Happy Valentine's Day

These are some treat bags that I made and filled with chocolates for my team at work. I also made 5 more for my mom to give to her team at school. Here's what I used:

Michael's:

• Clear bags
• Framelit (that I used with Stampin' Up Big Shot)
• Silver brads

Stampin' Up

• More Amore Specialty Designer Series Paper
• Hearts a Flutter Stamp Set
• Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set
• Tag Punch
• Fashionable Hearts Embosslets

I'm Back!

Wow, I can’t believe it has been three years since I’ve blogged! Don’t really have a good excuse…just life. But now I’m back and I’m all fired up! Here’s some of what you can expect…

 

Arts & Crafts Posts – I’m a Stampin’ Up demonstrator (pretty much for the discount) so I’ll be blogging in posting pics of my latest and greatest craft projects.

 

Art Reviews – Spring is almost here which means lots of outdoor music and art festivals. I will let you know where and when to “get your art on” and post my own reviews of the events I attend.

 

Original Painting and Photography – I’m challenging myself to get off my butt this year and do some painting. I love it, I’m told I’m pretty darn good at it…so why don’t I do more of it? Mystery. Also, my boyfriend Joe is and amazing photographer; I’ll be posting some of his work along with my own as I attempt to soak up some of his photog knowledge and skills.

 

Can’t wait for my first post? Well you don’t have to! Here it is:

Like I mentioned above there are a lot of really fun events to look forward to in the coming months. Kicking it off is the Oak Cliff Mardi Gras Parade on Sunday.

Oak Cliff's annual Mardi Gras parade is this Sunday, February 10, running east to west down Davis Blvd. and finishing in the Bishop Arts District. The revelry will include parade floats, beads, costumes, music, and food. It’s totally pet and family friendly. I’ve been years past and it’s a lot of fun. This year I will be riding in the parade with DALLAS VESPA & SCOOTER CLUB. Come join the fun!

 

  Also coming up is the 2013 Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival. I look forward to this all year, it’s in downtown Fort Worth April 18^th – 21^st. If you go to one art fest this year make it this one! There’s of course food and music, but I love checking out the local artists. There is so much to do in Fort Worth from the museums to the zoo to the stockyards, I like to make a weekend of it and stay somewhere in downtown – a little staycation.

You’ll be hearing from me soon, like I said I’m all fired up about blogging this year!

Emily

Savor Dallas 2010

This March marked the Sixth Annual Savor Dallas wine tasting event. I got the opportunity to attent the Arts District Wine Stroll on Friday night, the Reserve Tasting and International Grand Tasting on Saturday.

Each of the differnt events hosted amazing wine and food, but my favorite event was the Arts District Wine Stroll. Good friends, great food, great wine, and Picasso...it doesn't get any better than that for me! Savor Dallas participants got to sample world-class wines and light hors d'oeurves inside the beautiful setttings of the Meyerson Symphony Center, Nasher Sculpture Garden, Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre. Thanks to all the amazing improvements that have been made to Dallas Arts District in the last few years, you actually can "stroll" in downtown! All the Savor Dallas 2010 events were first class and I look forward to attending again in 2011.

The Rachofsky House

Last Thursday my History of Architecture II class took a field trip to the Rachofsky House off Preston Road in Dallas. The 10,000 sq. ft. house was designed by architect Richard Meier (hmm wonder if we're related!) and completed in 1996. It was built as a private residence for the Roachofskys, they still use it as a vacation home, but it now also serves as a gallery space for their extensive art collection and is open for the public to tour.

Our tour guide told us to think of the house as part of a 3-dimensional grid, the grid is visible on the exterior of the house. As you enter the house you see rooms that appear to be floating arbitrarily in space, but they are actually all part of the 3-D grid that the house is organized on. Each space within the 3 story house is custom designed for its purpose; the large open gallery space at the entrance sits in opposition to the intimate living areas with lower ceilings. The house was designed to optimize the picturesque landscaping of the property. In addition to the architecture we looked at the art collection in the house, many of the pieces had humorous elements to them, there was sculpture, photography, paintings and some artistic video pieces. As a whole the trip was very enjoyable, it didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day-80 degrees in March!

This art piece is a baby crib made completely of glass. Silence by Mona Hatoum. This piece like a lot of the others has a kind of dark or morbid feeling. I think the artist may be making a statement about the fragility of life, infants in particular. And the name "Silence" only ellaborates on that idea.

As you can see some areas are open to all 3 floors.

This is a painting by Anselm Kiefer, I love the classical architecture of this painting in such a modern house, and the texture is great!

Here you can see some of my classmates in the dining room.

This little guy is great, he bangs his head against the bell every 10 minutes, it's super loud! This is Attempt to Raise Hell, 1969 by Dennis Oppenheim.

Believe it or not behind that white wall is Preston Road! You would never know that this jewel of art and architecture was here.

This is the back of the Rachofsky House.

Me at the Rachofsky House.

THE IMPRESSIONISTS

MASTER PAINTINGS FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

JUNE 29 - NOVEMBER 2

We saw this show at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Yes we drove to Fort Worth, and we stood in the longest line in the world because we waited to the second to last weekend to see it...but hey it was easier than going to see these works when they go back home to Chicago (although Chicago would have been more fun!)

In Pursuit of the Masters: Stories from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection

September 20, 2008 – January 4, 2009

To mark its 5th anniversary, the Nasher Sculpture Center will mount an exhibition in celebration of its founders. In Pursuit of the Masters: Stories from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection presents a personalized and intimate view of the Nasher Collection and the couple that assembled it.

• My husband John and I went to see this exhibit last week. I strongly recommend it not only because it features works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Andy Warhol and many more, but you will also gain an understanding of the impact the Nashers have made on the world of art collecting and on the city of Dallas...not to mention the beautiful sculpture garden!

Some of the outstanding features to me were the Nasher's collection of works by Alberto Giacometti and of course my favorite piece in the Nasher collection, Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky (pictured to the right). This work has special meaning for me; as a little girl my mother and I would take special trips to North Park Mall and have lunch at the Little Mermaid Cafe in Neiman Marcus. Borofsky's Hammering Men are familiar figures to anyone who frequents North Park, I adored them as a child and do to this day. But you must see them in person to get the full effect, moving parts and all.

Magnolia (18'' x 24'')

My last apartment in Uptown had magnolia trees all around it and they really inspired this painting.