Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Warm Sand and Cold Snow


Save these dates!

 Assembled Construction, Factory C
Shanna Wheelock, 2014

June 14, 2014
Shanna Wheelock vending at the 
(details TBA)
(I will be debuting my latest handcarved Collectors Series, the North Atlantic Right Whale, as this year's selected artisan for the marathon awards.)


June 19-July 8, 2014
KINDRED: Women in Vision
Lubec Landmarks, Lubec, Maine
Opening reception Saturday, June 21st, 5:00 p.m.
(Women in Vision is a collaboration between Passamaquoddy Bay area artists Sherry Ashby Cunningham, Lisa Marquis Bradbury, Sharon Kiley Mack, Elizabeth Ostrander, and Shanna Wheelock)


August23 - September 5, 2014
SACRED: Women in Vision
Next Door Gallery, Eastport, Maine
Opening reception Saturday, Augsut 23rd, 5:00 p.m.
(Women in Vision is a collaboration between Passamaquoddy Bay area artists Sherry Ashby Cunningham, Lisa Marquis Bradbury, Sharon Kiley Mack, Elizabeth Ostrander, and Shanna Wheelock)


August 23, 2014
Quoddy Artsists Studio Tour
9am-4pm 
Artists from Eastport, to Lubec, and across the bridge to Campobello open their studios to public!


September 2014
Shanna Wheelock at Lubec Memorial Library
(details TBA, including a name for the show!!!)

Mid June-Mid October
Lubec Market
Saturdays 9-11:30
(Weather and travel permitting, this is where I will be most Saturday mornings this coming
summer.)


I'm still hashing out the details of this summer and fall's vending/gallery schedule and already have 2015 exhibits in the works. Updates to come soon!


Reflection
Shanna Wheelock, 2014
ink, charcoal


 Hinged
Shanna Wheelock, 2014
Ink


 
 The Space Between
Shanna Wheelock, 2014
ink


 
 Flow
Shanna Wheelock, 2014
ink


A serene sunset with a magical low tide gathering at
Pawleys Island, South Carolina


 
 Friends
at Huntington Beach, South Carolina
What a fabulous week!!!


 Bog at Huntington Beach, South Carolina
The peepers were so loud!!!


 Catching photographer Lisa Tyson Ennis at work
Pawleys Island, South Carolina
(This is NOT a black/white photo!!! This is a full color shot on a dreamy fog-filled morn!)


Meals at Pawleys Island were always fun,
from the prep in a crowded laughter-filled kitchen to the devouring around the dining table.


 Love me some big cats! 
Now if only I could do this with a large live feline rather than a bronze one.
Brook Green Gardens, South Carolina



My favorite sculpture at Brook Green Gardens
Fountain of the Muses
by Carl Milles


 Another angle from the Milles sculpture
Fountain of the Muses 


 Friends Molly and Lisa jumping exuberantly at Pawleys Island, SC.


Winter
She’s pointing her long icy fingers over the back stoop. Light filters and glistens highlighting their sharpness, beautiful and menacing at the same time. There is temptation to flirt just a bit with danger, maybe knock  down one or two of those slender frozen formations, wield it like a light saber, or maybe just admire it’s beautiful strength. In warmth, her liquid flows and nourishes; but in the dead of winter, hardens and hovers and makes slick underfoot. Judging by her stance it was of good resolve to pile by the armful a reserve of split tree, roughly humped alongside the iron beast. Soon there will be a fire in his belly. It won’t melt the icy digits that hover just outside the door, but it will warm the toes of this human concoction of flesh, blood and bone.


  

Still in the depths of winter but I managed a week long reprieve with friends to South Carolina where my toes frolicked in the warm sand while waves rolled and combed the shore; my first vacation in well over ten years. I have never before left Maine winter for a warmer climate, but now I understand why so many do.When my friend Amy called in December and said in that beautiful but gently commanding southern voice "Shanna, I want you to say Yes right now", without hesitation I did, and then was told that I would be traveling in February. This mode of phone greeting is an excellent ploy that my friend has developed which seems to sway me out of work mode on a fairly regular basis.

The week down south was just what my soul needed. As frenzied windy day waves can be, they soothe. Laughter, the kind that makes your belly ache and leaves you gasping for air, was plentiful and meals were always a communal sharing of culinary expertise, savoring the flavors of local fare. The best part of the experience, however, was the bonding between friends, some that I have known for years and some that I met for the first time. 

Back to Maine I was greeted by the reality of winter. Over three feet of snow had fallen while away. The shoveling task was perhaps my best seasonal workout to date in 2014, involving three hours of lifting and relocating the heavy frozen precipitation. After that day of "rest", I jumped right back into the studio to work on a current drawing series. As with all recent work the past couple years, local factory ruins provide inspiration. I seem to be expanding my interpretation of those ruins, however, a bit more than previous.

Pottery production was in full swing before I left for Pawleys Island and will resume next week. I have the privilege of once again creating the awards for the Bay of Fundy International Marathon and so far all seems to be going well with that project. The first pieces have been bisque fired and I will soon be experimenting with the glazing phase. Some folks are waiting ever so patiently for orders that were placed in December. Rest assured those items are near completion and will be out soon.

It's always a bit like a juggling act here, to get it all done....but what a fun circus it is!

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