Kanika Marshall-Spirituality Through Art

Clay and Metal Black Art Sculptures - Kanika Marshall Black Art Mosaic for Sale, Pottery, Tribal

2012-01-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

Clay and Metal Black Art Sculptures - Kanika Marshall Black Art Mosaic for Sale, Pottery, Tribal

LIVING THE RETIREMENT DREAM

2011-12-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Was your family raised with the concept of the American Dream in which freedom includes the promise of prosperity and success? James Truslow Adams postulated in 1931 that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth."

According to The Dream, this includes the opportunity for one's children to grow up and receive a good education and career without artificial barriers.

For many of us, we were taught to study hard, go to college, get a good job, buy a house, save/invest for our old age, then retire in comfort. Although I admire people who choose to follow their hearts and not their pocketbook, I followed the latter. I needed to know how much salary and when my paycheck would arrive, what my benefits would be, and that I would have a secure pension, and do my loves/hobbies on the weekend.

Watercolorist Mary Marshall creates an abstract painting in 2005

My mom always told us that we could choose to work extremely hard as a clerical person slaving to keep an office running smoothly, or we could be the manager making tons more money without working as hard. Mom was raised by her mother - a maid - who provided for mom's six brothers and sisters and her. Mom only had a tiny corner of the couch to call her own. She shared one bed with three of her sisters. Mom recognized that education was the salvation for Black folk. So, later, when she saw the writing on the wall that her marriage to my dad would soon crumble, she started going to Delta Junior College in Stockton, CA, in 1962, then received a BA in Education from Sacramento State University to become a teacher. Then she earned a Masters Degree in Administration from Sac State to become a principal in the Sacramento City Unified School District. She lived low on the hog, NOT spending a lot of money on fancy clothes, hair appointments, manicures, pedicures, cute shoes, coffee, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, sodas, junk food, etc., like most people do. She retired as soon as she possibly could in 1989 and had 17 delicious years in retirement. She became a professional watercolor artist, in addition to her loves of bridge, tennis, golf, AKA sorority, computers and, of course, her family and friends. The Big "C" took her from us in 2007.

By mom's example, I was raised to get the best education I could, get a job that paid reasonably well, have enjoyable hobbies, be physically active, live low on the hog, and retire as soon as possible to enjoy my last years in freedom. Last Friday, December 16, 2011, was my last day of work from a 36-year career with the State of California. I have thankfully started the retirement phase of my American Dream! Today, writing this blog post one week after my last day of work, I reflect on what this means.

KM and KM retire both retire on 12/16/11

The last day of work was a marvelous whirlwind of happy emotions for me and my coworker, Kris, who was also retiring that day. Starting with a 30-minute workout and breakfast before work, I wanted people and enduring photos to remember me in the best possible light. So I wore a suit on Casual Friday, fried (straightened) my hair one last time, wore an African neckpiece, and put on cute shoes (I almost never wear uncomfortable/high-heeled "cute" shoes).

In my nearly-empty cubicle at the office, I logged onto my computer one last time, read e-mails from people who responded to the Swan Song e-mail that I sent to 1,000 employees the day before, and waited for the Retirement festivities to begin at 10 AM in our little file room. I had not wanted a showy going away party/dinner/lunch and instead opted to bring cookies for all to share.

KM accepts commendation from boss Wendy

I made my grand entrance in our super-secure file room containing about 30+ current coworkers and some colleagues from past offices. My boss, Wendy, started the event by saying very nice things about moi and presenting me with a lovely Chief's Commendation for work performed in various offices over 36 years: starting as a clerk and progressing through various analyst-type positions. Yes, I was glad I did what my mama told me with my career.

Next, John, my boss from 1981-1988 (below left), presented me with a phenomenal "Book of Wonders" as I later called it. This 20-page, bound volume had photos of me and my coworkers, and scads of well-wishes from coworkers and past Top Brass - an amazing Treasure to be treasured forever!

John, KM, Joe, Bob with first returning 65 MPH in CA in 1986

RapMaster Bob - an ex-analyst coworker who I used to regard as my son in the 1980s - delivered a retirement rap to end all raps. Afterward, John took me to an extended lunch with some other folks and by then it was 2:30 PM. Kris and I decided to fly the coop together, for the last time. We turned in our security badges and walked through the doors to freedom.

Rapmaster Bob raps to KM

Most of us want to know we mattered to someone in this life. State workers are usually given a very bad rap in the press and public sentiment (yeah, I know I didn't do much that last day! LOL). The heartfelt messages from all levels of personnel listed in John's Book of Wonders let me know that I HAD mattered, that my efforts HAD positively impacted literally millions of people who pass through California roadways. That was the most touching part of the whole day for me: the acknowledgement of a job well done. Later that night, my boyfriend took me for dinner to Mimi's then to the new Sherlock Holmes movie. A great way to end a magical day ... and the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

On Saturday, Dec 17th, I continued readying the art studio for an end-of-year Studio Show to be held on Sunday and Monday (Dec 18&19). I wanted to spend the first non-work day with people who love art. So Saturday, Sunday and Monday were all wrapped up with art and I had little time to think about anything else. Lots of well-wishers dropped by and purchased gifts for the holidays and their personal collections.

Kanika's outdoor art at December 2011 studio show

But now what? On Tuesday, I looked around at the mess left in the aftermath of the studio show, including food that had to be put away, small sculptures that had to be packed up, and larger sculptures that had to be returned to various galleries and stores. It was time to put everything away and decorate for the holidays. But where to start? Aren't retired people supposed to be able to laze around whenever they want? I was exhausted from the stress of the last day and the many days it took to get ready for the studio show. I wanted to nap. But I also wanted to start my retirement life with good daily habits like exercising, relaxing in the spa, eating a balanced breakfast, and taking a shower. So that's what I did. But the mess was still there, taunting me. That first day home alone, I did very little straightening up and a lot of napping, drinking water, watching TV, reading the Book of Wonders again, and ruminating on the festivities from last Friday. Hmmm, maybe it would be a good idea to get my body checked out stem to stern, so I made an appointment to see my general practitioner the following day (very quick turnaround for the scheduling!). I also made an appointment with my dentist to get my new but damaged bridge redone in January.

Wednesday morning went by quickly with the exercise/spa/shower/breakfast routine taking hold, as well as a touch more cleaning up. The entire afternoon was spent at Kaiser getting all of my medical questions answered, getting a tetanus shot and an EKG, and visiting a physical therapist. I have had chronic neck/shoulder pain since 1988, with pain ranging from a 2 to a 9 on the pain scale everyday since. Usually, I just suck it up, since the problem started with weight training in the 1980s and was exacerbated from daily computer work at work and lifting heavy sculptures. So when the physical therapist suggested there was equipment that might relieve the pressure in my neck, I started blubbering with the thought that maybe, just maybe, I could get relief from the chronic pain! To possibly experience retirement without ice packs and ibuprofen? She hooked me up to this medievel-looking traction device and taught me how use it. OMG! After three two-minute iterations on the machine, I stood tall and straight with no pain emanating from the neck or shoulder! YES! The doctor ordered a machine for me.

As happy and excited as I was on Wednesday night, I was equally as apprehensive and bummed out on Thursday morning. The studio mess seemed to have morphed into an unimaginable monster since I had added Christmas wrapping stuff to the studio mess the night before. I did not know where to begin, so I just sat in my recliner watching TV, trying to become motivated to start cleaning. Did the now-usual workout/spa/breakfast habit, but resumed sitting and looking at the mess. I was, quite frankly, depressed. How could that be? How could you be depressed about something you dreamed about for decades? A friend of mine told me she was depressed for one month after retirement; I could not have imagined how that would be possible for a person who has lots of hobbies and retirement plans (like me). But I was getting more and more depressed. Hmmmm ... could it have partly been because I was watching a chilling/morbid movie with Johnny Depp ("Secret Window")? That might have been it. Because as soon as Dr. Oz came on TV, I got back my normal positive outlook. I started re-organizing, putting things away, vacuuming, packing up for the Dec 26th Kwanzaa show at the Crocker Art Museum, wrapping Christmas gifts, etc. The normal energizer bunny in me was back! On Thursday night, my squeeze and I put together some Christmas gifts for our family members and watched a movie after dinner.

9' Ficus Christmas tree

Assembling Christmas goodie gifts

Now it's Friday, one week after my last day of work. I finally have the time to write this post and am excitedly awaiting the arrival of my Savior - a portable traction device. I LOVE KAISER SOUTH and my State of CA insurance that has provided this potential back-pain-reducer miracle.

I love this life and a possible awesome future "in retirement"

For those of you who have already made the transition, do you have any helpful hints and tips for a newbie to help ensure a charmed retirement life?

STARTING A NEW CHAPTER IN MY LIFE

2011-12-04T19:22:00.001-08:00

After 36 years of working for the State of California, my last day of work is fast approaching in mid-December 2011. WHOOP WHOOP! To celebrate the first day of my free life, I decided to invite collectors of my sculptures over for some chocolate, port wine, and full access to my clay and metal art studio.

As you might imagine, I have a long list of activities that I wish to pursue in retirement. Renovating my studio is #1 on the list. Instead of waiting until retirement, though, I decided to fix up the room before the Open Studio Show in a couple of weeks. This would not be an easy accomplishment, as I have been collecting fabric, yarn, beads, clay, glaze, glass, stones for over three decades. Most of these items were hidden away on brick and wood shelving underneath a small college dorm sofa or in the narrow 9' x 18" closet, or white melamine storage units shown above. There was really only a very cozy (miniscule) 8' x 8' floor space for my work table that allowed me to make all of my artwork, as shown in the following examples:

Over the past 17 years, art materials had become crammed into every nook and cranny, so I had to gut the entire room and start over. The hallway and garage became the unwilling recipients of the overflow stuff.

Once every moveable item was stripped from the room, I laid a new piece of linoleum over the old lino. Since it's just an art studio, I did not worry about doing a stellar job.

I am a firm believer in recycling whenever possible. Thankfully, a friend of mine was able to use the sofa and a neighbor was the recipient of one of the old work tables. I prefer to buy American when possible, but Ikea has such great deals on tables and adjustable legs that I shopped there for a new 78" x 23" table that will double as a window seat, and two 39"x24" tables that I can use at art shows and as my primary work tables in the new studio. So easy to put together!

Then the "fun" part began with trying to sort the decades worth of stones and glass and tiles and glazed pieces into separate clear plastic boxes. It will be so much easier to find things now! I had no idea how many tiles I had!

Now it was time to deal with one of my two addictions. No, not my Chocolate Jones, but my never-ending love of fabric. I have half a closet full of African and other fabrics, all somewhat color-coded in 10 separate plastic tubs. But they needed to be better organized and made easier to get to. I constructed a new 36"x18" resin shelving system that could only hold the 23" deep fabric tubs if I removed the heavy closet doors and replaced them with a curtain on a rod. So I did. I love the new ease of reaching everything in the closet! I hope my neighbors want some closet doors to recycle ...

The large white shelving units from my mother's house contain clay glazes, paints, yarn, and many other doo-dads. Each shelf was reorganized, as well as the many baskets of art materials on top of the shelving units. The potters wheel also found a new home under the tiny TV, along with boxes of clay.

Now the part that I dreaded ... the other side of the closet. A rickety old metal shelving unit contained many clay works in progress and lots of glazed 12"x12" tiles, containers of clay slip, texture-making materials, plexiglass, and wood pieces. I decided to replace the metal shelving with another resin unit; so cool that it popped together in 10 minutes! And then the new curtain rod and curtain allowed everything in the closet to become unseen.

The new studio is looking pretty good after I rolled out my beautiful old carpet over the lino. Everything is in place and reorganized. Almost finished!

The last step will be fixing up the window seat so I may sit with my back in the corner of the wall. I need good back, butt, and leg support to allow me to read, sleep, or gaze out the window when I need a break from artwork. I'm hoping my sister or cousin, the textile designers, can help me get this last piece completed.

THE STUDIO IS NOW READY FOR THE OPEN HOUSE AND I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO START WORKING IN IT!

The next big project is redesigning the metal workshop (and that will be a HUGE undertaking) .

BECOMING PART OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

2011-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Kanika Marshall "Inspired by the Dance"

Hurrah! I just found out that two of my newest art pieces were accepted into a show at Master Barber Shop in Sacramento, California, that commemorates the Harlem Renaissance. But the show only allowed paintings, photography and mixed media, not sculptures which are generally what I create. So I had to search my muse for quite a while to see what I could create that might be acceptable. First, I had to work very hard in renewing my knowledge about what the Harlem Renaissance was all about. Here's the gist of the movement, paraphrased from Wikipedia:

Scene at the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York, circa 1920s

"The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that generally spanned the 1920s and 1930s. Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro, who through intellect and production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes to promote progressive or socialist politics, and racial and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to "uplift" the race.

Aaron Douglass "Idylls of the Deep South"

Until the end of the Civil War, the majority of African Americans had been enslaved and lived in the South. Immediately after the end of slavery, the emancipated African Americans began to strive for civic participation, political equality and economic and cultural self-determination. But by the late 1870s, conservative whites managed to regain power in the South and pass legislation that disenfranchised most Negroes. They established white supremacist regimes of Jim Crow segregation in the South which denied African Americans their exercise of civil and political rights. Negros were exploited as share croppers and laborers. As life in the South became increasingly difficult, African Americans began to migrate North in great numbers. During the early portion of the 20th Century, Harlem, New York, became home to a growing Negro middle class.

Crisis Black Newspaper

African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses.

Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. The new fiction attracted a great amount of attention from the nation at large.

Some authors who became nationally known were Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, and Langston Hughes.

Visual artists were an important part of the movement too, such as Jacob Lawrence, Charles Alston, Augusta Savage, Aaron Douglas, Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, and Sargent Johnson.

Jazz music was also a major component of the Harlem Renaissance. A new way of playing the piano called the Harlem Stride Style was created during the Harlem Renaissance, and helped blur the lines between the poor Negros, socially elite Negros, and whites. The traditional jazz band was composed primarily of brass instruments and was considered a symbol of the south, but the piano was considered an instrument of the wealthy. The popularity of jazz music soon spread throughout the country. Innovation and liveliness were important characteristics of performers in the beginnings of jazz. Jazz musicians at the time like Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Jelly Roll Morton, were considered to have laid the foundation for future musicians of their genre."

So ... what was "I" going to create for the show? It had to be a piece of wall art, so it would probably need to be a carved clay slab. Lois Mailou Jones was the closest to my personal style because she used African themes in her work. Hello! So that's the first piece I made, my version of Jones' Les Fetiches, which I called "The Fetishes 2011." [edit]

Lois Mailou Jones "Les Fetiches"

Kanika Marshall "The Fetishes 2011"

There is lots of texture on the clay representing exciting African designs, a bit of blue fabric in the lower Dan mask/comb form, and a river of glass beads I purchased from African traders in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you look closely to the right of the beads, there is an urban motif incised into the clay to give homage to the urbanized area of Harlem.

I thought the second art piece should have a musical motif, maybe with dancers. A couple of years ago, I made a series of dance-oriented ceramic plates, which all sold immediately. Now it's time to make more! "Inspired by the Dance" is full of movement evocative of Harlem Renaissance liveliness. In addition, since I love fabric and Romare Bearden's style of collage, I added a bit of textile whimsy to the dance outfit of one character (notice the African mask/comb image on the skirt), the face of the other character, and the saxophone at left. The colors are bold, like the Harlem Renaissance period.

Kanika Marshall "Inspired by the Dance"

HOW HAVE YOU STRETCHED YOURSELF TO GET INTO AN ART SHOW OR TO FULFILL A COMMISSIONED ART PIECE?

CONQUERING YOUR FEARS

2011-09-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

I just did two things that I never thought I would do, two things that were so scary I wondered if I would survive them. It all started on a long-planned, five-day camping and hiking vacation in Lassen Volcanic National Park in north-eastern California during the last week in August 2011.

My boyfriend, Michael, has more camping experience than I and has a winning methodology for what to pack, what to eat, etc. By him volunteering to take on the planning, packing and driving responsibility, it meant that this would really be a restful vacation for me (he's a keeper to be sure!).

So after dropping my vacationing grandkids off at their mom's house Saturday morning, we finished packing up the car and started the three-hour road trip. What ever did we do before GPS? Thankfully, Michael has a great GPS program on his phone which guided us flawlessly through North Natomas, Nicklaus, Chico's Butte mountains, and several other small towns until we reached the south portal to Lassen Volcanic National Park.

WOW! This place was so different from the usual camping and hiking trips we take along the coast or Sacramento valley. Everything was still green and there were fields of wildflowers among the green trees and verdant mountains. The park extends from about 6,000 to 10,000 feet in altitude.

Lassen Visitor's Center at south end of park

Wild flowers abound everywhere

After stopping at the Visitor's center for a fabulous sandwich and big chocolate/vanilla soft serve ice cream cone, and 20-minute movie about the remarkable geologic formation of four different types of still-active volcanoes at the park, we began exploring the visitor center grounds on our own.

Incredible rock formations are everywhere

There was snow everywhere too, even though the weather was a perfect, in the low 80s.

OK, now back in the car to start driving up a 30-mile road to our campsite. The coolest thing about Lassen is that the powers at be constructed the main road through most of the interesting natural wonders that people want to see. From you car you can see mud pots (below) belching their acrid and rotten-egg stinky sulfuric odors.

The terrain is very different from Yosemite, although there are some granite-like formations. But there is much more lush greenery, which energize those us of who love living green.

There are also waterfalls, flowerful meadows, trees, trees, and more trees, mountains, streams and rivers and little lakes along the northerly main road up to nearly the northern end of the park, where we camped at Manzanita Lake. But it took us about three hours to get there, mostly because we had to stop at every vista point and take pictures and marvel at the sheer beauty of the place! It only took about 30 minutes to get the campsite totally set up. All foodstuffs and anything with a scent (e.g., toothpaste, lotion) had to be locked up in a bear locker at one end of our campsite. I said bears. Remember that ...

Home sweet home for the next five days

By then, it was about 5 PM and time to eat. Small campfire then franks and beans rolled in a tortilla for dinner.

As night began to fall, we decided to walk 5-10 minutes to the lake to catch the sunset.

We had very noisy neighbors that night and neither one of us got much sleep. Even though it was only about 42 degrees at the coldest and we had a queen-sized air mattress and thick sleeping bags, we were pretty darn cold at night. And, of course, the thought of bears prowling at night ... especially when we had to exit our "safe" haven for a bathroom run in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we were tired in the morning when the crows began their LOUD (did I say LOUD?) squawking at 7 AM ... We were cold until the sun began peeking over the tall tree tops at our campsite. As Mr. fixed breakfast by 8:30 or so, though, it was quite pleasant and I had shed some of my layers of clothes.

Sunday, we decided to explore Manzanita Lake and take pictures. The one-hour route took us about three hours because we were so engrossed in every little nook and cranny.

Lassen Mountain in the background

It was HOT that day, so we stopped by the little camp store and bought more ice cream on our way back to the campsite. After rest that afternoon and dinner, we decided that it would be cool to go back to the far side of the lake and wait for night fall to catch the Milky Way over Mt. Lassen using Michael's super duper new camera. We caught exquisite pictures as the sun fell (his are better than my iphone pix below).

By 8:30, the first stars were visible, but I started getting really worried about the fact that there are NO LIGHTS except moonlight on the 3/4 mile back to the other side of the lake. We were the only ones out there (well, the only people) and it was getting darker and darker, but there still were only a few stars. Certainly not enough to make it worth our while to stay ... alone ... in the dark ... where bears had been spotted that day ... Finally, we packed up and turned on our headlamps, but mine hardly produced any light. So Michael had to lead the way, most of the way. I am not afraid of the dark, per se, but we did not really know our way out there and it was tough to follow the dirt/sand path back in the dark. We tried to be noisy to let the night critters know we were there, but it's amazing how timid one's voice can sound when there's a bit of fear mixed in. Thankfully, Michael has a good sense of direction and was able to get us back to the campsite - had it been up to me alone, it would have taken a lot of longer to get there (even though I remembered I had a cool flashlight app on my iphone that did a great job of lighting the way back)!

It was DARK when we started making our way back along the 3/4 mile trek to the campsite.

I needed a LOT of chocolate and a little port wine when we got back to the tent! I kept saying, "I cannot believe we did that!" An hour later, we were looking up through the treetops at the most amazing Milky Way. I cajoled Michael into getting out his camera and tripod to take pictures of that amazing celestial site. We wanted some star shots after that harrowing hike back from the wilderness!

That was the first of the two events that I wasn't sure I would survive.

Thankfully, there were no noisy neighbors Sunday night, so we were well-rested and ready for Monday's trek to King's Creek. As soon as we parked our car along the main route, halfway to the south-end Visitor Center, I knew this would be special. We heard water flowing and could see a delightful creek from the road and a meadow of wild flowers. The following are pictures from this moderately difficult hike.

View from the road

Gorgeous flowers all along the waterways

We tried to find another hike along the route back to the campsite

Clam chowder, french bread and a salad for dinner. S'mores for dessert.

Even though we were really tired after the Kings Creek trip, we decided to hike up the Cinder Cone Volcano on Tuesday. Neither of us had done anything like that before and thought we probably could get some interesting pictures. We packed everything we could in the car that night so we could hit it by 7 AM the next morning and hopefully get some great sunrise pix. We did not realize that there would be road construction that would slow us down, nor an exceedingly BUMPY 8 mile "path" (30 minute ride) to Butte Lake, which was the entry point for the Cinder Cone hike. What that means is that the sun was already kind of high when we started the hike so the light would not be conducive to capturing the best pictures.

We were intrigued by the 20-30' high "Fantastic Lava Beds" that surrounded one side of the path up to, an all around the actual volcano. Mounds and mounds of rock.

Lava beds

Here's a view of the mountains as we walked up to the Cinder Cone volcano.

Here's our first complete view of the 600' high volcano (6300 to 6900 feet above sea level)

You cannot believe how steep this sandy/cinder trail is! It averages 30 degrees, but there are portions that are much steeper, as you can see.

I found two sturdy sticks that I could use as walking sticks. Michael used the legs of his tripod. It seemed like it took an hour to get up to the top because we had to stop every 20 steps or so to breathe and get more water. I am NOT fond of heights and really had not intended to go all the way up, but we kept putting one foot in front of the other, hoping we would finally reach the never-ending top. Finally, success was ours!

And the view was breathtaking! That's Mt. Lasson Volcano which is about 4000 feet higher than the top of the cinder cone volcano.

Further around the base of the Cinder Cone Volcano are brightly-colored cinder beds. While there is a route to those beds at the base of the volcano, I cannot imagine that walkers could get the phenomenal view that we did on the top of the mountain!

Here are the cylindrical spirals of the center of the Cinder Cone volcano. People can walk all around the top and down into the bowels of the cone, if they like.

Looking down into the center of the volcano.

Lots of red iron oxide-colored lava rock and cinders all around. Depending on how the light hits, you can also see purple hues, oranges, reds, and yellows. The palate changes continuously. The colors in this picture are not enhanced.

On the far side of the top is Butte Lake, with lava beds in the foreground. Colors are enhanced for the lava and trees, but the water is that blue-green.

We took tons of pictures, had lunch, drank lots of water from our backpacks, chatted with other brave souls, most of whom were visiting from other countries. It was exciting for all of us to make a world connection and we all contemplated a successful descent. Going up a hill is difficult, but it's the coming down of a steep mountain that I agonized over. Vertigo. I was SO HAPPY to have my walking sticks, but I was nervous, nervous, nervous. I heard my (deceased) mom's voice in my head telling me she didn't want me to join her this soon and to be very careful going down. My brain saw lots of people who had made it up the volcano with NO walking sticks, many in seemingly worse physical shape than I. From the tippy top of the cone I could see some of those people who made it down the steep hill. So I knew we "should" be able to make it without broken necks. But it took a LOT to conquer my fear of starting down. I practiced by walking up and down the contours of the center cone area. It was time to start. Sticks don't fail me now. I was SO JITTERY! You could not see the start of the path from the top. Michael took video of my tentative, disjointed, steps. One stick followed by my foot, then the other stick followed by the other foot. It seemed interminable. My left knee started to ache and I knew I would not make it using that technique. Then I remembered that as a big-footed gal, I often walk down stairs horizontally instead of vertically, so I turned my feet sideways and started again. Much better, faster, smoother. Going down, we gave comfort to those we met coming up: "It's worth it. You're almost there. You can do it." Then WE WERE DOWN!

Never have I ever been so glad to make it successfully down a hill!

Our reward was to bathe our sore feet in lovely, cool Butte Lake.

We couldn't believe we made it! This was the second time that I thought I wouldn't make it back home, but we persevered and conquered our fear!

We took a nice shower, then a well-deserved nap in the afternoon. Dinner was delicious quesadillas and broccoli and roasted marshmallows for dessert.

The next day was our last but we wanted to see a couple of additional sites on our way out after another great breakfast, this time french toast and eggs scrambled with veggies.

After packing up the car and driving about 10 miles, we hiked a mile or so to the Magical Boiling Lake. The bubbles do not come from an underground hot springs, but carbon dioxide. So we were excited to see such a thing, but, well ... you can see what we saw. Not much.

This whole trip was a marvel. I didn't originally think Lassen Park would be anything special but it went waaaaay beyond anything we could have imagined.

We tested ourselves on many levels and we persevered. We survived! This new-found strength will help us in all future endeavors and renew our appreciation for this world and everything in it!

HOW HAVE YOU TESTED YOURSELF AND WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME?

INSPIRED BY MENDOCINO . . . AGAIN

2011-08-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

We just came back from our annual 9-day vacation in Mendocino, CA, along the Pacific Ocean, among the coastal redwoods. This is precisely my favorite milieu. I am a redwood girl who loves the lush greenery of ferns and redwoods, the majesty, the aroma, the atmosphere, the energy, the Spirit of the Earth Mother. One whole wall of my bedroom is covered floor-to-ceiling with pictures of redwood forests. Needless to say, I was in NIRVANA during the first week of August!

The Allen studio

The Allen cottage

This time, we were able to stay in an artist's studio (left), instead of the cozy cottage (right) we normally stay in. My boyfriend's brother's wife's sister owns the 9-acre property which is located about 5 miles from the town of Mendocino. There is no Internet or cell phone access, so we really "have" to commune with nature. Darn! (smile)

Inside Rosemary and Wheatly's studio bedroom

The owner wife is a fabulous figurative, landscape, abstract painter. The owner husband is a celebrated wood and bronze sculptor of birds and sea animals. So for 9 days we lived among their original artworks and the tools of their art. Imagine be surrounded by 6' x 6' bright paintings and a skylight through which we could see a sky of star formations at night. An old-fashioned shower-tub with a window to the redwoods rounded out the internal experience.

I only brought 25 pounds of clay on vacation this time, but only used half of it (cause I was in a relaxation zone). For the last two years, I wanted to use the inspiration of nature to create unusual sculptures that required a lot of carving and undercutting - kind of three-dimensional wall hangings. Prior to this year, though, the works were still quite flat. This time I really wanted to push myself and not take the easy way out. So we spent a lot of time taking pictures of Mendocino and the Art Center, Fort Bragg, our morning hikes around the property and along the river, etc. I selected two pictures that inspired my desire to create a layered perspective.

Final carving

Inspiration photo #1

The first photo vignette was a bench surrounded by cascading flowers and bushes in front of a huge water tank. Ferns peek out from the bottom of the bench. As my boyfriend, Michael Fitzwater Photography, videotaped and photoed my progress, I rolled out the clay and did some loose scratches on the surface for the basic shapes. After letting the clay sit for a few hours, it was time to resume the rough carving. I ended up removing a lot of clay, which went back into the clay bag to be recycled in the future. As I carved on the steps of the rustic studio, I listened to the audiobook "Time Traveler's Never Die." Truly, it was a very meditative experience which resulted in a satisfactory art piece that shows layers of carving.

Inspiration photo #2

Initial rough layout of clay structure

In the second effort I ended up kind of resorting to my normal "free and loose" style. The picture that was my muse was a long pathway with my boyfriend at the end of it and bushes in the foreground. I wanted to show the perspective of close and far, with redwood branches drooping over the road in the foreground. But then . . . I felt the urge to add a dichotomous/abstract element on the right side of the piece. It's almost inverse redwood tree and branches. The carving took on a life of its own and turned out kind of cool, I think. I'll have to use glazes to delineate the path meandering down the center of the carving.

Adding detail to the branch

Final carving

Angela Ridgway's sculpture

Angela Ridgway and husband

The last full day of our trip was at the Art in the Garden annual event at the Botanical Garden. I wanted to see my metal friend, Angela Ridgway's, amazing metal artwork on permanent display there (right). Lo and behold! Angela and her husband were there with an art booth(left)! We had a nice visit and she ended up selling the large piece that she had just installed in the garden a few days prior! If you have never been to the Art in the Garden event (first Saturday in August every year) it is a MUST! Not only can you tour the garden for hours, they also had 20-30 talented artists, live music, and food. A great event.

Sculptor carving soapstone

At the Art in the Garden show, I was particularly inspired by a sculptor who was carving stone. Talk about undercuts! He was awesome. I thought about using my remaining 12 pounds of clay to make a long rectangular cube that would have a rock-like texture applied. Then I would carve a Goddess coming out from within the clay block. While I did not start this project in Mendocino, I am still actively thinking about it.

Mendocino Botanical Garden - Heather Garden

Time to update my website (www.KanikaMarshall.com) with the newest nature-oriented artworks.

So many inspirations can lead to creation! WHAT INSPIRES YOU???

IT'S CHRISTMAS IN JUNE !!!!

2011-06-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today at lunchtime I picked up my metal experiments up from the powdercoater. What experiments? As fully described in two previous entries in this blog, I used an acid bath to strip the recycled steel of that nasty scale, then use various rusting and propane torch techniques to add color to the acid-washed metal. Now that my experiments have a protective coating on them, the colors really pop and they won't rust (much) outside in the elements!

Here's an interesting box that could be used for a flower pot. This would be perfect outside with the sun shining on the patina so you can see all of the complex colors:

I might make this 4' tall box into a fountain or maybe wrap it with rope lights.

This will likely be the "head" on another very tall outdoor kinetic piece, maybe on top of a clay/glass covered 4"x4"x6' box that sways in the wind and is bisected by lights.

What do you think I should do with these rectangular pieces? They look great on both sides so I hesitate to just frame them and only show one side. They each have a small hole in the top center so they could easily be suspended somehow. Help please!

I've gotta make some more 5-6' tall recycled metal flowers! One of them is already sold!

I spent all last night glazing some clay sculptures. Here is what the Kiln God gave me today. These are 15"x7" wall pockets that could hold water for cut flowers, or whatever else you might want to put in the pocket while the piece hangs on a wall. Thankfully, these clay sculptures will be able to hang outside in the garden too, like on a fence or a wall.

And a cool face mask:

And a very abstract plate (16") which can hang on a wall or be used as a serving platter:

And another very large platter (21"):

CHRISTMASTIME WAS NEVER SO GOOD!

Now I've got to figure out what to do with these lovelies. I am definitely open to your suggestions.

ANOTHER EXCITING DAY IN MY METAL SHOP

2011-06-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

After the incredibly successful day in the metal shop on June 10, 2011, I continued the experiments with acid and heat and other natural objects. Is there never an end to how interesting metal art is???

Last summer, I developed some really interesting textures on recycled steel strips by placing the metal on damp grass and letting it rust around the blades of grass.

On the other side of the grass imprint side, I used an angle-iron grinder to impart snakelike silver and gold patterns onto the strips. Each strip was powdercoated to keep it from further rusting.

I used these strips to make the sides of a ceremonial box for my son's Black Belt test in October 2010:

More of those textured strips were used as a backdrop to colorful women painted onto rectangular tiles for my freestanding "Bodies in Motion" outdoor sculpture. Can you see the vertical silver and gold stripes?

So this time, to get some crisp leaf imprints, I wanted to experiment with putting damp leaves on top of the four-foot long steel strips, covering them with plastic bags and towels overnight to allow rust to form around the leaves.

The next day, I removed the towels and bags, and leaves:

Hmmm . . . they did not turn out like expected, but the textures are rather interesting, if not a little busy.

So I decided to apply the heat patina technique from yesterday to see if the leaf and grass textures would be enhanced by the heat-induced colors. This Video shows the magic happening before your eyes (click on "Video").

As I progressed, I learned how to control the heat to produce specific types of patterns, like circles and "S" shapes. You can see some grass/leaf imprints under the blue and rust colors:

I haven't decided exactly what to do with these strips but I have been wanting to make a water fountain from powder-coated metal. So stay tuned . . .

A Blissful Day in the Studio

2011-06-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

This week I was performing my civic duty but when the judge said Friday was a day off, I happily dreamed of having a fun day in the studio!

After eating breakfast, I donned some old clothes, and parked our cars on the driveway to make room in the metal shop (AKA garage). The day started off in the clay studio by finishing up several pieces I made over the last three weeks. This would be the first time I used the kiln since I repaired several damages on the kiln brick from some glaze explosions (ouch!). I had also finished grinding down the pitted and glaze-dripped surface all 15 shelves and repainting them with new kiln wash. So the kiln looked almost new. A couple of carved masks, a large platter, and a 20" 3D sculpture were carefully placed on the clean shelves and the 10-hour firing began.

MY FIRST GOAL for the day was to test whether diluted muriatic acid (used in swimming pools) could "eat away" the hard coating, called mill scale, on recycled steel. The stubborn blackish scale must be removed so a good weld can be made. Usually, I use a grinder with several grinding pads to get rid of the scale; but this takes a long time and goes through too many grinding pads. My friend Kristen likes to have her pieces sandblasted but she says it can still be difficult to get a shiny finish on the steel.

A metal sculptor whom I met at my recent Laguna Lake art show shared a cool way to easily remove the scale: Soak the metal in a bath of muriatic acid and water, rinse it well, then wipe the remaining weakened scale with a green scrubbing pad. Sounds sweet! But I had a concern about how caustic the acid is (would it eat through my rubber gloves?) and how I would be able to safely dispose of it when I'm through - I would NOT pour it into the sewer system. So I read on the internet what muriatic acid is (used in swimming pools to reduce the pH level - one gallon acid to 20,000 gallons water) and how it could be disposed of (neutralize it with an alkaline substance like soda). OK, so it's not so scary.

It was time to try it this morning. I asked my metal artist friends on Facebook whether they had ever tried this practice, but did not hear from anyone who knew whether it would work or not. So I got a sturdy bucket which would hold the diluted acid, fashionable orange rubber gloves, a big plastic bucket which would hold rinse water, a gallon of muriatic acid, a wooden spoon (to mix the acid and water), my iphone (to take videos of the process), some 6"x6" pieces of recycled metal, an old sponge with a green scrubber pad on the back . . . and crossed fingers.

The sculptor said the ratio of acid to water was about 75%/25%, but I was concerned that such a strong concentration might eat through the bucket. So I decided to be conservative and added two quarts of water and had planned to add one quart of acid. I turned on the iphone video with one gloved hand and attempted to speak, pour acid with the other hand, and watch how much acid was going in. All of a sudden, after slowly pouring two cups of acid I noticed that it was starting to smoke a bit! Ooops! I guess that's enough acid! So I would test two quarts water to 1/2 quart acid.

I filled the 24"x24" plastic container half fill of water in the backyard, and slowly stirred the small acid bath bucket. I added one 6x6 square of metal in the bottom of the bucket. I had intended to leave it in 30 minutes, as the sculptor suggested, but I checked it after 10 minutes. I noticed white/light grey flecks appearing throughout the black scale! Something seemed to be working! I used the wooden spoon to scrape the metal while still in the bottom of the bucket - the scale easily came up with the spoon! After only ten minutes! So I lifted the piece out of the bath with my gloved hand, wiped the tiny black specks that were left, and rinsed it off thoroughly. I made another video showing the difference between the acid-washed metal versus scale-covered ones. Huge difference - and only after 10 minutes (see video).

Then I got braver and put three pieces in the bucket, in a triangle formation. Since the acid bath only came up to half of the pieces, after 10 minutes, I turned them over and let them "cook" for another ten minutes. Another Video. WOW! How cool was this? After putting in four more pieces (one on bottom, three on sides), I took the four acid-washed pieces to my sunny side yard to let them dry.

MY SECOND GOAL was time to try another idea that the Lake Laguna sculptor suggested I try: creating a patina/color on clean steel using heat. I took out my propane torch, reread the instructions, lined the four cleaned metal pieces side by side on my brick and gravel path, then struck up the torch. I know the torch is supposed to be upright but the metal was on the ground, so . . . I pointed the torch at the surface. Nothing happened. Maybe I needed to add some vinegar - an acid - then tried the torch again. Well, I didn't have white vinegar, I only had rice wine vinegar so the torch made the vinegar bubble up and turn black. But Wait! I saw a glimpse of blue coming up on the steel! An awesome bright blue, soft salmon and rusty colors, and oranges, and lilac, and some white! All before my eyes!

I went C R A Z Y all afternoon, cleaning more metal and torching the mess out of them. See some of the early examples:

Experimenting with partial acid washing, part natural rusting, and heat-enhanced patinas gave some really awesome painterly artwork. I'll probably powder coat all of these beauties to protect them from the outside elements, then I'll decide what to do with them.

Look at what I did today mom!

MY THIRD GOAL today was to make some recycled metal garden stakes, but with big flower heads, like sunflowers.
I took two 4' x 4" 18-gauge recycled metal strips, marked them with triangular shapes, then used the cutting bit on one of my grinders to cut them up into about 100 triangles which would become petals for the flower heads. Because the edges were jagged, I used my bench grinder to smooth out the edges of half of the triangle pieces (that process took a long time - arrgghhh!). The next step was to lay out the triangle pieces in the side yard and see if the torch would bring out some colors. It took a lot of heating, but the blues and rust colors started to show. Awesome! Then I laid out some circular recycled steel pieces on my garage floor, laid on the colored petals and welded the petals to both sides of the circle. Loving it!

I added many more tac welds for stamens and other decorator bits. Loving it!

I bent re-bar into interesting shapes for the stalk and welded a couple of "legs" to the lower part to allow the garden stake to be inserted into the ground. Viola! The first flower was done (except that I'll probably have it powder-coated to protect it from the outside elements).

Even though it was 6 PM by then, I wanted to make another flower before cleaning up the studio and finishing for the week. This one had a smaller head so I could use thinner metal rods instead of re-bar. So much easier and lighter weight. Loving it!

MY FOURTH GOAL was to clean up both the metal and clay studios before taking my shower and eating dinner. I almost succeeded in cleaning the clay studio and was 100% successful with the metal shop. Then shower, dinner, ibuprofen and ice pack for my aching shoulder.

If today is a portend to what retirement will be like, I AM READY TO TAKE THE RETIREMENT CHALLENGE! I absolutely loved every minute of this beautiful day.

A New DIY Blog - Only for Intrepid People

2011-04-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

My shower door broke a few days ago leaving me with the prospect of never taking a shower again, replacing the glass door with a shower curtain, taking baths from this point forward, becoming very smelly, or getting my 39" behind in gear and solving the problem. So . . . DIY (do it yourself) to the rescue.

I decided, with big time help from my equal-half, to remodel the shower. Why not? If we could totally gut the kitchen and have the first dinner party in the brand new kitchen 5 weeks later (see blog starting in November 2009), we could surely remodel a tiny shower. Right? Our Shower Remodel blog was started yesterday.

Here is a sneak peek of the latest entry this morning:

So for you intrepid crazies like me who are unafraid to make change happen (and/or are too cheap to pay a professional to do the work), feel free to follow our Shower Remodel blog. If you "ARE" a professional (or a wannabe DIYer yourself), I am most open to any suggestions you might have!

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION: Making 20 Pieces of Art

2011-03-31T00:44:00.000-07:00

June 2011 update:

These 8"x8" "Six Degrees of Separation" mixed media sculptures may be purchased at the Kennedy Gallery in Sacramento, CA, through June 30, 2011; call 916-446-1522 to purchase any of them for $125 each (note: some pictured have already been sold).

================ Original post follows =================

It was with a heavy heart that artists and art patrons learned that the beloved 20th Street Gallery was going to close late last year in Sacramento, CA. One of the many special art shows that the 20th Street Gallery was known for was their 20-20 show where 20 8"x8" pieces of art were created within 20 days. Co-owner, Joanie Ferry, kindly offered to let the Kennedy Gallery, located down the street, take over the highly popular 20-20 show this year. I found out last month that my submission, "Six Degrees of Separation," was juried into the show which will run in May 2011!

Six Degrees of Separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that everyone is, on average, approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth. So a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. I have traveled to various parts of the world and always seem to find someone who knows people that I know. Each piece in Six Degrees of Separation shares the same lush tapestry fabric, similar color glazes on the hand-painted clay tiles, and some have tiny clay faces that represent the collective ancestors. This theme brings together humanity from all over the world. Connections.

I first became aware of this concept when watching the 1993 movie of the same name, starring a very young and immensely talented Will Smith
(http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3416524057/).
The concept is true if you look for it: we all meet people who know people from our family or our friends who know other folks who know us. Confused?

For example, my ex-husband and I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, for the first time in 1982 and met up with a couple from Texas who knew some people that we knew in Sacramento, CA. Another example is the co-owner of a gallery my sculptures are in is the brother of a girl that was the unofficial adopted daughter of my mother-in-law . . . but I did not learn of that fact until a couple of years ago at an art show when the two of them were together in one room. I have met numerous people who knew my mother (either through her connections to the art world, Sacramento City Unified School District, bridge, tennis, or golf). My dad brought numerous children into the world in the 1960s through 1990s and everywhere I go, people still ask if I am his daughter.
Connections. The Human Web. Six Degrees of Separation. The subject of my work for the 20-20 show.

The first step was to make 6"x6" clay tiles.

Colorful strips of clay were created using my extruder. It's like a big cookie maker where you put a big 10-pound gob of clay into the extruder container and using a handle attached to a fulcrum, squeeze the clay out the bottom through a shaped die-cast.

I recently bought some cool metal dies to make interesting shapes out of the clay. For this application, I used one of my new metal ones which produced a long, rectangle of clay about 1/4" thick.

After carefully laying the strips on long wooden boards, I let them get leather-hard.

Using a yardstick, I cut each rectangle in half to make 1.25" wide strips.

Clay shrinks as it dries, so I wanted to end up with 1" strips.

Alas, the shrinkage was a bit more uneven than I wanted, but I still painted each piece with color glazes (mostly reds and oranges and golds) and fired them in a kiln to about 1900 degrees.

I have made small faces from clay for a couple of decades.

The small faces represent the collective ancestors who are always watching over us, trying to impart wisdom to us, guarding us, or maybe even just laughing at us!

The concept of honoring the ancestors is a common theme in many cultures of the world and found in many of my art sculptures.

Now to find an interesting way to lay all of the pieces out.

Unfortunately, my carefully cut clay strips warped ever so slightly in the kiln and/or shrank 1/8" more than intended.

They did not fit well enough together all around the 6x6 tiles.

I needed another idea.

"Kanika" is an East African word that means "black cloth." I selected that name because one of my two addictions is fabric - the sensual tactile quality of the material, the colors, and patterns (if you were wondering, the other addiction is chocolate).

So . . . having a half closet full of fabrics gave me the idea of covering the 8"x8" wood square that the gallery provided us with a tapestry fabric. The same fabric that I have covering my wall of masks in the studio.

It was laborious to cut the ever-fraying tapestry fabric to the right size, overlapping the back of the wood 3/8" so that the hanging holes were not covered.

I decided to Tacky glue the fabric to the fronts of the wood.

My trusty, 15-year old hot glue gun adhered the fabric to the backs of the 8"x8" wooden squares.

Several glue-encrusted burned fingers later, I had a nice stack of fabric-covered wood pieces.

Now it was time to figure out how to place the 6"x6" face tiles on the front face of the fabric, add the ancestor faces, some of my clay strips, glass, and other interesting objects.

I laid out seven or eight squares at a time and had fun coming up with different compositions.

Hmmm, I still think that something else needs to be done to make each piece super special.

Do you have any ideas?

We have to take some pieces in progress to a pre-show party on April 7th.

EVOLUTION OF A CLAY ARTIST

2010-12-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

Last year, a fellow artist asked me to make a presentation in January 2011 to a group of artists in Sun City. And now it's almost time to give it! So what would be an interesting talk for an hour or so? A demo? A slideshow? Hands on? Well, why not all of them?

Obviously, I have to talk about clay, since that is the core of my work, even though I also use recycled metal, glass, leather, African fabric, beads, wood, and shells.

Should the topic be the chemistry of ceramics? How clay, silica and frits work with heat to change a brittle dry substance into a rock-hard material? No, cuz I would have to brush up on that topic to be technically correct. But I could bring some raw clay to the meeting, some dry "greenware" showing how brittle it is, some fired, unglazed "bisqueware" and a finished piece to show how clay changes with heat.

What about the history of clay . . . like the importance of clay vessels to daily living for thousands of years? Water storage, ashes, cooling. That could really be interesting, but I would need to do a lot of research and develop a Powerpoint presentation and find suitable equipment to show it, etc. Maybe I'll just bring a clay vessel or two.

Maybe it should all be about me! My evolution as a clay artist. Did I make mud-pies as a child and turn that into a love for big-girl-clay-fired-in-a-kiln? Nope, thanks to my mother, I was a pen-and-ink artist, and a seamstress, and a macrame gal, and a crocheter. Clay actually came as a reward to myself after earning a Bachelors of Art degree in the late 1970s. At that time the world was in love with ROOTS: the mini-series about how Africans were brought to this country and forced to make their hard life here. My wheel-throwing pottery classes at Sac State were a disaster, but sneaking clay home and making African masks was satisfying and successful. My thought is to make a mask for the class as I'm talking (but can I sculpt and talk at the same time???? Better practice this act.).

What happened next in this story, Kanika? Glad you asked. Life happened in the 1980s, including marriage, a Masters Degree, and kids. Clay went on the back burner until 1990 after my second son was born. Hallelujah! My clay soul opened up at Cosumnes River College with master clay sculptor, Yoshio Taylor. He infuses his Japanese heritage into his art and he made it a safe place for me to do the same with my African roots. African figurines evolved with authentic fabric, more traditional African and contemporary masks, and busts. I had made 100 figurines and masks covered my front room wall. My then-husband suggested that I start selling the work (to get them out of the house!). So my Kanika African Sculptures business was born in 1993 and I started doing direct art shows, had a gallery show, and was even interviewed on TV in San Francisco and got a gig at the Hilton Hotel gift shop in The City!

Here comes the Kleenex . . . the unthinkable happened in 1994 - divorce - and I "HAD" to make money from my art to pay for childcare. Life was tough until 2003 when my oldest son entered the Marines. Then his bedroom turned into the perfect studio and I was able to be more and more creative with the clay and didn't have to work so hard to sell, sell, sell.

Time to blossom: more gallery shows started at the Crocker Art Museum in 2000-2002 (good times!), and sales to the City of Elk Grove which spurred my evolution into clay tile work.

The Doiron Gallery encouraged more tile work - big pieces (4' to 5' tall) - tryp-teks for rich people with big wall spaces to fill.

At this point in the talk, I might show a slide show on my laptop and/or pass around several of my art portfolios so they can see the progression and variety in the work.

Nowadays: The Blue Moon Gallery gave me the opportunity to show art in 2009 but they really wanted outdoor art. So I began using recycled metal with the clay and glass. This morphed into lighted outdoor structures and water features, but the nuts and bolts holding together the metal was kind of kludgy.

This year, I treated myself to a welder and built a metal workshop at the studio. I took metal classes from some metal artist friends and made some huge metal structures to serve as underlayment for the clay and glass. This was in preparation for a featured artist show at BMG in July 2010, which also featured the art of my mother, Mary Marshall (deceased). Busy time!

Lately, I've wanted to pull back and go back to my clay roots . . . and lighter weight art projects!

Great segue to letting the class come up and play with clay. I'll bring my tools, a tarp, some cardboard, and clay for them to play a bit.

I'm getting excited about the talk! I'll let you know how it went.

EPILOGUE: The demo went very well. Dozens of talented artists came and asked great questions in this very posh and efficient art room in Sun City Roseville, CA. Here are some pictures from my Facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=273196&id=50402302085

MAKING A GODDESS WATER FEATURE

2010-10-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

"Nature Baby" was my first effort at making a water fountain (see video) and she was purchased by a wonderful woman who has traveled Africa several times and goes by the nickname "Aunt Bea." Nature Baby had glass bee ornaments in her hair, so the match was meant to be!

On October 25, 2009, I wanted to do a garden art show for the Association of Landscape Designers. Amongst my metal and clay garden art pieces, I also want to bring a new goddess-inspired water sculpture.

So I spent all weekend sculpting the basic form, partly on the potter's wheel, partly using a clay slab. Since my goal was to make a 5' water sculpture, and my kiln can only fire works up to 26" tall and wide, the sculpture had to be made in several pieces then adhered together. Soooo, 40 pounds of clay later, I had three pieces which went (separately) into the kiln and were fired to about 2000 degrees for several hours.

The nearly-finished piece has been gracing my piano for the last couple of years. It is so striking that I like seeing it everyday and cannot part with it.

Bottom and middle	The bottom is like a mountain	Detail of the bottom
Top section front	Top section side	Top section back
Painted glaze on the back	Colored glaze on the front	Clear glaze on the front
Front in the kiln after glaze firing	Bottom in the kiln, red hot at 2000 degrees	Bottom after glaze firing
Inserting fountain mechanism	The final colors are showing	In all of her glory
Covering the plastic base with tiles	Adding rocks to the base	The finished goddess fountain!

MUDCLOTH MADNESS ART SHOW

2010-10-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

What is mudcloth? Come to the Kuumba Collective Art Gallery any Thursday through Saturday through November 30th, noon to 6 PM, and learn what mudcloth is and how several creative artists have used it in two- and three-dimensional works of art, purses, quilts, and other items. This is a juried show. It will be exciting to see how the artists use this magical woven fabric. Check this out to get a better feel for what mudcloth is and design your own piece (or just come to the gallery show and see for yourself): http://www.mnh.si.edu/africanvoices/mudcloth/index_flash.html

There will be an extra-special viewing of the show during the Second Saturday Art Walk, October 9th, 6-9 PM.

Kuumba Collective Art Gallery: 1001 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA.

PROUD MEMBER OF THE KUUMBA COLLECTIVE ART GALLERY

2010-09-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

September events at the Kuumba Collective Gallery:

Well Kuumba friends, it has been one year this month since the gallery opened its doors at 1001 Del Paso and so much has happened since last September. Our list of friends on line and on Facebook has grown just as the collection of artists shown here at the gallery has expanded.

We would like to thank all of our patrons and friends for a marvelous first year and we look forward to sharing with the community the exciting activities we have planned for our birthday month. Check out the calendar of events and plan on attending at least one of the very special gatherings, workshops, talks or other events listed.

Labor Day week gallery hours: Thursday 12-6, Friday 12-6, Closed Saturday September 4th
The Kuumba Collective Gallery has the privilege of featuring our artists at the NAACP Rhythm & Blues Festival on Saturday September 4th. We encourage you to come out and enjoy a day of entertainment and excellent information with V101.1 radio, and many other sponsors. For more information visit the NAACP web site at www.sacnaacp.org.

Thursday September 9, from 5-8 pm:
Thursday night Second Saturday preview, featured artist and collector special showing in collaboration with the Sacramento News and Review. Come in and visit with Assemblage artist Marshall Dean Bailey while he works on some of his newest creations and Ceramic Artist Kanika Marshall Creator of the Warrior Diva series. And read their "15 Minutes" article with Kanika written and photographed by Larry Dalton!

Saturday September 11: Happy Birthday to Us!!
Hands on second Saturday art demonstrations lead by Kuumba Collective Featured Artists Jeleana Johnson quilting demonstration. 4:00 pm Gathering of Artists who have shown at the Kuumba Collective over the past year, 1 minute art talk. Toast to the Kuumba Collective. We will have champagne, sparkling cider, birthday cake and snacks so come help us blow out the candles!

Saturday September 18th: Kuumba Collective is proud to presents two different speakers.
Beginning at 2:00 enjoy a discussion with John F. King. As a pioneer and strong advocate for the arts and a civil rights activist, John King has a lot of insights to share about the tumultuous social and political upheaval that shook Sacramento and the nation in the 1960's and 1970"s John was present for the historic march from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in the heart of downtown Montgomery to Alabama's State Capitol. He was a member of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that worked closely with Black citizens throughout the South. Here in Sacramento, he participated in the birth of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and is a loyal member of the oldest black institution on the west coast....Saint Andrews African Methodist Church. As a young artist in the late 60's John was witness to how the volatile political atmosphere being felt throughout the nation was impacting and reorienting the arts as well. Join Kuumba in welcoming one of our venerated elders and hear the wisdom and insight he brings to the current art community.

Second on our agenda for that day will be a demonstration/discussion by Frankie Lee Edwards, Owner and operator of "Framed by Frankie", on Archival Art Preservation, how do you take good care of that piece of fine art you just purchased? Frankie will address all of those concerns and show you state of the art materials used by professional archival framers to preserve and protect your investments. Whether you are an artist, art collector, art investor, or sentimentalist this workshop will educate you on conservation methods and materials to use in protecting your art investment.

Sunday September 19th Kuumba Collective will host the second Art Coalition Meeting beginning at 2:00 pm sharp. Our facilitator Milton Bowens will be on hand to help our local art community with our strategic planning for an action plan which will eventually be presented to the Mayors Arts Council as part of the For Art's Sake program. Please brainstorm some ideas of what you would like to see added to the art scene in the Sacramento area and bring those ideas with you. This event is pot luck so please bring something to share with the group. After the meeting join us to celebrate the community contributions of Ms. Shonna McDaniels, who has been a powerful friend and advocate for the African American and Multicultural Art Scene in the Sacramento Area.

September 24th Art demonstration: ceramic tile painting. Making a decorative tile for a simple trivet or a series for wall decorations can be fun and easy. Join ceramic artist, Iris Dimond to paint your own tile (s). Participants in this workshop will paint their tiles and leave them at the galley for firing. The tiles will be picked up the following week after the glaze firing is complete. The fee for this workshop is $5.00 per participant. Glazes and brushes will be available at the gallery, if you have low fire glazes (cone 06) you would like to use, please bring them along to the class.

Thursday September 23rd the gallery will be open 12 - 6 and Friday September 24th the Gallery will be open 12 - 6 pm.

Saturday September 25th the gallery will be closed due to our participation in the KVIE Art Auction event. Our own Rev FranCione, and Art by Framed by Frankie, operator Frankie Lee Edwards, will be among the featured artists on the televised art auction for this day. Tune into KVIE and bid on a piece of art from one of the many fine Sacramento Artists.
Special Offer from Kanika Marshall

Kanika is offering 10% off any purchase of Kanika African Sculptures at Kuumba during September, in celebration of Kuumba's first year in business. Stop in and see the exquisite collection of items from Kanika's line of African inspired art. From the Warrior Divas to the lovely heart pendants, Kanika has something for every art lover and in lots of price ranges.

Save the Dates in October
October in the gallery we will have two major events. First it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The gallery art will offer information packets for all our patrons regarding breast health including a survivor's celebration tea hosted by Iris Tea Garden Gifts, the time will be announced in the next newsletter.
The second event is our first Mud Cloth Madness art contest. See the flier below for more details on this event.

October 16th from 7 - 10 pm The Kuumba Collective Art Gallery is proud to host the second annual "Art and Soul" event presented by Parkside Community Church. This annual fundraising event is a great way to get out and visit with a number of artists while helping one of our local churches with their fundraising efforts. Join us for an evening of Art, music and light refreshments. We are calling on any of you generous artists out there to donate a piece of art to the silent auction event that evening. We will have space for contributing artists to vend at this event if you are interested, please contact Iris Dimond at the Kuumba collective email: Kuumba.Collective@yahoo.com. Each contributor will receive a receipt for your donation. Thank you in advance your generosity.

October 17th at 2:00 pm the Gallery will host a discussion on African Spirituality and its influence in art, music, and movement. Halifu Osumare PhD and Susheel Bibbs PhD will facilitate this fascinating workshop/discussion. More information and reservation details will be in the next newsletter
There is no fee for this workshop but a love offering will be collected for this program.

Saturday October 30th the second annual Kuumba Halloween party will be held in the gallery space from 6 - 10 pm. get your costume ready as there will be a costume contest again this year. This year's theme will be "Soul Train/That 70"s Show so get your bell bottoms and polyester shirts ready and fluff up those afro wigs. We will have a "Soul Train" Line Dance, so channel your best Don Cornelius or other 70's icon and come dressed to thrill. Food Fun and great music will be the goal of the night.
Admission to the event is $10.00 per person

November begins our preparation for the holiday season and our custom Jewelry show.

The gallery will be open the weekend after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to give our patrons a jump on their holiday shopping. Come in and have a hot cup of tea with Iris Tea Garden Gifts while you browse our exquisite gift selection for holiday giving. Iris Tea Garden will feature many flavorful teas for the holiday season including Apple Spice, Pumpkin Pie, Cinnamon, and Christmas Morning. Browse our selection of fair trade teas and discover how invigorating and healthy your daily cup of tea can be.

December marks the birthdays of the Kuumba Gallery founders Marshall Dean Bailey, December 4th, and Iris J. Dimond, December 31st. Join us for cake and goodies on December 11th Second Saturday to say happy birthday to Marshall and Iris.

Mark the date for December 31st, the Kwanza day of Kuumba (Creativity) and join us to vision for the New Year fro 10:30 - 1:30 with our spiritual leader the Rev. Dr. FranCione as we use art to guide our vision and outlook for 2011. Stay and celebrate Kuumba with the lighting of the Kwanza Candles at an open house from 2 - 6 pm.

Community event announcement:
September 25, 2010 Les Belles Artes Club will host a Scholarship luncheon.
The Luncheon will begin at 1:00 pm at the Lions Gate Hotel and Convention Center 3810 Westover Street, North Highlands California. Our own Quilt artist Jeleana T. Johnson will be participating along with other Sacramento area artists. Please mark your calendars for this event.

Kuumba would like to say Thank you to our many friends and supporters who have frequently visited the gallery and regularly send friends and family in to enjoy the art and great company. We welcome another new member to our collective, John F.King. Mr King will bring a historic perspective to our gathering of amazing artists. Welcome John King.

The Kuumba Collective Members:
Marshall Bailey, Iris Dimond, FranCione, Adele James, Kanika Marshall, Gene Howell, Larry Dalton, Jeleana Johnson.

Kuumba Collective Art Group
1001 Del Paso Blvd
Sacramento, California 95815

Kuumba Collective Art Group | 1001 Del Paso Blvd | Sacramento | CA | 95815

PROUD TO BE FLAKEY - (At Least Today)

2010-08-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

My father taught me an an early age - and repeatedly - to be a producer, a good citizen, a contributor to the world. As a black man growing up in segregated Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1950s, he had become a doctor even in spite of racist attitudes at the time. He completed his residency in Seattle, WA, and internship in Stockton, CA; had been a Lieutenant in the Navy; brought thousands of babies into the world; and made a huge difference in the well-being of hundreds and hundreds of women patients throughout his long career. He was a triathlete, having done the Hawaii Triathlon three times and numerous other Iron Man competitions zillions of times. And on and on. He was driven and always did precisely what he wanted to do. He showed his three kids by example how a life could and should be lived (at least by his very high standards) . . . sitting around, watching TV, and shooting the breeze was not part of his formula for a good life. And so, right or wrong, he did not think it was acceptable for his kids (to relax) either.

To prove my worthiness to be alive, I learned to "DO" a lot, all the time, every day. Not only did I work very hard to get good grades on tests, I always did the extra credit. Even though painfully introverted and quiet, I was on the All City track team, the tumbling team, in the French Club, and made money as a teenager by creating posters for Black History Month and making stuffed dolls. I graduated early from high school in 1975, got an AA from Sac City College in 1976, and a BA from Sac State in 1979. I took a couple of years "off" by taking fun classes in college like Spanish and pottery and Biology, but felt I wasn't producing enough for dad's high standard. So I finished my Master's Degree in 1983 - all coursework on my own dime - and while working full-time for most of those years. Each year, I felt it necessary to do more and more, steam-rolling myself through life, never just sitting and relaxing. Getting married at the age of 22 slowed me down for a while as we went on vacations and actually just had plain old fun, but then I started revving back up when we decided to remodel the kitchen of our first house.

Yes, I confess. I am a Type A Over-Achiever. A hamster constantly running, running, running on the never-ending wheel of life. Producing like CRAZY and kind of enjoying the journey. I knew I had/HAVE a problem, but wasn't sure how to cure it.

After self-medicating with yoga, chocolate, hypnotherapy, and one year in the Berkeley Psychic Institute in the early 1980s, I decided that having kids would slow me down a little. Wrong. Now there was more to do: take care of the kids and try to be a caring and motivating mom, clean the house, cook, be an endearing wife, work full-time, etc.

Then we had a hiring freeze at my day job in the early 1990s, and since I was in the hiring department, I was bored to tears because there was no work to do . . . at work.

I started going to Cosumnes River College for clay classes at night. LOVED IT! After making about 100 African figurines and a wall full of masks, my husband "suggested" that I sell some of them before the art took over our whole house!!! So Kanika African Sculptures was born in 1993 and I started doing art shows on weekends and selling the sculptures in Carol's Books store and other places, in addition to the other stuff.

The 18-year marriage unfortunately died in 1995, so I actually "had" to make money from my art business in order to pay for child care. So the hamster wheel was turning even faster with having to take care of the kids mostly by myself, and working all day, creating art, and selling art to help pay the bills. It was EXHAUSTING! And when my ex-husband was killed by a drunk driver in 1998, I was "IT" - the sole parent - for my kids. Those were really tough years, really lean years. And there was no relaxation at all. Ever. Work at the day job, take the kids to the park after work to get rid of their excess energy, make dinner, do homework, then create art at night when the kids were in bed and then sell it on weekends. Art was my only real release; it was not work totally, but more like play. Creativity was a saving grace.

And then Kanika African Sculptures started being offered shows at the Crocker Art Museum and I got opportunities to be in other art galleries and fine art shows. AND guess what? My dad was finally proud of me! I was finally living life like it should be lived (according to him). But it was hard. Very hard. And really rewarding, both financially, creatively, and egoistically.

Every year on January 1st, I think about goals for the new year. And every year, my number one goal is to RELAX! And every year, I make only a little progress toward realizing that goal. What's a girl to do? If a gallery owner offers me my own art show, do I say no? When someone suggests that I join an art competition or do a cool art show, do I turn my head and look the other way? When an art friend offers to show me a new art technique, do I close the door in her/his face and plop down on the sofa and watch TV? When I wake up and think about a cool new piece of art to make, do I roll over and just go back to sleep?

Well I am proud to say that I did just that this past week! I went to Mendocino with my boyfriend's family and did NOT get most of my goals done. We stayed in bed until 8 AM or later every day, did a morning hike on the property and walked around the towns of Mendocino and Fort Bragg. I did NOT bring clay with me on this trip (like I usually do). I did NOT put together this blog while in Mendo. I did NOT write my monthly newsletter. I did NOT develop several imovie videos on my laptop, like I had intended to do. I did NONE of those things and I feel OK about it!

I AM PROUD TO BE FLAKEY!

(We'll see how long it lasts though . . . I saw some great outdoor art pieces in Mendo that I'm just dying to try . . . )

"LEGACY" - a Mother/Daughter Art Show in July

2010-06-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

From July 10th through July 30th, the Blue Moon Gallery and I will honor my mother Mary Marshall's memory with a "Legacy" art show of our mother-daughter artist combo. The Blue Moon Gallery is located at 2353 Albatross Way, Sacramento, CA, and is open from Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5 PM. On Saturday, July 24th, noon to 3 PM, there will be a special artist talk celebrating my ceramic sculptures and mom's original watercolors.

Who was Mary Marshall? My mom was an educator-turned-professional-artist in the Sacramento area. Her vivid watercolor paintings of everyday people, landscapes, and abstracts had her unique painterly touch. Mom had an illustrious career as an educator in inner-city Sacramento elementary and middle schools, from the early 1970s to 1989. After retiring, she became a full-time professional artist, a dream of hers since she was a child living in a cramped house with six brothers and sisters and her mom in a small-town in central Ohio.

Mom had always doodled - all over the newspaper "Jumble/crossword" page, on her notebooks in college, on shopping lists . . . everywhere. She took numerous college classes and painting workshops at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center and studied with several well-known artist in the Sacramento area.

She was a long-time member and Secretary for the Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons and Elk Grove Artists groups, and won several ribbons for her work. Mom biggest commission was creating about 20 paintings for the huge Antioch Progressive Baptist Church in south Sacramento, but she also had dozens of other commissions during her art career. Mom and I did many art shows together at the Crocker Art Museum, Town and Country Village "Art Fiesta" and other locales, as described in a 2001 Sacramento Bee newspaper article.

Mom passed away on January 27, 2007, after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Even through the many courses of chemotherapy, she painted with her artist friends and remained interested in the arts. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Mary's watercolors will go toward the Mary Marshall Scholarship Fund.

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Mom always made artistic expression a part of our daily existence for me, my younger sister and brother. Though we had very little money growing up, she always made sure we had pens and pencils, paper, cheap fabric, glue, and yarn to explore our creative endeavors. A product of the turbulence of the Civil Rights Era of the late 1960s, my art was greatly influenced by African-Amercian subject matter.

So after earning my college degree in 1979, I took fun classes like pottery from figurative sculptor and potter Ruth Rippon at Sacramento State College in 1980. Lousy at making pottery on the kick wheel, I made African masks out of clay slabs at home and snuck them into the kiln at Sacramento State! At Cosumnes River College during the first half of the 1990s, I took several sculpture and pottery classes with Art Director Yoshio Taylor - his example of representing his ethnic background in his clay work was a HUGE influence for me. In the 1990s, I joined the Sacramento Potters Group, Elk Grove Artist group, Valley Sculpture Artists, and Northern California Artists groups, honing my clay skills and winning numerous awards in art shows throughout Northern California.

In 1993, I took the name Kanika and opened my Kanika African Sculptures business. Kanika is an East African name that means "Black cloth." My love of clay and people from the African diaspora, traditions, and art combine to produce an exciting and unique form of expression. Each sculpture holds special personal significance and has its own positive spirit and personality. I fervently believe that my African ancestors lovingly guide my fingers to create each one-of-a-kind, Afrocentric sculpture. The draping of authentic African fabric, leather and beadwork over the clay sculptures is almost a spiritual experience.

While clay is still my main medium, I have wanted to branch out into sculptural garden art. My clay tile sculptures had been mounted on treated OSB wood so they "could" be placed outside in a covered area, but I wanted even more durability . . . as well as sculptures that could move in the wind, sparkle in the sunlight, as well as weather the weather. My metal artist friend, Kristin Hoard, gave me a few lessons on welding. And those lessons have blossomed into numerous Garden Nymphs and Kinetic Divas which will be shown at the Blue Moon and Patris S12 (1200 S Street, Sacramento) Galleries starting on July 10th.

So we come full circle. Mom embued me with the creative edge and made it possible to become a very happy artist, and I am excited to return the favor by re-exposing her art to the world.

Please come and check out our mother-daughter show at the Blue Moon Gallery. I'd love to see you there . . .

Kanika Marshall-Spirituality Through Art: Am I Manic? What Constitutes a Mania?

2010-06-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

Kanika Marshall-Spirituality Through Art: Am I Manic? What Constitutes a Mania?

Am I Manic? What Constitutes a Mania?

2010-06-17T00:16:00.000-07:00

Is it thinking about something continuously? Wanting to do it all the time? Dreaming about the next time you can do it? Spending lots of money on your new habit? Doing it every chance you get? Well, is there anything wrong with that????

If you've been reading my blogs, you know that my (latest) mania is metal-work. Metal in the morning before my 8-to-5. Metal shopping at lunchtime. Metal after dinner until bedtime. But why? I've got a big featured artist show in July at the Blue Moon Art Gallery in Sacramento, CA, and I want to show some cool new artwork.

The last year or so I've been trying to branch into making more garden art so people can enhance their garden sanctuaries. My clay tile pieces have been mounted on OSB wood which has been protected with exterior paint or wood preservative, but my metal artist friend, Kristen Hoard, suggested that having a metal underlayment might be more durable for outdoor use. So I opened a resale account at Blue Collar metal store and started shopping routinely at Sunshine junkyard/recycling plant to pick up lightweight aluminum and copper. Fred Sanford move over!

Using nuts and bolts on aluminum for my Warrior Diva series of Amazonian women sculptures got old though.

Kristen and her friend, Tomas, helped me learn the basics of welding and grinding in her awesome metal studio.

My first project, the ultimate Kinetic Diva, was way more difficult than I ever anticipated. It took weeks of grinding, chipping off slag, grinding, smoothing, then adding some glass and clay pieces on the backside. She is huge and will bob and weave in the wind, And I love her!

I finally bought a welder of my own, more grinders, and created a metal studio to do some real metal work. On Memorial Day, the welder was fired up for the first time.

Wanting to create some kinetic/moving sculptures was the main impetus for coming up with the Kinetic Diva and Garden Nymph series of sculptures that may be used in the garden, yard, house or office. I had to quickly make he metal bodies so they could be powder-coated to protect the metal from the elements, then I will add clay and glass and other fun things that will move in the wind and sparkle in the sun. So here are some samples of the works in progress.

Metal Fever

2010-06-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

I started up my first welder on Memorial Day after transforming my garage from a clay studio into a combined clay, wood and metal studio. And that was a lot of work, let me tell you!

But Monday morning was the time to try out the new equipment. After getting lessons from my friend and ace metal artist, Kristen Hoard and her friend, Tomas, I was somewhat equipped to put the welder together. After carefully reading instructions (something I rarely do!), I tried my hand at welding using the "flux" method. Spatter spatter everywhere! I posted lots of pictures on Facebook as I progressed through my weak attempts at welding.

Kristen saw my posts and felt sorry for me. She volunteered to drop by and set me and my new equipment straight. First of all, she said to switch the welder over to the MIG functions, which used a mixture of Argon and CO2 gas for a cleaner weld. That took a while to figure out how to do it. Then she experimented with different speed, amp and gas pressure settings to make the weld composition as perfect as she could. Then she made, uh, encouraged me to practice on lots of scrap wood. When she left a couple fo hours later, I should have continued practicing but impatient me wanted to work on my many unfinished projects.

The third piece above (now on its side) would become the first in my Garden Nymph series of kinetic garden sculptures which will move in the wind. The head and torso could rotate independently from the skirt. All will be adorned with clay and glass pieces that will shine in the light.

So many ideas for creativity, so little time!

Magic in May

2010-04-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings art lovers!

The last two weekends we experienced glorious spring weather in Northern California, interspersed with the proverbial April showers. But feeling the warmth of the sun prompted me to get excited about making more outdoor art. Kinetic art that will move in the breeze. Water fountains. Recycled metal foundations that gleam in the sunlight and have a natural rustiness and warmth. Sculptures for the garden. Serenity. Joy. And just in time for May.

Mother's Day. My birthday. Memorial Day. Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The advent of more outdoor art shows. Perfect weather. Magic in May!

I know that we need 7-8 hours of sleep each night. We need to exercise, drink lots of water daily, and eat wholesome food. But there is Magic in May coming and I have too much creative energy to sleep! So many ideas for art pieces. So little time! But doesn't that make life exciting? Here are some of the pieces in progress, hoping to be finished for May Day.

This may become a 5' water fountain with the water dribbling down the sides of the goddess-encrusted shining metal walls.

This piece, Everyone is Watching, was submitted for consideration for the 2010 California State Fair Fine Art Show.

Many pendant shapes which may be used for tall monolith structures that will glisten in the sunlight or be a perfect accompaniment to the flora of the garden.

The start of a cylindrical 5-6' tall "tree" that will have pendants as "fruit" hanging from metal "branches"

THE BIGGEST WARRIOR DIVA

2010-03-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Last month, my newest series, the Warrior Divas, made their appearance at the Kuumba Collective Art Gallery in Sacramento, CA. Last month's blog described my almost two-decade goal to make a collection of striking African warrior sculptures. Here are pictures of last month's Second Saturday art event.

For those of you who have read my blogs for the past couple of years, you know that I have been wanting to create a series of kinetic sculptures that will use the wind and outdoor elements to turn, twist, bounce, and move the sculptures. Metal seems to be the most durable material to use as a foundation for these kinetic sculptures. Combined with my clay pieces - WOW! Last summer on vacation in Mendocino, CA, I developed a design for the first kinetic sculpture (at right).

The latest member of that series was born last Sunday at my friend, Kristen Hoard's, metal studio. We have been collaborating together for a while on clay and metal projects, but have talked about teaching each other the basics of our respective art trades. Last Sunday, my boyfriend, Michael, and I went to Kristen's studio to get a quick lesson about using the plasma cutter to cut recycled metal pieces, weld pieces of metal together, and use various grinding techniques to decorate the metal surfaces.

After showing Kristen my idea, she suggested using a single piece of recycled steel to cut out all of the pieces for my sculpture, instead of using rebar like I envisioned. So I used a felt pen to draw the shapes of the pieces on a 24"x36" piece of steel. Kristen showed us how to use the mighty plasma cutter. Being an intrepid person when it comes to trying something new artistically, I attempted to cut out the inner legs of the piece (below), outer legs, and head. Michael practices using the plasma cutter.

I was more wobbly with the new tool than I had hoped though. After a little begging, Kristen, Michael, and her artist friend, Thomas, took turns at cutting out the remaining pieces of the sculpture.

Here are the entire body, two heads, and part of one arm cut out.

Thomas gave us a lesson on how to tack weld the cut steel pieces to a center pole.

After having us write our names on their steel work table using the welder nozzle (for practice), I added several more tacks to weld the body securely to the pole.

I thought it was interesting that when you pull the trigger, the pole and the piece to be welded turn a red color when the molten metal comes out of the gun. A weld pool (of liquid metal) forms between the two metal pieces which becomes a very strong joint. Pulling the trigger for three to four seconds produces a strong joint. Pulling for longer than that melts through the exterior surface (bad) and pulling less than that only produces a weak tack on one side of the structure (bad). Thank goodness that I am not a perfectionist and I knew that grinding might remove some of my many imperfections; plus, I could always cover up bad spots with my clay pieces!

Now it was time to position each arm onto the pole and tack weld it in place. One arm was welded to the front of the pole and the other to the back of the pole, so there wasn't a naked pole on one side of the structure.

Time to weld the half-heads on. Like the arms, I wanted one head to be welded to one side of the pole and the other to the back side.

Kristen also showed us how to use different types of grinders to change the appearance of the steel.

And voila! The foundation of the sculpture was done! I did not intend to take up all of Kristen's day, but it took about 6 hours to figure out how to engineer the swivel aspect of the kinetic sculpture, draw the sculpture onto a big piece of steel, practice with the plasma cutter, cut out the pieces, practice the welding and weld the pieces to the center support pole, and learn about how different types of grinders can change the appearance of the steel. So here's what the piece looked like:

The next step is to get a variety of grinder heads to change the surface of the metal and even out the edges. Then adding the bling, like clay and glass pieces.

Two weeks later . . .

After coming home from a visit to North Carolina to see my grandbabies and their parents, I looked forward to tackling the next step in this kinetic sculpture.

In my garage, I placed the sculpture on the floor and propped it up off the floor a few inches.

The plasma cutter is a wonderful tool but it leaves some unsightly and jagged metal slag on the edges of the cut that must be removed. I chose to use my grinder for that and to leave a design on the steel surfaces. I started with the head part of the sculpture. Eye protection. Gloves. And I should have put on my respirator and ear protection. The sparks fly off the metal as the grinder whirrs over the steel surface. It's beautiful to look at but I don't think the looking is good for the eyes. Better get out my green glass welding glasses!

See the slag at the edges?

Sparks fly!

I also wanted to smooth out the edges a bit. My plasma cuts were less than perfect, so I'm starting with the inner legs that I cut. Not only will I use the grinder to cut off the slag and smooth the edges, but also to create an interesting texture on the steel surface.

I love how the light catches the parts of steel that have been thru the grinding process. It's so shiny!

The inner and outer sides of the legs have been smoothed out a bit and you can see the beginning of a texture design on the inner portion.

Looks messy, doesn't it? But I am confident that once I'm thru, it will be AWESOME! (I hope . . .)

I must get some more grinder heads, tho, the finesse the finishes that I want to achieve.

This is going to be a big project! One hour of grinding only finished off about 1/5 of both sides of the surfaces! Boy - my hands are vibrating and my ears kind of ringing and my eyes kind of sore from the intense work.

My hat goes off to all metal artists!

The Warrior Divas

2010-02-27T20:42:00.000-08:00

WARRIOR DIVAS:
FOR TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE FEMININE WAY!!!

Showing in April at the Kuumba Collective Art Gallery, 1001 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA.

Remember when Clark Kent would dive into a telephone booth and come out as SuperMan . . . for Truth, Justice, and the American Way? He was ready to right some wrong, capture some bad guy, save humanity, and gain the admiration of children, men and women everywhere. And he sure looked yummy in that Superman suit!

Well, since 1990, when I took my first clay class from renowned ceramic sculptor Yoshio Taylor (Art Director at Cosumnes River College), I have wanted to make a series of African Warriors. In my mind, they were always males, seven feet tall, thin and strong, holding five foot staffs, with enormous headdresses. Guardians. Protectors. Warriors. But time went on and I could never figure out how to make that series (although I made many masks, figurines, and three-dimensional mixed-media sculptures for two decades).

But in 2005, I started using clay tiles in my artwork and those really took off and have been very popular with collectors in the western United States. A couple of years ago I made several four foot tile sculptures:

Original "Modernique" Sculptures

Original "Luck of the Irish"

I thought the color glazing was phenomenal on each of these sculptures, but the overall rectangular shapes were not interesting enough to find the right owner. "I" loved each of those pieces but realized that they needed to be freshened up a bit.

So I took some of my recycled metal pieces and laid them on my large work table with one of the original tile sculptures. I pulled out my handmade clay hearts and spirals, along with many containers of glass pieces, hardware, and other recycled materials.

Over many weeks, I experimented with finding just the right look for each of four original tile sculptures. They morphed into several six-to-seven foot Amazon Women.

Could these be my long sought-after Warriors?

Yes, but not men.

Warriors with bling! WARRIOR DIVAS!!!

WARRIOR DIVAS! For Truth, Justice and the Feminine Way!

When the world needs them, they change from ordinary women who perform mundane tasks for their family, their houses, and their jobs. Those ordinary women attempt to work within their budgets. They wear comfortable clothes and shoes. They get little sleep because they are always so busy. They do their best, but they don't always feel appreciated by those they help. These women dream about foreign places, eating whatever they want while maintaining a killer figure, having a foxy love interest, having all the money they could want for shopping and, like every Miss America pageant winner, they want world peace.

Warrior Divas are assertive, beautiful, big, strong, capable, intelligent, and caring. Warrior Divas! Little children and women aspire to be like them. Men want to be with them.

On March 13, 2010, the Warrior Divas were unveiled at the Kuumba Collective Art Gallery, located at 1001 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA. I was just recovering from one week of laryngitis - no voice at all for 7 days. Co-owner, Iris Dimond, plied me with hot tea and co-owner, Marshall Bailey, plied me with wine to give me partial voice. There was a steady stream of art lovers, old friends and new, as shown in a few of the following pictures of the event.

Aspiring artist, Maleek Sanchez, who drew people's portraits during the evening.

Soothing my voice with hot tea.

February is for Love and Hope

2010-01-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

Whether celebrations on Valentine's Day are the result of crass commercialism or true emotion, February has been designated at the month for love. Good chocolate floats my boat, but some people like a more lasting way to show their love, like jewelry, suggestive clothing, and hearts. I can help with the latter!

This time last year, my friend Kristin opened up an opportunity for our women's art business group to show our artwork in a Valentine's month show at a hair salon. I didn't have anything to put into the show initially, but one morning I woke up with an idea on how to make lovely textured hearts. The first few batches took a long time to make, but then I learned to use the many texturing tools that i have developed over the years. My first venture from last year at one hair salon turned into a bang-up business selling hearts all year long, through my website, stores and galleries.

This is a new year and the theme of hearts for your lover is as strong as ever. Over the past several weeks, I had made probably five dozen hearts to be ready for Valentine's Day. Here are a few pictures of the process and result.

Form the hearts out of clay, using texture tools. Use a damp sponge to smooth out the edges.

Paint on color glazes, layering and overlapping the colors for more depth and interest.

Ready for firing in the kiln.

After the hearts are fired in a kiln for several hours to about 1,860 degrees, my Kanika contact label is affixed to the back of the heart, and wire is artfully twined through the eyes in the heart top. Finished!

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Kanika's fanciful hearts may be purchased at:

* Kanika's website, Pottery and Hearts webpage: http://www.kanika.us/1gifts_pp.htm

* Jacquelyn's Salon: 2475 Elk Grove Blvd., Suite 120, Elk Grove, CA, 916-647-9302, http://www.elk-grove.com/business/?bizid=2761

* Sunlight of the Spirit: 2314 J Street, Sacramento, CA, 95816, 916-440-1533, http://www.sunlightofthespiritbooks.com/

* Pinky's Salon: 5379 H Street, Sacramento, CA, (916) 451-8185

* Blue Moon Gallery: 2353 Albatross Way, Sacramento, CA, 916-920-2444, http://www.bluemoongallerysacto.com/

A New Year of Possibilities

2010-01-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

I am watching the documentary called "The Secret." yes, the same story that Oprah chose for her book club last year.

Ask

Believe

Receive

I thought it was fascinating and enjoyed hearing someone put words to my personal beliefs. Friends will often hear me say:

"Put what you want out into the universe."
"Ask for what you want (and be careful what you ask for because you may get it)"
"Be prepared to be successful."
"Enjoy your blessings" - enjoy the bliss.
"Follow your passion"
"Visualize, then realize."

Wonderful, positive concepts to live by. Of course, motivational gurus have espoused versions of these concepts for years, but I thought this movie/book put it all together quite nicely.

Ask!

Believe!

Receive!

Be the creator of your destiny!

Enjoy your blessings . . . sincerely, Kanika

Best Holiday Shopping of the Year! Nov 27-29, 2009

2009-11-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Make an impression this holiday season with unique gifts from the Crocker's Holiday Art & Craft Festival like:

Jewelry, gourmet food items, ceramics & pottery, paintings and watercolors, cards and ornaments, and more! Have your photo taken with a Victorian Santa. And there is a new checkout format this year where you buy directly from the artists.

Kanika African Sculptures will join 100 other fine artists on Thanksgiving weekend at the Scottish Rite Center to offer shoppers a wonderful variety of original arts and crafts. This is one of the premier fine art shows in Sacramento and I hope you will come.

I will be in booth #117 in the main room and will have many cool gift items like: goddess statues, wonderfully colorful clay platters, masks, two- and three-dimensional mixed media sculptures, indoor/outdoor water fountains, African figurines, breast cancer survivor art, and Black Santa and angel ornaments. Coming on Friday gets you the best choice of art and gifts.

Where:

Scottish Rite Center, 6151 H Street, Sacramento, CA

Hours open:

Friday 1-7 PM
Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM
Sunday 10 AM to 4 PM

Free to Crocker Art Museum members; seniors over 65 $3 and all others $6 entry fee.

Multicultural Influences on Spirituality

2009-09-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

I am so honored to have been asked to be the featured artist at the Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum (Sojo), located at 2251 Florin Road in south Sacramento, CA, 95822.

Through Octboer 18, 2009, I am exhibiting 30 sculptures in their gallery and will donate 20% of the art sales to the Sojo art program, which served 12,000 inner-city youth last year. Please come to my closing reception on the 18th, from 1 to 4 PM at the Sojo gallery.

Several of my mask and tile and 3-D pieces, including "Queen of the Nile," were inspired especially for this worthwhile event.

Sojo is definitely one of Sacramento's least known but most deserving showpieces!

The Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art Museum celebrated its first annual Sojo Community Fine Arts festival in 2003. For 6 years, this festival has increased community awareness of historical and cultural values of visual art through cultural programs, entertainment, art and food, Sojourner Truth Multicultural Art museums goal is to engage, cultivate and educate diverse audiences about the arts. The event also enhances the community's knowledge of art in a fun and positive environment. People of diverse ages and backgrounds' attending the event offers an excellent vehicle for leading businesses to showcase their support for the South Sacramento community and the Arts.

After seeing the amazing wall murals painted by Shonna McDaniels, Alpha Bruton, Lawrence Sullivan, and many other local artists at the Sojo Center, I wanted to bring artworks that fit into the theme of Sacramento's varied multicultural history.

"Rhythm Voyage" was born from the inspiration of an African talking drum. I collect musical instruments from around the around and have a number of drums. My ex-husband was an Afro-latin band drummer and my youngest son was in his high school marching band, drum line, and concert band, generally playing the amazing tenor drums (which is five drums connected around his waist). Drumming is definitely important in our household and I wanted to commemorate that skill in this art piece.

While relying on a miniscule annual budget, Sojo center volunteers like Shonna McDaniels work tirelessly with children from diverse backgrounds everyday, teaching them to use different facets of art to cope with life's difficulties instead of relying on the street life activities that so often lead children astray. "Together, We Fit" describes the importance of different peoples working together for the betterment of humanity. That's what the Sojo center is all about!

And if you feel moved to donate money or art supplies, etc., to the center to help further their good works, then please do feel free to click here to learn more about how to donate to this worthy cause.

I will be donating 20% of my art sales through October 18th to Sojo, so feel free to join me in helping disadvantaged kids learn positive ways to spend their time.

"A River Runs Through It" is really the story of Sacramento, where rivers have made the city accessible to the world. The Sacramento River travels west via the Delta to San Francisco and the port of Sacramento encouraged trade between the capitol city and the west coast. The American River travels east toward the Sierra mountains. Gold was discovered in them thar hills and water was an important component of that venture too. Sacramento is known as the River City (as well as the City of Trees), so this piece brings a sense of history to the show.

"The Voyeurs" is a 24"W x 36"H tile piece that is a fun representation of people in our lives. People that watch us, watch over us, envy us, love us, cause problems for us, like to be around us, etc. We are never alone. There is always someone who could help us or love us, if we only let them. This is a very positive and fun piece that imparts the view of a multicultural world. NOTE: The actual piece has some unusual surprises on it that are not shown in this photo. The surprises may only be seen up close, so come and check it out and see for yourself.

The Nature Series

2009-08-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am a nature girl. My favorite place to be is in a redwood forest, admiring the majesty and creative energy of those ancient giants.

In fact, a couple of walls in my bedroom are covered with pictures of coastal redwoods (above), so I can awake in the middle of a forest everyday.

So on this year's vacation to Mendocino, California, I wanted to capture more of the essence of those trees. We stayed at a 15-acre, hilly compound about 5 miles inland from the ocean town of Mendocino. It had a four-bedroom house, artist's studio on another hill, and a cozy cottage in which we slept. All around us were hiking paths amongst the redwoods and ferns. Truly a joy.

In the morning, the mist descended from the tree-tops, the deer explored outside our cottage, the air was still. And the smell was so fresh that I wished we could bottle it and bring it back home.

We went for our 30-minute morning constitutional walk (aerobic workout!) before our shower and breakfast, then explored Fort Bragg, the galleries in Mendocino, the State Parks nearby, or hiking around the boulders at the ocean.

The artistic inspiration one can receive from such a place is incalculable.

Thankfully, I had brought 50 pounds of clay with me. One morning, ideas started popping into my head.

Quietly, I crept out of bed at 5 AM and stole out of the cottage, hunting for "treasures" to immortalize in clay.

Fresh fern leaves, cones and leaves from the redwood trees, rocks along the pathway, and glorious strips of bark that had fallen from these magnificent trees.

I used a car window screen to sit on the driveway and got to work before anyone else awoke. I rolled out some slabs of clay and started pressing the found objects into it, trying to capture their essence The textures of these objects were amazing: the fine veining of the ferns, the peaks and valleys of the rocks, the amazing texture of the bark. All were captured in the clay for posterity.

Some of the imprints were carefully enhanced with carving tools, but essentially, the pieces are as they were formed from the found objects. The picture at right shows an Adirondack chair which is where I sat to complete some of this finer carving.

With the redwoods in back of me, a sloping meadow in front of me, and the sun kissing my shoulders, I spent a couple of hours fine-tuning the imprints . . . until it was time to do more exploring in town.

About one dozen pieces were allowed to dry out on one of the golden hillsides and/or the driveway. It was uncharacteristically warm that day, so they all dried in only a few hours (compared to the usual days of drying).

Once back in the studio, I fired the pieces to cone 05 (about 1,860 degrees) overnight, then rubbed red or black iron oxide into the crevasses to bring out the depth of the design.

On some, I also infused a copper carbonate solution to give a bluish-green tint to the piece. Other pieces received red or orange glaze. Back into the kiln.

I used gold and copper acrylic products to give a little sparkle to some pieces. Others I had cracked and added additional pieces of fired clay on the top for extra interest.

I had seen in one of the Mendocino galleries artworks called "petroglyphs" which looked like fish fossils caught inside of stone (I believe the artist used a clay surface though). The artist had used iron oxides to darken the crevasses of the images, so the pieces looked old . . . really ancient. Crusty. Mystical.

So that's what my inspiration had been in creating this "Nature" series.

You can see more of these new pieces on my website at: http://kanika.us/1Masks_pp.htm

Artistic Inspiration Came from a Well-Earned Vacation

2009-07-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

In July, my son and I spent one week visiting with family in Georgia and Ohio. We flew into Atlanta, Georgia, then drove nine hours up to Columbus, Ohio, to attend my cousin Everett's wedding and visit with mom's family - including my remarkable 102-year old Aunt Reba. I also visited my mom in the family plot at a Mt. Vernon, Ohio, cemetery and went to the Lett family reunion in Zanesville, Ohio. Then the long drive back back to Atlanta where we visited a magnificent Hindu temple and explored civil rights history at the Martin Luther King Center, his family house, and the church where he preached. I was also excited to have found where my dad's dad was buried in Columbus, Georgia, and visited the family plot there to shore up some holes in my genealogy records. Do not get me started about how abysmal "colored" cemeteries are in the deep South!

Everywhere we traveled I was amazed at how far a dollar stretches in other states, as compared to high-cost California. A prime case in point was the phenomenal house of my cousins Julie and Don in the suburbs of Atlanta. For the same present value of my 1,670 square foot home near Sacramento, California, they purchased a home two years ago which includes close to 5,000 useable square footage. This includes a basement comprised of large familyroom with fireplace, exercise room, two bedrooms, 1,000 square foot workrooms for Julie, kitchen, and full bathroom; one side of the basement is banked with windows and french doors to the outdoor wooded area. The first floor contains three additional bedrooms (the master bedroom has a gas fireplace), a spacious kitchen with breakfast nook, two bathrooms, an office for Don, a formal diningroom, a large familyroom, a laundryroom, and an enclosed outdoor room overlooking the woods on one side and the community pool on another. The upstairs has two bedrooms and another bathroom. And there is a two-car garage. All of this bounty is on almost 3/4 acre with green, green lawns and a wooded glen surrounding the backyard!

Now perhaps because Julie's business is to create stunning window treatments and slip covers, along with the perfect wall paint, the interior of the house looks even more rich than its huge space. I became SO ENERGIZED with ideas for art in this creative atmosphere. In fact, I loved the rich colors in the formal diningroom so much, I was inspired to create a set of square plates like her table setting. I would use them for a luncheon I was planning to chair for my SacArtQ women artists networking group on July 31st.

I used 35 pounds of clay to create 10 square "bowls." Yes, I had intended to make plates, but I had not thoroughly conceptualized how I was going to make them before I started. So, as usual, I just got started and had faith that more answers would come to me as I needed them. I sliced off some 3-4 pound pieces of clay from the 25-pound block of red clay, rolled each out on an old cardboard box, into a roughly square shape, and cut them to a 13" square using a cardboard template. But how to make the base somewhat rounded so the plate would not be perfectly flat? Originally, I was simply going to lay the squares of rolled-out clay over two, large, upside-down rounded platters, separating the layers of clay squares by towels so the layers could dry and keep the generally rounded shape. After five hours of "drying" I checked the two stacks of five clay squares each and quickly observed that it would take many days to dry this way - and then they would have to be fired in a kiln, glazed with color, and fired again. My luncheon was only five days away, so I had to change my plan on how to dry the plates. Quickly!

Since I was making these sculptures at my boyfriend's house, and since we had recently laid down three patios of 6"x6"x2" pavers, I decided to drape the 13"x13" clay squares over some unused pavers. This meant that the sides of the clay squares would slope downward to make a raised square in the center. I put a couple of the squares on plastic chairs in the full sun to hastent eh drying time (above right). After a couple of hours, the clay hardened to the "leather-hard" stage where I could start carving the edges and inner surfaces and preparing them for final drying. Lo and behold, when I took the "plates" off their paver-stands, I found that I had actually made 10 deep "bowls" not plates; but that's OK, I had planned to serve salad for the lunch anyway!

Now to add some color and interest. I painted each plate/bowl with different food-safe colors and patterns and effects then fired them again. After a thorough wash with hot and soapy water, they were ready for the table. When my artist friends came to the luncheon yesterday they ooohed and aaahed at the vivied colors and textures. As one artist to another, I think they most appreciated the fact that I valued them so much that I wanted to create an extra special luncheon for them with brand new, hand-sculpted, hand-painted plates before we went on our field trip to the Haggin Museum in Stockton, CA, to see the Matisse exhibit. Food, fun, friends, and fantasy. That's what it's all about!

Nine of these exotic platters are now available from my website.

Creativity Does Not Stop at Midnight

2009-07-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

The creative edge has no alarm clock. Ideas can come at any time during the day or night. The muse does not sleep. And often neither do I! The Blue Moon Gallery in Sacramento, CA, has implored me to make another LED lighted, monolithic outdoor structure. My first effort was well-received and sold a couple of weeks after it was first shown in the gallery.

Since then, I have been working feverishly to create another one. A bigger one. One that has several little windows of light along the top three feet.

The good thing is that I have already spent weeks making hundreds of little tile pieces and have hundreds of glass baubles and stones to make another structure. So it's a matter of puzzling together these disparate shapes, colors, and media into an interesting art piece that can withstand the elements.

So many people are spending more time at home and in their garden sanctuaries, so outdoor art has become a very important component of my business.

The pictures in this edition of the Spirituality and Art blog show the creative process in progress.

Here is the studio workroom, with many 4x4" tiles and different-sized tiles decorating the first side of the monolith.

The next image shows a 9" segment of that first side; it contains a small "window" that will allow people to get a nice burst of bright light at night.

Once the majority of the sides are adorned with tiles and little glass baubles to catch the daylight, and other decorative items, I placed the in-progress sculptures on a small stand in my personal garden sanctuary.
It is so tall! It pushes aside the upper branches of my Japanese maple! Gorgeous!

I've got to make one for myself!

But it's the base that still gives me pause. I must find a heavy, but attractive, option that will ensure this 7' sculpture will not topple in a strong wind. My friend, Kristin Hoard, a metal sculptor, made me a 4' metal stand that the original monolith stood on. Because this new one is taller, the 4' stand is too small.

The Second Saturday art walk is on July 11th with an art reception at the Blue Moon Gallery from 6-9 PM (2353 Albatross Way, Sac, CA), but I'm not sure I can finish this big boy by then. If not, it will probably be in the August "Sculpture Show" at the Blue Moon Gallery. And this month, I'll have several brand new metal and clay pieces at the gallery, so stop by and check them out if you are in the Sacramento, CA, area.

But the muse does not sleep and hope springs eternal . . .

Please do let me know if you have any ideas for me on building an appropriate base.

Ta Ta for now . . .

FRESH FROM THE STUDIO!

2009-06-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

I am an undisciplined, nonconforming type of artist. AND PROUD OF IT! I do not have nice, orderly themes of work. I mix glazes when you're not supposed to. I do not painstakingly think about exactly what I am going to create and then draw it out carefully before the sculpting begins.

NOPE, that's not me!

For example, on the same day in the studio, I could create a plate like this one, a bust (below), a goddess, and some hearts. That's using 25 pounds of clay in one sitting (for a clay artist, that's not very much).

The first draft of a sculpture can go pretty quickly (called greenware), but the rest takes a lot of time. There's the finishing cleanup of the sculpture like final carving and using a damp sponge to smooth out the edges.

Then there are days of drying the clay so it does not explode in the kiln, at least six hours of firing time to over 1,860 degrees Fahrenheit. More cooling time. Then figuring out which color glazes to use, layering the color glazes Kanika-style. Six more hours of firing time, then a day of cooling time.

Special fun is choosing the perfect finishing touches like adding different media (e.g., fabric, leather, beads, glass, shells), a wood backing and wire for hanging, a gold Kanika info label on the back of each sculpture (you can get in touch with me later), and/or a fabric-covered frame.

The final tasks are to name the piece (sometimes an exercise in itself!), number it for my inventory/taxes, take a digital picture, and put it on the website. All of these steps can take many weeks or months to complete.

WHEN THE MOON IS BLUE

2009-05-13T21:57:00.001-07:00

I just had the pleasure of showing several outdoor art pieces at the Blue Moon Gallery in Sacramento with several other women artists. This was not just another art show. It was magical. The owners, Carol and John Brewer, have created an atmosphere of beauty and serenity. This helps the artwork to shine brightly and potential customers to fully enjoy the fruits of our artistic labors.

The following pictures illustrate what I am talking about. This show continues through May 30th at the Blue moon Gallery, 2353 Albatross, Sacramento, CA, 95815. Come by and visit and please give me your feedback.

Planes of Consciousness:

Vernal Coupling (see VIDEO):

Tower of Happiness:

A Pattern of Life (see VIDEO):

Nature Baby (see VIDEO):

The Heart of the Matter:

Goddess Tower:

World Dominion (see VIDEO):

You Light Up My Life:

California Gold - Marbled Landscapes (see VIDEO):

Need More Time to Enjoy Moments in May

2009-04-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

How many of you feel that time goes faster and faster the older you get? Tonight I asked my youngest son, Matt, whether this year, his first in college, passed more quickly than his last year in high school? Last year, he was involved in marching band, concert band, drum line, taekwondo, four quarters of school, and friends. This year, he is ending two semesters in college. He feels that both years were equally long and interesting, but I feel like his college year has ZOOMED BY. I hardly remember 2008 - what happened? Thankfully, I have this blog to remind myself what has happened over the year to realize that last year was chock full of events: lots of art shows, starting the landscape tile series, arranging the first Elk Grove Open Studio Tour, having a "bell-ringer" sale of one of my tile pieces for the KVIE Art Auction, having featured artist shows at the Doiron Gallery and Elk Grove Fine Arts Center, winning an Award of Excellence at the California State Fair, and culminating in the birth of my granddaughter in December.

By comparison, 2009 has been much more relaxed, save getting a piece into the Blue Moon Gallery and participating in the 20th Street Gallery's 50-50 show. But my art life heats up in May . . . continuance of the 50-50 Show, a show of women artists at the Blue Moon Gallery, and participating in the "Women Uncovered" show at the Side Show Studios Tattoo and Fine Art Gallery in Sacramento, CA. I need more time in the day to enjoy these special moments in May!

Here are three brand new large sculptures to be introduced this month at the Clay Fest on May 2nd and Blue Moon Gallery on May 9th. More information can be found on Facebook and my website (enter your e-mail in the "Join Our Newsletter" box to get my newsletter which has lots of additional information on upcoming shows and sculptures).

A Promise of Spring Brings New Ideas in the Studio

2009-03-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Looking out my bedroom door onto a lush garden of new-green and blooming flowers brings thoughts of spring to mind. Everything is new. Fresh. Full of promise. Spirit is at work. I feel my mother's presence, on the eve of what would have been her 75th birthday.

And that spurs on fresh ideas. Ideas for art. Yes, there is always something being created in the Kanika African Sculptures studio, like more colorful tile mosaics (in progress). And several large plates have been carved and fired once (one is titled "Inside My Dad's Brain" - an interesting study of an Alzheimer's patient). Another work is called "Inside Susan's Brain" a complex data flow chart created by a programmer friend of mine, transferred to clay (you may see a glimpse of it in the last picture, the orangy piece at the lower right of the picture).

But as I've written in my newsletter and blogs for the last year or so, I have been experimenting with outdoor art. And I've got to finish in time for a show in May at the Blue Moon Gallery! Anyway, tile creations, like this 6' totem holds LED lights, and will hopefully stand the test of the elements.

Soon I'll have kinetic sculpture that moves gracefully in the breeze.

And I love this 3' goddess water sculpture. The goddess houses a fountain pump in the base of the sculpture which can be placed inside a small pond. Water flows up through the goddess and springs forth from her head, the top of which is adorned by yellow and black glass bees and her feet surrounded by glass cats.

Another 4' totem may be used as a bird feeder or planter with drip irrigation mechanism inside the sculpture (in progress).

Recently, my dear friend and metal sculptor, Kristen Hoard, had a supreme idea. Metal with tile! She commissioned me to make a bunch of small tile sculptures that she can use on her superb metal work.

In return, Kristen turned me on to her metal studio. Like a kid in a candy store, I marveled at the volume of recycled metal "STUFF" she had in bins, on shelves, all surprisingly neatly arranged. Wire, steel, aluminum. Every shape imaginable. And tools - welder, vise grips, angle-irons, and stuff that I cannot name. Kristen listened to my ideas for outdoor art and proposed workable solutions to make those ideas come to fruition. This piece is an example of how I might marry metal with clay to make an outdoor piece that will fair better than the wood-based pieces that I usually fashion. This is a 42" long piece of aluminum, with a simple hanging mechanism welded by Kristen on the back.

What do you think???

Commissioned Work - To Be Or Not To Be?

2009-03-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

For many years, I shied away from doing commission work. "What is that?" you ask? A commissioned piece of art is one where the client asks the artist to fashion a piece of artwork in a specific way.

My first commission was in 1993, a figurine that looked like it was dancing. That was pretty easy. I simply made sure that the fabric was draped in such a way that it twisted around the ceramic body.

My next commission was in about 2002. A fellow had seen me at the Crocker Art Museum annual Holiday Show. He wanted to woo a very well known pianist in our area. He commissioned me to make a ceramic piano that morphed into the pianist. Or, more to say, that the pianist's fingers blended into the piano. At the time, I had not seen/heard the pianist in question, so I could only go on his description of someone who was "one with her music." Emotion. Explosive. So I carefully made a sculpture to his specifications. It took a long time, but it was awesome - almost Seuss-like in how the player morphed into the piano . . . but it cracked in the kiln and I had to start over. Arrgghhh! The second one was not as successful as the first, but the customer was satisfied. The effort had taken me about 100 hours to make and the original commission price was only $200 (not commensurate with the time it took to make the final product). I swore off commissions after that!

But in 2005-2006, after selling my first big mosaic tile pieces (top right) I had the opportunity to collaborate on a large commission with one of my all-time favorite local artists, Anne Bradley (acrylic, collage, watercolor, metal), and fine ceramic artist Chris Kubi. Over an eight-month period, we built a rather massive 14' x 10' metal and clay structure for the New Faze Development building at 1900 Del Paso Blvd. It was an exhausting and exhilerating experience which I journaled into an article containing lots of pictures.

The Doiron Gallery gave me the opportunity to complete two more commissions in 2006. With both, the clients came to my studio and I was able to show them several samples of my work to get an idea of what they liked. Then I pulled out several of my tiles and ceramic faces and goddesses and glass and stone pieces and actually loosely lay them out on a board to begin the composition. What fun for them and me! I got a very good idea of what they liked and they felt like they had a hand in making their piece. And best of all, they let me finish the pieces off in the manner that I saw fit.

Last year, one of the above Doiron clients asked me to make over one dozen switch plate and socket covers out of clay. This riveled the piano and New Faze projects in difficulty. It sounds simple: make a template of a socket cover, cut it out from clay, fire it and glaze it. Simple, right? NO!!! Clay shrinks. So the template must be cut 10-15% larger than the finished size. The screw holes must line up nearly perfectly or the cover will not fit. I must have spent 100 hours making 50 total covers just to get about one dozen that would work for the client. So while I love the idea, it was just too much work and too difficult to ensure the customers could easily fit the screws into the socket holes to be practical.

I just finished the latest commission last week. The clients had purchased several of my tile pieces in the past and desired to bring in another substantial piece over their big-screen TV. They looked on my website and found several pieces that they felt might work in the space. Helpfully, they e-mailed me a picture of their space so I could see the coloring and size needs. After proposing more pieces that might work, I volunteered to bring out several large and small items to try in the space. They couldn't decide between three larger pieces, so I collected a deposit using PayPal (so easy!) and urged them to live with the pieces for a while. After selecting the largest piece, they suggested that I add on a "topper" like I had done with one of the previous sculptures they purchased. Using e-mail, I presented them with lots of options for the topper and they selected one that they felt would make the enhanced sculpture "POP". When I came to install it, I kicked myself for not taking a picture of how wonderful it looked in the new space. That was a wonderful experience and I was so honored that they chose me to add to their already-gorgeous home.

So "to commission or not to commission?" I may be more open to the experience in the future if it is as pleasant as the last one!

How Much Can A Brain Stretch?

2009-02-20T08:41:00.000-08:00

Blogs. Newsletters. Websites. MySpace. Facebook. All of them, of course, are wonderful modern communication marvels of our technological age! But when one is trying to market an art business, which do we choose to put our efforts into developing? There are only 24 hours in a day! How much can a 50+-year old brain incorporate?

An artist is, first and foremost, an artist. So priority has to be on reaching deep inside to that spiritual place to create our art. It's the art that soothes our soul and makes us want to get up in the morning (and sometimes stay up all night!).

But how to share our work with the world? Yes, there is the direct approach through art shows. We get to meet art lovers and prospective customers at various art shows. But doing shows is an art in itself. Which shows does one choose? A craft show brings people who want the most stuff for the least amount of money. An art and craft fair usually has folks in the first category but some patrons who do want to collect art. A fine art show brings the more serious collectors, but those shows generally have high participation/booth fees for artists. An art and wine or music show is generally very pleasant and has a good mix of people who enjoy both art and wine/music. Art with food or beer? No way - people will spend money all day long on products that will be gone within 24 hours (if you know what I mean . . .).

And "how" should we setup our booth to best show off our art? And "how" do we transport it safely? And which are the best months to do a show? And how do we advertise the show to reach a large number of people? Lots of "ifs." So the direct art show approach can be hit or miss, depending on whether you've chosen the right venue and the right person comes along and sees the right piece of artwork and has the right amount of money to spend, etc. And the art show route generally only lasts for one day or two. So all of the work to bundle up the artwork, set it up at a show, greet people for 8 hours a day, and pack up the art at the end of the show, is generally a short-lived experience. But the best thing about art shows is that people can hear from the artist him/herself about their passion at making the work, and the techniques that were used, and the "story" or inspiration that helped create the work. Art shows are tiring but very rewarding in the relationships that one can make with the public.

So then there's the gallery and store route. An artist can keep their art in front of the public for perhaps a month(s) at a time. The gallery/store owner takes the responsibility (and a good percentage of any sale) to meet and greet the public and try to impart the passion of the artist about their work. It's easier for the artist, and can result in positive notoriety to be in a gallery or prestigious store, to be sure (the picture at left is from the 20th Street Gallery, at which I will be showing in April and May 2009). But losing that percentage $$$ is real tough for the artist after it took so long to make the work in the first place!

And now technology allows the artist to be the master of our destiny, both creatively and financially. But darn it! My brain has a hard time learning how to use MORE programs and MORE technology! FrontPage and Adobe GoLive for the three websites I manage (www.Kanika.us, www.Sacramento PottersGroup.com, and www.ElkGroveArtists.org). Then one must find a way to tell people the websites are on the world wide web. That's where web marketing comes into play and learning how html and keywords, etc., can help the website show up high on Google and Yahoo search lists.

Learning how to use the iphone is another way to show my art slideshows to prospective buyers. So how does this "thingy" on the phone work again?

And then having one's one e-newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with your art customers. I've been using Constant Contact for a year or so. I can communicate with people who want to receive my newsletter. There's a link on the left side of my website homepage and link to enter your e-mail address to receive the newsletter. People can communicate to me the types of articles and information they want to see in the newsletter and I can let them know about upcoming events and new sculptures being created, etc. It takes about 2-3 hours each month to prepare a newsletter and it can only be sent to people who authorize me to e-mail it to them, but it is a lovely tool to communicate with art lovers.

Then there's blogs like this one and my Cancer Survivor Art Blog. They are great for allowing a freeflow of thought and easily show pictures and links that illustrate the thoughts. And the reader is welcome to share their comments. I should use the blogs more often . . . but time is sometimes fleeting.

A few weeks ago, artist friends and family members started inviting me to join their Facebook pages. I didn't know anything about it, but, of course, I joined. And being a Type A personality, I began madly uploading photos and making videos for my Kanika African Sculptures Facebook page and profile . . . before I had really understood how to use Facebook for business, separate from personal use. And then an artist freind talked about creating a Facebook Group and so, naturally, I had to try that too . . .

So the brain is on overload, but Spirit is loving every minute of it!

I am open to your wise counsel on how to fit all of this technology into an active life.

For Your Sweetheart

2009-01-31T09:24:00.000-08:00

As mentioned in last month's newsletter, I developed several wearable art Valentine Goddesses. The goddess sculpture in the center of the frame is held onto the fabric "mat" with velcro.The goddess may be removed and worn like a necklace using the ribbon that accompanies each piece. When not worn, the goddess may be reinserted into the fabric-covered frame and hung like any other framed picture. Beautiful!

But I wanted MORE to add to the romance collection. One morning, upon waking (my most productive time of day), it hit me: make delicate-looking Valentine sculptures that may be hung on a wall.

I immediately went to the studio and figured out how to make beautiful heart shapes from clay. Chopping up the last of my red clay into roughly triangular shapes, I rolled it quickly to about 1/4" thick, generally making a heart shape. Then I made and bought several textured stamps. Stamps that look like hearts, lace, and leaves. I stamped the clay with interesting patterns, then used my trusty chopstick to incise more lines. Using a needle tool, I cut the outline of each valentine.

But how to make the texture really POP? I painted a black underglaze lightly over the top of the texture to make the pattern really stand out. The sculptures were fired in a kiln to cone 05 (almost 1900 degrees). After cooling, I painted them with underglazes and cover glazes, using vibrant color combinations. One more time in the kiln. Then I strung copper wire through the holes and attached them in a delicate fashion to form the hanging mechanism. And voila! A great addition to my new romance collection.

These 5"-8" one-of-a-kind hearts may be purchased during February for $20 to $30, and the framed wearable art goddesses for $125 at:

Pinky's Hair Salon, 5379 H Street, Sacramento, California

Sunlight of the Spirit, 2314 J Street, Sacramento, California

The hearts will also be available on my website's Pottery and Gifts page.

The Voyeurs - Parts II and III

2008-12-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

The second Voyeurs piece was all black and white, as shown in this fourth image. It was submitted for the Crocker-Kinglsey biennial art competition - perhaps the most prestigious competition in the Sacramento, California, area. The results of the judging won't be known for a few weeks.

The third trial was on 6x6 tiles. More faces, but much more blending than in the first or second attempts. Hopefully, this effort will be accepted for the 50-50 show. Gotta have a sample done in time for the January 14th application deadline for judging. Wish me luck!