Sleep Is Overrated

The last couple of weeks have been very busy! I started spring break off with a trip to San Diego for the National Art Education Association annual conference. This is the absolute best professional development opportuntity there is for art teachers and a great opportuntiy for practicing artists, as well. I was able to attend because of a generous grant from the good folks over at the Cultural Arts Foundation Northwest. If you are unfamiliar with this organization, please click on over and give them a look at:  http://www.cafnw.org/.  They do a ton of good work for the local arts community and can always use more support. I went to the conference with more of a focus on things that could help me, as a professional artist--and I wasn't disappointed. From the amazing, inspiring works at the San Diego Museum of Art to some amazingly helpful sessions on promotion and web tools to the great food in the Gaslamp district (check out Meze'-- http://www.gaslampmeze.com/  -- if you ever find yourself down there!), the trip was a complete success! I already can't wait until next year's NAEA conference, which will be down in New Orleans!

Just because I came home to the remainder of Spring Break didn't mean it was time to relax. After a short, one day of recouperation, it was right back into the studio to put finshing touches on the works for my show at Frodel Galley. The show is up now and I'm very proud of how it looks. The difference between completed works, scattered around the studio and completed works, hung the way they were intended to be viewed, just can't be understated. I hope that you will be able to join me at the reception for this show on the 24th of April, from 5:30-7pm. Please click over to: http://wsa.celebrations.com/JCAndrews-Frodel to find the e-vite to this reception.

 Here is the entry to the Frodel Gallery. It is a great space!

 

Paintings just make more sense up on the wall rather than scattered around the studio! 

These are some of the drawings on display at the show.

 

 



And the fun didn't stop there! After hanging the Frodel show I brought some other pieces over to The Global Bean, in Silverdale to hang as part of the second annual, Teachers As Artists, show. Several art educators from the area have pieces up--it's a great little show and I'm thankful that our local Washington Art Education Association representative, Lorinne Lee, takes the time to organize it for us. You can check out the Global Bean here: http://www.theglobalbean.com/The_Global_Bean/Welcome/Welcome.html

 

 

Here are the pieces I have hanging at The Global Bean

 

 

Since hanging the shows I have been working on putting a new, main web site together. This site will be the main landing spot for my professional art career and, as you can see in the screen capture below, this blog is prominently linked right at the top. It's still in the construction phase but feel free to put it in your favorites and check back often to see what's new. The next order of business for the site will be to set up the store so that I can begin to offer prints of my works. The site is at: http://jamesandrews-art.weebly.com/ .