The Pulitzer Prize for practical writing goes to…

This week my artistic side has taken a back seat to my business persona. What she’s doing back there, well, I don’t know, but I’m sure she’s dreaming up some new pieces. It is spring, though, so you never know. I put on my Fourth Street Festival hat this week and, along with Cappi Phillips and Dawn Adams, put together a presentation for the City Elders to try to expand the festival layout. The goal is to expand along the remaining segment of Fourth Street toward the University, and to capture a little of Dunn. We met with the Chief of police and the Fire Chief, as well as the person in charge of Engineering for the city. The committee members did a lot of legwork before the meeting and I think our plan was well received. Then it was off to lunch to celebrate with Cappi and Dawn to Samira for their excellent lunch buffet. We took advantage of the nice weather and strolled through some of the art venues. I picked up my ‘Tomatoes’ piece from the Wandering Turtle for the ‘Inch by Inch and Row by Row’ show in the Showers building atrium, meant to coincide with the opening of the Farmer’s Market. We also admired the new abstract pieces at Gallery North. It’s nice work, but it’s a little weak on the abstract fiber art in my estimation.

The other big projects this week all involve writing. I wrote a grant proposal to the BCAC (Bloomington City Arts Commission) to request support for our proposed Children’s booth project. Last year we had a great time creating the Community Tree. Amy Brier carved a limestone trunk for us and I made branches and leaves. Throughout the year I collected materials that children could use to decorate the leaves. We got some great pieces that ranged from painted leaves to mosaic pieces with glued-on materials in all colors and styles. It was great fun, and the piece now stands in the Showers building. This year we’re going to create a huge Community BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District) mosaic in four pieces. I also put together a press release to announce the show I’m doing with Cappi Phillips in Fort Wayne. To fill in the gaps I was needle-felting ornaments for the upcoming holiday season—I finished number 25 this week! They’re rather time intensive to make, so I have a target of ten each month to get ready for the winter season.

On a last note, we’re well into the spring bloom in the yard. The deer food—oops, I mean tulips—that are in protected areas near the house are just opening (hooray!). The rest are munched down the ground. The darn critters come right into the back yard and graze through the gardens. I’m also watching a huge tangle of foliage emerge that will soon send up a purple trial balloon for the rest of the garden to see if it’s really spring. OK, it’s actually just an allium with a big flower, but that’s the way it seems.


Until next week…