Opening Reception for my show at the RAC a done deal

The opening for my show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center (RAC) in Downtown Columbus, MS was last night (August 1st, 2013) from 5:30-7:00 PM. I thought it went really well. Lots of folks showed up. In fact, people starting arriving before 5 PM and some did not leave until about 8 PM. They  basically had to turn the lights off to get us out of there! 

Sign on outside window

The crew at the RAC did a wonderful job with the show. It was hung nicely with some natural flow and certain pieces grouped together in meaningful ways. Lots of good food and wine and even homemade ice-cream with toppings! Cookies, brownies, all sorts of goodies.  They had a video that I had prepared of my work with music composed and performed by my son Joseph playing on a widescreen TV. That was pretty cool. Special thanks to everyone at the RAC, especially Renee Sheridan, who coordinated much of this show! Also thanks a million to Mark Wood, owner of the Chalet, who has helped me with framing and printing for several years now. Without him, I could not have these shows!

I would guess I had at least 75 originals framed and hung, and lots of prints for sale. Sold at least one bigger original and quite a few prints. Hopefully, more will sell throughout the month.

People hanging out

I met some very interesting people at the show, such as Bernie Imes who is a noted photographer; April Wallace, also a photographer; and many others. I finally got to meet Ali Fratesi and her boyfriend Dustin Pinion, a wonderful young couple who are practicing organic farming. They have apparently liked my art for some time, and finally got a chance to come to a show!

April Wallace (blue dress), me, and Bernie Imes chatting 

Dustin Pinion and Ali Fratesi

Also saw some old friends such as Tiffany Holder, who drove all the way down from the Smokey Mountains, and Susie McGovern, who now lives in North Carolina. Great to see those crazy chics. 

Me and Susie McGovern

Tiffany Holder and me

My high school art teacher, Nelle Elam, and her buddy Fay Fisher were there checking out the scene, as was awesome Starkville artist Liz Johnston.

Fay and Nelle

Some of my running buddies made it over for the show including Brent Wallace, Arash Taheri, Jorge Villarreal, Will Kallfelz, and Chad Anderson! Brent and Chad are also artists, so I think they appreciated the show.

Brent Wallace, trying to figure out what this picture means

Chad Anderson in deep thought, and Greg Sheridan looking like a cool man about town

Audrey Sheridan and Will Kallfelz hamming it up

Arash Taheri. Need I say more?

Jorge Villarreal

Folks seemed to enjoy the art. Many had questions, especially about how I did the color pieces and also how the collaborative works were done. People were super interested in the idea of doing collaborative pieces with other artists from around the world!

Martin Rendon talking with Renee Sheridan

guests viewing some collaborative artwork

Evan O'Donnel

Finally left the show just after 8 pm. Took Joseph and Audrey out to eat at Harvey's before heading home! A nice finish to a great evening. 

Rosenzweig Show Hung and Ready to Go!

My show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center is up! Thanks to Renee Sheridan, Mark Huerkamp, and all the others who hung the show. I have quite a few pieces up, somewhere in the neighborhood of 75-80 images. Fortunately, the Arts Center is a large space. I have much of that space occupied for sure though!

Rosenzweig Arts Center Show

Opening in 2 days at 5:30 pm on August 1st (Thursday).

The Mysterious Unseen World Around Us: drawings and mixed media paintings by Joe A. MacGown

Upcoming MacGown Exhibition at Rosenzweig Arts Center in Columbus, MS

Green Number 4

I will be having a one man show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center at 501 Main Street, Downtown Columbus, MS during the month of August, 2013. There will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:00 pm the first Thursday of that month (1 August). Opening, Next Thursday - 5:30-7:00 PM More info is available at http://www.columbus-arts.org/gallery-1/2013-gallery-shows/august-joe-macgown/ The show will include both new and older art. Most original pieces will be available for purchase, and prints of some pieces will be available as well. Of course, that is assuming that you are weird enough to want to buy any of this stuff;) II will also include collaborations that I have done with Bernard Dumaine, Sal Hunter, Joseph Larkin, Ben Tolman, Gromyko Semper, Marcel Bakker, Sander Jansen, Peter Sibrin, Deborah Valentine, and Janelle McKain. These collabs will not be for sale. I don't want to part with them;) I uploaded a video of some of this stuff today on Youtube with weird freaky keyboard in the background composed and recorded by my son Joseph MacGown. Anyway, check out the video!

Upcoming MacGown Exhibition at Rosezweig Arts Center in Columbus, MS

I will be having a one man show at the Rosenzweig Arts Center at 501 Main Street, Downtown Columbus, MS during the month of August, 2013. There will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:00 pm the first Thursday of that month (1 August). More info is available at http://www.columbus-arts.org/gallery-1/2013-gallery-shows/august-joe-macgown/ The show will include both new and older art. Most original pieces will be available for purchase, and prints of some pieces will be available as well. Of course, that is assuming that you are weird enough to want to buy any of this stuff;) Below are a few examples of what you might see at the show.

Things happening, new art finished, more to come.....

Busy as hell almost all of the time, but somehow finding little pockets of time for art and yard work, which is artistic in its own way. I literally have over 30 pieces of art that I am working on here and there. Crazy! Wish I had more time. BUMMER!

Finally finished up a couple of pictures though. The first one I called "Gordenobyte". I did this one with acrylic paint, colored inks, and Rapidograph pens on primed 3/4 inch birch plywood. It started out bigger, 2 X 2 feet, but I completely hated where it was going, so I cut out the part I kind of liked. It was totally abstract to begin with, but gradually, I started to see something as I added detail. Got it too dark in places and thought I ruined it, but was able to work around that a bit.

Gordenobyte, by Joe A. MacGown

It finally started looking like some kind of fish or something. Anyway, I worked on it some, then put it up, stared at it at various times, then would come back and add something here and there. Eventually,  I stopped, and here you go!

Detail of "Gordenobyte"

The second one is called "March Madness". This was a crazy random painting thing. Started with a piece of 2 X 2 feet 1/4 inch birch plywood, which I primed white. Then put some spray paint on there, some random splashes of black and red house paint, pour motor oil on there - stuff like that. I moved the board around to let paint flow, put spray paint on top of the wet house paint, even set the oil on fire at some point. Had to wipe the soot off. Anyway, after it mostly dried, I ended up wiping off the excess oil. Later, I started adding some acrylic paint with a paint brush, basically just pulling out stuff that was already there. Here is the result.

March Madness by Joe MacGown

Cotton District Arts Festival 2013

 Another super nice Cotton District Arts Festival this year. Beautiful, beautiful day! Started out in upper 30's as Joseph and I showed up to run the Old Cotton Mill 5k that morn, but was in the mid 60's by afternoon. Joseph was the overall winner in the race, and I was the 2nd overall male in the race. We won awesome sweet pottery for race awards. Pottery was designed specially for the race by Robert Long, MSU art professor extraordinaire! See more about the race on my running blog site at http://joemacgownrunning.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/old-cotton-mill-5k-2013/

So, the day started well. As we were milling about for the running awards, we got to hear the exquisite classical guitar music of Stephanie Jackson! 

Following the running awards ceremony, I headed to the juried arts awards ceremony at 9:30 AM. I was not overly optimistic about my chances in the juried show this year because there were some very nice pieces in the show. But, to my surprise, my piece entitled "Cancer" won best of show! Cool, cool! The award comes with a nice check. Sweet. I was especially surprised because "Cancer" was my least favorite of the three I that I entered, which also included "Mayan Awakening" and "Inquisitive Fish". Apparently, others agreed, as I had 3 folks interested in buying "Mayan Awakening", and indeed, by lunch time, it was sold! Good day!  This year's juror was talented painter Nan Cunningham (www.nancunningham.com). Here is some info about Nan that I grabbed from the Starkville Arts Council web site. [An Auburn University graduate and faculty member of Arrowmont School, Tennessee, John C.Campell, North Carolina and The Alabama Art Education Center, Cunningham is in high demand for her creative workshops and expressive presentations. She happily shares the knowledge gathered in over 50 years before the easel and judges art competitions throughout the region. Jean Cocteau expressed Nan's philosophy nicely, "Art is not a past time but a priesthood."]

Mayan Awakening - SOLD!

My piece, "Cancer" - Best of Show

I thought the show was strong this year, and there were several pieces that I really liked. One (of many) was a very impressionistic painting of and old barn, which was framed in barn wood. Another was a relief sculpture type deal with raised cedar panels that represented a monarch butterfly wing. Very nice. I have done some wood/fossil shell mosaics, and this made me want to do more with that. 

my Inquisitive Fish below a beautiful painting of a barn

cool butterfly 

Joseph with a couple of friends at the juried show

After the awards ceremony, I headed to one of the stages to hear Joseph sing in the Starkville High Choir. Man, they sounded great! Lots of talented singers! Good music abounded at the festival with the likes of Bill Cooke and many others. Multiple stages were set up, so I could not hear everything, but I definitely enjoyed what I heard. 

some of the SHS choir

With the festival being held in conjunction with Super Bulldog Weekend, and with the beautiful weather, there were thousands of attendees, and many seemed to be buying. Artsits with booths did very well today.

a view of the festival

We hung all afternoon looking at art and listening to music and poetry. Joseph helped man a booth for a club he is in called Operation Smile. They are raising money for cleft palette research. Members of the club had made hand crafted gift items, such as magnets, bookmarks, and other similar items. They raised quite a bit of money! 

Operation Smile - Mrs. Wilson, Joseph, Julie MacGown, and Emily Damm

After the festival, we headed to the MSU Amphitheater to listen to a band we like called Cage the Elephant. I saw a couple of my high school classmates, Jeanne Butler and Patty George (now Permenter) who were in town for the Super Bulldog Weekend. Hung out with them, and  several thousand college aged students. Joseph quickly found his friends and I did not see any more of him during the concert. After three early bands, Cage the Elephant performed. Very cool. Lots of energy. That singer dude was a trip! Danced around like a leprechaun on crack. Love their music, and aside from the several thousand drunk or otherwise affected students, it was a a great concert! 

Great day! Lots of art and music from sunup to almost midnight. 

West Point Art Walk 2013

folks outside at the Art Walk

Had a great time at the Art Walk in West Point, MS on Saturday (April 13th)! This was a superb idea. Numerous artists were showing off their art inside and in front of various businesses in downtown West Point. I had mine in the office of Gallaway, Chandler, and McKinney Insurance on Commerce Street. Joining me at that business was Brooke Pettit, who does brightly colored painting, and Melody Vydas (http://melodyvydasdesign.com/), who does beautiful glass jewelry. Our host was Lisa Klutts, who also had some of her art for folks to see and/or buy. Lisa is a character for sure and a real go-getter. She seems to have her hands in everything in West Point. As of late, she is the driving force behind the Prairie Arts Festival, which is held every September. West Point recently acknowledged her wonderful work by voting her Citizen of the Year!! 

Lisa Klutts

Brooke Pettit

Yep, Awesome day in West Point. Met some really cool people and saw lots of folks that I already knew. Got some great reactions from people viewing my art and had some interesting conversations. I mostly brought prints, but also had two originals with me. Pretty good day with the prints, definitely worth the trip to West Point.

Me and a cool grandmother

Shelby Steelhammer, Courtney Hill, Eric Merkle, and Devon Bise (guys might not be in the right order)