Being a bit on the introvert side of the continuum, it takes me awhile to recover from a 2 day/14 hour long weekend open studio event. I’m thrilled that we had nearly 200 people come see our studios, and even happier that I was able to have some great conversations with so many visitors. Seems weird that all that goodness makes me feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.
 new "Hanna-Dyed" pillows ready for the studio tour In addition to recovering my energy, I’ve spent several days basking in the warmth of so much love & great feedback and also was inspired to write down several “next” action steps to move my artwork and art career forward – steps which came pouring out of my inner spirit, emboldened by all the fan support.
Here’s a bunch of photos from the weekend:
Key Statistics
- We had almost 200 visitors this year and had a “clicker” to keep a more accurate count. This was a bit higher than last year, but we didn’t have a very accurate count last year.
- 57 new people signed up for our mailing list and 50% of these new fans said they are interested in taking workshops – since I’m working on designing and scheduling some new workshops in my own studio space, I’m really happy with this response.
- I doubled my sales during the weekend compared to last year, and just sold a large piece today to a new collector who saw my work for the first time during the open studio.
What went well and what could we do better?
Since Barbara is a veteran open studio event planner, we definitely know how to put on a really good show, and still, after each one we do a debrief session to acknowledge the good and make plans for how we can do better next time. Here’s our list of learnings from this show:
1. It takes a Village: Thank you to all our Helpers! – We are blessed with amazing friends and family that rally to support us for these shows. We assembled our largest crew yet to help us with check out, dog sitting, sign placing, sewing pillows, and greeting visitors both at the front door and in my lower level studio.
Having someone to help me with greeting people was the greatest improvement from our last open studio event, because it allowed me to relax and have better conversation with those I was already talking with when new visitors arrived. A special shout out to Victoria who not only helped greet people in my studio the whole weekend, but sewed and sewed and sewed pillows all week till her fingers nearly bled – and is crazy enough to come do it all again this December for our Holiday Show!
 Victoria sewing in the Hanna-Dyed sweat shop 2. Publicity doesn’t Hurt – We sent out almost 300 postcards invites and an email invite to over 500 people. We also were interviewed by our local paper for an article about the studio tour, specifically on what it’s like to be two artists living together and also sharing studios in our home. It was a 3 page article with front page/multiple photos. There were several visitors who said they came just because they had seen the article in the paper.
 Me at work in my studio (photo credit: Dawn Madura / The Coloradoan) 4. Parking Lot – Parking space is at a premium on our street, so a diagonal “lot” drawn on our driveway and specific directions helped make best use of our driveway.
3. Sign Stands – We had 7 signs to be strategically placed throughout the neighborhood to help direct visitors to our studios. Last year we fussed with trying to get those little metal rods to stick in the rocky ground and it didn’t work too well. This year, Barbara made these awesome wood stands and they worked great – plus we’ll be able to re-use them for our signs for our Holiday show too.
 check out that sign stand 5. Demo Info – I set up an Eco-dye demo as well as left the printmaking part of the studio set up for deconstructed screen-printing to show visitors how I dye the fabrics I use in my work. Both helped visitors feel at ease with asking questions and understanding more about my processes.
 
Now that it’s over, I’m glad we rallied and put in the work to make this our best open studio event yet. And I’m thankful to all our friends who helped make it possible and our visitors that made it worthwhile. Slowly but surely we continue to build our art practices and local following, one event and one visitor at a time.
Last Friday night was the opening reception for the Fort Collins Studio Tour Preview Exhibition at the Lincoln Center. There are over 60 artists participating in this year’s studio tour which will be happening this coming Sat/Sun June 22 and 23 from 10am-5pm both days, and many of them were in attendance at the opening.
 Fort Collins Studio Tour Preview Exhibition Opening Reception Since the whole idea of the Preview exhibition is to give the public a chance to see the work of participating artists (and to meet many of the artists in person at the opening) while also planning out their route to take to go see all the studios during the weekend tour, I thought it would be fun to share the artists and their art with you, so you can have a virtual preview of the tour:
I snagged photos of as many artists and their work as I could corral during the opening – Heather Matthews (Parsley Art Studio), Jennifer Davey, Nanci Erskine, Bonnie Lebesch, Barbara Gilhooly, Mary Harnett, Gwen Hatchette, Amelia Caruso, Maggie “Queen of Farkle” Kunze, Les Sunde (Swampgas & Gossamer), Sibyl Stork, Shelly Hearne, and Chris Bates – click on their names to visit their websites and check out more of their art.
It was fun seeing familiar faces as well as meeting some new artists during the reception, and equally great to see the range of great work that everyone is doing.
One new artist friend, Les Sunde was exhibiting his “Whimcycle”, a functioning cycle created from many rusty parts. As the story goes, it has a megaphone opening in the back into which people can laugh, the laughter flowing through the metal tubing and being captured and stored in the container on the back of the vehicle. Then Les rides his Whimcycle to an area of town where there is some sadness, he turns the crank handle on the side of the Whimcycle which spins the propeller on top, spreading out all that stored up laughter – sweet, huh? Les and his cabinet of wonder known as “Swampgas and Gossamer” are located at 218 Pine St, down in Old Town Ft Collins – certain to be one of the “must see” stops on the tour.
 Artist Les Sunde and his "Whimcycle" And really, he’s just one example of all the cool artists that will be opening their studios to the public this weekend. If you’re in town, treat your soul to some great art and artists this weekend. It’s a good idea to stop by the Lincoln Center preview show, grab your map and plan your route.
I think Les said it best when we met Friday night, “We (artists) all allowed this work to happen, then we put it in this room all together. And this is really Big!”
He’s right, this is really Big.
It’s what to do this weekend- 2 days, over 40 studios and 60 artists – Enjoy it!
Upcoming Shows – Places to See My Work (and Me) in Person
This textile painting below, “LineScape #12 (Fields and Highways), along with “LineScape #23 (Mad Hatter) were both juried into the New Legacies Show at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins. The exhibit runs from July 9 – August 31, with opening reception on July 12th.
 "LineScape #12 (Fields and Highways)". 31.5 x 40 in. $1300 © Ayn Hanna Maintaining an active exhibition schedule is important – I believe a work isn’t quite finished until it’s seen by the public. Hearing how viewers respond to my work gives me new perspective and while talking about my work/process, I sometimes have these “ah ha” moments of clarity too.
Putting ourselves “out there” as artists also builds credibility and there’s nothing like having upcoming show deadlines to help me get things done.
I keep a running list of my current and upcoming shows in my right-hand side bar (over there →) so you can always check my blog if you’re looking for places to see my work “live” in person.
SAVE the DATE! Fort Collins Studio Tour on June 22 & 23 and Pre-View Show June 14 – 29
Even before the New Legacies show opens in July, you have an opportunity to visit my studio to see my work during the Fort Collins Studio Tour in June.
Barbara and I will be participating in this annual tour for our 3rd year and the tour now boasts 43 locations and over 60 artists. Tour maps are free and available at multiple locations around town, or you can download a map here.
We’ll be open for visitors from 10am – 5pm both days and we’ll have lots to see at our studios. I’ll have several new textile paintings and a bunch of new Hanna-Dyed scarves and pillows and Barbara will have an assortment of new paintings, as well as some of her “pop-up” city cutout pieces. Please stop by, we’d love to share our new work with you and hear your feedback.
 "City (cutouts)" (acrylic on birch plywood, dimensions vary) © Barbara Gilhooly reprinted with permission of the artist There will also be a Studio Tour Pre-view Show at the Lincoln Center June 14-29, with a reception for the artists June 14, 5-7 pm. Drop by the reception to meet the participating artists and see a preview of artists’ work.
But wait, there’s More….
If you can’t make it to one of the above shows, there are at least 3 more opportunities to see my work at exhibits throughout CO during the rest of 2013. More details to follow soon on upcoming shows that are happening later in the year, and as always, you can find the most up-to-date calendar of my upcoming shows in the side bar of my blog.
Yellow. It seems my most favorite color lately. Some have argued that it’s actually green.
 LineScape #22 - Window Seat, 18.5 x 30 in. © Ayn Hanna A deconstructed dye drawing on fabric
with thread as well
 LineScape #22 - Window Seat (detail) © Ayn Hanna 
Wanna fly to the moon with me?
 My "Hanna-Dyed" booth at Horseshoe Market Loads of sunshine, and more dogs, children, and pregnant women than I’ve ever seen in one day in my life – pretty much sums it up. Seriously, if you love dogs (and I do, especially one large brown chessie-lab mix), this was a great place to be!
One of those this-is-why-we-live-in-Colorado spring days where the sky is brightest blue and virtually everyone was giddy with finally getting a perfect weather day on a weekend to be outside in it, doing whatever makes them happy.
This was a first big outdoor market experience for me as a vendor, so there was a lot of prep and work involved in setting up a booth. Even with 2 of us and all of Barbara’s uber-organized pre-planning and packing, we were still getting the merchandise display “just right” as the first visitors were arriving.
I really had no expectations for the day, just planned to immerse myself in the experience and enjoy it all.
While sales were less than what I’d hoped for, the reactions to my work and comments from the many visitors more than made up for that. I saw lots of looks of stunned amazement and mouthing of “WOW” as people approached my booth. I was glad I had put together a visual book to help explain my process/how I make my work, as that was a key conversation point all day.
Another great outcome was the many new contacts I made, and doors that were opened – new opportunities and invitations to show and sell my work which I could not have known about previously, and (in hindsight) may very well have been the reason I needed to do this show. (More details on these as plans evolve.)
It ‘s taken a couple weeks to recover my energy and some quiet time to absorb the whole experience. We’ll see what becomes of the new opportunities.
All in all, I’m glad to have done the show – it was a beautiful day, I got to spend it with my girl and we had a great time, even though we got drenched in the evening thunder shower while packing everything up.
New Work. Fewer Words. More Story.
 "Mad Hatter" © Ayn Hanna Textile Painting, 29.5 x 27.5 in  "Mad Hatter" (detail) © Ayn Hanna  "Mad Hatter" (detail) © Ayn Hanna
 "A&B" (in progress) - one of 8 textile paintings currently on the long arm machine I use my long arm machine a bit differently than most who have them – rather than quilt large functional quilts, I put a huge backing fabric and layer of batting on the frame, then layer (like postage stamps) several of my in-progress textile paintings across the backing/batting foundation, and then use my long arm machine to “draw” with thread to complete the pieces.
 several of my textile paintings in progress on the long arm I currently have 8 textile paintings loaded on the machine. I’ve finished stitching 7 of them and am just about ready to take them all off. Then I’ll be stitching bindings and figuring out hanging/display options for each.
Horseshoe Market is this coming Saturday, May 11th!
 This will be a first-time big craft market experience for me, selling my “Hanna-Dyed” goods – pillows, scarves, and textile paintings. We went to this market last year, very cool event with great booths (it’s been voted Denver’s best market).
Since Barbara and I have both been looking for ways to build and expand our art markets, she applied (without telling me) to see if we could get juried into Horseshoe as vendors this year – and we were accepted!
So, we’ve been learning a lot very quickly about craft fair booth set up and everything that goes along with doing something like this for the first time. “The factory” has been running full tilt too – I’ve got a pile of pillows and several racks of scarves ready to go and will bring along a few textile paintings as well.
 It’s going to be a big fun Market on Saturday – there are 115 Art, handmade, vintage, and antique vendors, music, food and all manner of good cheer to be had by the 5000+ expected visitors. We’ll be at 46th and Tennyson from 9am-4pm. If you’re in the Denver area, please stop by and say Hi!
Ahhh, Springtime in the Rockies…Summer
Last weekend I was hitting golf balls on the range, doing my part to get out and enjoy the 80 degree weather, easing into the sudden arrival of summer here in northern Colorado.
On Monday, another warm sunny day, I unbundled another of my eco-dyed silk scarves which I had prepared during my April workshop with RMCQ.
 silk, euca, rose, oak, copper Winter…
By yesterday (May 1st), summer had been chased away by the latest spring snow storm, which dumped over a foot and half of heavy wet snow on us. It was beautiful, yet damaging to some of our trees.
 Looking out my window on May 1st And…introducing “Bloomers”, a fantastic new show of work by Barbara Gilhooly
 "Pop-Up Garden Installation" ©2013 Barbara Gilhooly Just in time to celebrate all things Spring-ish, “Bloomers” is a solo show of new artwork by my partner, artist Barbara Gilhooly. The show opens tomorrow night (with artist reception from 6-10pm) at 44T Artspace in Denver and will be exhibited through June 30th.
Barbara has this to say about her new work:
“The story of how the show ‘Bloomers’ came to be is comprised of three experiences in my life.
The most recent is I became a new gardener, or an accidental gardener, when I moved to Colorado three years ago. My interest in growing things had been dormant for the 21 years I lived in downtown St. Paul, MN. Now that I have outdoor space and abundant sunshine, I’m inspired to learn how to grow things.
I am drawn to the organic shapes of botanicals and often use abstracted versions in my work. I enjoy the liberty of possibilities with all the variety of shapes and colors in the plant world. Once I identify a theme for a show, I am able to launch a series of work.
I work intuitively, painting on many pieces at the same time. I work on birch panels laid out on a tall work bench. Each new panel serves as a palette for mixing colors before being developed into a finished work. This allows for layers of paint color and texture to build up to be revealed later by sanding or carving back into the surface. My process flows between adding and subtracting layers of paint. I attribute my way of working and love of rich active surfaces to my background as a printmaker.
The Pop-Up Garden is influenced from my 20+ years working with children in the program I developed at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design called Studio Kids. There is something magical when a flat painting (cardboard with the kids) is cut-out and stood up! I have helped the kids experience this magic for years and I really wanted to make a whole installation of cutout forms. So I did! The first Pop-Up installation I created was the ‘Pop-Up City’ for my solo show last Fall in Minneapolis at Gallery 360. I made 66 buildings and stood them up on slotted stands.
The slotted stands are an influence from my oodles of paper doll making as a girl. I like this simple method for standing up the painted wood shapes because it evokes the playful quality of the paper cutouts.
This Winter I couldn’t wait to get started on making the ‘Pop-Up Garden’ for this show. I paint the individual flowers and plants on four foot sheets of plywood. Composing as many as possible on the sheet and painting the scalloped shapes for the slotted stands along any available edge. Knowing I will be cutting these shapes out with a jigsaw, I am not concerned with the overall composition of the full 4 foot sheet. Upon completing the painting of several sheets, it was unanimous to the people who saw them that they should not be cut-out and remain whole as large paintings. These are now the ‘Bloomer Party’ paintings, three in all were left un-cut. I was able to paint more for the ‘Pop-Up Garden’. I am pleased with how the evolution of this work developed and continue to be amazed by the process of creating.”
 "Bloomer Party 3" ©2013 Barbara Gilhooly Between the cut-out pop-up garden, the bloomer party paintings and several more individual bloomer paintings, there are almost 100 pieces included in this latest show and Barbara has even said she thinks this is the best show she’s ever done (tall order given how many great shows she’s done over the past 20+ years of work).
It has been fun to watch all of these pieces “grow” and multiply in our living room over the course of the last couple of months and I can imagine how this work will transform the gallery space into a buzzing garden of color and life.
If you’re in the area, please stop by tomorrow night during the artist’s reception and say “hi”, and don’t forget to wear your best “bloomers” for the occasion!
Sitting here watching the snow continue to fly for the third straight day – with upwards of 2 feet already on the ground – I’m thankful that this storm didn’t arrive until Monday. Our weekend workshop was a great sunny experience, even though we did battle the winds all day on Sunday.
Thanks to RMCQ for inviting me to speak and lead a workshop, and to Kelly at Jukebox Quilts for providing the space! We discovered how much fun 12 people with oodles of fabric, plant materials, and 3 natural dye baths can have, wrapping bundles and dyeing fabrics for 2 full days:
The students took many of their wrapped bundles home, choosing to patiently wait to see their results. But each of them also opened a few, and all of us enjoyed seeing the variety of colors and marks that were achieved:
The group will be sharing their full results at the next RMCQ meeting in mid-May. Based on the early returns and many smiles this weekend, I think that will be a fun meeting and show.
My artist talk on Monday night for RMCQ went well – despite the winter storm warning (AND the men’s college basketball championship), we had a pretty good turnout. Not sure that the basketball championship really kept anyone from attending, although I’m thankful I wasn’t also competing with a season premiere of Downton Abbey.
Now that I’ve done a few of these talks, I’m getting much clearer on what the “take-aways” are that I want the audience to hear. The more I share my story, the more I understand about myself as well.
Through my stories, I share my own journey of living a creative life and finding my way in developing my art career, even while continuing to work a full-time corporate day job, as I’ve done for 20 years now.
The business experience and leadership, management, and organizational development skills I’ve developed while working in the high tech world are helping me build my runway toward launching my own full-time art career. It’s exciting to be able to put these skills to work in following my passion.
Sharing What I’ve Learned
This weekend, I’m going to be teaching an Eco-Dyeing workshop, sharing what I’ve learned over the past couple of years through reading books by the masters and my own experiments with natural plant dyes.
I’ve taught drawing and printmaking classes at the college level years ago, and more recently have taught Art Cloth workshops at Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride, CO. (I’m actually not going to teach at Ah Haa this summer due to a very full exhibition schedule and need for some studio time, but will likely resume my teaching there in summer of 2014.)
This weekend workshop is going to be big fun as it’s a FULL workshop and the participants are raring to go. I don’t claim to be an expert on natural plant dyes by any means, but I am a good teacher (so I’ve been told!) and this is the subject area that the group wanted to explore. I look at this as sharing what I’ve learned and then expanding our group learning together.
In the end, isn’t that what it’s all about? We all get better together, sharing our knowledge, growing our learning. I’ll try to get some good photos and share our experience with you as well.
Happy Friday!
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