baltimore!

Just wanted to say thank you to all in Baltimore who braved the rain and the road race street closings to come out to Pile Of Craft this weekend! You are tough cookies. We had a great time, and are very grateful to the Craft Mafia members who really pushed this one along, and to all the local shoppers who came out to support us. All our summer traveling is fun, but it sure is nice to be home after a long day at a craft fair.
Phil and I finally got to clean the house a little bit on Sunday, then we moved some things into his NEW OFFICE (!!!) at Towson University, where he will be a Full Time professor in the fall. Then we took a walk, ate popsicles, and watched Gran Torino with a snoozing cat between us... elated that we are done house sitting, and home to snuggle him.

Visit Us at Pile of Craft - Baltimore - THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!

See you tomorrow, SATURDAY June 20th at Pile of Craft!!!!!
10am-5pm
2640 St. Paul St. Baltimore, MD 21218
40 Baltimore crafters.
Art. Snacks. Coffee. Music.
The chance to buy local, and handmade.

Pardon my lack of blogging, and delay in responding this week - It's a busy one!
We are gearing up for Charm City Craft Mafia's PILE OF CRAFT this weekend!
PILE OF CRAFT
An Indie Craft Fair for Baltimore
Saturday, June 20th 10-5pm
2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21218

We are also caring for a farm just north of the city this week, and doing farm chores and whatnot.
Have I ever told you how much I love donkey's?

HEY!!!!! Listen to Charm City Craft Mafia get interviewed today on Baltimore's most awesome radio program: The Signal on WYPR!
The program airs at noon, and again at 7pm, or you can listen online at signalradio.org

Thanks to Aaron Henkin for taking the time to visit us all at our studios and listen to the sounds we make.

Ben Piwowar at Idle Hour Tonight

New (small) Paintings by Ben Piwowar
The Idle Hour
201 E. Fort Ave
TONIGHT - June 11, 2009
8pm to midnight

Draw4 at Art Star - Opens June 13

Really excited to be part of this group exhibition at Art Star this coming Saturday - See you there I hope!

DRAW4
June 13th - July 26th, 2009
Art Star Gallery & Boutique
623 N. 2nd St.
Philadelphia, PA 19123
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 13th, 5-9pm
drawings by Rachel Bone, Isaac Bushkin, Susie Ghahremani, Kurt Halsey, Lisa Hurwitz, Angie Mason, Ryan Myers, Mandy Sutcliffe

note: Though most of my paintings up in the show have sold, we'll be offering them in print form soon.
More info to come - from me and the fine ladies of Art Star!!

Made Here Baby

Excited to tell you that I'm adding another book appearance to my resume. I'm so happy to be included in a book about American Manufacturers called "Made Here Baby" for which I was interviewed a while back.
Synopsis
As a parent, you would do anything to keep your children free from harm. So you want to be sure that the toys you buy for them are fun, well-made, and-above all-safe. Recent recalls of millions of imported toys have caused parents to be more and more concerned about products that are manufactured overseas-and the materials that go into them. It is becoming clearer than ever that by buying more American-produced merchandise for our children, we can assure ourselves of its quality and safety.
This book is a guide to finding the best of American made.
Check it out at your local bookstore, or online at Barnes & Noble, , Target or Amazon.

Renegade Brooklyn This Weekend!

Hope to see all of our NY pals out shopping at Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this weekend!! 2 days of sunny crafty glory, friends, music, ice cream and a new sunburn to replace the one that's peeling off my back at the moment.
Come say hi!!!

We're leaving today to check out the Yale MFA show in Philly tonight, and then sleep on our favorite historic ferryboat in Hoboken, NJ, and forge on to Williamsburg in the morning. See you soon!!!

Nicole Shiflet at Theatre Project Tonight

Marching for Digits. Artwork by Nicole Shiflet
John Fonda Gallery at Theatre Project
45 West Preston St.
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 4, 6:30-8:00pm
On View June 4 - July 12

John Fonda Gallery is please to present Nicole Shiflet’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. Titled Marching for Digits, the show consists of new paintings that explore Nicole’s fascination with interstitial moments that she documents into the fictional narratives of her paintings.

“Shiflet’s paintings are wonderfully playful, yet have an underlying sense of danger,” said Sidney Pink, Curator. The beauty of her line and forms mixed with a dark subtle humor create a world deep with layers.”

California Stars.

Dear American Apparel,

When I placed my latest bulk wholesale order of tshirts, this isn't the shipping method I had in mind.
At the last brainstorming meeting, who was it that decided shipping individual tshirts in separate packages, & separate invoices was the best idea? How did they convince you all? What did it take? Really. I want to know.
Free feather earrings? Complimentary 90's sunglasses? A promise that "more is less" in terms of packaging waste? Hypnosis?
You guys really couldn't come up with the idea of "Big cardboard box containing ALL of the shirts in the order, all shipping at once"? Really? Really? No one mentioned that as an option???? What else was on the to-do list that day?

Added cost of shipping ONE tshirt across the country to MD, on my UPS account: $6/each.
Profit from then selling that shirt wholesale: approximately $1.

let's work it out, baby.
Love,
Rachel.

Peonies and Pennsylvania

We had a spectacular time in Philadelphia this weekend, meeting our online friends, wholesale buyers, blog readers, and many new shoppers. Art Star was a booming success, and aside from the sunburn on the back of my neck and the sleepiness my body feels, I wish we could do a Philly show more often. We love us some Philadelphia.
Also, we love the Pennsylvania countryside, and Chadds Ford, where we got to stay with some good pals on a farm which currently deals mainly in Peonies. I had the good fortune of waking up early Sunday morning with my friend Nogeeshik, and taking a walk with two very happy dogs among the rows and rows of big sopping blossoms while we drank coffee and caught up. Very nice to be out of the city sometimes... and such a treat to stay with you two in the midst of our summer chaos.

There are a couple VERY busy weeks ahead of me, and my brain can't seem to wrap itself around all that it needs to choreograph at the moment. But trips like this one remind me that with every burst of business comes a visit with friends in each city we travel to and there is lots of time in between sales to stop and smell the peonies....