friends – Jes Lee

May days

April 28, 2014 by Jes

May is almost here, and there are so many fun things going on! Between new jobs, art festivals, new shops with my artwork, and gallery shows, this may be one of the most exciting months of the summer!

First up: Saturday, May 10th, is Craftstravaganza! Once again Jes Lee Studios and Dad and Kiddo Pottery will be sharing a booth. The festival runs from 10am-5pm. Come early and get a grab bag! The first 100 people in the door get a bag full of goodies. There is a coupon from us in there as well! I have heard there is always a line up at the door to get one of these bags, so keep that in mind! We will be at booth #89. Stop by!

Art-a-Whirl is the very next weekend, May 16-18. Once again I will be hanging out at FK Art Glass gallery again this year. I plan to have a few new items for their gallery space, and I’m working on preparing some new demos as well. Details on demo times to come soon. Just like last year, there will be many other great artists hanging out there with me as well. And did I mention glass blowing demos? There will be glass blowing demos! I could watch them all day… Hope you can make it one of the three days! You won’t regret it!

May 31st is Johnstock! I adore this outdoor festival! Jes Lee Studios and Dad and Kiddo Pottery will as usual be sharing a booth, with many new things, and a few older favorite items. The festival runs 10am-5pm. Hope to see you there!

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts Artist Co-op will be having a group show in the binder gallery in May. Details on dates and a reception time coming soon!

The MCBA Artist Co-op will also have artwork up at the MacRostie Art Center June 1-30! There will be an opening reception and community art walk on Friday, June 6th from 4-8pm.

I am working hard on a new photo book. I am hoping it will be ready for all the above shows, but it will for sure be ready for the show at MacRostie. Here is a sneak peek:

Last week I finished making the photopolymer plates for the text in this book, as well as one linoleum block. Most of the paper I had to order for this book has been delivered and cut to size. The size of this project is sinking in!

May also happens to be the month of our very last 10th wedding anniversary. When you have two wedding anniversaries, you get to celebrate so much! Each and every anniversary is special, and a reason to celebrate…but with all the changes over the past year, this one seems a little extra special. This weekend we decided that we were going to celebrate our anniversary quieter than we had originally planned, and I’m truly looking forward to that.

A very good friend is coming to visit this May for a long weekend before moving over-seas with her family. That weekend will probably be the last time I see her in the US for at least 3 years. I’m looking forward to that time to hang out, and super excited about the chance to travel to visit her. This girl is ready for some new adventures!

I’m stunned that April is almost over already. Last year I was nearing the end of the National Poetry Writing Month poem-a-day challenge. I’m glad that I didn’t try to tackle that challenge this year. However, I am looking at ways to get writing back into my daily routine, either through journaling or poetry or both. I haven’t written for a while now due to a list of excuses. I know it helps me cope with the day-to-day better, and I need to get back into that habit. I’m hoping in May to make it to the MCBA Visual Journal Collective meeting. Perhaps that will help kick-start my writing habit again.

Until next time,

~Peace~

Crazy days and fun evenings

February 7, 2013 by Jes

Many of you know we have our condo on the market to sell. A last minute showing can turn any day into a crazy day of running, cleaning, and convincing a bunny she should go in her carrier and leave with us. That is exactly what happened yesterday with 2 hours notice before the showing was scheduled. Not my idea of fun by a long shot, and not exactly the bunny’s idea of fun either (though she did get to visit my parent’s house for the evening, with plenty of areas to explore).

Somehow everything that needed to was done, and happened, and we still made it to the picnic we had planned with a couple of friends at the Science Museum of MN. I brought my new digital slr with for a little practice. I love taking photos in science museums! I don’t know what it is exactly, but I always have fun!

Plus just a few dinosaur photos taken with my iPhone….mostly so I can play with them later ;)

Where do I start?

August 30, 2012 by Jes

Looking back, I’m not sure how to even begin to describe this week. Hard doesn’t seem to even begin to describe it. Yet, I managed to survive.

There are many things on my mind this morning, but none of it is cooperating and forming words. Perhaps I just need more coffee.

Tuesday morning this was posted. A friend to many and a member of our instant film group on twitter died this month. She had been fighting breast cancer for a long time. I chatted with her here and there on twitter – she was so sweet and always had something kind to say. There were times when we wouldn’t hear from her for awhile and it was usually because the chemo was tough and she wasn’t feeling well. It had been quite awhile since we had heard from her. I tried a few times to find out more, but never did. I’ll certainly miss her and her avatar appearing in my twitter timeline with new photos and anecdotes.

It has made me think a lot this week about the relationships we have. The internet has added so much to that. I have friends all over the world now, and many that I feel just as close to as some of the people I know in real life. It is amazing, and very cool, and at the same time a bit sad. When things like this happen, you don’t always have a real world connection to find out any more about what is happening, or where they have gone. That topic has been covered many times in William Gibson cyber punk novels, and I don’t think at the time I really understood the depth of it. I do now. I don’t think these relationships are bad, quite the opposite actually. It is just different.

On a different end of the thought spectrum, I was thinking a lot last night about applications and deadlines, and this application came up. You apply to have a photo show in a shipping container. The show lasts a few days. This is another point where a tiny part of my brain screams at me that here is another part of a William Gibson novel that I am living in (yes this happens frequently)…though I don’t think any of his characters went to or had art shows in shipping containers, but it would fit with the plot in a few books. I wonder where they set up this village of art-in-a-giant-box, and why don’t more artist’s do it? Are there often that many shipping containers that aren’t being used to…ship things? What would it take to set up an exhibition of these?

Big thoughts for a sunny day.

Time for me to go work.