Thoughts on a Solo Show

The solo show is an extremely sought-after experience for any artist.  It's always a joy to participate in group shows, to see how your work interacts with other artists'.  But there is a strong sense of completion when you have an exhibit of just your art.  After so many hours alone in the studio, working tirelessly on every inch of every piece of art, then there they all are, your babies, taking over an entire space for all the world to see.  You can see areas of growth, experimentation, and perhaps mastery of a particular technique.  With all the works hung together, you get a much better sense of the artist as a whole.  As the artist, you get a better sense of your own patterns, strengths, and weaknesses.

Sure, it's a lot of hard work: creating all the art, promotions, stress, promotions, talking about yourself way too much, promotions, and manual labor.  But it's a labor of love.  It's all worth it in the end, especially when someone takes time to discover and study each piece, and then expresses what they experienced and interpreted from your works.  And when the art makes them think and feel just what you were thinking and feeling as you created each piece....  well it just doesn't get any better than that for an artist.

All of these thoughts come to the surface because I am fortunate enough to have another solo exhibit coming up at the Bay County Public Library.  It's less than two months away, which means I will be keeping all of my new art a secret until it is revealed for the exhibit.  The opening reception will include an artist lecture by yours truly.  There will also be food, and of course, ART!  AND if all goes according to plan, I will be releasing a new BOOK full of my paper cut art!  So if you are in the Florida Panhandle area, I invite you to come on out and enjoy some cut paper art with me!

"Cut It Out: Paper Cut Art by Heather Clements" exhibit flyer for the Bay County Public Library.

**UPDATE:  I got the times for the opening wrong!  The opening will be from 2:00 - 4:00pm.  The library closes after 4pm so the time change is quite important!

The next piece of art I am going to make for the exhibit will be a drawing!  It's been a while since I have done detailed drawing work, even though that's what I did the most for so many years, so I decided I needed to spruce up the 'ol drawing skills.  Here's a few sketchbook moments:

"Unfinished Self Portrait with Hand and Glasses" by Heather Clements.

"Portrait of a Paper Maché Bird on a Patterned Scarf" by Heather Clements.

"Portrait of a Paper Maché Bird on a Patterned Scarf" (Detail) by Heather Clements.

In other news, I now have a Pinterest account.  Once I realized how much art was being shared on Pinterest, I decided it would be worth my time.  I will be pinning my art, other artists' paper art, and eventually other art mediums as well.  And then who knows what!  I would love to have you as a follower, so check out my page and perhaps follow my Pinterest.

Green Tip #11:  Bring your own Tupperware when eating out.  Whenever we go out to eat, and we know that there will be plenty left over, we try to remember to bring our plastic or glass food containers.  It saves just a little bit more disposable materials.  The worst that can happen is you might get a questionable look from the servers, but usually that confused look turns into admiration for a good idea!  Every little bit helps, and just think how much paper, styrofoam, and plastic would be saved if everybody did this!


Thanks for visiting!

-Heather