Early Bird Registration Extended Until March 31!

The JFJ would like to announce that we are extending the Early Bird Registration for our summer retreat until March 31, 2014. If you would like to attend Journal Fodder Junkies: The Retreat, June 26-29, 2014, and you want to save a bundle of cash, register now. If you want to save more, register with some friends to take advantage of the Artistic Accomplices Discount.

Regular registration is $450 for four days of journal fodder madness. You could save $150 if you take advantage of the discounts. See the Retreat Registration page for details.

Please share this with all of your friends, and we hope to see you there!

All 1 Process: An Exhibition by David Modler

Dave just finished installing an exhibit at Shepherd University's Phaze 2 gallery on the first floor of the new Center for Contemporary Arts. An opening reception and artist talk will be held this Monday, January 27, 2014, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. 

According to a Shepherd Media release: "The site-responsive exhibition features new and reworked paintings that explore the effects of location on the context of studio practice. The content bids to confront the formal and conceptual boundary issues, multiple layers, and complex patterns that saturate the artist's everyday life. Dealing with these self-created and imposed boundaries can define one's space like a map, encompass like a web, and contain like a matrix." See more here.

Dave's exhibit consumes you as you enter since it runs from floor to ceiling. It centers around seven main paintings with smaller paintings hanging throughout the space. Some elements are directly pinned or painted on the walls. It's almost visual overload as you circle the gallery and try to take in all the symbols, patterns, and imagery. Dave has included four journals for viewers to flip through with the hope that they will begin to see the connection the journals have to the larger work and vice versa.

If you can't make the opening night, the exhibit runs for the next two weeks. If you are in the area, try to stop by the show.

San Antonio Bound

2014 looks like it's going to be a busy year, and we already have events scheduled throughout the year with many other possibilities. First on the list, David and I have been invited to present in San Antonio, Texas at the beginning of February - just two weeks away. On Wednesday, February 5, we will be spending the day at Saint Mary's Hall, a private school where we'll be working with students. On the evening of Thursday, February 6 we will be speaking and conducting workshops at the McNay Art Museum from 5:00 to 8:30 as part of the museum's Evening for Educators series in conjunction with the Robert Indiana exhibit. So if you're an educator in the San Antonio are, we hope to see you there.

The Movement of Life

The movement of life has thrown me out of balance yet again, and I have been working to get back to center. Thanks to some unexpected snow days this winter, I have had a little extra time in the studio and with my journal. I have even begun some tentative meanderings into a new journal. I'm not certain what volume I'm on now. Unlike Dave, I haven't been diligent about numbering all of my journals, and since changing over to Strathmore Hardbound Drawing Journals which have half the number of pages as the black Classic Cachets, I go though journals a bit faster now.

The above photo is from the first page of my new journal, and I jotted down the phrase as I was working on a few pieces of art and a few journal pages yesterday in the studio. I have come to a realization that all of my art and all of my writing - my journals, all the finished and unfinished wall pieces, and even this blog are my attempts at trying to visualize and document the movement of my life. I'm trying to be more diligent about keeping more balanced, being more in touch with my art, and finding the time to touch base here. I'm trying to make a more concerted effort to visualize that movement in more tangible ways.

However, the movement of life can be unpredictable. I am just glad that there are times when things slow down, and it's easier to feel and to process that movement.

Here's to a prosperous winter season.