Sunday, May 17, 2020

Selling Art During a Pandemic

Wow, it has been a crazy spring with the Covid 19 Virus Pandemic effectively shutting down many businesses either temporarily or permanently. Of course, all festivals, art walks, and gallery and museum exhibitions have been canceled or postponed. This has made selling art difficult. Fortunately we have social media. Never has there been a time for an artist when social media was more important than now, and boy I have been posting a lot of art. And guess what, this spring has been my best art selling year ever, already! So, thanks very much to all of our great followers, supporters, buyers and others who have helped during this difficult time.

Here are some fun shots from my studio from the last week. Many of the originals in the photos have been sold! No worries, I have plenty left as does Joseph. But if you want something, don't wait, cuz it moving. Thanks.

Almost everything in these pictures was framed at Chalet Arts! If you are an artist around here and you are not framing your work there, then you are making it more difficult to sell your art. A great frame that showcases your work makes it much easier to sell and showcase your art. And the staff at Chalet Art are fantastic about working with local artist. Talk to them and form relationships. You will thank me later.



















Monday, February 17, 2020

Arthrobryozoic Naiad heads to the Meridian Museum of Art

So I entered the 46th Annual Meridian Museum of Art Bi-State Art Competition, 2020 and got my Arthrobryozoic Naiad piece accepted. This is a fun piece I did last year that can be viewed at different angles and has lots of cool layers. It is 24 x 48 inches and done entirely with blue ink on primed birch plywood. 

I often enter this competition and have had some luck with awards. It is always a great show with lots of talented artists from Alabama and MIssissippi. As in other years, quite a few art faculty members will have art in the show, which is great! 

This year's juror is Stephanie Smith, an artist, printmaker, and educator. She earned her B.F.A from the Atlanta College of Art and a M.F.A. with Distinction from the University of Georgia in 1997. Smith is a Senior Lecturer at the University of West Georgia where she teaches drawing, 2D design, printmaking and book arts as well as serving as gallery director. In 2005 she co-founded the non-profit arts organization the Atlanta Printmakers Studio and served as President for the first five years. I imagine selection of accepted pieces was not easy with 322 entries by 114 artists entered. At the end of the day Smith selected 65 works by 51 of those artists. 

Definitely come check this show out and the historic museum itself. Exhibition dates are March 10 - May 16, 2020. There will be an awards reception from 2 to 4 pm on Saturday, May 16, 2020. Please come and join us for what I am sure will be another great show. I personally am looking forward to the reactions to my piece, which could be considered a little risque. 

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad, upside down

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad, detail of top area

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad, detail of central area

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad, detail of bottom section, upside down

Arthrobyrozoic Naiad, detail of bottom left area 

Here is the  list of artists who will have work in the competition/exhibition: 

2020 Meridian Museum of Art BiState Artists

Abreeza Thomas
Addie Louis
AlexTownsend-
Andrea Kostyal
Anne O'Hara
Barbara-Ann Carver-Hunt
Bo Kyle
Brittany Davis
Carolyn Norton
Cecelia Moseley
Charlotte Wegrznowski
David Diodate David
David Stevens
Debra Eubanks
Dee Falls
Euphus Ruth
Gail Morton
Gary Howse
George Ann McCullough
Hanna Lewis
Hannah Wegner
Jill Hammes
Joan McRaney
Joe MacGown
Joe Morzuch
Joely Corban
John Bateman
Leslie Burns
Maria Hughes
Mark Brown
MarySaphrona Grey
Melissa Thorson
Michelle Jones
MJ Dobbins  Morgan
Pat Brown
Pat Gavin
Rachel Strain
Randy Hayward Jolly
Rick Anderson
Robert Gibson
Rowan Williams Haug
Sadako Lewis
Susa Nawrocki
Thomas Nawrocki
Tiffany V. McPeak
Tom Wegrzynowski
Victoria Nichols
Virginia Rougon Chavis
Wesley Ortiz
Whitson Ramsey
William T. Dooley


Thursday, February 6, 2020

2020 Upcoming Art Activities for MacGown Art

Whew, 2019 was a busy year, so busy I did not do much with this blog even! 2020 is shaping up to be no different. My son Joseph MacGown who is in his senior year (or should we say first senior year?) and I have numerous festivals and art walks coming up.

If all goes well and our application is accepted, our first outing of the year will be March 21 in Starkville at the Queer Art Market, which is part of the PRIDE event. We participated the first year, but missed last year due to a conflict. The next Saturday, March 28, we are hoping to be a part of the Hub Fest in downtown Hattiesburg, MS! Then on Saturday April 4 we will be setting up two booths at the Threefoot Festival in Meridian, MS. It is not too late to enter this and registration fees are reasonable (threefootfestival.com). Also in Meridian, I entered two pieces (Arthrobrozoic Naiad and Surreal Tree of Life) to the Meridian Museum of Art's BiState Competition! Wish me luck.


Arthrobryozoic Naiad
Surreal Tree of Life
We will take the second weekend of April off, but will be back at it on April 21 in Starkville with two tents at the Cotton District Arts Festival. We have lots of cool art stuff for sale including originals, prints, tapestries, books, metal prints, postcard, ceramics, and more! You won't want to miss this one!

Then the next weekend on April 28 we will be at the Double Decker Festival in Oxford, MS. We did this one last year and it was fantastic!

Of course our awesome once a month Sunday Funday starts back in May and will run through October. Big changes this year as I stepped down from my two-year term as Director of the Sunday Funday board and artist liaison, though I will still serve in an advisory sense. The new director is Robert Camp, who is a large reason that Sunday Funday is even an event to begin with as it takes place in Starkville's Cotton District, which is primarily owned by the Camp family. We asked Josh Herrington of Dunkington Art to take over the artist liaison spot and he will be amazing. This guy is full of knowledge and enthusiasm. So look for us to be there selling art this year, but look to others for details on participation. I will gladly send inquiries their way!

In other news, we have been in the process of restoring the old pond at our place in Sessums, just outside of Starkville. We built a cool pavilion and pier, which will be ideal areas for hosting art and music events. We are currenting building Joseph a small studio/cabin and in the future plan to build a small gallery to showcase our work and do workshops. Our  studio is located on the property as well, but it's so jam packed with art it is difficult to properly show our art to folks!

A view of the in progress studio/cabin we are building

A view of our studio

Looking across the pond toward pavilion and studio
Pavilion at night

Another shot of studio (left) and pavilion. Check out the beach!