Creative Play

It has been a while since I posted. Some thoughts are becoming more important, thus I am returning. This new trend started when I met Farheen Rizvi. She is a scientist, specializing in math and computers. I believe she is an engineer. She works at NASA JPL. She sat at the same table as my sister Nicky and I at my nieces wedding: Zarha and her husband Mohammed were getting married. Farheen described her job to us. And a feeling of astonishment descended over me. This woman is brilliant , I thought. She has a very big brain.  I recognized a difference in her from my sister and I. She displayed self confidence, knowledge and a strength we did not, nor do we now, possess. Another generation. I felt compelled to get to know her. Where did she come from? Who raised her? What gave this woman, any woman, such grace, knowledge and strength? It's not that I am not strong in some areas, nor do I not have some intelligence in some areas, too. But there was a difference and I do not know ho...

October 1st, 2016, 1st Saturday in Three Rivers, 11 AM to 5 PM. Pick up Maps at Anne Lang's Emporium, 41651 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers to find participants in the days events. Some of the features of this month are: THE ART CENTER, 41905 No. Fork Drive. 1)  Deborah Dal Zuffo, artist, in person at the Art Center. She isn't always in Three Rivers so we are lucky to have her this month. 2) The Alta Acres Chapter of the Native Plant Society will be hosting their annual sale for the native plants they work on all year. They are located behind the Art Center, 10-3 PM. If you are CNP member, you may shop 9-10 AM. 3) New to 1st Saturday is Jerry Casey. He makes beautiful drawings. 4)  Jewelry, ceramics, handmade soaps, a strumming guitar player, fabric arts, are also presented at the Art Center. 5) Open studios, Historical Museum, gift shops and restaurants with original art to enjoy, good meals and snacks are all offered through out Three Rivers. Be sure to pick a map at...

The debate is over and I've slept on it. I am amazed how upset I got after reading Trump's threat about Jennifer Flowers. So I ranted on the post I did yesterday before the debate. A little embarrassed about how fearful I became. Well, I guess we carry fears from childhood and they pop up when poked. And mine was poked to be sure, not just from childhood but also adult experiences when young. Hillary entered stage dressed full on red. Oh my. Tempting the bull was my first thought to go after her in a rage. And she had a genuine smile and kept it almost the whole debate even laughing and poking fun when appropriate. She was truly enjoying the whole event. Trump was in blue and I think the impression was to be Presidential. And in anyone else it might have worked. But he gets angry so easily that the look meant nothing about 10 minutes into the debate. What a relief I felt as I realized she really is tough in a way I could never be, and purposely poked, politely and with ...

I have not used this blog to talk politics, nor have I used Facebook for that topic. My vote is private and mine to decide and really isn't anyones business. I have been a lifelong Democrat. Have voted once or twice for a Republican, or rooted for one who I couldn't vote for because I was not in their district or state. But mostly I vote straight ticket. I live in a Republican county. Lot's of close friends who are Republican. We talk and share views, but we are respectful and careful. Friendships are valuable and worth more than party affiliations. I lived in the Bay Area, liberal heaven, is how I felt. I was raised in Los Angeles, a mixed bag. My family were very Progressive. So much so the FBI followed my folks for years and years. Even though the managers of their cases wrote in their yearly reports, these folks are not threatening the US. They are showing up at marches. They do stand for Civil Rights, but we see no sign of plotting against the country. J. Edgar Hoove...

https://www.facebook.com/shirley.keller1

Creative Play: SpiritHillArtStudio now on Etsy

Photo: Shirley Keller at the home of Nora Valencia, teacher of cooking class, 12/2014. Many of the items in my new Esty Store named  SpiritHillArtStudio , were inspired by Oaxacan artists. Long ago I saw wood carved critters painted in dots and I never forgot them. So when I began to paint old rusty items like horse shoes, or saw blades, or shovels, I had those animals in mind. Then a daughter of the heart sent me a piece of linen with Aborigini art, and I realized that in many ways what I was doing is old as the hills of Australia. Someone reminded me that Pointilism was also used as an art form. The painting "Breakfast in the Park" is an example. All of these folks came before me and I now actively search the wonders of the Internet to learn more about them and look at their work by the hours. I do not compare what I do to any of the above. Most of my work is done upcycling objects that might be thrown on a junk pile, and repurposing them into art. Also, I came to ar...

Just opened a store on Etsy. I call it Spirit Hill Art Studio. You can find it at the following link:  www.etsy.com/shop/SpiritHillArtStudio Delia helped me begin the process of uploading items to sell. That was a five hour process just to upload 7 items. I spent another 4 hours the next day uploading the next 5 items. Today I made a banner, and added a photo of my studio. I fixed the policies of my studio, and set up links to this blog and facebook. It's a lot of work, but I have enjoyed every minute of it. Lessons I have learned: Taking photographs of your art teaches you about quality of workmanship. Being persistent is the only way to get through the details. The first time rarely works. The third try is the charm! If it can go wrong it does, but not quiting is how you get around that. I love Delia's brain. Wish I had it. Must pack up stuff on Etsy and not try to sell elsewhere. As soon as I do someone will buy the item packed at the bottom of the box. The good thing ab...

An experience stands out and will always be for me why I was at the Arenas Gallery. Delores Witt, octogenarian artist, a person I greatly admire, admired my photo of the Great Blue Heron. She didn't just compliment me. She returned to the 16x20 image four different times. Three times we engaged in conversation that added up to the following: 1) "You have an eye." 2) "This looks like a painting." 3) "You should concentrate on photography and take it seriously." 4) "Many of us might have been in the same spot and not see what you saw and missed the light." The fourth contact I found her close up, looking at the photo, her fingers following the lines that light made around the bird and in the reflection of the water. She studied it hard, and did not know I was there. Why does it matter what Delores Witt thinks? She is an artist. An elder in our community who I have noticed when her painting is in a show. It almost always has a red d...

Tulare Impressions 2016 - Tulare Historical Museum & Gallery The Artist's Reception will be held on Thursday January 14th, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Tulare Historical Museum, 444 West Tulare Avenue, Tulare CA 93274. Email me at sblairkeller@sbcglobal.net for information if you wish. This piece has gone through quite a process. Since I spent time with Efrain Fuentes in his studio in Oaxaca, Mexico last December, I see all my artwork in a new way. Dots fill my imagination.  "Swallows" began as a clay mono print. I framed in a plain wooden frame. Then painted the frame and did a small amount of dot work on it. It has been hanging in my studio for months now, always plaguing me because it just wasn't finished. But how, I did not know.  An invite to the "Tulare Impressions Show" appeared. Swallows are big in Three Rivers. They build mud nests along our bridges. They used to fill the catfish ponds until dried out from end of Spring to ...

Meet "MY PICASSO"! He is a ceramic mask made of black mountain clay. He is glazed with beads for eyes and he hangs on the wall. He will be entered in That Extra Dimension 2015 show at Arts Visalia throughout the months of July. The reception will be held July3rd, 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Marn Reich came up with the idea of a 3 dimension show. She approached Arts Visalia, and Kevin Bowman their curator okay'd the idea. Marn did the work to invite artists to participate, did the advertising, and Kevin hung the show. Normally we did show over the past several years in September but change is good. This year July. When this show comes up I think of Nancy Jonnum with her quirky birds and animals, always a hit in this show. She is missed.

It is hard to remember exactly when I discovered I loved dot painting. Access to old things and trying to figure out what to do with them pushed me to realize I could make them into art instead of passing them off to someone else to dispose of. Rusty tools, horseshoes, hubcaps, old wooden boxes, wall plates for switches and plugs, have provided me with hours of pleasure decorating them with dots. To my amazement people love them, and I am having  a hard time keeping up. What a great problem to have, too many people want the dot repurposed art than I can make. Fun!!! Below are some pieces that hang on the walls outside my home, waiting for new owners. Hope you enjoy them. Garden Tool $20.00 Horseshoes welded triple $25.00 1932 Chevy Hubcap $50.00 Switch plates $20 a piece Any colors you desire: electric sockets, phone wire plates, dimmer switch plates, and more. Will do commissions. Peacock of metal and rocks: $65 Turtle NOT FOR SALE This turtl...

It is hard to remember exactly when I discovered I loved dot painting. Access to old things and trying to figure out what to do with them pushed me to realize I could make them into art instead of passing them off to someone else to dispose of. Rusty tools, horseshoes, hubcaps, old wooden boxes, wall plates for switches and plugs, have provided me with hours of pleasure decorating them with dots. To my amazement people love them, and I am having  a hard time keeping up. What a great problem to have, too many people want the dot repurposed art than I can make. Fun!!! Below are some pieces that hang on the walls outside my home, waiting for new owners. Hope you enjoy them. Garden Tool $20.00 Horseshoes welded triple $25.00 1932 Chevy Hubcap $50.00 Switch plates $20 a piece Any colors you desire: electric sockets, phone wire plates, dimmer switch plates, and more. Will do commissions. Peacock of metal and rocks: $65 Turtle NOT FOR SALE This turtl...

There is so much happening in Three Rivers May 2nd and 3rd.  1st Saturday in Three Rivers will host open studios, artists with popup tents along 198, The Redbud Festival and the Redbud Garden Club. Pick up maps at Anne Lang's Emporium and the Historical Museum to find your way throughout Three Rivers. At The Redbud Festival find arts and craft booths inside and outside, quilt show, music, food, children's art show, children art activities, and a Drawing. All of it at the Memorial Building. The Drawing prize packages will be on display. For only $2 a ticket  you will be supporting the Jonnum-Young Scholarship Fund to aid aspiring artists going to college. The Redbud Garden Club hosts their annual native plant sale to support the wonderful work they do to provide public gardens for our community and maintain them through out the year. For examples look at the Fire Station and Post Office near the Village Market. 1st Saturday presents two open studios on Saturd...

There is so much going on this coming 1st Saturday, December 7, 2013, 11-5 p.m. Pick up guide maps at Anne Lang's Emporium, or the Historical Museum and find your way around Three Rivers. 45 artists will be available to share their creative process. At my studio I will ask children to pick out their very own kiln goddess (free). I tell them about the process of firing ceramics and the role kiln goddesses play.

Getting ready for 1st Saturday in Three Rivers. November 2nd from 11:00 to 5:00 Spirit Hill Meditation Garden and Studio will be open to visitors. We are hosting artist Lisa Finley who will show her mosaics, acrylic paintings, and more. We look forward to a wonderful autumn day and hope many from the Valley will come to Three Rivers to see autumn leaves that brighten our hillsides. And enjoy how the leaves find their way into our artwork.

https://www.facebook.com/shirley.keller1

This series of masks are inspired by the years of bird watching I have been doing since moving here to Spirit Hill. I still love the mask form, but the birds seem to be taking center stage, in place of noses, branches of a tree taking the place of the mouth, and so on. What struck me this week as I finished another mask, looking over the ones waiting for firing, that what is really happening here is that I am capturing the birds, but also the watchers.  Cornell University provides a way for people like me to be "citizen scientists," counting birds at our feeders, or wherever, to help them keep track of migrations, and problems in the environment, for birds, and therefore, humans. Every November through April I count the birds at my feeders and record in the data base Cornell provides. It seems this year for the first time in many, I found it hard to make time to do the counts. Art has taken over my life. An open studio every month, coordinating 1st Saturday in Three Rive...

Summer is here and it is hot more days than not. Soon July's 1st Saturday in Three Rivers will be upon us. I look forward to hosting people here on Spirit Hill. Below is the poster spread about town, and around Visalia and beyond thanks to our friends at the Art Consortium who willingly take posters from us each month to be displayed where ever they can find a space. The deadline is June 15th to inform me of your intent to join us. I find spaces for artists from other towns to display their art. Last month a plein air painting, Joy Collier was set up at the Pumpkin Hollow Bridge. Two artists had tents in front of the Kaweah Commonwealth: Jami Beck, jewelry, and Darren Thomas, wooden portraits. There were two younger artists in front of Colors: Steven Higgenbathem, age 13, photographer of the wilds of Wyoming and the critters that live there. Another child of 9 was selling beaded bookmarks to raise money for her horse event. Jamie Otega transformed her tent into a magical spot. ...

1st Saturday in Three Rivers is this coming Saturday, February 2nd, 11-5 P.M. Spirit Hill Studio will be open and we so look forward to hosting people. It is fun trying to anticipate guests. Last month there were mostly folks from Visalia with an Exeter person, too. More and more local Three Rivers residents have visited us here on Spirit Hill. What a joyful way to meet neighbors. Some Saturday's folks come from Fresno to Bakersfield and many places in between. Out of town guests as far as the Bay Area, to San Diego appear, too, not to mention out of State folks visiting local families. So Bruce and I await to see what surprises lay in store for us this coming 1st Saturday in Three Rivers. Music will flow at Anne Lang's, at Colors Art Gallery artists will hang out and talk about how they produce their wonders, and Art Co-op will open with new management and enthusiastic artists. Individual studios will open their doors, like Nikki Crain's Weaving Studio. Grab a map...