Progress...

On certain days and at just the right times, you'll see the snow and ice melt.  It's not quite the Spring Thaw, but occasionally it gets warm enough on these cold days for the creeks to unlock their icy grips and trickle along.  If you follow these small streams, eventually you'll hit a bigger one.  All these little tributaries flow into larger bodies of water.  The banks swell with crystal clear water.  It's so clear that in some spots, it looks like the artificial aqua of a swimming pool.  The water here moves freely and fast.

My life is a lot like this now.  At times, things are frozen shut and are at a standstill.  But then there are times when the sun comes out and things start to trickle along and eventually pick up the pace.  I've made a lot of little progresses that add up!

One of the biggest steps forward is work on the "Spring Event".  Up until recently, things have been a little cryptic while we sort matters out.  We're still fleshing the details out, but we're pleased to announce some major news.  The "Spring Event" is the first official S.W.A.R.M. event.  You might ask yourself, what's SWARM?  It stands for the Society of Working Artists' Retreats and Meet-ups.  It's a social community that is dedicated to creative education and artistic learning.  The group corresponds to the in-person artistic gatherings facilitated by Allegory Gallery.  You might be thinking, "Why the heck did you decide to call it that?"  We chose the name "SWARM" to represent this community because the word means a collective behavior of synchronized movement.  If you've ever been to a big art retreat or a show, then you know just what we mean!  There's almost a hive-like atmosphere with people buzzing around.  We're still working on it, but you can join the Facebook group by CLICKING HERE.

The Spring SWARM Event will take place between April 4th and April 7th.  We will be featuring FIVE teachers!  The line-up includes Eva Sherman, Kelly Russell, Maria Richmond, Lynne Suprock and Kathy Zimmerman!  They will be teaching classes in metalwork, wire, mixed media, polymer clay, and fibers!  The instructors teach across the country and are all widely published.  We're really lucky to have them!

We're not just having classes either!  On the first evening, there's an opening ceremony with guest motivational speakers.  Then on the next night, there will be an art opening featuring the work of Detroit-based artist and ceramist, Diane Hawkey.  On the next night there is an Artist Market, featuring the work of the teachers, students and some select vendors.  It should be an AMAZING time!

More information is to follow and the best way to keep up-to-date with everything is to join the Facebook group by CLICKING HERE, but if you have questions, feel free to email us at info@allegorygallery.com and we'll be happy to answer your questions as the information becomes available.

Other points of progress include pricing everything that we brought back from Tucson!  We got SO MUCH stuff!  We have an assortment of beads (semi-precious stones, Czech glass, wood, ceramic, bone, polymer clay, metal, vintage... etc.), finished jewelry, sari silk fibers, AND new pieces from Candice Wakumoto!!!  It took us days to separate, sort, log all the receipts, and figure out prices.  We still have to tag a lot of stuff, but that should go quick.

I also started taking notes on a book project that I'm going to submit.  So far I haven't seen anything quite like it and want to strike while the iron is hot.  This will be my first solo book project and I'm excited to see if I can actually make it happen.

In other news, I started cooking for the Steampunk Party, wrote press releases, did some interviews with local newspapers, started planning the next storefront window, and caught up on some email.  And... of course, I tried to keep up with running the store.

So lots of progress.  Sometimes it doesn't seem like much, but then when I write it all out... I kind of blow myself away with how much really gets done!