In The Toilet at the Murray Art Guild

Here at the Murray Art Guild is a new international show called "In The Toilet" that I was graciously allowed to curate by Debbi Danielson, Executive Director of the guild in Murray, KY.  She also designed the beautiful arrangement of flowers for the show. 

People who know me and my sense of humor didn't know what to think of this show. Now with it being set up, most of the skepticism has waned and have been met with many postive responses. Even some of the older members of the Murray Art Guild are promoting the show to visitors here. That means so much to me when other people are just as excited to tell others about this. It really has been an amazing time of it! Rick Mjos donated the vinyl lettering for the show. Basically there was no budget for the show and it was still able to fruition. People are so helpful here in the south I am coming to find out. So much diffenrent from the art atmosphere that I was used to in Chicago!

Local artists as well as some from as far as Singapore, Germany, and the Netherlands have contributed work. I am forever in the gratitude to the ladies of fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy), who made a substantial contribution of work to this endeaver! The first entry in fact was from DK Miller (The Shutterbug Eye). She is a wonderful photographer and friend from long ago. You can find her work on Etsy, Through the Chicago Photography Center, and with The Artisan Group. There are many other talented artists to in this show as well.

Currently I am surprised by the submissions. There is a great deal of time and care that was taken by each artist. I was half expecting some crude or unusable images to be sent in. That ended up not being the case, people took thoughtful and funny images. I was told by one of the contributors, that she had been dreaming about toilets upon hearing about the show. What a compliment!

I am also very proud of the communtity photography group that I facilitate called MAGPix. Most of the members took the time to enter creative work. I had given them fair warning about what I was putting together and they gladly accepted the challenge. It was also my hope that more contributions would come from the other local photography groups. The Marshall County Photography Club had an entry by Phyllis Russell. It quite lovely! On a side note MAGPix Currently has work hanging at the local coffee shop called Fidalgo Bay.

If you have some extra time please stop by the Murray Art Guild and check out the show. it will be up till October 1st. I will then be putting it online for all the lovely people to view, who couldn't come to see the show in person! In case you are wondering, many of these works are for sale! Part of the sales will go to the Murray Art Guild and to the artists. Thank you and have a great day! 

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions about this or my other works in progress :) My current projects are listed to the right of this, but am always looking for new and interesting ones to be a part of.

Cheers,

Stacy Michelle Frett

Curator, Photographer, and Artist

Creative Paralysis In The Arts Will Kill You!

Hard work or dumb effing luck? For me it has been a bit of both. My work has evolved and in some cases come to a complete grinding halt for years at a time. Not many people want to talk about what sends them into a creative paralysis. At my age I think it is good to share these moments for the benefit of others in the same position or as a preventive measure. Growing up I excelled in art, I started drawing and making things early on and was told so frequently by friends and family. To me making art was always a linear race of excellence. You do well in one aspect of it and move on to something new. By the time I reached my late 20s and early 30s I had shown pieces in photography and mixed media at some pretty decent places in Chicago. I was soo proud of this, but retained my usual sense of modest shyness about the work. Little did I know that later on my own creativity would come to a stand still. It all began to unravel the night of the opening of a group exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center which coincided with the an opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. It was such a beautiful night. My mother came to Chicago for the event as well as my aunt Sharon. All the artists were in attendence as well. There was a sort of shared excitement. We knew how special this evening would be. In my haste I forgot my camera, which is highly unusual for me. My own stomache was doing flips in anticipation. I truly believed that this was the pinnacle of my career as an artist. How the hell was I going to be able to top this. Slowly and unaware of the changes in me, I lost complete direction and concentration. I set the bar so high for myself that it became impossible to continue. What could or would I do next? People who had purchased my work wanted me to contact them. For some reason I refused to call them. That reason was fear, illogical and constricting fear. These people liked my work enough to buy it and here I was being what appeared to be an ass and not calling them to answer their questions. Still have their numbers and messeges in a notebook and thought about calling them over the years, but it has been well over a decade. I have let that go. I went so far back then as to quit my studio job, pack up my entire life, leave the creative world behind, and hide out in Kentucky for the next couple of years by going back to school, having several different jobs,  going clubbing, and moving to Nashville for a bit. None of this made me happy. Misery is a sneaky beast, that got a hold of me and hung on for almost a decade. I seriously figured my artistic life was over for good. Well one should never hold onto absolutes as I found out. Little by little I started to get back into creative work. I started simply and have been steadily making my way back to the artist that I used to be, only more well grounded and a bit more mature. No longer do I see my work as linear, it is constantly evolving. I have repeatedly revisited concepts that I have worked on earlier. The work has become more circular. I don't need to top myself anymore, I just need to keep making art in whatever medium I choose. Nowdays if someone inquires about my work, I call them back and will freely discuss it. I am getting to that lovely point of middle age where I don't care what others think of me or my work, but can now take compliments and criticism objectively. Funny, I am also much more full of opinions on my work and the work of others to. 

Have you ever experianced an emotional, creative paralysis? Leave me a comment about it. I love hearing from other people about their experiances in making art.

Cheers, 

Stacy Frett

Artist

Taken at Kenlake Resort Summer 2013

    

Dragon Skin in Murray Kentucky

Was asked to help out with a prop for the Murray Playhouse by this wonderful artist named Pam. She constructed this fantastic armiture for a life-size dragon to be used in an upcoming production of Shrek. I couldn't resist helping out. Watching the dragon start coming to life after hours and many layers of papier mache was reward enough. I look forward to helping out with the rest of the process. Her design is spot on! Plus it was nice to hang out and do something that didn't involve photography. I studied several disciplines in college and it is nice to know that I retained these skills years later. I promise to post more photo updates as the process continues. Have a great and creative day!
Cheers,
Stacy Frett
Photograher and Artist

Stacy Frett Photography: Art In The Toilet!?

Stacy Frett Photography: Art In The Toilet!?: #Stacy Frett #fPOE #f_POE #MAG #MurrayArtGuild #MAGPix #stacyfrett #murray #kentucky What is Stacy Frett up to now? Starting to get excit...

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MAGPix Photography Group: MAGPix Member Show: The MAGPix member show is currently hanging at Fidalgo Bay Coffee Shop in Murray, Kentucky. Check it out!

Need your Help

Please donate what you can...I need to raise money for a very important self-portrait show in 2014. http://www.gofundme.com/3yj7p8

New on Society6

Check out my new pillows on Society6 http://society6.com/ChaiseLongueGallery/pillows tell me what you think.

Thanks,
Stacy Frett
Artist :)

Check it out! Why I work in the Visual Arts Comment

Here is the full qoute from the nytimes blog

Stacy Frett  Murray, Ky.

It was never a choice to become a visual artist. I don't know any better, nor care to. I have tried to leave the profession for more conventional ways to make a living and failed miserably. It is more than just passion that keeps me in it. I only know this way of life. My free time is spent voluteering my time at a community arts center in rural Kentucky as well as teaching classes and workshops. This is quite a different change from Chicago, but these new experiances feed me and have led to new paths in photography and drawing.

ChaiseLongueGallery (@Chaise_Longue) tweeted at 11:17 AM on Tue, Aug 13, 2013: Stacy Frett's comment on What Inspired You to Work in the Visual Arts? - http://t.co/HcHCzhGP1H via @nytimes http://t.co/ttktjWkwN9 (https://twitter.com/Chaise_Longue/status/367319028551151616) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

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Check out this fantastic comic! She is an awesome artist and ever so witty! Get A Grip Comics: Artsy Fartsy: Back in February, I was looking for some new cartoon ideas and my friend, Stacy suggested doing something based on people and prices in a...

Hanging In The Toilet...

As you can see by the photos I have been rather busy trying to get "In The Toilet" hung today....I still have a few images still on their way. Am excited about that. All this work seems to be worth it. One gentleman I know made handcrafted toilet plungers for the show.  Not a bad for a shoestring budget. My biggest expense will be returning the images to their respective owners and some paper flyers. Last count for images was around 46. The biggest challenge was working around some images that were not the right format. I creatively solved that one. It looks good so far. I will of course be formally photographing it and the work and will try to set up an online showing. I know many of you cannot physically be here to see the show. I am still ever so grateful for the entries. I think the farthest entry was from Ivy Ho of Singapore. She is one of my friends from the photography group that I belong to as well called fPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy) I think at last count there were between 700 and 800 members worldwide. There were also local submissions from MAGPix members and MAG (Murray Art Guild). I will have to sit down and put together the stats for this show in another blog. Also want to say thank you to a few people for this oppurtunity, Debi Danielson, Executive Director of MAG, The MAG Board, Rick Mjos for the vinyl lettering, everyone who participated and my friends for encouraging this adventure :) Well that is all for now. I am exhausted! Gone sit and chill some at the Murray Art Guild before I leave :)

laughter and love photography: Fine Art Friday {June}

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Check it out! Chaise Longue Gallery is celebrating its first Anniversary! Save 30% Off till August 31st, 2013 with coupon code: BIRTHDAY30 at check out. :)