Artist Interview: Alisha Jones

Interview by Amanda Thiel

You may recall her amazing project from last year: "May-A-Day", where Alisha Jones featured lesser-known May holidays. Learn how peer pressure can sometimes be a good thing when it urges you to create and find out what made Alisha want to come back for another round of Delaware Fun-A-Day!

Lets talk Delaware! Are you a local Delawarean? If not, what’s your connection?
Though I’m not a native Delawarean I’ve tied down many roots here. I attended high school in New Castle, ate plenty of Capriotti's and taken many walks around

Do you have a favorite Delaware activity? Any fun places we should check out? 
I used to live in Delaware City and my favorite thing to do was take the ferry over to Pea Patch Island. There’s so much history there and it’s creepy and interesting at the same time.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year? 
New Year’s Resolutions stress me out. As soon as I think of one, someone else tells me their new year's resolution and I think that I need to work on that too, so I add it to a list of New Year’s resolutions and put them in my file cabinet, under “NYR15” and never look at them again. If I had summarize from my long list of resolutions, I would say to live a better quality of life.

How did you get introduced to Delaware Fun-A-Day? What or who inspired you to participate? 
Two years ago, I decided to attend the Show with my friend Katie Langshaw to support her boyfriend Steve Alawishus. I was soon taken by surprise when I discovered so many other people I knew were also participating.  Everyone kept asking if I was going to participate the next year, so it’s safe to say I was peer pressured into joining the fun.

You did a super successful photo project for DE Fun-A-Day 2014, Lost Sock Day was a personal favorite for me. Do you enjoy working in other mediums?
I’m kind of a closet craft person. I really love working with paper. Though it’s not something that often show; it’s therapeutic. I also dabble in video and slideshows. Family and friends often request that I create and edit slideshows for their memories. I even get a request or two from a cousin to shoot a music video to help his aspiring rap career. Don't believe me? Check it out.

How long have you enjoyed making art?
Making art is second nature to me. I never thought I would do anything else. I always had a pen in my hand and a crazy idea in my mind. The first time I decided to really focus on it, was in high school. I watched this documentary on industrial design I was completely intrigued with the creative process. Collaboration and experimentation is exciting to me. I believe no idea is stupid; it’s just a valley on your way to the next peak.
 
What type of themes do you like to pursue in your work?
I typically pursue tongue and cheek themes when I work. if it makes me (or you) laugh, I’m inspired.  You could say it comes from my happy place.
 
Are there any artists that influence you?
Jill Greenberg - love her photographs, her portraiture is so beautiful, and often her subject matter is playful and fun. Paula Scher is another huge influence for me. Her funky, bold, fun type is loud and in your face and she’s doesn't apologize for it. I love it.

You are planning to participate this year, what made you want to come back and what can we expect to see?
What’s making me want to do this again, is just simply how fun it was. The commitment to create something every day for 1 month made me feel accomplished in the end. This year, I plan to continue working with photography, but I’m considering playing with typography as well. 

Have any advice for our first year participants?
My advice to other participants. Don’t think small, go with your gut and have fun making stuff. 

Is there a place we can check out more of your work?
I have a website: www.alishagraphicdesign.com
And I post creative stuff on instagram as well: @alishajonesdesign
 
I know you've enjoyed getting to know this creative young woman and participating Delaware Fun-A-Day Artist, Alisha Jones, so don't forget to stop by and see our upcoming interviews with Sara Duncan, Joy Smoker, Alyssa Molin-Graves and Dylan Durrant!

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You can help make Delaware Fun-A-Day possible for all by making a donation to support the location and other costs of the event. It will make you feel awesome, I promise! 

Call for Artists - Delaware Fun-A-Day 2015

Call for Art – March Art Project & Show at The Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts

This January, a group of friends will once again put on Delaware Fun-A-Day - an art project which will culminate in an art show during the March Art on the Town series (Wilmington Art Loop). The art show will be held at The Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts on March 6th. The work can be in any medium (painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, film, music, poetry, textiles, etc.) and can be anything related to a themed project-a-day. Some of the projects from previous years included: beard-a-day, triangle-a-day, frown-a-day, apple-a-day, silent-film-a-day and handmade flower-marble-a-day – among many, many others!

Submissions should be no larger than 5" x 7" or 6" x 6" each to allow enough room for anticipated projects. If you are interested in creating larger pieces, we ask that you contact us to discuss options. Should your work require audio/visual support, please let us know in advance so we can secure the appropriate equipment. Likewise for 3D or suspended materials, which we also welcome! Please have work ready to hang or display and include your name, project title, and (optionally) a short description and pricing. Because of the volume of work created for the show, we are asking that everything be dropped off prior to the show - we will have drop-off times and locations announced in February.

To help us keep track of participants and plan for space we ask that you register by February 1st. Participants can register on the website here. 

Thanks for your interest; we can’t wait to see what you make!

Kati, Val, Amanda, Colleen Sheila & Sarah

Artist Interview: Colleen Master

Interview by Amanda Thiel

As some of our organizers are also participating artists, we decided to switch things up to kick off a new year of making and focus on some of the people behind the scenes. You know you want to take a moment and get to know Colleen Master! A print maker, mixed media artist, second year participant, and a first time organizer with Delaware Fun-A-Day. 

How did you get introduced to Delaware Fun-A-Day?    
My sister, Sheila, and I are both artists and went to college together. She was a participant and then became a volunteer organizer. I decided last year to be a participating artist.

What drove you to become an organizer this year? 
I really wanted to be an organizer. I saw in prior years that the organizers not only volunteered their time and talents, but one year, it was fully paid for by the volunteers as well. I donated last year, but wanted to do more this year. So, I took on the fundraising responsibilities with another organizer. I like the idea of a community show that is not run or juried by a gallery and that is open to all ages. I'd like to help make it sustainable. I want to do it again next year! 

How long have you been making art? Do you remember what got you started?
A neighbor that took care of me after school was an artist and she brought me to lessons as a child. I think I was 4. Once I moved to DE, I kept making things on my own. I remember I was really into shaving crayons onto glue designs in 5th grade, ha-ha.

What is your preferred medium? Any additional media you like to work with?
Well, printmaking is preferred, but I do not have access to any presses. So, I do a lot of mixed media now, and some simple prints, mostly Lino cuts. I would like to work more with found objects. 

What kind of themes do you like to pursue in your work?
I do enjoy portraits, and abstract work. I mostly explore mixing mediums and texture is always a big theme. I'm not sure why I am drawn to creating texture, and I'm ok with not knowing. I always loved collage, and use my prints as collage material, since there are always multiples!

What influences your work?
My past projects influence my work a great deal. My senior thesis and show was about this. I saw how past work and those concepts and techniques were popping up in my current work in some form or fashion. I tend use the same basis and play with the similar processes, always developing and refining it. I am really process oriented, the final product never holds much value to me. I'm over the piece by the time I'm done with it usually. For this reason, I tend to give my work away, or it sits in a closet, 

This is your second year participating in Delaware Fun-A-Day, what first interested you in the event and what made you come back?
I was inspired by the work I had seen in prior years. The challenge of one thing per day appealed to me too.  It's great motivation for me since I rarely make the time to create new work. 

What can we expect to see from you this year at Delaware Fun-A-Day?
I am hoping to do the project I intended to do last year, but I may need to change it, due to size. It's a mixed media project that incorporates found objects. My back up project is a texture - a - day with paint. 

What words of wisdom do you have for our first year participants?
Planning is important. Thinking about the display space and how you want your work displayed is key. Space is limited and the size restrictions are important. Last year I had photos, they were not matted and I ended up applying magnets to them to place on a metal wall. I spent money getting them printed professionally ( I'm not a photographer) and realized the photos would either get a pin pushed through them or magnets attached. I think I choose the lesser of two evils. But I wish I had planned better! 

Did you run into any other challenges with your experience last year? 
First I had to change my project. I had to have surgery and could not move around much for the first part of the month. I didn't want to drop out, so I took photos with my phone of my scar healing. The quality was not what I would have hoped for, and the subject matter was not something I ever thought to display, but I put it out there!  Trying to make sure my work fit the size restrictions last year, was another challenge. Since it's a community show with a lot of participants, I tried to keep that in mind. That was a struggle for me since I was used to being free to create work in any size. As a printmaking major in college, my department was small, so our gallery shows allowed for no size restrictions. It was a rewarding challenge. 

How can people help make Delaware Fun-A-Day a success this year and the years to come?
Others can help by making donations! Donate online and / or in the DE Fun-A-Day donation box at that will accompany the work this year!

A (Really Late) 2014 Recap & 2015 Update

Hey everyone! 2015 is quickly approaching and we're finalizing the details for the new show. Before we start kicking off a new year of Fun-A-Day, I wanted to thank everyone for such a smashing success of a show. We had over 375 people attend our opening show, with more traffic coming in to the DCCA over the weekend! That's kind of freaking amazing and it is because all of your talent, hard work and promotion that we had such a successful event.

We also managed to raise an additional $350, from food & drink ticket purchases, which we used to make a deposit on our 2015 show! So, with that being said, we're pleased to announce:

4th Annual Delaware Fun-A-Day
Registration Starts: Jan 1st, 2015
Projects Start: Feb 1st, 2015
Show Opening: March 6th, 2015 at the DCCA

SAVE THE DATE!

We will be emailing everyone about registration in the coming days as well as updating you on ways you can donate. We can't stress enough that donations are critical in making sure the event continues. We are just a small group of friends putting on a huge art show outside of our own jobs and lives. Your contributions ensure that we are able to host this accessible, all-ages, very unique event in our state. 

Drop Off Details for the 2014 Show!

Hey Everyone! The show is almost upon us.  This means its time to get your work prepped for June 20th. We wanted to update everyone on the drop-off details for next week, as well as info about the show itself.

ABOUT DROP OFF!
Please have work dropped off for the show no later than 4PM on Thursday, June 19th, and anything that needs to be mailed should be sent by Tuesday, June 17th(next day service) to guarantee delivery.  This is very important, as we have a limited amount of time to hang A LOT of work.  

We ask that you have all work ready to hang. This means you have included a placard or card of some sort with your name and project title. Optional information to include is medium and pricing (if you are selling your work).  If you do not provide display instructions/materials with your drop off, we will hang it as we determine is most suitable to the space. 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DROP OFF YOUR ARTWORK:
Please stop by on Thursday, June 19th from 10 AM - 4PM or June 20th from 10 AM - 12 PM at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art - 200 S. Madison St. in Wilmington.We strongly encourage you drop off your work on THURSDAY to give us enough time to plan the space and hang the show.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HANG OR SET UP THE DISPLAY OF YOUR ARTWORK:
We ask that you bring your materials with you on Thursday, June 19th from 10 AM - 4PM or June 20th from 10 AM - 2 PM at DCCA.

IF YOU NEED TO COORDINATE ANOTHER TIME TO DROP OFF: 
Please email Sarah with alternate times you are available. If we get enough people that need earlier/later times we will post an update to the blog on delawarefunaday.com.

A few things about hanging for the show:

• Valerie Rupinski (Thiel) will be the point person for Thursday and Friday before the show.  Make sure you check in with her if you are dropping off and/or hanging your own work.  She will be there both days.
• If you have a special installation piece (music, film) or require special display space (table, suspension) please let us know ASAP so we can make sure we plan accordingly. We ask that you provide your own display materials when possible.
• We welcome as many people to stay and help with hanging artwork (their own or as volunteers). With over 70 artists signed up for the show, we will have 2,100+ pieces of art to hang in just a day and a half.
• That being said, if you are installing your own pieces, you must check in with us first to be assigned a space. Wall space is available but, as in previous years, it is limited.  Display walls will also be available. 
• Please do NOT try to access the building before or after hours.  The DCCA is very strict when it comes to their policies for groups renting the space - which we are doing for this event. 

ABOUT THE EVENT!
We've posted a Facebook event HERE: http://bit.ly/FAD2014
It is at the DCCA!!  And if you didn’t catch that address above it is, 200 S. Madison St., Wilmington, DE 19801.

Show opens June 20th at 6PM and carries on until 8PM. Again, DCCA has a strict policy for use of their space and we will not be able to linger after 8PM. The show will be up throughout the weekend so anyone showing up late will still be able to view during DCCA's regular hours on Saturday & Sunday.

Please invite your friends! We've already seen a bunch of RSVPs which is AWESOME! Keep it up! ALSO, if you know anyone in the media, please give them a heads up about the event. This is such a unique event in that it features a large volume of NEW works of art created by both emerging and established artists!

There is also an official AFTER PARTY at 1984 thanks to our good pal Dave Norbut! Details for the show can be found here: http://bit.ly/FADafterparty

ABOUT Y'ALL! 
Thank you to everyone for participating in Fun-A-Day! Just seeing the dedication, process and quality of the pieces for this year's show has been really inspiring. We can't wait to see you there!

Artist Interview: Anika Starmer

Interview by Kati Driscoll

So, Delaware talk - what's your Delaware connection.
I live in Maryland, so I've always thought of Delaware as my friendly neighbor. I have fond memories of visiting the Delaware shore at least once a year with my family since I can remember. When I was younger my dad and I would often drive over to Indian River Inlet just for the day to go fishing. That meant we left the house at 3am or so, but it was always worth it! When I got older I clued my friends into the awesomeness that is Delaware, and we still make the trip every year to hang out at 3R's fishing beach.

What is your preferred medium of choice?
It's a toss up between markers (prismacolor or copics) and gouache paint. I love using all kinds of color, so markers are great when I want to work more quickly or casually and draw with a limited palette. Of course paint has the upper hand if I'm after specific colors that I don't have in my marker collection. Gouache is awesome because you can get really smooth and creamy opaque coverage, but you can also water it down for watercolor effects and transparency.

You are best known for being a prolific pattern maker. What made you choose this subject over others?
I've been drawing patterns since I was little. While my brothers doodled aquariums and hovercrafts, I would fill pieces of paper with color and pattern. I've always liked how visually impressive a pattern can be. Drawing a rainbow is very nice, but drawing a page full of rainbows: wow! When creating a new pattern, there is a good balance between making decisions about color and composition and the repetitive, meditative action of drawing the pattern that just feels right to me.

Do you work in other areas, aside from illustration? Anything you're interested in trying?
I've been dabbling a lot lately with abstract compositions, using color as the driving force. While some of these lean toward patterns, I approach creating them in a different way. It's more about developing an overall balanced composition and variety of strokes than repeating motifs in a deliberate way. I think it would be fun to work on really large abstract paintings. I'm curious about how the process and results would be different from my previous, mostly smaller works.

You are a second year participant. Tell us about your previous Fun-A-Day project and what you have in store for this year:
Last year's project was a no-brainer. I was in the middle of an ongoing personal project: Pattern a Day. So joining in for DE Fun-a-Day was a great reason to work on finished paintings of patterns instead of staying in my sketchbook. Each day I painted a pattern that was somehow inspired by my experiences from the day, and I ended up with a wide variety of colorful painted patterns.

My initial plan for this year was to draw a Plant a Day, but I changed my mind after realizing I was much more enthusiastic about a new series of abstract pattern drawings that I'd started "just for fun". I decided to shift gears and explore this new method further, so I translated those drawings into paintings. For each piece, I start with a colorful background and then paint over it with lines and shapes. There is much more similarity between the individual works I'm creating this year, although each one is a little different in terms of color, composition and details.

What did you enjoy about last year’s project? What challenged you?
I enjoyed the fact that I created a series of finished pieces of art. There is a comfort level for me when working in my sketchbook--not as much pressure for my work to be "good," and my sketchbook is always close at hand. Creating actual paintings that could be hung on a wall for people to enjoy made me feel really accomplished. The biggest challenge I faced was not over-thinking it. I love that most of my patterns are not precisely "perfect." The hand drawn feel is very important to me, but when working on finished artwork, my old perfectionist habits can kick in, and it takes some time and convincing to loosen up again. By the end of the month it was a lot easier to get in the creative flow, so ultimately the daily practice of creating finished paintings in my loose sketchbook style was really valuable to me.

You have a wonderful eye for color. What's your process for selecting a palette for your pieces?
Thank you! I think a lot of my choices have become intuitive after years of playing around with color, but the basics of color theory still play a big part when I'm figuring out what colors to work with. When selecting colors, my mind often wanders back to the color wheel. Say I start out with a purple, when I think about the next color I want to use, I'll consider blues, reds or pinks which are purple's analogous colors. If I choose a pink, and I want to find a nice accent color, I'll consider yellows or greens--both of which are complimentary to purple and pink respectively. While this selection is going on, I'm also considering shades and tints of those colors. Bright colors are fun to work with, but I've found that they can be enhanced by pairing them with dark tones, pastels, or muted colors. I don't usually work with all brights or all pastels. I enjoy unexpected combinations. Sometimes a muddy yellow or pale pink are just what's needed to make the other colors sing.

One technique I've found really helpful is to have a big set of markers, pencils, crayons, paints or even colored papers; the main idea is to have lots of colors available at your fingertips so that you don't have to run through the trial and error of mixing each paint color you think might want to work with. If I can see the colors in front of me, I can quickly try them out together. If I find a combination I like, I can then mix colors with paint, tweaking the hues until they are just right.

Any upcoming projects - large or small - in the works for this year?
My main project is that I'm starting a new blog. It's called Handcrafted Awesome and to start off with, I'll be sharing tutorials and art supply reviews, as well as showcasing the work of other makers and artists who I admire. It's still in the works, but you can read a little more here if interested: http://handcraftedawesome.com/

Where else can we check out your artwork?
I post most regularly to Instagram, but I love to connect with people on my blog, Twitter and Facebook too!

Volunteers Needed!

Hey Everyone!

Congratulations on making it to the other side of this Fun A Day adventure!  Everyone's worked so hard and now it's time to get this party/ elegant art event started!  If you have expressed an interest in possibly helping us out with the event by volunteering your time either before, during or after, we could use the help! Email sheila.m.master@gmail.com with the subject FAD Volunteer Sign Up sheet.  We'll send you a link to our volunteer sign up where you can fill your name in the box of the job and shift you would like to cover.  You can sign yourself up for as much or as little as you would like!  If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out to us!  

Artist Interview: Todd Purse

Interview by Kati Driscoll

Let's talk about DELAWARE. Have you always lived in Delaware? If not, what brought you here?
I have always lived in Delaware, Born and raised! 
 
How long have you been making art?
I guess a long time now. I've been making art I wanted people to see for a lot less of that time, but I've always been fascinated with the weird feeling of satisfaction you get from making stuff. I was a product of the suburbs and had no one my age around so I went through the classic finding anything I can do to escape the boredom, and mainly it was drawing! 
 
What medium(s) do you work in?
I'm kinda all over the place. For my personal work, that sounds funny and just means the stuff I don't get paid for, I mainly use acrylic paint, spray paint, and a crap load of markers/brushes. For my illustration/comic work I do a lot of brush inking on velum and a lot of digital inking/painting.

What would you say are some of the main themes of your artwork?
Cats, The Simpsons and Pete and Pete count do they count as themes?

You are known for your illustration work for independent musicians, organizations and businesses. How has the DIY ethic and scene influenced your work?
The whole reason I can do what i do is because of the things I've learned in the DIY Punk scene. I can't tell you what I'd be doing with out the people I've met in this community. the exposure to this attitude and way or making things happen is what gave me the confidence to attempt to be a full time freelance Illustrator. I'm very thankful to be a part of it and that I can give back to it. I could talk about this for hours, but don't want to ramble to much so I'll stop here. haha 

You're new to Delaware Fun-A-Day. What interested you in the event?
I've seen a buncha rad people doing this, and really awesome art come from it. I recently made the move to full time freelance illustrator, so I finally felt I had time to do it right. 
 
Tell us about your project "Pistachio in Space" and the idea behind it:
Pistachio is  a Kitty Character I've been drawing for a long time now, but mainly in comic stories, or larger panel paintings. I wanted to take this opportunity to play with a looser style of story telling only using one image a day. 

Are there any other projects or events that you are working on this year?
The main project I'm gearing up for is with my good friend JP Flexner. He is the most talented Illustrator, screen printer, & drummer I know, and I'm so psyched for our upcoming show at Jinxed gallery in Philly. It's called "No Empty Spaces" Jp & Todd make prints to help support DIY shows/spaces. 

The names sums it up. We are doing a bunch of small affordable 2-3 color silk screen prints. All the money we make will go to local DIY promoters/spaces to help cover costs of operation and all that good stuff. The opening is on June 6th.
 
Thanks a bunch, Todd! For more of Todd's work, check out his online shop or his portfolio site!

Congratulations on a Month of Making Art!

You Made It!
Thirty-one days of inspiration, creativity and hard work - y'all should be proud of yourselves! We're hard at work behind the scenes getting the show set up right now, and we could use a little extra support with the following:

• Promotion // The show is June 20th and we'd love to see the same incredible turn out that we had last year, so please invite your friends, family, coworkers and (of course) your fans! Also! If you have photos of your project we can use in our own promotional pieces, please send them to Kati Driscoll.
• Donations // We only have 12 more days to raise funds! Fundraising is crucial for the success of the event and, while we are over goal, we only receive about 85% of the funds due to fees. The coming weeks will be the most expensive for us so if you have not made a donation, now is the time to do so!
• Volunteering // We are presently looking for volunteers to help with PR, design, hanging, serving, photography, filming and clean up. If that sounds like something you can help with, please email Sheila Master. If you signed up to get more information on volunteering when you registered, you will receive an email on the subject next week.
• Thanks again to everyone who has been a part of our largest year yet! We can't wait to see all the amazing artwork you've created for this year's show!

Couldn't make it this year? There's always 2015! If you were unable to complete your project in time for the show, please email us so we can plan accordingly for space, marketing materials, etc.
 
IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT HANGING
Hanging is taking place over two days:

• June 19th from 10 am - 4 pm
• June 20th from 10 am - 2 pm

DCCA requires us to hang the show at these times, therefore, if you are unable to come to hang your work on the dates and times listed above you MUST email Sarah Houghton to make separate arrangements for drop off.    

Artist Interview: David Norbut

Interview by Kati Driscoll

Have you always lived in Delaware? If not, what brought you here?
No, I was born and raised in New Jersey. There's some sense of pride in being from New Jersey, I'm sure that's true for most folks about the places they grew up, but Jersey is alright... I lived in Florida for a while then ended up in Delaware when I was about 17. I met my wife Charise only a few days after moving to Delaware. That was about 15 years ago now...

You're a photographer known for experimenting with a variety of formats. Which is your favorite and why?
I'm not quite sure yet, there are still a few things I have yet to try. I've been making preparations to start making wet plate tintypes, I'll be starting up as soon as I finish the work for Fun-A-Day. I love 35mm film photography and I really enjoy large format photography, I recently purchased a 4x5 camera, it's a really peaceful process for me. It slows me down, I like that.

What is your favorite subject to photograph? What draws you to said subject?
Hands down, portraits.
I really enjoy the interaction with my subjects. It's a great challenge for me to try and reach the soul of a person and freeze that moment in time forever. It's another reason I really would rather shoot film, it's something you can hold in your hands, it's real.

Do you have any other creative pursuits, aside from photography?
I play music a bit, I was in bands when I was younger, but singing and playing guitar is more of a hobby nowadays. I also write a bit, nothing serious, but I contribute to a mobile photo blog wearejuxt.com.

How does music influence your work?
I consider Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen my biggest influences.
Might not make sense, as I am a photographer, but the songs influence my style, at least in my mind. Especially when I'm shooting street photography. I want my photos to look how a Springsteen song sounds.

You were also responsible for the ALIVE art show last year. What made you want to take the reins of such a large project?
I get theses grand, romantic ideas, and before I know it, it's in motion.
None of ALIVE would have been possible without the other artists, in fact I encourage anyone reading this to go and find these folks and look at what they are doing, true inspiration!
Joe Breitenbach, Bonaia Rosado, Danielle Quigley, Dave Mele and Grant Cox.

Any plans for similar shows in the future?
We'll see, I'm entertaining the idea of a permanent space to do events like ALIVE on a more regular basis. But the city of Wilmington isn't making it easy.

Can you tell us a little bit about this year's Fun-A-Day project?
It involves raw, unguarded portraits. The folks that I'm working with are amazing and beautiful and have given me more than I could have imagined.

You are someone who always seems to have something in the works. Any other grand things for 2014 that we should expect from you?
Tintypes, lots of tintypes.

Thanks so much, Dave! For more of Dave's work check out his website or follow him on instagram @dnorphoto.

Portrait of Dave by Nichole Fusca.