Happiness is....

I vaguely remember a song from my youth called "Happiness is...." We sung it a church camp, on all car rides, in school plays. It was one of those annoyingly addictive tunes that continued in your head over and over again. Too bad that happiness doesn't nag on and on....but right now the melody is sounding loud and clear.

Happiness is....
hearing such wonderful, supportive comments from cyber pals. Thank you, one and all!

Happiness is....
going to a great art exhibit. Like Cats on a Leash: Three Decades at play. (Opening night reception images of event right outside my studio door are here.)

Happiness is....
riding on the back of your son's moped to the ballet. (Video here!)

Happiness is....
laughing at your son's Halloween costume as he wins second place in a contest. (Blog post here.)

Happiness is....
a serendipitous arrangement for using four sold works in an upcoming show. (Thank you Mel Dalton! Mel is the fabulous art patron that bought all four, large stained glass fiber pieces that had been in my Sumter Gallery of Art Blues Chapel exhibition. I was going to make four more....but Mel is actually from Pickens, South Carolina. Her mother is a quilter there. She is happy to lend the four pieces for the show...with identifications tags that read "In the Collection of Mel Dalton". We're both really happy about this.)

Happiness is....
GETTING A PIECE ACCEPTED INTO CRAFTFORMS 2007!

Below is a picture of my Archeology Project which was on display at I. Pinckney Simon's gallery in Columbia last January. It was an exhibition I had with Janet Kozachek, a painter and mosaic artist. I loved this project...it is exactly the type of "major" work I'm now seeking...all encompassing: physically, spiritually, with purpose and statement. I even went back yesterday to the blog entries I wrote while envisioning this piece. Some of the individual parts and one of the altered books sold. Later, I took one suitcase and some of the contents and put together The Collector....which will shortly be heading to Wayne Art Center outside Philadelphia for Craftforms 2007! I am elated.



This is The Collector:


The letter informing me that the work had been accepted said, "From among 844 submissions, our juror, Mark Richard Leach, Founding Director and Chief Curator of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, chose 82 objects by 80 artist from 25 states as well as Canada and Korea." This is MAJOR. I've generally been rejected but always knew I was in excellent company even in that category!

Happiness is....this past weekend!