Artfest: Day One- Wednesday March 28, 2012

Still trying to overcome my jetlag, here are my overdue recollections of the last Artfest, hosted by Teesha and Tracy Moore at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington. I flew in from New York to Seattle on Tuesday, not leaving it up to chance that I might miss my shuttle to the Fort on Wednesday (which happened to me last year). I took the shuttle from the DoubleTree Hotel by the airport (very nice too- love the warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in!) back to the baggage claim to pick up the Hogwarts Express Artfest shuttle at 2:00 pm. Two and a half hours later we made it to the Fort and checked in at the Commons.

After I got my stuff into my usual room (this is my 6th Artfest and for 5 of them I've had the same room- Dorm 202 Room #16) I gathered up my trades and went back to the Commons for what I call the Trading Frenzy in the lobby before they open the doors for dinner. I didn't last till the end, reaching my limit with trades to spare for trading in classes and other activities. Here are some pictures of all the trades I did get over the five days of Artfest.

After dinner we went to the opening ceremony at the Pavilion. Teesha and Tracy gave a little speech about how Artfest has been a part of their lives and how they are looking forward to the next artistic endeavor. Teachers were introduced and then the crew that helps make Artfest work. At this point Tracy made a special introduction of David who came down from the audience as a teacher? and proceeded to propose to Tracy and Teesha's youngest daughter Trista (and she said yes!). Lots of standing ovations for Tracy and Teesha. Jesse Reno wrapped up the opening with a rambling talk on creativity and following your gut and being creative. After this I left the pavilion and picked up the fatbook 4x4 collaborative project I had contributed to. It was an incredible collection of work by Artfest artists to commemorate this last Artfest.

The other collaborative project I contributed to and picked up at Artfest was hosted by Penelope Harris "The Book of Faces" which was an awesome project inspired by classes we had taken with Roxanne Padgett. Penelope had requested people send her drawings of faces (I submitted four to the project and all were included!) What a fun thing to have and play with!

Getting Ready for Artfest

Over the past few years Artfest has been a part of my Spring ritual. I have attended this event that takes place in Port Townsend, WA since 2007. This year is no different. I picked my classes back in September and have been gathering art supplies (when they go on sale), planning art projects that revolve around the event (4x4 Fatbook trade, event trades) and preparing art journal pages that I can work on while I'm at Artfest. What is different about this year is that it is the last Artfest. The fabulous organizers of the event, Teesha and Tracy Moore and family/friends, have decided to make this the last one as they look to new opportunities and projects to get involved in. I cannot express my gratitude enough to the Moore family, as well as all the teachers and the 500+ attendees that make the Artfest experience life changing for me. I will miss going to the Artfest next year, but I wholeheartedly wish only the best for Teesha and Tracy in whatever projects they go for next. So here's a look at some of the things I've been working on for this Artfest. The theme is 'Stacks of Stuff'. Here is the page I made for the 4"x4" fatbook collaborative project. I used some clip art of the two women (Dover clipart) and stacked up the logos of all the Artfests I've been to since 2007. The base is watercolor paper with a paper tape tab on the side and a paper flower attached with a flower brad. I can't wait to see what the other 48 artists made for the book.

I've made about 55 ephemera packs and 30 of these tissue paper flower pins (photos below). They are made from old sewing patterns, and I made a few out of some patterned tissue paper I had saved from gifts I received. I found the instructions for these flowers on Pinterest. If you are interested in making them, you can visit this website:http://epherielldesigns.com -I will warn you, you need a bit of patience and a steady hand to cut these out. The results are worth the effort, they are really cute, and I feel vindicated for saving all those dress patterns I used to make things for my daughter when she was a little girl.

I hope to do a post from Artfest (if I can figure out the technicals on doing that with an iPad.) Otherwise I will post pictures once I get back!