A Saturday without work & a contest

A few times a year, a group of us mumble obscenities at our usual lives, pack up our studios and head off to a hotel to create odd things. This past Saturday was such a day. This is what we call ourselves:

(Pay no mind to the word vacant above our names. It was just coincidence, not a commentary on our mental states.)

Mary hunted down a new hotel for us this time (the Hampton Inn out by Detroit Metro airport) and it was just what we needed. They were extremely nice and set us up all proper and it couldn't have been better.

The project for this retreat was put together by Sidney. She braved the freezing cold and spray painted metal boxes with automotive primer. (Sid now offers the helpful tip that if given the choice, you should avoid spray painting outside in below freezing temperatures. She is a brave woman willing to suffer for everyone's art and we thank her.) She then tossed a few common items at us that we all had to use: a domino, a wood bead, a couple bells, and model magic. We could add what we wanted but we had to use these things. (I contributed some odd metal puzzle pieces thingies that, ironically, I could not figure out how to incorporate into my piece. I whole heartedly apologize for the torture of these items and appreciate the fact that people didn't start chucking them at me out of frustration.)

Here's what I made:

Its a new assemblage doll. Very odd. Very industrial, human-being-sucked-into-technology type thing. We'll discuss this more so be sure to read to the end of the post because that's where the contest part of this post's title comes in.


I, of course, being a geeky boring engineer of late, decided to wander around the room taking pictures of everyone's work so that I could feed the blog and demonstrate just what a wide range of friends I keep. I love them all. Here we go...

Here's the group working:



Here is Leann working:



And here she is harrasing me with her camera:

Leann seemed to be on a personal quest to take pictures of me yesterday and prove to the world that I do indeed exist. I foiled her most of the time although she got particularly cruel and blogged what she did get. She can really be the devil sometimes. (Said with great affection.)



Here is Sid working:

I don't know why but I always seem to torment Sid and Stephanie with pictures more then anyone else in the group. I guess its because they never really yell at me. I get dirty looks sometimes but that's not enough to deter me. (I'm worried, payback will be coming and all I can hope for is that they aren't as cruel as Leann to post the photos on the internet for the world to see. )


Moving on...here is Mary's box:


Very cool, I'm diggin' the skeleton and bottle. I likes it.



Here is Jane's box:

She and Joan both ended up doing bug boxes. Jane's box has a really cool story behind it. Its based on the story of the greek goddess Archane. I was a bit concerned that she was going to get major carpal tunnel from weaving the wire but she managed fine and the box came out looking awesome.


Here is Johanna's box:

Say it with me: Awwwwww, isn't it cute?? Johanna sculpted the kitty out of the model magic that was part of the challenge package. However, you should know one little detail...this is about her daughter's cat that devoured a bunch of birds recently. Johanna has a little bit of a twisted side, and we love her dearly for it.


And lastly, here is Kate posing with her creation:


I giggle snorted when she told me what it was about. She created a little person shuffling in out of the cold Michigan weather to go shopping for fabric. Can you tell we have a bit of a one track mind?

I took more pictures of other people's work as well. If I did but didn't post it here, its not because I didn't love what you did, its because my photo taking skills when I'm distracted and tired totally suck. I need a camera that can basically hold itself completely still, fix the lighting on its own and not cut thing off. Some pictures seemed to be taken by a drunk vagrant, hence why they didn't make this post.

Everyone's work rocked and I loved it all. Its always interesting to see just how wide of a range of work there is.

So here is the contest part of this post.

I rarely have trouble coming up with a title for my stuff. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out what to name my new assemblage doll. So here's the deal:

Leave a comment on this post with your suggestion for what I should call this new work. Be serious, names like Sally and Betsy will not be entertained. I'll pick the one that I like best and you'll get Susanna Oroyan's book Designing the Doll. If you don't want the book but still want to play, leave a comment and if you are the winner, then I'll just put everyone else's name in a hat and pick a winner for the book at random.

Here's a better shot of the nameless wonder:


(If you click on the picture it gets way bigger.) Have at guys, can't wait to see what you all come up with...

P.S. I suppose it would be nice if I said how long the naming contest runs for. You have until next Saturday, March 1 (where in the hell did February go??) to toss in as many ideas as you want. I will also announce another contest next sunday, March 2, for another opportunity to win another book. I have several books that I don't really look at anymore and I would like to pass on to other artists so the contests will go on for a few weeks until they've found new homes. These range from doll books to ribbon work and even some "Inspirations" magazines from Australia. So keep checking back!!