July Artwalk
Second Saturday Artwalk is upon us again! If you are in the downtown Lafayette area, be sure to stop by this Saturday, July 10th. Galleries and many downtown businesses are open from 6-8pm. The schedule for this month is as follows:
Acadiana Center for the Arts- 101 W. Vermilion St. / 337-233-7060
Main Gallery: Through July 24, 2010- Southern Open 2010
Side Gallery: July 10 – July 24, 2010- Maria Lovullo (1961 – 2009)
Vault Series: Through July 24, 2010- Pat Juneau
Cajun Spice- 535 Jefferson St / 337-232-3061
Anne Bulliard Crownover Glasswork & Mosaics
Galerie Eclaireuse- 535 ½ Jefferson St. / 337-234-5492
Works by Dennis Sipiorski and Steve Schneider
Also in the gallery: Tom Secrest, Paul Schexnaider, Billie Bourgeois, Jon Schooler, Sue Boagni, George Loli, Colleen McDaniel, James Hunter and other regional artists
Gallery R (at The Russo Group)- 116 E. Congress St. / 337-769-1530
Painter Colleen McDaniel
Pottery Alley- 205 ½ W. Vermilion St. / 337-267-4453
The Spirit of Haiti- steel drum art
Sans Souci Gallery- 219 E. Vermilion St. / 337-266-7999
July Jewels- jewelry makers of the Louisiana Crafts Guild
Upcoming Show… More Details
![From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2009](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/fairytale01.jpg "\")
For those of you planning on attending a local exhibition of my work (I tried to schedule more local shows this year for a change!), I have one coming up this summer! I will be showing at the Oak Street Gallery in Hammond, Louisiana this August. It will be a solo exhibition and will be up for the entire month. The opening reception will be August 21st, which is in conjunction with "Hot August Night." "Hot August Night" is an annual event featuring wine tasting, art exhibits, live music, shopping and fine dining in Historic Downtown Hammond, LA. So if you are in the area, you can plan on a full itinerary for the evening!
The opening will be held from 6-9pm, while the festival itself is until 10 pm. I will be in attendance at the opening, so feel free to stop by and meet me in person!* There will be many paintings that have never been previously exhibited. All work is from my New Realm series, and will also feature the 5" x 5" series.
And if you won't be able to travel, you can also check out my work online at www.AmyGuidry.com.
*Stalkers need not apply.
Tag, You’re It
I got an email from an artist I met through the Art Calendar magazine site, Art Scuttlebutt, saying I'd been tagged. I'm new to blogging, so I'd never heard of this before. Anyway, the tagger is Tracey Clarke, who you may recognize from my blogroll already. If you haven't, you should check out her work at http://traceyclarke.blogspot.com/. She does a lot of surrealist work with animals, which are two of my favorite things.
As for the tag "rules," here goes:
1. Put a link in your posting about the artist that tagged you.
2. Write 5 -7 unusual things about yourself.
3. Tag 5 - 7 other bloggers and let them know.
Hmm. So now I have to share 5-7 "unusual" things. The list of ordinary things would be limited to 5-7, so that would be appropriate. However, I'll play along.
1. I'm a vegan (doesn't seem unusual to me, but living in Cajun country it is...) 2. I have nine cats (yes, I'm aware I'm only one divorce shy from being the "crazy cat lady" but I can't turn away a stray). 3. I, like Tracey, am big into running and weightlifting, although running has been my recent passion for the past year, but I've been into weightlifting since I was 11 years old. 4. I pride myself on my music collection, but I have to fess up to owning Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, and Gwen Stefani cds. 5. I'm a little rusty, but I do a mean Marge Simpson impersonation (Note to Ethan: yes, I will do my Marge voice when we finally meet in Austin. Just not in front of Wally. Ha ha.)
Okay, there you have it. I may sound kooky, but I'm really not the crazy cat lady with poor music taste, who spraypaints fur-coating wearing people. (I just make snide comments behind their backs. Ha ha.)
Here are five other bloggers to check out. (I'd have more if only more of my friends had blogs!)
Ethan Diehl http://ethandiehl.blogspot.com/
Steven Walker http://www.stevenwalkerstudios.blogspot.com/
Don Michael http://www.donmichaeljr.com/blog
Jared Kelley http://www.jaredkelley.blogspot.com
Sharmon Davidson http://sharmond.blogspot.com
Learn Promote Defend
![Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/justice.jpg "\")
Weird title for my post, right? It's actually the title of an exhibition and silent auction that my work will be in next month. I just got the great news this weekend. I submitted my work back in September and just hoped for the best. Apparently it worked... Anyway, the show is called Learn Promote Defend and is sponsored by the Center for Civil and Human Rights. That's a mouthful, so I'll go by CCHR for short. The CCHR is located in Atlanta, GA and is having the exhibit/auction in conjunction with a 10-day program called 60 Years of Progress...10 Days of Recognition.
Learn Promote Defend will take place on December 10th at 7 pm at Mason Murer Fine Art in Atlanta. All three of my paintings (which is the max submission limit!) will be in the show. The jury selecting works consisted of Sylvie Fortin, Executive Director/Editor of Art Papers magazine; Christopher Hauck, Atlanta-based painter, installation and multi-media artist; Jodi Hauptman, Curator of Drawings of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), and Louise E. Shaw, Curator of the Global Health Museum, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
![Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/choices.jpg "\")
The paintings that I will be exhibiting are: Choices, Everything's Coming Up Roses, and And Justice For All. Void Where Prohibited. These paintings are from my social commentary series. All three relate to different articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Some of them overlap and relate to more than one article, but all three had to relate to the UDHR in at least one article.
If you'd like to get a better look at these paintings (aside from attending the exhibit), you can also view them on my website www.AmyGuidry.com.![Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/everythings.jpg "\")
By the way, two of these paintings may look familiar to you... they were also featured on Juxtapoz Art and Culture's website. You can find out more under the Press section of my website.
Drumroll Please….
![From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ft-lightness.jpg "\")
Apparently it doesn't take more than one comment on here to get me to do something. Which is why I am posting my new painting. Yes, as mentioned before, this is a new piece that I will be showing at Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, TX next month. I was invited to participate in the exhibition since I am one of their newly represented artists. The show is titled "Twelve," and there are twelve artists and it will be held in the twelfth month. In case you hadn't noticed, there's a theme going here.... So amongst all the artists in this gallery, I was asked to show and was thrilled to participate.
So here is the big reveal! My painting is called "Lightness" and is 24 inches wide by 48 inches high. Kind of a different format for me, but it suited the composition the best. And these dimensions are divisible by....twelve. Anyway, in keeping with the theme, I used twelve butterflies in the piece. This is open to interpretation. For me, the butterflies represent change and metamorphosis, and represent the subject's metamorphosis as well. This could involve twelve steps, twelve months, however you want to view the process of change. Regardless, this piece is another installement to my New Realm series, so again you see the heroine of my "story" in this painting as well.
Aside from the photo here, you can also view the piece on my website www.AmyGuidry.com. And if you're new to this blog, you might want to check out the rest of my work while you are there! Just a thought....
The Greatest Show on Earth
![My painting for The Circus Show and Other Atrocities](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/circus.jpg "\")
Well here's a sneak peek for all my blog fans (which is probably comprised of 2 or 3 people, the rest just happen upon this site by accident...). I was invited to participate in a show for A Bitchin' Space in Sacramento, California. The theme was right up my alley. Maybe [Gale Hart] figured this out by viewing some of my social commentary pieces, but somehow they knew to ask me if I'd like to do a piece for "The Circus Show and Other Atrocities." I jumped at the chance since, as a vegan and quasi animal rescue organization (I've taken in a lot of homeless animals over the years...), I detest the circus and its treatment of animals. Soooo, this leads to my latest creation- "Get Your Popcorn! Peanuts! Cruelty!"
I toiled over my sketchbook forever coming up with the perfect idea for this show. I wanted to convey the circus's cruelty without being gratuitous, either. I kept thinking of the old animal cracker box I used to get as a kid, the one by Nabisco that came with a string on top of the box to reuse (?) as a Christmas ornament (?). Then finally I decided to go with that theme, but Amy-ize it with my own sarcastic flavor. Hence the animals with giant bites taken out of them, and the re-wording of the brand name and description.
So that's it! Your official sneak peek at my work. It's not even on my website yet (but it will be soon), so in the meantime, check out my other work- www.AmyGuidry.com. My other social commentary pieces can also be seen in my Painting section of the website.
As for the greatest show on earth, well, obviously I'm not referring to the circus. The show is "The Circus Show and Other Atrocities" and will open on September 13th at A Bitchin' Space. If you can't make it then, my work and the other 99 artists' works will still be on display until October 11th. And yes, this show is the best on earth because it includes artists from the US, UK, and Canada. You can find the gallery at 2114 19th Street in downtown Sacramento. You can check out their website at www.abitchinspace.com.
Viva Las Vegas!
![From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/fairytale01.jpg "\\"Beginning\\" by Amy Guidry")
For those of you who do not get my newsletter (shame on you! Go sign up now at www.AmyGuidry.com), I thought I should mention my next solo exhibit. Yes, I have lots of shows coming up and in progress, actually, but this is the next solo. It will be in Las Vegas at the newly christened Henri & Odette. Originally the show was going to be at Jennifer Marie Gallery, but they are moving to a larger location and have changed their name in the process. The opening will be September 12th from 6-8pm. And yes, I will be there.
So if you'd like to take a trip out to Vegas, what better reason than to see my new show. And feel free to invite anyone you know in the area. I'll be showing my New Realm series, so some of those you may have seen before, but there will also be new work in that series on display. And yes, I will have more of the smaller pieces that everyone loves because they're so cute and collectible. Hee hee.
I'll be posting more details about the show as they arise. Keep your eyes out for more information on shows in my newsletters.
“Be Sure to Put a Quarter in My Mug When You Walk By”
![Copyright Amy Guidry 2008](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/consumerism.jpg "\")
I was reading the latest (May, I think- I can't keep up with all my subscriptions) issue of Vogue which occasionally has interesting art-related articles. So here I am reading about Michael Govan, the new director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and his wife Katherine, the senior VP for communications of LVMH (you know-Louis Vuitton), when I stopped dead in my tracks.
Here's the passage:
["Painting is dead," he says, laughing. "The good art today isn't painting. As you go into the twenty-first century, you see media taking over, right?" Katherine arrives, in white jeans, stiletto-heel Dior boots, and a white silk blouse by Louis Vuitton. She's carrying a new Vuitton bag, with one of the artist Richard Prince's painted jokes on it- a satire on female consumerism. "See, painting is good for bags now," Michael says, making his point.]
Um, apparently I, my collectors, and my gallery did not receive the memo that painting is dead. Wow. And I guess it's a good thing his wife's company so kindly hired Richard Prince for their new bags. Seems the poor fellow won't have a job now that painting is dead. I suppose we'll all be in the unemployment line together.
You know, when photography came along, that was not the end to painting. And actually, there was much resistance at that time to consider photography an artform. But clearly that issue has been resolved. So who's to say that digital art, video, etc. is going to take over?
What Mr. Govan needs to understand is that real artists take risks. They do not create art based on trends. They are, however, always looking for ways to get their message across, and sometimes that involves "media" but that does not mean they have abandoned time-honored traditions for creating art such as painting. You know, like those same examples Mr. Govan has hanging in his museum.
And next time Mr. Govan so smugly says painting is good for bags now, maybe he should reconsider and be grateful that such an art world luminary contributed to one of his wife's stinking bags. If it weren't for Richard's work, that bag would be the same "LV" logo nonsense they keep churning out over and over again. News flash: LV is dead, trite, and now commonplace and it takes a famous artist to breathe life into LVMH's stale ideas.
So, yes, I'd say painting is ALIVE and KICKING. And I'd like to kick Mr. Govan right about now. And yes, the image above (hell, all images on here) is one of my highly popular, award-winning acrylic paintings. You can view more at www.AmyGuidry.com
Death of an Artistic Salesman
![From my New Realm series. View more at www.AmyGuidry.com](http://www.artistcommentary.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/ft-awakening.jpg "\\"Awakening\\" by Amy Guidry")
One of the trickiest parts of being an artist is sales. Most artists fail because of their lack of business skills. Business skills are made up of many components, and one of those is your sales ability. No, it's not easy, and there really isn't any one answer when it comes to sales. Except diligence. That's the one common denominator I can think of in the sales equation. Other than that, your sales approach can vary depending on who you're dealing with. Of course time and lots of practice will help you crack that code.
One specific helpful hint I can give you is to check out the Sales Gravy podcast. I love this thing. Show. Whatever they are... podcasts are great because you can subscribe to them and listen to them repeatedly until they become your mantra. Anyway, I love the Sales Gravy Power Principles podcast. I am currently waiting to see when the next one will be out (usually on a weekly basis, but the newest one is mysteriously late). Oh Jeb Blount, where art thou? Much of the information on there is common sense, but sometimes we all have tunnel vision and miss out on the no-brainer actions we could and should be doing. So that's where Sales Gravy comes in. Plus, it's a motivational show, so you should just listen for the good confidence boost.
So if you are an artist, you should check out Sales Gravy. Maybe you'll learn something new. Or maybe you're already implementing these tactics in your life, but you should still give it a listen just to serve as proof you're moving in the right direction.
I Learned Something New Today
Be sure to visit the opening reception if you are in the New Orleans area this weekend! The show is at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery on Julia Street and will open from 6-9pm, Saturday, September 5th. But if you can't make it and you'd like to see some of the work I have in this exhibit, including other series, visit my website at www.AmyGuidry.com.