The Candy Dance

An art show takes once each year in Genoa, Nevada called the Candy Dance. It started about 80 years ago with the local ladies made candy and danced in the streets to pass out the candy.

Genoa is near Carson City, Nevada and one of our favorite art shows of the year. The weather is crisp and cool in September and Genoa is one of the cutest communities that we've ever been in. There are no street lights and only one stop sign that I can think of. The town places straw bales at all of the streets about a mile from the center of town and haul the people in on hay wagons.

About 40,000 people show up from all over to attend the art show, buy some candy, and help out the local community.

If you get a chance, come and see us at the Morman Station State Park in Genoa, Nevada each September.

Lafayette Art and Wine Festival

Mackie and I were in Lafayette last weekend and had a blast! This is a great town in east bay California. This was our third year and each year we have a better time than the previous one.
Mackie is in Reno this week waiting for me to join her tomorrow and then we're off to the Candy Dance in Genoa, Nevada. I can talk about Genoa all day, but I'm going to wait until next week to talk about that. Well, here's a teaser. Genoa is a small village southwest of Carson City on the way to South Lake Tahoe. It sits next to the mountains and doesn't have a stop light. They block off the streets and about 40,000 people - that's correct people - descend on the community for three fun-filled days. Last year was our first year here and it was lots of fun. There is a link on our show schedule to the city's website.

We're down to the last seven art shows of this year, and even though we are running two hundred miles an hour, we couldn't be having more fun...Life is good!

This photo is of some new pieces that I've been working on. The shark on the left is for a San Jose Sharks fan. He was blown away when he picked it up at the show! That's a Tilly bird on the right. I have no idea why it's a Tilly bird; Mackie came up with the name and it stuck with us.

We'll be coming up with more fun art and displaying it soon. Check the show schedule on our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for where we are going to be at next!

Art Head

Fall is starting to come to the Pacific Northwest and people seem to be doing a bit more remodeling instead of upgrading to another house. We were able to salvage a bunch of these steel balls that were made as part of fence decorations. It dawned on us that these looked like heads. Here's one of these balls that I turned into a face.

This is Billy Biker. His body is created from a crankshaft from a Toro lawn tractor from a local golf course. I sculpted his motorcycle from pieces of rebar, round steel, and custom wheels that I cut pirate symbols in from sheet metal. He will be at a show soon!

Tapestry in Talent

Mackie will be in San Jose for the Tapestry in Talent show this weekend. It's our first time exhibiting here and unfortunately, I have to stay at home and keep building. I'm one of the luckiest people in the world that I love what I do and able to share it with you.

This photo shows some of the recycled work that we had during our past couple of shows. Notice that I had some warm-weather gear on a few weeks back. We've had some 30 degree temperature swings during August. Litterly, it's been 100 on one day and between 68-72 the next. Eesh. It's August for crying-out-loud.

June, July, August...Oh My!

Time flys when one is having fun...Or in our case...art shows.

Mackie and I just returned from the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts and she is heading to San Jose for the Tapestry in Talent this Thursday. We are right smack dab in the middle of our busy season and it leaves little time for anything else.

But really. It's all about the art with us. We get so excited with what we are creating that everything else becomes second in our lives. For three more months, we'll be at shows in California, Nevada, and Washington. See our website at www.cliftonmetalworks.com for our latest schedule. We hope to see you soon!

Joe and Mackie.

Vacation

Mackie and I just returned from a long overdue vacation. I say long overdue because it was 2000 since we last went on one. How is that possible you ask...

We spend about 30 weekends a year doing shows throughout five western states with occasional runs to the midwest and east coast. While both of us love to create art, and we don't think of this as work, the real work comes when we start getting ready for the show. Here's the list of steps we go through:

• load the trailer
• perform any necessary maintenance on the truck
  
• stock the camper
• hook up the trailer
• check the lights
• check the breaks
• drive to the show (average is 6 hours)
  
• set up for the show (approximately 2-3 hours)
• meet and greet you all
• tear down at the show
• drive home

It sounds like a lot of work but it's also a lot of fun. The joy of seeing people's faces that see our creations is incredible. It's quite humbling when people invest in one of our pieces of art.

The beauty about vacation is that we both feel rejuvenated and have new experiences that we'll soon be presenting at upcoming shows. The Florida sunsets, the wide range of wildlife, and the weather are already evident in our new creations.

We'll see you at a show soon!

Joe and Mackie

Spring and Recycled Art

Mackie and I are at the Canby, Oregon fairgrounds for the Master Gardener's show this weekend. The weatherman's prediction was as good as usual...about 180 degrees from what they claimed. Nevertheless, this is a pretty enjoyable show to attend and for us to do.

The fairgrounds provide for wide aisles and make it easy for everyone to get around. There is a good supply of plants, and most of this year's art is decent. There is quite a bit of metal art at this show...some good and some imported items.

Mackie will be at the Spokane Community College next weekend for their annual garden art show. That will be our last show in the Portland-Vancouver area until the last weekend in June when we do the recycled art show in Vancouver at Ester Short Park.