Exploring Whimsy and Wonder in Our Gallery

What if a vibrant lighted sign could symbolize the transformative journey of one passionate artist's dreams coming true? Join me on Brewtifully Made as I share my exhilarating return to the creative world, filled with bustling shop activities and preparations for exciting events. I’m thrilled to reveal my upcoming participation at Art Biz Jam, where I'll present augmented reality concepts and connect with fellow creatives and corporations like Evergreen. Plus, I’m eagerly anticipating the joy of painting pumpkins with the community at the 720 Markets Creative Camp. It's all about art fueling my spirit and embracing every challenge of running the shop solo.

Experience the community celebration as we unveil the stunning lighted sign that now graces our shop, a testament to the vibrant energy of our creative space. This episode also introduces Bobbi Pickens, our new exhibiting artist whose folk art-inspired creations bring a whimsical flair to our gallery. Join us as we reflect on the diverse artistic expressions that make our community unique, from Bobbi’s colorful works to the abstract expressions of Tom Delamater. Celebrate art's power to connect and inspire, and discover the beauty of spending mindful moments creating and sharing within our welcoming space.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hello everybody, welcome back to Brutally Made, pretty excited about being back. I had a little bit of a pause after the last recording with Tom Delamater because the shop was super busy with all kinds of events and activities. The shop was super busy with all kinds of events and activities, so today I'm going to take a moment to draw a little fall image and doodle that. While I chat about everything going on and what's coming up, let's see. I am getting ready to go to Art Biz Jam. This is going to be my second convention with them and I'm pretty excited I get to share augmented reality and kind of show how to do that with people attending. Getting to meet with some corporations, getting to see Evergreen they make beautiful outdoor oh my gosh decor and garden flags and all kinds of things like that. And I'm super excited about meeting up with some friends that I made at the last one and, just you know, getting to do all the art things for a few days. I may have someone watching the store I haven't got confirmation on that yet but that may have to close for a couple of days, but that's just kind of decision I have to make when I am the only one running the show. Oh goodness, this weekend I get to paint pumpkins with the community at another 720 Markets Creative Camp and I'm super excited about that.

Speaker 1: 1:45

Art just fuels me. People are like your energy level is so high. I know that I am just I can't just explain it Over the moon, just fueled by being creative and getting to create and moving this as my like, full-time gig. It's just, I can't explain it, I'm just every opportunity that I can take and make at work I'm trying to do and it's just terrific and I am embracing everything, every challenge. Ac was one and now that is working finally, oh my gosh, I am so grateful, grateful, grateful that I finally have air conditioning at the shop. People that have attended the classes have been so kind letting me run fans and having the doors open and just getting through the heat. It's been a very warm fall and a very hot summer and I created every mural and painted everything for cleaning crews cleaned in the heat, people were working in the heat and it is finally working and I'm super grateful that I have that. I also have a lighted sign. It absolutely stunning. It is so pretty, so colorful, colorful. I love it so, so much. I have cried over it because, for one, it was the biggest expense that I've had for the shop and it is just. It's so surreal seeing your work and your logo lit up and like that's me, that's my shop, that's my store, that's the studio. I get to share the space with the community. People recognize that crazy looking handwriting and like that's Grudifly and they're walking in, going. I follow you on Facebook, I follow you on social media and it's like really, it's so cool to meet you in person. Oh, my goodness, it's just terrific.

Speaker 1: 3:53

I love having this positive location to just embrace everybody's creativity, and that's what I've wanted. I've wanted to have this spot to say come on in, sit down, do something mindful with your hands and your mind. You know get it off of anything negative, take the negativity out in a brushstroke. Or you know gluing something together, making something, learning something, being creative, spending time together all of the above, you know finding something beautiful to bring into your home.

Speaker 1: 4:28

The new exhibiting artist is Bobby Pickens and I'm going to have her on the podcast, very excited about that. Her reception is Saturday, so we'll get to celebrate her from five to seven, but her art is so fun, it makes you smile, it's like folk art based and just very loose and colorful brushstrokes and people like, oh, it stops you in your tracks to take a look at it. And it was so different from Tom's, which I love too. The abstract looking art that he had was just so freeing, and those colors. So I just love, you know, getting to showcase these different artists to the community because it makes people stop and like, oh, I want to talk about that, I want to look at it, I want to take a moment and you know, see, how I feel about this. That's what art is all about and I love it.

Speaker 1: 5:24

I love having this space to do it, and I can't reiterate enough how just my philosophy on how I'm running my gallery and how I want that money to go back 100% to the artist. I know that that's kind of mind-boggling to some people, but I feel like I have way more other ways for me to sustain the business than taking it from them. So I'm going to do that. That has been on my heart from the very, very beginning and I can't explain that enough. That is what one of my philosophies making my business plan, what I wanted to do to showcase those artists, show their work, those big pieces of canvas or those sculptures or whatever they're doing. Their heart and soul was in that their money's invested in that. That goes back to them.

Speaker 1: 6:12

So that's just one of the little things that I can do to give back to the art community and I'm going to do it. You know, it's no different than me taking the time to create a piece of art for a organization, a nonprofit organization, so they can, you know, sustain their work and me donating that. That's no different to me. I'm giving this back to the artists. It's something that I can do. I've got this space, I've got this wall it's not like you know it and it's an opportunity for the community to get educated on that process, that art. They could take a class. You know the classes. They're making money from the classes and so it's my space. I get a little bit for having those classes. So that's there.

Speaker 1: 6:59

I just I feel like that's what I can do, to give back and I'm just not changing that. So that's very close to my heart to do that, to have that space to do that. So I am super excited about having that offer out into the community and it's getting out. I have artists scheduled all the way till June and that's so cool. Oh, my goodness, very cool. I've had great gosh advertising and just, you know, news posts from Salute Magazine and the Canton Repository and Bold Journey and just people sharing what the space is doing, on the radio and during Mural Fest and getting to share, you know, painting faces and handing out flyers about the business, all of those things I got to share what the store and the studio and the space is like and that meant that means so much to me. So I love having those opportunities to do that and I think the more that you do that kind of sharing and put that information out there, it comes back to you and it's like you know, the best advertising is word of mouth and you know this is a community-based thing and it's wonderful to see that it's, you know, getting noticed and that the people coming in some are still going.

Speaker 1: 8:28

Are you a brewery? Do you have coffee? I don't. I mean I do have M&H. I love them. But you can bring your beverages in and sit down and do a paint by number or grab a coloring book, purchase a coloring book and some coloring utensils and just get started, take it home and finish it, but it's a moment to sit down and relax and enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 8:50

I love having the classes out in the public, because people are coming in the shop and then they're like watching them work and they're like curious to how it's working and it's it's. You still have the room that you can reserve for a private class, but it's just really cool to see that interaction. It just it sparks people's interests and gets them curious and they watch, you know, people doing abstract painting. Just the classes are phenomenal. I love it, oh my goodness. And then I got Aaron Van Horn, who's having this gorgeous colored pencil class. People were signing up for that this month. There's so much happening. In October we have the folk art canvas class, we have a bracelet class. Both of those are Bobby's classes. Aaron's teaching this gorgeous color pencil class. I have never been taught how to color and draw with color pencil, so I'm actually taking it too because I'm super excited about that. His drawings are just gorgeous, so he's graciously, you know, teaching that class.

Speaker 1: 9:51

We have another bonsai class coming up, and I know that it is during a lot of trick or treat times in the community. We personally don't get any trick or treaters, so you know, other trick or treats are different days and I'm happy to have it on that Sunday. So there's that class that's coming up again, and I have the cutest little mini Halloween things that you can add to your bonsai tree. Let's see what other classes do we have coming up in October. The spooky book class is coming up tonight, so that is a class that we're having and I still have materials so if someone pops in they can join. But learning about dioramas and learning about perspective and scale, so that's going to be a really cute little class tonight. Then we're going to have a Kandinsky month, so that's already started and six lessons learning about you know the colors and line and movement of that artist, and so that is a really cool series to help teach those lessons. So that is this month. There is Truck or Treat and there's a Beer Crawl and there's a Mystic Night the 26th and 23rd of October. Those are happening.

Speaker 1: 11:08

I have a mending class, so it's all about the art of mending and having ways to recycle and upcycle your clothing, and so that is a class because we have a whole lost art series happening and I have more classes to add. I love that you can pop in right now and if you want to make some knit pumpkins on one of the knitting machines, boom, absolutely can do that. Or if you would like to just mindfully sit and do a little mandala rock, a painted rock, I have all the dot utensils and paint. You can just, you know, paint one of those. It is Mental Health Awareness Month and art is so good for your mental health, so sit down and just take a few hours to do something like that. That's available to pop in. I also have all the boo buckets the little mini boo buckets oh my goodness, those have been super popular. So you can fill them with five little mini pieces of candy or food and you can make an ornament or a necklace out of one. And those have been fun. Just all kinds of Halloween and fall fun at the shop, plus all of the canvases that we are printing or painting. Those are still happening.

Speaker 1: 12:20

I have more to add. I just I can't get enough of being creative and I love sharing it with the community, so I hope that this gets your mind spinning in ways to you know, fuel your passions through sharing and teaching and creating a space to learn and making it fun for everybody, because everyone can learn something new, and I can't wait to show you some of the new stuff that I have coming into the store supporting some small, small businesses, not only locally but through the state of Ohio. So I have some new pieces coming in very soon and I'm excited to share those. So just a little update on what's going on at the shop. Join my newsletter. I always put everybody who subscribes to the newsletter in a drawing. I always put everybody who subscribes to the newsletter in a drawing and every month somebody will win something that I'm either doing or giving a class on or the materials to make it yourself. If you're not local, so yeah, just go to Brutallycom newsletters and then you just fill out this like three box form and you'll get one newsletter a month. No, I don't spam you, but at least you're up to date on what's going on. So yeah, I'd love to have you join. So I hope you like this quick little creation for fall.

Speaker 1: 13:41

I love wheelbarrows and I love mums and pumpkins, so that was the inspiration for this. So I may put this in the plain little art shack. I've been making some little art. Brian's been making some too. He makes a scary one. He did a it Pennywise. But anyway, plain little art shack is the flag, the free little art gallery at Brutifly which has got a lot of activity lately. So thanks for joining me. I will talk to you next time Bobby's coming up soon for October. But stay brutally made and thank you so much for supporting my dreams because you're fueling the fire. I'm no-transcript. No-transcript.