Amy and I continued our tour Monday afternoon. After our morning hiking
The Raven Trail, we stopped off at a small art gallery in Three Rivers, then met up
with one of Amy’s local artist friends at her home & studio “encampment.” She’s
one of the “Art Gypsies” – a small group of artists that Amy “plays with”
and does art shows around the area. Like a traveling band of gypsies – setting up
and selling art anywhere they can!

Debra Ketchum Jircik is a papercraft & ceramic artist. She’s an artist
through & through and you can sense it in her right away! Her home & studio
are located on an old camp area with several cabins on the lakefront. Each cabin
has been “converted” into their home, studio, workshop, guest cabins and more.
With incredible gardens and sculptural installations, I  loved our visit to her studio.
Check her out at “Circle Of Life Studio.”

Debbie not only makes great art, and lives a very “green” existence… she also loves RUST!!!
Which you know is one of my favorites too. So you know I loved it when I saw that she has
rust “installations” everywhere! Part of the fences, used as trellises, collections on walls
and everywhere else!!! As she put it… “rust never sleeps.” She’s built her own “rust chakra”…
and an incredible river rock labyrinth to walk through to meditate & contemplate.

We also met up with Wendy Powalisz who is a wonderful watercolor artist. Her colors,
techniques & style are not your typical watercolor paintings. Very striking. Very energetic.
In fact… this is the one that come home with me…

Another cool part of Wendy’s life is her “little cabin in the woods.” Literally.
She and her husband built their very own cabin on their 200-acre parcel of land.
They felled their own trees, made their own rock foundation, pump water every day,
use solar power for very basic electricity, wood fire for cooking & heat, no TV,
no computer… off the grid!

Another one of Amy’s friends, although she’s not an “official Gypsy” yet…
is Kathy Furda and her studio called Northern Light Glass. She does incredible
stained glass pieces that incorporate many different pieces, items and glass styles.
She also does glass bead jewelry with her own handmade glass beads & baubles.

Also, as previously mentioned, Katlyn Koester was Amy’s guest artist during the Art Tour.
Amy has been her “mentor” over the past few years – as she has now graduated from college
with her BFA in Ceramics. So Katlyn was “lucky” to have Amy and I “working with her”
all weekend to help inspire her, prod her, and motivate her to push herself as a ceramic artist.
Katlyn does not have a website… but hopefully she will soon!

At the end of the day, we met up with my student Pam and husband Pat for lunch.
Which of course for me had to start with a Wisconsin specialty… deep fried cheese curds!
Pay no attention to the dripping, greasy residue in the bottom of the basket!!!

As the summer comes to a close, the plants on my back porch are starting to suffer
and wither in the cooler Fall weather. But, it’s still great to see every morning as
my rusty farm gear “curtain” is getting covered by morning glories & cardinal flowers!
Okay… so it’s really more leaves, and not so much flowers… but it still looks nice!

Plus, a quick shot of the “other” side…
so you can see all of the BEAUTIFUL rust!!!

Another “addition” to my collection of cool rusty things!
You should know by now that I’m addicted to all things rusty… it’s the colors,
the textures, the patina, the aged-ness… all of it is very cool to me! So when I did
the Evanston Lakeshore Arts Festival a few weekends ago… I scored big!!!

It was actually part of the Silent Auction. I noticed it when I was dropping off my vase
for the auction and was instantly smitten. And then I found out that the artist’s booth
was just a couple spaces down from mine. So I looked at all of her other really cool
rusty things – but was still in love with the piece that was part of the Silent Auction…
so I had my work cut out for me! Just to clarify… it’s a rusty shovel head that has been
cut with a beautiful pattern using a plasma torch. Still not sure where it’s going to hang,
but I am sure it will have a place of honor!!!

So here’s the story. I found out that one of the top bidders was my friend Amy Taylor.
One of the nicest metalsmiths out there who does this cool “hinged” jewelry. Love it.
Anyways, she was bidding throughout the day as her booth was right across the walkway.
Mine was all the way across the art fair. So I decided to “swoop in” at the very last moment
and try to “win” the auction. All was going well… 3 minutes… 2 minutes… 1 minute…
30 seconds… and I was going to be the last & top bidder. But then…

Up walks Amy’s fianceé Tom to do her final bidding. And I had to take him down!
I literally had to hold him in a headlock while I wrote my bid down “slowly” as to be
the final bid. I also found out that Amy had a “cap” on her bidding… but I was more than
ready to go higher. I was ready to buy one for full price at the artists booth, but it was the
design and the “broken off” section that I was drawn to. So I had to get this one… and I
was willing to pay for it. Amy’s “cap” was lower than mine… so Tom finally acquiesced
and the auction closed! And now I’m the proud owner of another piece of rust!!!

Check out Denice Bizot and her wonderful rusty artwork at… www.denicebizot.com

Some may call it broken, destroyed, eroded, or even falling apart…

But there’s this great section of the North Avenue Beach breakwater that has a lot
of exposed rebar sticking out of the cement pier. A little unexpected rebar art.
And you know how I love rusty metal!!!… and a sunrise too?… perfect.

Another cold & rainy day here in Chicago. At least the plants like it.
As does the rusty metal installation on my back porch! Last year I received these rusty
metal pieces of farm equipment from Rosene & Gerry, my very first art fair friends!
They’ve know of my “rust addiction” and have fed into it many times. So I took these
rusty gear-wheels and hung them on my back porch almost like a curtain. Along with
some blown glass orbs for color. This summer, I’m trying something new…
not only did I start seedlings early on which are now planted in flower pots, but I’m
also trying to get the Cardinal Climber Vines to grow up into the rust!!! So far so good…