Art Jam Riverside 2018 came off with bright colors, balloons, artists, vendors, and activities of all kinds.  The Art Jam Bridgefest of last year was the best selling day I have ever had, so this years event had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately it did not come anywhere near that for me, but I enjoy all events regardless of sales.  My booth was at the very end of the event and a bit sparse of other artists or vendors, but the second stage was there which brought visitors down.

The focus at the Art Jam is on my hearts and that process. I bring finished hearts, but also planks of woods, traced-on heart shapes, raw cut hearts, pearl pieces with my hand saw and my Dremel router to enhance the explaining.

Check out my previous blog (Gearing up/Art Jam 2018) to see the complete process of making my hearts.

I do still bring my bags to sell and always sell a few (or more than a few) at all the shows.

MB Padfield was the very first act. She is from Manchester, but works and lives in Los Angeles making music. She was terrific.  Here are links for her:  

https://www.mbpadfield.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MBpadfield1

My first customer was Mariah and she purchased one of my favorite bags.  It was an item that stayed around for a while and I wondered why because it's so cute, but someone always see the beauty in it and will scoff it up eventually.

Mariah, Nathaniel, and John were so nice to let me take this picture.....love group shots!

This bag has a black, glossy, beadwork embellishment with 2 different fabrics on the outside and one on the inside.

Madelyn bought a wristlet that I made as a glasscase line for the Made In NH Expo 2017. It wasn’t a wristlet at first, but I had changed it to one, which I could do for any small bag. The designer fabric is so elegant and smooth, it’s just lovely.

The photo above is one side of the bags and the photo below, the other.

Claudia bought a $5 Cocobolo heart with Abalone dot inlay . These small hearts are my best sellers. An inexpensive and miniature way to enjoy the beauty of the woods. Everything I love and try to showcase in my larger hearts, I do with these mini ones. The only thing that is different is that I don’t do quite as many coats of poly for the dot inlay hearts as I do for the more intricately inlaid pearl designs. These dot inlay hearts can range from 1.25” to 2” (approximately).

Check out the beauty of the poly-ed wood and the striking difference from the sapwood and the heartwood, and how you can see the severe angle of the two on the side of the heart. I sometimes have the hearts be pretty thick to showcase what the grain does on the sides, these Cocobolo’s were thin planks purchased from a scrap box of wood pieces.

The 3rd act on this stage was the energetic Charlie Farren. Charlie was a memeber of the bands The Joe Perry Project and Farrenheit. Perhaps that’s why he had the largest crowd. Click on his facebook link here:

https://www.facebook.com/charliefarren

The 2nd performing act was the duo called Mystical Magic Music. I somehow missed taking their picture, but they have this great card with their pictures on it. They played many very familiar tunes in their mix as well as originals. Click on their link:

https://www.facebook.com/mysticalmagicmusic/

There were many other activities as well as artists and vendors. I don’t always have multiple times an event to check out everything, but above are the drum players and I think they played many different combinations of performers throughout the day (I couldn’t find their name). The above table area had many things to involve visitors in including the basket weaving seen here. Below was a huge chalkboard sort-of cube that anyone could write their message on in the subject matter written at the top….love, before I die….and once again bright and colorful.

Here are some shots of the artists and vendors and the stage by the front entrance.

My heart giveaway for this show didn’t get finished in time, so I brought my holiday decorated gourds to giveaway. Nate, Rhys and Alex bought a “Noel” heart made from Zebrawood. The word was done freehand with the Dremel tool and I gave them a gourd to go with it.

real, miniature gourds decorated for the holidays

Chrissy also bought a Cocobolo Abalone dot inlay heart. She was also a vendor at this event and her card was so beautiful I wanted to show it. You can see all her contact information on it to reach out to her.

Here are some of the artists that I got a chance to visit to take photos of their art and give them some attention:

This incredible art is by “Bill”, no sites or card to give me to promote him which really personifies the creative and sometimes non-commercial mindset of the artist.

Theresa from Riff Raff Glass is also associated with the 550Arts Studio. They obviously have many programs to offer so please click on the links for more information:

https://www.550arts.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Studio550ArtCenter/ https://www.facebook.com/riffraffglass/

When I walked up to Emily Thorpe’s booth I recognized her as being an artist at the Bridgefest last year with her friend artist Sami. Emily’s card says “Scientific & Creative Illustrator” and it is easily seen here in her technically correct and striking depictions.

https://emilythorpeart.com/

Kara LaMarche, below, was one of the few artists in my area. I hope enough visitors got to see her wonderful paintings. Here is a link to her website:

https://www.karalamarcheart.com/

Artist Kathy Sullivan, below, does amazingly accurate portraits. Obviously those below are of famous individuals, which seems to me to be difficult whereas everyone knows their faces. I had to include the back of her business cards because it is so beautiful (her own drawing I would say?) and it is my favorite animal. Here are her links:

http://www.kathysullivandrawings.com/

https://www.facebook.com/kathy.sullivan.169?fref=hovercard&hc_location=none

Check out the moving use of color in Michelle Motuzas’s art (MM Studio). She wants you to “let art move you” and it truly does. Here are her links:

https://www.michelleamotuzas.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Mimsfolly

Funloving Riley bought my beautiful, signature design Purpleheart heart with Golden Mother-of-Pearl split heart inlay. Riley and her “friend”, Bob, made us laugh and were a lot of fun.

Moira and Brian chose one of the dot inlay hearts made out of Rosewood. The piece of Rosewood shown below is what their heart was cut from, such beautiful wood grain.

Scott Plante was the 4th act on the rear stage. I saw him perform at MacGregor Park in Derry in August this year (pictured below). I played keyboards in the other band that night with an incredible choral group that was put together for Hope for Recovery. He plays for donations to certain causes including the opiod epidemic, but here is his link for more info:

https://www.facebook.com/ScottPlanteMusic/

Andy Kiniry appeared as the final act and was so good-natured considering the long feedback that appeared out of nowhere and the absence of an audience. The booths around him were the audience giving him the applause he deserves as he does a superb job. I first saw Andy perform when I was a vendor at the 2017 Veteran’s Park free Thursday night concert series. Here’s his link:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/awkiniry/about/?ref=page_internal

What better way to end this blog with my last customer, Steve. We were almost all packed up and Steve rode up on his beautiful bike looking to buy something from the show. My sister, Kathy, went into the heart box and he chose an Osage Orange dot heart. He was just a delightful guy. Thank you Steve!

Please send a comment if you want to reach out to me, but also click on the sites of the artists to find out more about them and like and share with friends. See you next time and thanks for reading!