THE YOUNG ENTOMOLOGIST

This is my most recent box called THE YOUNG ENTOMOLOGIST. I have always loved bugs, insects and especially beetles. I think they are so architecturally perfect for what they do.


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On the exterior of the box is a luna moth photo-etched in nickel. The moth stands off the background, which is photo-etched red brass, by just enough that the wing becomes the handle for opening the door. The leaf finial on the top is etched copper with one section scolloped where some insect had a meal.


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There are some surprises on the inside of the box. The young girl, etched in nickel, is from a turn of the century vintage photograph. I chose her because she looks a little tomboy-ish and not afraid of bugs. She reminds me of myself....quick to dissect a wasps nest....nimble at capturing fireflies (or lightning bugs as we called them in the south)....and fascinated by dung beetles. Behind the young girl and etched in red brass are the orders of the insects. I was a biologist long before I became an artist and scientific names are familiar and important to me. On the shelves to the right are a microscope....some specimen bottles with collected insects....and a wasps nest behind a magnifying glass. The body of the box is cherry and is intended to be wall hung by the connected Japanese yen coins. So far, this is one of my more complex boxes and I'm excited to try some more.

This limited edition box measures 12" wide x 12.25" tall x 1.75" deep when closed. When open the width is 26 inches.

Once while I was living in Arkansas I witnessed an owl sitting on a post near an outside porch light. The owl would fly away and in minutes come back with a luna moth. It would hold the moth in it's talon and strip the wings off with it's beak letting them flutter to the ground before eating the body of the moth...I was reminded of peel 'em and eat 'em shrimp. I will never forget those wings fluttering down like little ghosts. The owl repeated this ritual over and over again. The next morning there was a pile of large greenish moth wings...so beautiful and a little heartbreaking at the same time. How could I not love insects....

5 MONTHS LATER

Being 5 months behind just about sums up my life. I am just astonished when I look at the date of my last post. I'm going to try to do better.

Here is a brief summary of the last 5 months. First of all the Art Sale at GreyBird Barn did happen and was a tremendous success. We had about 300 people come through the barn in two days. I had a lot of help from my friends to pull the whole event off. Here are a few photos of the event and of my barn shining brightly. I love that barn....and it has proved itself as a great spot to showcase art!








The rest of my summer was filled with art fairs and much anticipation mixed with a little expectation. In late July I participated in the Bellevue Museum Art Fair....In August I found myself in Sun Valley for an art fair....and in September I was part of Art In The Pearl in Portland. It was a bit of a challenging summer. There were lower than expected crowds at Bellevue and maybe people were feeling the economic crunch a little, although I had friends who had a great show. At every art show someone is having their best show ever and someone else is having their worst show ever. I usually fall somewhere right in the middle. At the other two shows all the artists were challenged with a lot of rain and wind and exceptionally cool weather. The defining moment for me was when my booth blew down at Art In The Pearl on the second day. Luckily for me, I didn't have significant damage but it woke me up. I'm determined now to try another route....to let go of outdoor shows all together and instead look for more galleries or the higher end indoor shows. I'll write more about this is a future post.

In October, along with 3 other artist, I was part of the 11th annual Port Townsend Studio Tour. There were 47 different studios open to the public and again GreyBird Barn turned out to be a perfect venue. Although I have lived in Port Townsend many years, this was my first year to be part of the tour. The weather was beautiful....fall was so in the air....my King apple tree was heavy with fruit (15 apples down one slender branch)...hot apple cider and pumpkin bars....good sales...and again a large crowd...about 265 people. We couldn't have been more pleased and plan to do both barn sales again next year around the same dates. Here are a few images from the Fall Studio Tour.










From left to right: Shane Miller, Wendy Jarvis, Linda Jarvis, Diane Gale and Dianna Cronin.

And last but not least I just have to show a photo of my 1952 dodge truck, Baladeuse, and my 1952 Farmall Tractor, Bliss. They definitely offered a little farm ambience to the barn sales. Remember you can click on any image to see it larger.