Hexchange Print Portfolio Takes ever The Hexagon!

The Hexagon Gallery presents Hexchange, a printmaking portfolio from October 9 - November 6 2009. Opening reception October 10th, 6 to 8 pm, with light refreshments (BYOB).

The Hexagon
Community-run Gallery and Performance Space
1825 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12-3, by appointment, or during performances. For performance times, please visit http://www.hexagonspace.com
To arrange appointment, or for gallery inquiries, please contact art@hexagonspace.com

(this event and portfolio were curated by our very own Phuang Pham, and participants include many a mafia member!)

Vote for Craft Mafia!!!

HEY!!!!!! We were nominated for best DIY blog for the Baltimore Sun's new awards: The Mobbies (what better group to win such an award? Eh??? Eh????). You can vote for us, as well as for lots of different categories HERE.

Thanks to whoever nominated us! We love you Baltimore!!!!!!!!

Crafty Arachnids of Madagascar

An eleven foot, regal saffron tapestry...



detail

From creatures that would normally scare the pants off of me.


Golden orb spiders

Read Gossamer Silk, From Spiders Spun By Randy Kennedy

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Our own Shawna of Pinkkiss Pottery is this week's Etsy Featured Seller!



Tell us a bit about yourself name, location, affiliations, personal stuff.

My name is Shawna Pincus and I am the potter behind Pinkkiss Pottery. I live and work in Baltimore, Maryland with my husband Michael and our 2 cats, Mexico and Stranger. I have a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a teaching certification from Towson University. I am a full-time potter as of very recently but before that I held a day job as an elementary school art teacher. I loved the job but needed more time to devote to my studio work. I work from my basement where we have a pottery studio and a screen-printing studio for Michael’s business, Spaghettikiss. I am also part of a fantastic craft group here in Baltimore, the Charm City Craft Mafia. We host two craft shows a year, as well as a few workshops aimed at helping crafters to further their businesses.

Read the rest of the interview here!

Apply for a FREE STUDIO SPACE!

The C. Sylvia & Eddie Brown studio space, located in the Bromo Seltzer Arts tower in downtown Baltimore, is open for another round of applications. Every 2 years, the studio comes up for grabs for one lucky emerging artist to occupy for 2 years FREE OF RENT! The space is 360 sq. feet and it's $25 to apply (a $24,000 worth, if you win).
Applications are due October 9, 2009. Winner will be announced October 30. The 2 year free-of-cost tenancy begins December 1, 2009 and ends November 30, 2011.
Sound like a sweet deal? Apply here:

http://www.bromoseltzerartstower.com/csylvia.cfm

Best Email Received Today

(from Wendy Rosen, of the Rosen Group:)

"FreeCycle & Charity Book Sale

Each year we receive hundreds of books on many art,
business and even other subjects.

Some are new, some gently used, some are paperback, some are
elegant hardbound coffee table editions.

Our library shelves must be cleaned out each year.
This year we have so many books that we’re
inviting our nearest (literally) friends and
colleagues to attend our annual first annual Freecycle & Charity Booksale!

All proceeds will be donated to the Hampden Community Center.
Preview: 11-Noon
$7 for large hardbound editions
$2 for smaller books.
Magazines are free!

Noon-1pm ... all leftover books are free! They gotta go!

Friday
Sept 18th
11-1pm

Art Books, Biz Books, Lefty Books, Graphic Design Books, Photography Books, and hundreds of magazines.

The Rosen Group, Niche & AmericanStyle Magazines
Mill Centre 3000 Chestnut Ave #300 Baltimore, MD 21211
410.889.3093 #0"

Apologies by Proxy

I am pretty intrigued by this ongoing performance piece by Spoon Popkin and Lee Sinoski. It's amazing how powerful an apology can be, even when you think you're over whatever wrong was done to you (unto you?).

Apologies by Proxy

Hampdenfest
Saturday, September 12, noon-2 p.m.
In front of MINÁS, 815 W. 36th Street Baltimore, MD 21211

HAVE YOU BEEN WRONGED?

ARE YOU OWED AN APOLOGY?

IN THREE MINUTES, TELL US THE TALE AND WE WILL GIVE YOU YOUR OVERDUE APOLOGY


The concept behind “Apology By Proxy” is simple: In three minutes or
less, you tell the tale of an event regarding which you feel you are
owed an apology. We then give you that apology. You keep your apology
for when you need it, and, when you are ready, you pass the apology on
to someone else who needs one.

Apologies have been given by proxy:

for boyfriends
for wives
for drama queen roommates
for schoolyard bullies
for parents
for sisters
for God
for the U.S. healthcare system
for bosses
for a dry cleaner slut
for the NY art world
for landlords
for family businesses
for being lied to at work
for yourself

What began as a small piece of performance art has shown itself to be
a powerful tool for change and learning. The sudden moment of intense
intimacy with a complete stranger can be overwhelming. The apology is
genuine and, through some mysterious force, it works. Tears were shed,
hugs were given. “I’m Sorry” proves to be a potent phrase.

The Apology desk is often approached on a lark with an attitude of
gaiety, with stories that have often been honed, over the years, into
humorous tales, although the original hurt is still there. While
receiving the apology, the layers of concealment fall away as the
words “I’m Sorry” wash across the face of the apologee. Events can be
10, 20, even 30 years old, and still the apology that never came is
needed.

Apply Now - HOLIDAY HEAP 09!

Did you apply to the Heap yet?
What are you waiting for!!!?????!!!!!!!!

GO HERE.

Curator's Incubator 2009 at MAP

DON'T MISS THIS!

Each year, MAP’s Curators’ Incubator Program renews the opportunity for Maryland Art
Place to become a working laboratory for aesthetic experiments. Curators’ Incubator
provides a creative space for the region’s aspiring curators to develop and present their
concepts. MAP guides the curatorial process, beginning with an open call that
encourages proposals and ending in the presentation of selected projects. MAP’s
Program Advisory Committee took on the review and selection of our 2009 curators and
MAP staff facilitated the production of the exhibition and companion catalogue.

Featured Curators:
Shelly Blake‐Plock: Art of the Set‐Up: Sound Objects as Artifacts
Artists: Peter Blasser. Alessandro Bosetti. Andy Hayleck. Bonnie Jones. Melissa Moore.
Mike Muniak.

Rachel Sitkin: In Our Nature: Artists Reflect on the Manmade Landscape
Artists: Kim Beck. Laura Cooperman. Michelle Hagewood. Alex Lukas. Igor Pasternak.

Margaret Winslow: Soft Space: Architecture in Contemporary Art
Artists: Ronald Longsdorf. Janell Olah. Stephen Ruszkowki.

Featured Events:
Thurs Sept 24: Opening Event
- 5pm Rush Hour: Art Beats Traffic
-6pm Gallery Talk and Sound Art Performance: Shelly Blake‐Plock, John Berndt & Art
of the Set‐Up artists
Thurs Oct 8
-5pm Rush Hour: Art Beats Traffic
-6pm Gallery Talk: Margaret Winslow, Soft Space artists, and George Holback of Cho,
Benn, Holback + Associates
Thurs Oct 22
- 5pm Rush Hour: Art Beats Traffic
-6pm Gallery Talk: Rachel Sitkin and In Our Nature artists
Sat October 24
-2pm to 5pm: Curating 101 presented by Cathy Byrd, MAP Executive Director

Pratt Library Altered Book Competition

image by bella
Feeling creative? So get in the act! The Enoch Pratt Free Library is proud to announce it's Altered Books Competition.

An altered book is any book that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned. Altered books may be as simple as adding a drawing or text to a page, or as complex as creating an intricate book sculpture.

All entries to the competition should be received no later than 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 26. Prizes will be awarded to the top three altered books. The top 15 altered books will be on display at the Central Library in October.
You can also join the Pratt Library at the Baltimore Book Festival on Friday, September 25, 6 to 8 pm, and make your own altered book. The library will provide old books and supplies for free.

For more information visit http://www.prattlibrary.org/alteredbooks.

Consumerism and Craft

Image from The Small Object

I might be alone here, but I suspect I am not. Sometimes I lay awake at night thinking about the problems facing our environment, and how our pervasive consumerism contributes to them. It's so difficult for me to balance the corporate nature of running a business (even a tiny indie craft business) with the strong desire to fix what is broken in our money-driven system.

One thing I love more that anything is when I visit one of my favorite blogs, and the writer has expressed my exact thoughts much better than I could have done. That's what's happened with this post, on the Small Object Steno Pad blog. I'm sure many of you have read this, but I wanted to share it and add my voice to the many who are commiserating with Sarah's feelings about homemade, handmade, vs. giant faceless corporation made.

Thanks, Sarah, for making amazing things, and for getting into my sinus-headache-plagued head and articulating so well how I feel about these things... big high five to you.

How to keep your job in the arts...

BALTIMORE OFFICE OF PROMOTION & THE ARTS OFFERS GRANTS FOR
JOB RETENTION IN THE CULTURAL COMMUNITY

Applications are available now. Deadline is September 25.

Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) are proud to announce the new National Endowment for the Arts/Baltimore City Job Retention Grant. Made possible by a $250,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and matched by Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore City Council, the grant program has been created for the cultural community to assist in job retention efforts. Managed by BOPA, the program offers grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 to be used to support full-time, part-time or contractual positions in the arts. The application deadline is Friday, September 25, 2009.

Non-profit, 501(c)3 cultural organizations serving Baltimore City that have not received economic stimulus awards through the Maryland State Arts Council, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation or directly through the National Endowment for the Arts are eligible to apply.

To download the application for the National Endowment for the Arts/ Baltimore City Job Retention Grant, visit promotionandarts.com.
For more information, call 410-752-8632.

CCCM's Shawna Pincus - Then & Now - on Indie Fixx

Go check out the great interview about then & now with our very own Shawna Pincus, of Pinkkiss Pottery over at Indie Fixx this week!
Then, when you adore her as much as we do, you can visit her Etsy Shop, on her Website and her blog.

Pssst! Wanna Help the Mafia?

The Charm City Craft Mafia is looking for an intern to help out with all things crafty! Learn all about community craft, event planning, group organization and marketing this season with some of the hardest working folks this side of crafty town and make friends to boot! Email us at charmcitycraftmafia@gmail.com to find out more.

*Please note that we're looking for a student intern interested in earning college credit. Thank you so much! And keep those e-mails coming!