All the Chair Affair festivities are this week and it is getting very exciting! Adam and I were even able to feature our chairs on a local TV show calledFusion. Check it out! Great fun and a great feature on The Community Warehouse. There are still tickets available so please go to the Community Warehousesite to purchase your tickets for either event!
The MADFED auction event was a huge success!! We are very happy to report that we raised nearly $8,000 for The Right Brain Initiative. I had fun dressing up like June Cleaver, (no I am not ready to post the pix!) certainly a blast from the past and enjoyed registering the guests as they arrived in their 60's MadMen attire. We also helped to raise awareness of our organization among the nearly 150 guests in attendance.
Remember the right brain! It’s not an education without it.
This morning Adam and I had a hoot being part of spot filmed about theChair Affair that will air bright and early (for me at least) this Saturday morning at 8 am, on a show called Fusion on KOIN channel 6 (CBS). The windows at the former Sak's building look wonderful and are overflowing with the amazing artist creations that go around the block at Pioneer Place on SW Yamhill. Adam and I got to feature our chairs,(Tiff was with us in the spirit of their collaboration), as the founder of The Community Warehouse Roz and Miriam the Chair's Chair, educated the community about all that the Community Warehouse and Chair Affair bring to our community. The need is greater than ever, to bring families the basic needs as they begin to set up their household in a new apartment, many for the first time. It brings to our attention the creature comforts that many of us take for granted on a day to day basis. Tickets to the two events are selling quickly and a number of chairs have already been sold, so check the website to either purchase your tickets to these great events or to buy your chair + directly from the website. Don't miss out! Help support this great organization!
Last night I attended the orientation for the newest addition to my many passions. I will be devoting some of my time to CHAPS the Children's Healing Art Project. It seems to be a perfect fit as it combines many of my skills and background explorations, combining art therapy, my love of kids, getting dirty creating art, teaching, social work and everything I have gleaned on my journey thus far. I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves, flinging paint, watch kids jump on mattresses, throwing paint, facilitating kids making art, and assisting however I am needed. This will also touch on that delicate spot within us all, that lies between hopefulness and fear, when it comes to children faced with life threatening illnesses and chronic challenges, that they are trying to deal with through the creative process. Kids of all ages, wherever they may be in their lives, in their day to day challenges of just growing up, and finding a place to fit in, to belong, and finding an outlet to express themselves. To be able to make art that in UNCONDITIONAL RIGHT! I am passionate about the ability of art to heal us all. It is essential. You simply cannot do it wrong, unless you do not do it at all. I am very excited to begin this new chapter......
All the work for this year's Chair Affair to benefit the Community Warehouse are now up and running on the website with chances to "buy now" if you see something you absolutely love and cannot make it to the upcoming two wonderful auction events. You can also see all the great creations downtown in Pioneer Place old Sak's building windows on SW 4th and Yamhill. The chairs will be there for tonight's free First Thursday opening reception, as well as throughout the month, culminating in the big events at the same venue. I will be working atThe Right Brain Initiative's collaboration with the MADFED auction tonight so I won't be at First Thursday but come see me at the big events April 28 & 29! There are still tickets available but happily they are selling fast (we are already ahead of last year!!!) Enjoy looking at all the chairs +. I am also proud to have my Curious George rocker joined by Adam & Tiff's Hungry Caterpillar rocker this year! This year's event will be the biggest yet! Come out and join us!
I am a collaborator with nature, often using found objects in my clay sculpture. My greatest inspiration is my motherhood and nature. Working with clay is a tactile, spiritual interaction. It's a dance as the image emerges and takes on a life form of its own. The story gradually reveals itself and not always upon completion of the piece. It is a gradual unfolding.... "What the caterpillar thinks is the end of the world...the butterfly knows is only the beginning!"
I keep my spirit vitalized by creating mixed media sculpture, sculptural drawings, exploring narrative photography, writing, participating in collaborative art projects, volunteering for various Portland organizations, walking in the woods and along the Oregon coast collecting the next sculpture inspiration that nature offers me, enjoying the solitude of the Lake in Washington, kayaking, camping, snorkeling in Hawaii, making my voice heard as a quiet activist for various humanitarian issues, appreciating live theater and music in Portland and enjoying the vastly rich life that Oregon has to offer me, but especially spending time with my family. I am savoring my new journey as I explore the middle road of Buddhism. I try to live an "intentional life" every day with "Jo Y"! I feel like a square peg who has finally found her square hole!