On the Road Again

It's been a busy last four months with creating new work for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. It's great to see everyone excited about our new work. I've been working on adding vintage pieces inspired by the 1950's and 1960's googie architecture and science fiction. The rocket ship below was pretty standard for many "B" rated science fiction movies like the "Man in Space".

It's about four feet tall and 18 inches across at the base. There's 14 lights including an amber one between the flames, and a red light is in the nose. The remaining white lights outline the rockets sides.

Every good 1950's astronaut deserves to have a good martini after a long space flight. This glass is also created from steel and is approximately 36 inches tall and 16 inches at it's widest point, and is about 2 1/2 inches deep. Note the distressing effect where I take new steel and give it that vintage look.

This peace sign took an incredible amount of time to create. It's made from over 50 pieces of recycled steel strips and is about 2 1/2 inches deep and 24 inches in diameter. It's also available with lights installed.

The year is just getting started and we'll be at a number of shows throughout the northwest this year. Our next show is on the Oregon State University Mom's weekend art show on May 4th. It will be a few months until everything shakes out, but visit our Clifton Metal Works Facebook page for the latest updates.

Oregon Society of Artists

The Oregon Society of Artists is a wonderful non-profit organization that promotes arts through their gallery, and a number of different classes in a wide variety of mediums. This group has over 600 active members and has their own beautiful building in downtown Portland, Oregon.

I become a member through my friendship with the group's president William Woods. Bill and I have known each other for over 20 years while we worked together in the utility industry. It was about eight years ago through a conversation that we realized that we both loved and created art. My wife, Mackie, and I had already been creating and selling art for a number of years at this time, but we really kept it to ourselves to friends at work.

Bill had asked me to come up with a presentation about the experiences Mackie and I had and offer tips to encourage others in their desire to promote their art work. Bill has traveled with me twice across country, helped me with art shows in California, and we've exhibited together in the Portland area. He'd seen first hand the enjoyment we get from the stories and smiles that we get from the folks who've invested in our artwork over the years.

About 30 people showed up and we had a great discussion about the journey Mackie and I have been on, and how there are many paths for one to travel on their own successful journey. The hour flew by and hopefully I was able to encourage them to experience the joys they can create for themselves on their own journey.

Winter is Coming

The life of an artist is never complete and we're always searching for that next creation of perfection. It may be a new shape that's appealing, or a new color that looks good with that particular shape. I like the adventure and journey that each piece takes me on.

The top picture is a series of three tables that I completed from recycled material.Each is a free flowing organic shape that takes on the life of the metal as it decides on how it wants to bend around to form its natural shape. It's all about the journey that each piece takes me through. Fortunately, so many people constantly run great ideas by me for new creative pieces of work to add to their collection. All this combined leads me down a path to new ideas and paths each year.

I'm starting to work on new work for the upcoming Northwest Flower and Garden Show that takes place in Seattle next February. I've got lots of new shapes, sizes and colors that I'm excited to get out. It's going to be a great year.

6th Street Art Fair in Bellevue, Washington

There's only good things that I can say about the July art shows in Bellevue, Washington. It's actually three shows sponsored by the Art Museum (in the Bellevue Square parking garage); the Festival of the Arts (in the Cost Plus parking lot); and the 6th Street Show that we've been doing for about 10 years. Each show is unique and packed with unbelievable creations that are waiting to be shared and adopted by over 100,000 patrons.

This is normally the last weekend in July and usually the weather is fairly warm in the Puget Sound area; however, this year is the exception. Mackie went and bought me some big boy pants because I was freezing Friday. It may have got to around 65, but the wind was howling and that's where the coldness lied. But cold or rain never stops people from coming out in this area of the country; in a few months I'll be writing about Salmon Days in Issaquah, and it never matters how much it's raining for a crowd to appear. I've see nearly 100,000 people show up there in rain gear and galoshes many a time.

By Sunday the weather was wonderful and crowds of people were about. The show can be a challenge with the three shows and all the walking. However, the 6th street show is one of the most enjoyable to visit for several reasons including: wider aisles that doesn't make one feel so claustrophobic; shade - ah. the Cost Plus parking lot was miserable with heat even with the cooler temperature; and there's always some wonderful artists, like ourselves, that really enjoy the feel of the 6th Street show over the others. Sunday was a perfect example where two people that made adoptions came to our show area for the first time, and they were surprised by the freshness and quality of work available.

Thank you all for another great show - we're always humbled by the many people that adopt our loved creations. Each has a special place in our heart, and we're humbled that you've selected our work to enjoy in your life. We'll see you soon!

Joe and Mackie

Crusin' through the Summer

What a busy weekend. Mackie was at the Clark County Recycled Fair in Vancouver, and I was at the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts. It wasn't enough that we were in two separate shows, but the weather definately did not cooperate. It litterly rained like cats and dogs for two and a half days. Did I say rain.Oh...it poured.

Fortunately, the skys parted and a little blue skys appeared and folks came out in numbers. We ended the weekend on a high note and met a bunch of new friends. All I can say is life is good.

It's pretty unusal for us to get cold rain like this during late June but hey, it's the way that we roll in the Pacific Northwest.

This was our first visit to the Lake Oswego show and I was impressed. The core of volunteers were nothing short of impressive. They are very organized and they are all around the show asking the artists if they need anything, giving breaks, getting food and drink. Wow! Show quality is great with a wide variety of creative works. The folks in Lake Oswego are very fortunate to have a show like this in thier area, and it's certainly one of the best in Oregon.

One weekend off and then we head to Eugene for Art in the Vineyard on July 7 to 9, 2012. We're looking forward to our trip and visiting some new friends. Stop by and see us if your in the area.

2012 Show Update

We're starting to hear more about art shows we're going to be at this summer.  And.  The news is good!  We just got acceptance into the University Street Fair in Seattle, and the Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts in Lake Oswego, Oregon.  Both are great shows and we're excited about being selected to participate. 

We'll have lots of exciting new work that's going to incorporate lots of new elements into our current work.  Mackie and I are working hard and look forward to rekindling our friendships this summer.  Please take a look at our Facebook page at Facebook page and click on the "like" button.

See you'all soon,
Joe and Mackie

Tired Dogs

We just finished our second five-day show of the month, and both Mackie and I are ready for a break.  Guess what.  It isn’t happening.  We were swamped in Seattle two weeks ago and Portland showed no mercy.  And, our galleries are calling, “Joe we need ……”.  We are two lucky people.  The number of people that appreciate our work humbles us; I know that I speak of this often, but we both feel that we can never thank our supporters enough!

Fortunately, I believe we don’t have another show until April 7^th and 8^th in Portland, Oregon when we’ll be at the Hardy Plant Society show at the EXPO in Portland, Oregon.  This is more of a garden show and we’ll have more of the critters that we’re known for. However, summer is sneaking up around the corner, and we’ll be heading north, south, east, and west.  Next we’ll be in Seattle May 19^th and 20^th at the University Street Fair; we’ll have our hearts and wall art here.

You’ll be seeing some new changes to our website in the coming weeks to make it more reflective of our work that we’ve been developing during the past 10 years.