The Grand Dame, Mr Purdie, and Invisible People

Firstly, O'lover usually feeds the Kombucha Mother agave nectar. He is thrilled that the Mother is thriving on our sweet homemade grape juice (made from the Slade's grapes). Psst....The Mother of which i speak is that happy mushroom in the spoon. Secondly, there were 30 Chris Purdies at the art opening. It was fun to talk to all of them but you can't beat the real Chris Purdie, he's great.
Thirdly, dozens of invisible homeless people fashioned from packing tape lined the route between galleries and ultimately led to the Soup & Bowl Fundraiser at the Covey Center for the Arts. Thanks to Georgiana Deming and others for creating such provocative work.Lastly, three years ago Tami Rodeback and I organized the first Soup and Bowl/ Art Show Fundraiser at Gallery OneTen. It has become a wonderful tradition and Brent Crane, from the Food and Care Coalition, calls it their main annual event.
Sabrina Squires, Nancy, Me, and Tami the lifesaver Rodeback.

Are you going to this?

I AM CHRIS PURDIE
Performance Art from Chris Purdie

169 N. University Ave. Provo UT segoarts.org

Being surrounded by lots of "Chris Purdies" (impersonators) will be a very good thing, I promise. He's a talented sweetheart.

Remember the Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll is tomorrow night!

Leftovers

dear friend,

these random pics were taken shortly before my lovely silver Canon digital ELPH...

...croaked. sniffle.

Momma Mia met the above adorable girls when she was on her LDS mission in downtown provo. we are in love with them and still hang.
the famous Maureen Dowd, pulitzer prize-winning columnist from the New York Times.

now you have proof i still exist despite a prolonged absence from blogging. did you miss me?

kisses,
quel

downtown provo gallery stroll

O'lover keeps reminding me how indebted i am to him.
it's very annoying.

(but i deserve it.)

we took our dog Farmer on the gallery stroll again. We're supposed to be taking turns waiting outside with the dog while the other one quickly looks at art and then comes back. The key words are "comes back". to trade off holding farmer tightly so he doesn't slather-lick kung fu kick every passerby.

but time has no meaning while looking at art. well, for me. o'lover, on the other hand, never leaves me in the cold for more than two minutes. and he always saves the last bite for me whenever we share food. and he always opens the car door. all the thoughtful courtesies.

and he never gets mad (at me.) unless we're designing something together in photoshop and then he threatens to dangle me out the second story window.

Yay for thoughtful people!

and i don't know if this is for good or ill but i think i'm rubbing off on him. he's more demanding and has a lower tolerance for the high maintenance folk of the world. So when O'lover is reminding me that i owe him big time...

i'm annoyed. but also secretly ECSTATIC that i can't get away with everything.

(maybe this would make sense if you personally knew us?)

*******

back to losing track of time because i'm having such a freaking fabulous time on the best evening of the month...

Mike Kelley (from college), Danny (a fellow PHS alum), and gorgeous Kim (Mike's wife whom i've only met briefly twice but who exudes coolness). Mike and I were able to gossip about some Krazy Kids we know. good times.
Cindy writes a great blog that takes you on all sorts of clever adventures. in fact because of her jet set ways, and my avid reading of her blog, i just got back from a fabulous month in England (but she's the one with the jet lag).
Ruel is-debonair Brown. We took a pic of me standing next to him but if i posted it you'd think i was eighteen inches tall when really it's Ruel who is exceedingly large of stature. He made Monsters Rule at Mode Boutique. It's up for the rest of the month. Please check it out!! Some people have the prettiest shoes...(those people are cindy and janelle.)
This was the last pic before my camera's battery gave up the ghost. I took it while waiting outside with the dog while O'lover was sprinting through the gallery so he could then relieve me from my wiggly social doggy duties.

signed,
next gallery stroll we are getting a dog sitter.

here's a glimpse of february's downtown provo gallery stroll...

we hit nine of the ten art venues last night. quite remarkable for me and my lounging, lingering self.

mr. ryan neely and his very fitting yoko and john shirt. byron and his fine paintings at coal umbrella.
ashley mae at metropolitan. sophie and i both bid on her beautiful art work for the silent auction. i hope we win!
ollie took this pic of sophie and me. we did the entire stroll *on foot* as the good god intended. with our canines hobo and farmer. i'd like to believe they are slightly more cultured because of it.

i hope to see you and your dawgs next first friday!

Sitting in the kitchen, waiting for a peach cobbler to come out of the oven...Is it just me or are our computers kissing? How very indecent! They're not even the same species! Not to play into the apple vs. pc debate but James sometimes swears at his laptop while my sweet laptop gets nothing but love from me.

So tonight O'lover and I braved the rain and went on the gallery stroll. We met up with James at Coleman Studios. And...huh...it's only occurring to me right now that we forgot our car downtown. James gave us a ride home after three hours of meeting up with people and looking at art. And we did a lot of shopping too.

Here's a pic of the Gallery One.Ten where we emptied our wallets at their Art Market.

James and Alfred strike a pose at the new Muse Cafe.

Rebecca and Ryan Neely celebrated their one year anniversary for MODE boutique today. Congrats! i just offered them some work as gallery stroll coordinators. they said "yes!" They will take the gallery stroll to a new level.
Maht and Liz Paulos at their shop, Coal Umbrella. Today was the grand opening. The place looks amazing!
Ok, the following couple/partners in Coal Umbrella... They are so cute it stings. I never remember their names because I'm so distracted by their hair. There must be a way to splice my hair genes with theirs so my kids have an improved chance of getting some curls.
Fun people. Great art. And this wasn't even the half of it.

Tonight is going to be the BEST night 'cause the downtown provo gallery stroll has expanded to include 5 new venues! i'm starting at gallery one.ten and then working my way north.

hope to see YOU there!

These pics were on my desktop. Can't remember the name of the main proponent but there's a movement to lessen the heat island effect by encouraging more plantings and less paving over the earth.
BEFORE
AFTERYAY for less asphalt and more plants! Remember reading in the paper about how it was a blazing 136 degrees in the Walmart parking lot in Orem this summer?

Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll - Every First Friday

The highlight of the evening was meeting artist A.D. Maddox from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Her oil paintings of large fish (like the one eating my head) are currently being shown at Coleman Studios.
I found out that A.D. is a model for Ducati Motorcycles. And she knows the producers and instructors for my favorite show- yogatoday.
And the fact that A.D. straps wet canvasses to the front of her red Ducati and collects the bug splats that she gets from going 120 miles an hour...that's the sexy icing on a true original american cake.

The textile show at the Covey Center for the Arts was diverse and enjoyable. I love being inspired by fabric!
But...shhhhhhh... and a quick scan to see if anyone is within earshot...
this pounding wrecked heart beats loudest for Gallery OneTen. Their Coney Island Show by Zach Taylor was fun. (sorry no pics).

And damn my concrete shoes and lead pants but when we drove past Terra Nova and the Utah County Gallery the windows were dark. It was past closing. Three hours are never enough for me to make the rounds.

don't read on if you can't stand a good sex scandal...

we took Farmer on a walk along the river. He's a water dog but oddly enough he refused to accompany us down the steep hill to the river... where there's WATER... that he LOVES. O'lover and I proceeded down the ravine and after much futile coaxing, calling, whistling and demanding that Farmer join us, we climbed back up the hill to see what the blasted stubborn dog was distracted by. We finally found him... in the bushes...interrupting a couple who had been... uhhh...mid love session...this is WAY WORSE than walking in on someone using the loo, and way worse than the time that someone tried to join me in a private shower stall at the temple. Amidst many "sorries" we got Farmer the hell out of there so fast, that I'm still wondering was he policing the couple? do we have a chaperone doggie? or was he trying to get in on the love fest? I will give the couple credit for at least trying to get it down in the bushes rather than on the bridge or at the side of the freeway, or on top of a table at Borders.

Changing gears to reverse and putting the pedal to the metal, here's what happened this last weekend:

I learned that LeeAnn and Mark Hillam are moving to the land of "Laverne and Shirley" AKA Milwaukee. In their defense... it's just too great of an opportunity to pass up and who knows, maybe they'll come back in a few years.
I grew up in the midwest/great lakes area and can testify to its beautiful glimmering waters, super nice people, and fascinating art filled cities. It will be a great thing for the Hillams, even though i'm personally sour about it. Especially after our conversation late Friday night. LeeAnn, you make me LAUGH so hard and I love your views on everything.
This is a pic of the Hillam's workshop. Mark is an amazing salvager of all well crafted pioneer home elements. READER: If you need any cool old doors, windows, columns, etc. contact me or the hillams. they will set you up!
Friday was the Downtown Provo Gallery Stroll! Here's a pic of Zina Bennion, a faithful attendee, and Leland Rowley and Ashley Christensen, the devoted Directors. A public service announcement was running on KUER this weekend about the big G110 fundraiser coming up on August 11th. They're closing the street and turning the fundraiser into a riot party. so please come!
Matt and Hillary Shurtleff standing in front of Matt's art. I first knew them from climbing, then G110 and then Hillary taught yoga at my house and probably has the best natural posture ever. They served peanut butter bars at the reception (amongst many other treats). sooo divine. matt, if you need a place to store your paintings...
This is the fine artist, Fidelus Beuhler. He's a big guy so it's hard to tell that the wrestling match painting is really much bigger than it looks in this pic.