We have been closed for close to three weeks due to the fire that started at the Mexican restaurant's neon sign. The facade of our strip mall burned from one end to the other. Fortunately it was not able to break through into any of the businesses.
Lee and I went to Las Vegas last week for the West Coast Art and Frame Show. We arrived on Saturday and had some leisure time before the seminar classes started.
I have to thank my local Stouts Shoes salesman for recommending Mon Ami Gabi for dinner at the Paris Hotel and Casino. We enjoyed the most delicious mussels mariniere served with frites and a fabulous view of the Bellagio from their outdoor patio.
I had captured this scene years before in my sketchbook from a cafe on the street level. When sketching a scene, the more senses you engage, the more you retain the memory. When I look at that sketch, I can hear the sounds of the Bellagio's synchronized fountains and taste the french bread dipped in mariniere. We highly recommend the outdoor patio at Mon Ami Gabi if you go to Vegas.
After dinner we headed to the Bellagio to see the current exhibit in their gallery. We encountered the art of Richard MacDonald on the way in a new gallery just outside of the O Theatre which is open to the public. We were both overwhelmed by the expressiveness of the faces and movement of the sculptures. Inspired by live dancers and acrobats from Cirque de Soleil, MacDonald literally moves with and dances around his models while sculpting their form.
I have always had an appreciation for ballet and Lee competed in college as a gymnast. Perhaps it was that connection that captivated our attention, never had we both been so moved by works of art.
The gallery rep referred to him as "the Degas, Rodin, or Michelangelo of our time. Having been fortunate enough to experience the works of all those artists, I would have to agree with him. Each of these sculptors depict the human form exquisitely and MacDonald ranks among them. The movements of his works seem to defy gravity and the facial expressions communicate the true expressions of a live performer. Amazing!
If you find yourself in Vegas, don't miss an opportunity to see Richard MacDonald's work.
Sold! Medsker's Buried Treasure
Medkser's Buried Treasure will be on the move tomorrow, finding its new home in a corporate office in Connersville, Indiana. The earthy colors and topographical textures were a perfect complement to the other works of art that we framed for this office. Check back to see more images from this corporate installation which takes place tomorrow. We offer complementary delivery and hanging to our corporate clients.
We are very honored to be selected as the framers for this piece. It was sent as a gift to St. Malachy in Brownsburg in thanks for their support of Ste. Marguerite in Haiti.
View the attached link for more information about Ste. Marguerite and St. Malachy's work and dedication to their sister parish.
http://www.saintmalachypar
Check out this month's Hendricks County Icon for a very nice article on Lisa Palo's work of hot blown glass. Artistic Designs Gallery is currently exhibiting her work through November. Stop by and take a look!!
Artistic Designs Gallery was featured on Channel 6 last Sunday. Savor Indiana does 1/2 hour segments on different counties in Indiana. We were lucky enough to be selected as one of the featured locations. Check it out on their website. Go to shows, then "Happenin' Hendricks County." We are in the first segment.
www.savorindiana.com
Take a look at our latest creations. Two shadowbox frames were made this week.
The first is a dagger brought over from Qatar that was given to our client by her fellow Airmen. The second is a set of grips I used during my long lost days as a gymnast. We can put just about anything in a shadowbox.
If you have anything that has fond memories attached to it, but it doesn't fit your decor for display in the house, bring it in and we can help present it to fit your style.
Artistic Designs Gallery will be on Channel 6 on September 18 at 11:30 AM. The show is "Savor Indiana" and they are showcasing seven locations in Hendrick's County. We are lucky enough to be selected through Rural Routes to Main Street. Read below for more info.
Savor Indiana – September 18
Recently Jaime Bohler Smith, Associate Director, hosted the Savor Indiana staff on a tour throughout the county looking for locations to be filmed. Each 30-minute SAVOR INDIANA program consists of a wide variety of segments that focus on the history of the profiled community and various tourist highlights in addition to providing information about various community amenities, shopping and the overall character of the community. Additional segments contain a combination of:
- Local Restaurants, both fine-dining and casual establishments
- Agritourism products & sites; Food Manufacturers
- Wineries and Micro-breweries
- Children’s Attractions and Cultural Venues
- Lodging/Accommodation Highlights
- Unique Craft and Shopping Opportunities
One whole segment will feature RR2MS!! Sites will be filmed on Monday and Tuesday, August 30 and 31 and televised on Saturday, September 18 at 11:30 am on Channel 6 – WRTV locally. They also broadcast on stations in Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Terre Haute. HCCVB will receive the edited and unedited segments for use in future promotions. When visitors do a Savor Search on their website, they will receive a passport. At each location the guests visit, they will get a stamp on their passport. When they collect all of them, they will mail it in for a chance to win a prize. Five of the seven that were chosen are RR2MS sites: Gallery on the Square, Danville; Artistic Designs Gallery, Brownsburg; McCloud Nature Park, North Salem; Bread Basket Café and Bakery, Coatesville & Danville; Chateau Thomas Winery, Plainfield. Also, Mayberry Café and Beasley’s Orchard, Danville
Thank you, Toy Story 3!!
Why am I thanking a movie? The latest Toy Story movie is a little nostalgic about Andy's favorite toy, Woody. Which started me thinking about my favorite toy as a child, Tonto. In the movie, Woody and the "posse" are thrown out by accident because his mom mistook the bag they were packed in for garbage. As in the movie, my dad threw out our toys because he confused the good bag of toys with the bad bag. Andy's toys came back to him; mine did not.
So I have started a quest to find my toys. I picked up Tonto and Scout, his horse, on eBay last month. They have the Lone Ranger and many other action figures that I will be picking up over the months ahead (on a budget you understand).
What do I plan on doing with these toys? Well, it's a good thing my wife owns a custom frame shop. When my collection is complete we will place them in a shadowbox with a nice frame attached to the front. Then we will display them in Artistic Designs Gallery.
As a side note, I really asked for the Lone Ranger for Christmas, but I was told they ran out at the store. So I got Tonto. After the initial disappointment, I had many good times with Tonto and Scout. Maybe this Christmas I get the Lone Ranger?!?
Send any comments you may have to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Let me know what you think.
Lee Tesdahl
Kenny Vermillion just dropped off some new work. Check it out!!
Art students from The Sketch Pad Art Studio-Brownsburg were in the gallery today working on seascapes and landscapes in chalk pastel. They learned how to blend analogous colors to create the effect of a sunset as well as how to create the reflection of a sun setting in water by using deeper values in the reflection During the week students also created works of art in oil pastel, polymer clay, and acrylic paint. Registration is open for art classes held at the gallery during the 2010-2011 school year classes begin August 17, 2010. Click on our Art Classes Tab for more information.
Mark Kelso taught a fantastic workshop in the gallery Saturday. Although this "Plein Air" Workshop was inside, Mark spent the day preparing participants to paint in the field the following day. He explained the importance of being prepared and organized in advance and went over all of the equipment and materials that he uses in the field, as well as all of the different ways that a painter could utilize their brush . Mark led his students through a color exercise in order to emphasize the how atmosphere affects color as it recedes in space. He discussed the importance of composition and demonstrated how to sketch the scene out , block areas of color in and paint foliage, grasses, a rock, and gravel. The painting of the rock that students created was painted with only one brush! The way a painter handles a brush is truly an art.
Be sure to check out the article in the Hendricks County Icon featuring Mark Kelso's work. Mark paints exquisitely detailed pictures of landscape and wildlife. 
Join us on Facebook!! Become a fan for updates and schedule postings.
The Artistic Designs Gallery '4th Annual Miniature Fine Art Show ' has been judged! One hundred and thirty entries were juried into the exhibit out of one hundred and thirty-seven entered. Awards are given to the following artists: Best of Show to Linda Rossin for "Freshwater Dunes", Best of Oil Painting to Catherine Girard for "Alabama Blue", Best of Acrylic Painting to Ron Orlando for "Sunlit Red", Best of Transparent Watercolor to Janet Laird-Lagassee for "Basket, Bucket and Pans", Best of Opaque Watercolor to Rachelle Siegrist for "Whitey", Best of Mixed Media to Glenn Leung for "Trail Together", Best of Drawing to Rebecca Troutman for "Strawberries, and Best Sculpture to Diane Mason for "Thompson's Gazelle Bust". In addition Nancy Still was awarded Judges Choice with her Oil Painting titled "Market Day" and the Gallery awarded Artist, Luke Buck for Best Depiction of Rural Indiana. This year's exhibit is awesome and not to be missed.
Glenn Roesler and Lynne Medsker are two local artists that exhibit work in our gallery. Both of them will be participating in the Avon Public Library's fifth Annual Artscape this evening April 17, 2010 from 7:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the library. Advance tickets are $12 per person or $20 per couple. Ticket will cost $15 at the door.
Glen Roesler is a local potter who has been making pottery for over 30 years. He creates pottery with a warm woodsy look and feel that is strongly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic philosophy and objective of Wabi Sabi. All of his pieces are microwave and dishwasher safe. You can learn more about Glenn by visiting his website www.ivycreekstoneware.com.
Lynne Medsker works with a variety of materials such as metal, paper, glass, and photographs to create unique mixed media reliefs. Her work is primarily abstract, with an emphasis on layering and balancing geometric shapes, organic elements, and textural surface details. You can learn more about Lynne's work by visiting www.lynnemedsker.com.
If you are unable to attend Artscape this evening. Mark your calendar for Friday April 23rd or Saturday th 24th. Artistic Designs Gallery will be open in the evening from 5-8 for the Hendrick County ArtsGo. Lynne will be attending the reception and in the gallery all day on Saturday April 24th.
Cindy Baldauf 's photography exhibit, SHOOTING THE WEST opens this Friday April 9, 2010 and continues through April 30th. Cindy is a resident of Pittsboro, Indiana with a passion for documenting cowboys, horses, and wildlife in the rural western landscape. The majority of the images in this exhibit are stunning photographs of horses and details of Cindy's experiences on the ranch in Big Hole Montana. From cowboys herding cattle to detailed close ups of their boots and spurs, each picture tells a story of life on the ranch. To view Cindy's work visit her website at cynthiabaldaufimages.com
Tim and Chris Donovan stopped by the gallery Monday evening on their way home to Lovettsville, Virginia returning from Nature Works Fine Art Exhibition in Tulsa Oklahoma. Nature Works is one of the three largest fine art shows in the eastern United States. Tim had an excellent show this year, his sales were outstanding. His work in egg tempera is something you'll want to stop in the gallery to see. He left us three new paintings. "Regal" is an extremely detailed painting of a bobcat. The bobcat has recently become reestablished in Indiana after many years of being extrapated. Two smaller paintings are of a wolf and a prairie dog. Tim has participated in all of our Miniature Fine Art exhibitions and plans to have miniature work ready for the show this May. Stop in to see these fabulous new paintings before they too are sold.
Friday night, the 12th, the Gallery held a reception for the Indianapolis based Riviera Camera Club Photographers. The reception found several members present to answer questions. The photography is just awesome with spectacular landscapes from Italy to Yellowstone in Winter, and wonderful close-ups of Classic Cars, and even some abstracts. Just a delight! Plan to see it if you're able. It's a great collection of work!
Luke dropped by the gallery today to drop off some new art work. "Two Legends" is a "plein air" piece that he painted down in North Carolina near Mt. Airy outside the town of Mayberry. He titled it "Two Legends" because " Pilot Mountain is a legend, as a matter of fact the Indians called it Pilot Mountain because you could see it from so far away that they would use it as a beacon to guide them. The tobacco barn is another legend since the demise of the tobacco industry. You used to see these everywhere, and most are sitting derelict now and many have been torn down. This particular tobacco barn was a novelty because it was made out of cement blocks, most are usually made out of logs."
"Cross at a Walk" is a watercolor of a covered bridge in Parke County about halfway between Bridgeton and Mansfield. The bridge is dated 1906-1907. A sign on it reads "cross this bridge at a walk." If you look closely you will see three wild turkeys waiting to cross the road in this painting.
"The Fork at the Bridge" is a wonderful fall landscape in rural Indiana where two roads meet before crossing Indian Creek Bridge. The leaves that cover the road take me back to my childhood days when I would wander down the country roads daydreaming. This painting is reminiscent of simpler times.
