Art Works and The Curious Forge
Part of my artful life involves two entities I’d like to mention, one is the co-op gallery I’m part of and the other is a Makerspace.
Art Works Gallery on Mill Street in Grass Valley is a cooperative of roughly 36 local artists: www.artworksgalleryco-op.com
Its been a successful endeavor since its inception a couple of years ago and for me, at that particular time, a lifesaver. Coming off heartbreak, it gave me a focus that grounded me in a time that decidedly felt ungrounded. I could look at this one slice, this one tiny area, with hope and some excitement. It was great to be among comrades, it was great to be putting my art out in the community; it was and still is fun to be in town and visit with folks who walk thru the door. There was committee work to do and the building of something we all did together. I belonged and was appreciated and boy, I needed that. Wow, I feel rather emotional about this.. guess I hadn’t reflected on it much til right now. SO much appreciation for the myriad ways life does it best to help us out even in the dark times. So yeah, the gallery is a thriving endeavor including the ups and downs and the occasional drama but mostly where we as artists get to share and commiserate and encourage. I feel very fortunate and privileged to be a part of it. I am inspired and tickled by our membership and those are two of some of my favorite things in life, “inspired”and “tickled”. Drop by some time.
And then, there is The Curious Forge, our local Makerspace, definitely an endeavor close to my heart.
www.thecuriousforge.org and https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/sierramakers/
Some of us in our steampunk themed outfits: 
When my friend Liam Ellerby brought this idea to the community it really sparked me, it combines so many things that are exciting to me; repurposing objects, the chance to work in 3d with different materials, collaboration, learning new skills, creativity, sharing, supporting, and fun. Having been in on this from the beginning and seen it grow, really pretty quickly, into much of what we envisioned has been a gratifying journey. This creation has pushed my edges in so many ways – and the BEST is that I have felt eager at each edge, bumpy though it may have been at times I really wanted to make this happen; and again, being in this group, collaborating in this way has been so much fun; I found I thrive in it. There is much more to this that I’ll revisit I’m sure, its an ongoing practice for living this life in the widest way possible…hope you drop by! Open Houses every first Thursday…
Oh, and about that heartbreak… sometimes heartbreak is the heart breaking open.. and that can be a very, very good thing; ironic perhaps, non-intuitive maybe, but I’ve found it to be true, even if it took alot of time to get the ‘good’. AND that’s a subject for a whole ‘nother blog…;)
