Yesterday was the kick-off of my 2010 Art Show season. I had the good fortune of being invited to participate in the 2nd Annual Celtic Art Event and Sale put together by Urban Artisans. The show was at ZGM Fine Arts  (1045 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222), a fabulous gallery located on the Elmwood Strip. I have to say that I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed an art show so much! The gallery owners, exhibiting artists, musicians, the guests and visiting psychic blended so well that it was as if they were part of a gourmet recipe — maybe for boulibase or some other tasty dish.

As usual, I struggled to get ready for my first show since the holiday season. Paintings were unfinished and left at home along with several new polymer clay pieces that just didn’t make it into frames in time. The list of things I need to accomplish before my next show grew exponentially, but that’s all part of being an artist and I’m glad to be back at it.

Here’s a sneak preview of some of the work that I’ll be showing at the Allentown Art Festival in June: Long Live the Queen — and her Cuckold husband the King!

Is Feng Shui considered a science, an art form, or both? Admittedly I know little about Feng Shui, other than it’s about less clutter, putting everything in it’s own space and the affect this has on energy flow.

Sometime in January I realized that my energy wasn’t just low or blocked, it was gone! There were no new ideas popping into my head, the only work I produced was repeats of earlier designs and the effort required to do just that seemed unreasonable. I let this go on a bit. Told myself it was only January and that I deserved a rest;  but when February hit and nothing changed I got a bit scared! No new work, no Etsy or eBay listings, no tweets, no Face Book posts, no blogging, no nada!

Luckily I HAD to get my act together to start preparing my taxes. That meant taking inventory, organizing receipts and shredding, shredding, shredding. Once the taxes were done I didn’t stop! I sorted, I organized, I threw out again, and again and again!

And to my surprise, new ideas and the oomph to see them through has returned.I started painting again and have a new series planned for this Spring and Summer.

If a professional organizer walked into my work space right she’d probably roll up her sleeves and say “OK, let’s get started!” “Started?”. I’d reply, “I thought I was done!”.

It’s been close to eleven months since I wrote my first entry here. My subsequent entries have been few, far between and, in all honesty, seriously lacking in substance. I’ve struggled with what to write, how to write it, when to write it, and WHY to write it. That WHY had eluded me till now. I initially thought of my blog as an extension of my ETSY shop. The whole purpose of my shop is to show and sell my work. Therefore, I thought, the whole purpose of my blog should be the same — but it just wasn’t happening.

And so I start again, with a new outlook. Rather than slapping down a photo of something I’ve just listed on Etsy or eBay, or giving a listing of shows I’ll be exhibiting at, I’m going to go a bit deeper. It’s time to explore why I do what I do, and I’m not going to limit that to making art. My work, or finished product if you will, is not created in a vacuum; it’s a normal extension of who and what I am, so I guess it’s time to ask: who am I exactly?

Pink isn’t just for Valentine’s Day! Stop by my new treasury at Etsy to view these fabulous works by the members of PCAGOE!
Visit my new treasury at Etsy — very pink and packed with the work of PCAGOE Team.

(In The Pink @ http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=107000)

EBay user name: aekurek

New Holiday ACEOs and Paintings from my Etsy Shop. All of these will be included in the PCAGOE Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale. I’ll be offering 20% off all items from Friday, November 27th through Monday November 30th.

You can win a great holiday stocking filled with beautiful, hand crafted polymer clay items and gift certificates from the members of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. Just purchase any one (or more) items from participating members’ stores from Thanksgiving Day, 11/26 until December 12th and you will automatically be entered to win, one entry for every purchase!

Participating shops:

KellyPlaysClay.etsy.com ————- LaurelSteven.etsy.com
11BoldStreet.etsy.com —————- PolymerClayCreations.etsy.com
CreativeWriting.etsy.com ————- MarciaPalmer.etsy.com
BeeTreeByMe.etsy.com ————– TheColorofDreams.etsy.com
BLeekreations.etsy.com ————– RiverValleyDesign.etsy.com
Juliespace.etsy.com —————— Peggers.etsy.com
MichelesArtJewelry.etsy.com —— AlisonEKurek.etsy.com
SCDiva.etsy.com ———————- NKDesigns.etsy.com
CreativeArtCenter.etsy.com ——– AshPaints.etsy.com
WonderfulWire.etsy.com ———— IlysaArt.etsy.com
Stonebrash.etsy.com —————- Summergirl38.etsy.com
BarbiesBest.etsy.com ————— GoodspeedEmpire.etsy.com
MarcymPC.etsy.com —————— LJeans.etsy.com
Jencom72.etsy.com —————— SilverGateStudio.etsy.com
RozPetalzStudio.etsy.com ———- FungibleElements.etsy.com
Miramecreations.etsy.com ——— Elpasoclaynation.etsy.com
Clayhappy.etsy.com —————– Claycenter.etsy.com
Phoenixrose.etsy.com ————— JKollmann.etsy.com

PCAGOE Holiday Stocking Give-Away!!!

You can win a great holiday stocking filled with beautiful items, coupons and gift certificates from the members of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. Just purchase any one (or more) items from participating members’ stores from Thanksgiving Day, 11/26 until December 12th and you will automatically be entered to win, one entry for every purchase!

Search on Etsy for “pcagoe team”.

Visit my Etsy Shop: www.alisonekurek.etsy.com

I have had the pleasure and good fortune of finding a wonderful group of polymer clay artists who list their wares on Etsy. Through the group, I and my shop will be participating in two holiday promotions. One is our Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale. I will personally be offering 20% off of all of my items during the sale. Here is a list of other guild members participating in the sale: SCDiva, NKDesigns, PolymerClayCreations, Laurel Steven, 11BoldStreet, BeeTreeByMe, MarcymPC, RiverValleyDesign, RozPetalzStudio, Peggers, Juliespace, Ashpaints, KellyPlaysClay, and CreativeArtCenter. Visit their stores to see what discounts they have for this promotion!

And stay tuned for news of our other promotion!

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are almost upon us — especially with temps soaring into the mid-60s in Buffalo this past Saturday. But, mild weather or not, the calendar firmly reads November 16th and has no intention of changing it’s mind on that. For the art and craft show goers out there here is a list of the remaining shows I’ll be at this season. If you’re unable to make the shows you can always visit my web store at www.alisonekurek.etsy.com or contact me directly through this site, at my Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mixed-Media-Artist-Alison-E-Kurek/103158839507?ref=ts, or at alisonkurek@gmail.com

Saturday, November 28th 10AM-4PM   ♥ ♥PCA Holiday Art and Craft Show at the Church of the Good Shepherd ♥♥, 96 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo

Monday and Tuesday Dec. 7th and 8th — 5pm to 10pm  ♥♥Artisan’s and Ales at the Sterling Pub♥♥, 1487 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo