Humay Might be the Sharpest Pencil in the Box

Matanzas No. 2 - Giclee print

Initially artist Priscilla Humay used color pencils for studies of her paintings, but she soon discovered that she wanted the medium to be an end to itself. "It is a wonderful drawing medium that has been used by the masters including Gustav Klimt, who did many drawings in color pencil," she says.

There is something especially captivating about Humay's work, and it's not just the medium she uses. Take a look and you'll see what I mean. We feel very lucky to represent her at buyoutsidethebox.com.

Humay’s artworks are in private and corporate collections including: Cole Taylor Bank Collection, International Travel, Harris Bank, Illinois Bell, College of Lake County, and Household International. Her art is in the Bauhaus Archive in Germany and Chicago Historical Society and University of Illinois Archives.

Her individual exhibitions in the Chicago area alone include Portals Gallery, Arc Gallery, Garrett Gallery Northwestern, Deerpath Gallery, University of Illinois Champaign, and Elgin Symphony. In Florida, she had one-person exhibitions at Catch 22 Gallery in St. Augustine and at the Frizzell Gallery in Fort Myers.

Ms. Humay shows in major juried and invitational exhibitions nationwide gaining numerous awards and purchase awards and most recently "1st Place" at Midwest Color held in Illinois. She earned her 5-year merit signature status with the Colored Pencil Society of America, CPSA.

Currently Humay teaches art at the Peninsula Art School in Door County WI and at The Art Center in Highland Park IL. September of 2007, she will be teaching classes at the Racine Art Museum in Wisconsin and at the Morton Arboretum in Illinois. She taught drawing at a college in Illinois, was workshop instructor at the CPSA national convention in Memphis in 2004, and has lectured and taught at universities, museums, and art councils.

Ms. Humay received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and MS from the Illinois Institute of Technology. She did Post Graduate Study at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.--Ruth Mitchell

Eco Tip for the Day: Avoid products that are packaged for single use. Instead buy in build and transfer the products to your own reusable containers. This saves money as well.

What do you Collect?

!st Movement - Alberto D’Assumpção

It sounds as much fun as Frank Warren's PostSecret website created January 1, 2005. Since then PostSecret has collected and displayed around 2,500 original pieces of art from people around the world, and is billed as the most popular advertising free blog in the world.

The plea starts out like this: "Do you collect anything? Are you willing to share something of yourself? Help me to create an art work which will be showing worldwide. I am undertaking a new and exciting art piece for an exhibition taking place in Dublin which needs the input of many people to make it a successful and worthwhile piece of work."

So writes Emily Souter Johnson archived_identities@hotmail.co.uk. Her website is:
http://www.gumtree.com/london/34/9304834.html

"I am creating a museum or archive of people’s obsessions and collections and need you to be a part of it. If we think of the museum as ‘a bourgeois instrument of power and self preservation’ and look at contemporary examples, such as ‘myspace,’ to see how today’s society has a need to represent something of themselves, in some concrete form, within a wider community. Then, I am expanding upon this concept by creating a museum of people’s obsessions, archiving them in a permanent form which will catalogue them for prosperity.’

I for one have already written her, hoping that I was witty enough to be selected to contribute. What fun is this?

According to the website, all you do is fill a box, which will be provided, with a selection of whatever you feel is your obsession, i.e. what you like to surround yourself with in your life, what you obsessively collect, what you put on your walls, keep in your wallet or what you feels helps to identify you as a personality.

What fun is this?

The directions continue: Fill the provided box with as little or as much as you like and answer the questions that will be in the box when you receive it. Your box will then become part of the exhibition and displayed along side many others to form an archive of people’s obsessions and collections. They will also form the catalogue of this museum in a book format to be continued as a part of the archival process.

" Your collection will be well cared for and you will get it back if you so wish."

How can we not participate? It certainly beats watching reruns on the tube. I told her in my email that in addition to art, I collect businesses; things I think are a bargain, but might be or become valuable; and half read books on my bedside table. And of course puppies, but because I am allergic to them and because vet bills are high, I only have three.

What do you collect? Shown above is a work of art by Alberto D’Assumpção that is truly worth collecting--Ruth Mitchell

Eco Tip for the day: If you live in a cold climate, paint your house a dark color, and if you live in a warm color, paint it a light color. And, duh, don't cut down all the trees in your yard. They help shade your house from the heat of the sun, and stave off the winds.

Support the Arts

At buyoutsidethebox.com we are always on the lookout for ways to support our artists at every level. That's why we have recently added display ads to our blog. We've been looking for some time now for the type of program that will suit our needs for the place we are in just now.

We found this program, and I invite you to peruse the ads on our blog page. We have a variety of topics that support our inventory of unique art and fine, handmade items. There are several aspects of this type of advertising that I particularly like. One, you don't have to leave our site to shop, two there is an available search option that is very handy; and three it automatically does a search for the lowest price available. I personally bought something from one of our ads this morning, a special shampoo that I like. Not only did I pay the lowest available price, but free shipping was thrown into the mix.

Free shipping is something we believe in here at buyoutsidethebox.com. As a consumer I like it, and as a business person I feel it is important that you get to make your purchase at the initial price quoted, and not have a lot of handling and shipping prices added. Now of course on occasion, if it is an especially heavy piece of art, that is going across the globe, we do allow our artists the discretion to charge for shipping if it will blow out their profit not to do so.

Support the arts today, first by purchasing art if you are so inclined, but also you can buy almost anything else from our blog page, so check it out now.--Ruth Mitchell

Eco Tip for the Day: Paint your home a light color if you live in a warm climate and a dark color if you live in a cold climate.

Keep Your Eyes on the Brides

"Beau and baby girl" entertaining themselves with a good read.

So often we trip right over the obvious, and that is just how I feel because I haven't shared my own personal experience with brides about my baby girl's impending wedding, just a few short weeks away. I like to bring you information in this blog, and not get too personal, although I'm a miserable failure at my own agenda. That's okay, if God wanted me to be perfect, God would have made me that way.

So, "baby girl" is a very independent young lady that graduated from Vassar, and when no opportunity arose after graduation, she jumped in her little Nissan with a couple of high school buddies and headed west until she bumped into the Pacific Ocean, as far away as possible from her traditional upbringing as she could get.

Having been born into a conservative neighborhood because her parents, wracked with the need to become stalwart citizens after the leisure of growing up in the late '60s and the early '70s, "baby girl" attended parochial schools and longed for the comfort of the world's diversity, almost from day one.

Now she's got all the diversity she wants, and her wedding plans are certainly no bastion of tradition. And I'm okay with that.

So, I'm going out there with the checkbook, and letting the cookies crumble where they will. Another daughter and I tease "baby girl" that we're going to be having a "weenie" roast on the beach. And here's the irony, because "baby girl" who wants the wedding "her" way is too busy being successful to plan much.

The ceremony itself will take place at the Marin Lighthouse, and my other daughter and I call the hostelry where the reception is taking place, the "girl scout camp."

When "baby girl" took her sister out to the light house, the wind was blowing 35 knots and the walking bridge important to the ceremony, was closed because of the high winds.

I'm not by any means making fun of "baby girl" I'm drowning my own loss of her close proximity in inappropriate humor. In fact "baby girl" has been the topic of many an article in my career because she is interesting.

She doesn't want fine china, she doesn't want much of anything but happiness. Are you listening ladies? I think "baby girl" is one of the fortunate ones, because she is about being herself. She registered at Bed Bath & Beyond and at buyoutsidethebox.com.

Oh, I did I mention we are crazy about her beau? How's that for a traditional Southern term?

So, if you have leanings toward being a non-traditional bride yourself, think ART! Now you can register with us online. Send us your wedding photos, or your plans if you are having a non-traditional wedding this year. Who knows, maybe we'll have a competition and you'll get a free piece of art from us. It's worth a try. Tell us why you deserve the prize for the kookiest wedding plans of all. --Ruth Mitchell

Eco Tip for the Day: Buy and use rechargeable batteries. Some rechargers will also recharge regular alkaline batteries.

Meeting Mila

Every year for the past three years we have hosted Rotarian visitors from around the world. It's a hectic three days, but we love the experience of sharing ideas, cultures and conversation with people from other countries. This year we were delighted to host an artist, Mila Siebra, from Brazil.

She showed up with two huge suitcases. I knew the visitors were going to be in our country a month, but I was thinking either she had a shoe addiction like I do, or they had told her we didn't have washing machines in the United States. It soon became apparent what was in the two huge red suitcases: art and lots of it, which she most generously gave away where ever she went.

We soon learned that Mila (mela) was delighted to be in our country, had an eleven-year-old son and was very young at heart. She became an artist after her family lost control of their four clothing stores a dozen years ago, where Mila had been working long hours, managing the stores, when their assets were frozen through a corrupt government official. Mila's mother, an interior designer, encouraged her to get into art.

Much of Mila's work is bright and colorful and reminds me of the flower children of the '60s, but she also has work that features colors of the earth. She creates many things out of recycled material, using cardboard, and twine, newspaper and gauze, to form her three dimensional mixed media art.

One of the activities planned while she was here was a leap from a very tall tower, that turned out to be immensely fun, even I tried it, but didn't go all the way to the top.

We hugged good-bye today, and she has promised to send us some of her art, so that you can purchase it. We will truly miss her.--Ruth Mitchell

Don't forget to think GREEN this month. Earth Day is April 22. We're going to bring you an Earth tip with every blog in April.

Tip for the day: Avoid products that are packaged for single use (i.e., drinks, school lunches, candy, cat and dog food, salad mixings, etc.). Instead, buy in bulk and transfer the products to your own reusable containers.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

We Have a Winner!

Remember back in March when we told you we would have a drawing from our newsletter list on the Ides of March. Well we did, and we now have a winner. Congratulations to Robert Nonn of Appleton, WI! He is the proud recipient of a handturned writing instrument created by British artist Nick Child. We'll have another drawing soon, so remind your friends to sign up for our newsletter.

Don't forget to think GREEN this month. Earth Day is April 22. We're going to bring you an Earth tip with every blog in April.

Tip for the day: Use recycled wood for building projects it is usually from original stands of old growth forest and, as a result has unparalleled architectural quality. For more information visit: www.vintagetimber.com

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

The Enigma of Mothers

Mother's Day coming soon to a neighborhood near you. I think we are all pretty familar with the story of how Mother's Day began. What I didn't know is that it is the most popular day of the year to eat out. That stands to reason.

I know for myself that its been so long since I was a dependent child. (I certainly don't want to insinuate I have outgrown childhood.) That I am more familiar with motherhood through watching my own daughters raise their children, than I am filled with memories of my own childhood, or even being their mother.

In fact I am in awe of their strength, energy and stamina. I recently kept my two grandaughters for two days, and had a flash to the past about how strenuous it is to intercept, outthink and lead small children into appropriate behavior.

No wonder we celebrate Mother's Day!

Yes, I'm going to share with you some things you should buy for your mother, mother-of-your-children, grandmother or even your dogwatcher. Being a mother, not even in the category of being "a good mother," much less a "great mother," is something that is programmed into our genetics, but which also requires a connectivity to a higher power because the job is so demanding.

Bless you mothers one and all!

Shown on the left is a "Aventurine with Rose" necklace by artist Julia Kellog. To the right is a purse by fabric artist, Deanna Peterson of Milwaukee, WI, entittled "Little Red Purse." Below is an exqusite handthrown pottery set of "Storage Jars," by North Carolina potter Allan Buitekant.

Don't forget to think GREEN this month. Earth Day is April 22. We're going to bring you an Earth tip with every blog in April.

Tip for the day: Growing coffee under the shade of tall trees instead of chopping down tropical forests will protect song birds. Drink only "shade grown coffee."

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved