Making my case...

I don't know if you're familiar with the reality of the artists these days, but our expenses could rise up very quickly if we want to make it in this profession. I'm not talking only about the materials one needs to produce the actual artwork, which I think you might all be aware of. I’m talking about classes to better our techniques or to expand our possibilities; I’m also talking about entry fees to most shows we participate in, specially juried exhibitions, with the added risk that we might not even enter in the exhibition. Transportation to and from exhibiting spaces, shipping costs, marketing strategies, etc. all adds up.

©Corina S. Alvarezdelugo

I’ve been lucky enough to be able to support myself so far, with my husband’s help, and the sales of my works. But this year along, besides the entry fees to all the exhibitions I usually try my luck at, and the sculpture studio hours I pay for every trimester, and the construction of my new studio/gallery, which is almost done (woohoo!); I’m taking a weekend workshop in NYC next weekend, and I’ll be participating in the 5^th International Encaustic Conference in Province Town, MA in June. For this conference I’m paying for hotel, meals, transportation and two post conference workshops at the Truro Center for the Arts, to take advantage of the special opportunity.  For this reason, when I found out Michelle Belto’s workshop, which I really want to take, is been offered at The Encaustic Center in Texas, I thought I might get a chance to make it if I make an appeal to the generosity of FRIENDS, FAMILY and FOLLOWERS, to help me travel to Dallas, TX to take her workshop. I’m sure this new venture will push even further my creative possibilities.

You can read more about this appeal and the things I do on my previous post.

You may ask. What’s in it for me? Besides helping me make better art for you to enjoy, I will raffle two artworks amongst the donors that donate $20 or more to my cause. One of the artworks was gently donated by the own Michelle Belto to support my appeal, and the other one from yours truly to thank you! I will be making this piece using the newly learned techniques.

Besides, everyone, whether you gave $1 or $1,000 will get an invitation to my next exhibition following the workshop, so you can see first hand what you have helped me to accomplish, and your names will be listed as sponsors, unless you want to remain anonymous, of course.

Another opportunity I can offer to you is to list your name with a link to your website, blog, twitter… here. Just let me know.

A big THANK YOU in advance!

Please support my cause!

There is a workshop, by Michelle Belto, I'm dying to take, unfortunately, when she gives it close to where I live, is at the same time of my son's high school graduation and unfortunately I can't be in two places at once...

©Michelle Belto

Well, they are now offering this workshop at the Encaustic Center in Texas, as well. The workshop is call: From Pulp to Painting: Explorations in Paper and Wax. It's a three-day workshop and the cost is  $385, not including airfare tickets (back and forth), accommodations, and meals expenses, and transportation.

This dream of mine will only be possible with your support to get me there and back, and I will be extremely grateful. To show you my gratitude, I will raffle amongst all of you, one of the artworks I will make using the new learned techniques. Additionally, I will be posting as I learn during the workshop, to keep you all informed, and I will mail you an invitation to my next exhibition following the workshop, so you can see first hand what you help me achieve.

NEW!! Michelle Belto has donated one of her artworks to my cause (please read her nice comment bellow, or click on the live link to read it in her blog). So, if you donate $20.00 or more to my cause, your name will be entered into a drawing to win her painting.

For those of you reading my blog for the first time, I am a mixed media painter and sculptor with a full-time studio practice and every post here represents a significant expenditure of time, photo editing and writing. I keep my own website and Facebook Fan Page. I send out a monthly Art Newsletter to my email subscribers, with invitations to exhibitions and especial events; as well as occasional invitations by regular mail. I am in Twitter keeping my followers with my latest news and giving them a sneak peak into my artistic process with up to the minute information as I am producing a new artwork. All these marketing strategies require my commitment to deliver promptly, as I thrive to keep you all informed in all I do.

The same approach I give to marketing strategies and social media, I give to all I do, always learning new ideas and techniques that expand my creative possibilities while creating new artworks for you to enjoy! For this is that I'm appealing to your generosity...

Any amount is welcome, $20.00 or $1.00, and will help support my efforts. Please, feel free to donate a larger amount if you have just received a grant funding, an inheritance, a raise, or just feel I deserve a little more! Just click the Donate button below.

A big THANK YOU in advance!

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From Sweet to Bitter: 2 projects, 2 completely different themes, 2 extremes

I'm currently working on two projects at the same time. One about bees and honey; and the other one about how time pass by for women in jail... From sweet to bitter...oh my! Let's see what comes out from this!!!

Project 1: Beeline: it's all about the bee 

This summer, I'll be participating in the FIFTH INTERNATIONAL ENCAUSTIC CONFERENCE, for which I'm so excited, and one of the benefits for conferees is to be able to enter our work at a special Juried Exhibition called Beeline. This exhibition will be juried by Francine D’Olimpio, director of Kobalt Gallery in Provincetown, MA, and host it in her gallery. Of course, this doesn't guarantee that my work will get selected, but you know how I love a challenge!! 

The guidelines for this exhibition is that one has to incorporate encaustic (or mixed-media encaustic) to paintings, sculptures and works on paper that relate directly or indirectly to the theme of bees, abejas, abeilles. 

Some examples they gave us to get us inspired are: colony, hexagon, hive, honey, honeycomb, industriousness, insect, nectar, queen, skep, sting, sweet; the bees in an entomological sense (order: Hymenoptera),  and a historical sense (apiarists believe that Egyptians were the first beekeepers); and even the overblown hairdo from the Sixties. So, as you can see there is a lot of information to get our inspiration flowing and my brain had already started the creative process, and tomorrow I'll begin putting it down into a tangible reality.

Project 2: Time In: A Collaboration

On the other hand, I was recently invited to participate in a unique collaborative project involving Expressiones Cultural Center, Mitchell College, and the Judy Dworin Performance Project (JDPP). This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

The staging at Mitchell College of Judy Dworin's compelling work Time In, a signature piece based upon the lives of women imprisoned in the York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut, that will take place on Sunday, April 17th at the College. Simultaneously, a thematic art exhibition, mounted both at Expressiones and at Mitchell, will explore visual interpretations of the experience and the broader implications of incarceration.

They asked me to create to artworks related to the theme. As I'm sure you all know by know that I can't say "no" to a challenge, I'm already busy, researching on the theme, to come out with two artworks for this exhibition. 

FROM SWEET TO BITTER... Stay tuned, so you don't miss what comes out of these challenges!!!

My Monthly e-Newsletter for February 2011

My February Art Newsletter is out...you can read it following the link:


February News from Corina S. Alvarezdelugo

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Enjoy!