
Nearly a year after first meeting
Jackie Hoysted the smoker, we caught up with her re-invented non-smoking self while she was volunteering at the
Amy Lin exhibition at
The Art League last night. Not only is Hoysted now celebrating her smoke-free life, looking radiant and healthy as ever, but she’s also excitedly preparing to exhibit her smoking related art works combined with gorgeously displayed poetry at
Artomatic.
Hoysted is a Maryland artist who explores the psychology of smoking and quitting. She smoked for over 20 years and has been smoke-free since July 9, 2007. Her
blog posts her smoking related art and writings on how her “quit” is going. In an effort to chronicle her journey, she began an art project designed to enlist others in the shared experience of “the last cigarette.” She sent a call to the public. Smokers could participate in the project by mailing their Last Cigarettes along with their plan to quit. She hoped to immortalize the effort in a work of art.
Hoysted had completed an image entitled Destruction. It is a collage of burnt watercolor paper soaked in cigarette butts and sprayed with nicotine “dye” (i.e. cigarette butts soaked in water over a few weeks). She had planned to continue in this vein for a while – as she found it both therapeutic and disgusting. She exhibited at: 9×10 WPA/C Member Show, William Parker Gallery, DC; and DCAC Wall Mountables, Washington DC.
What happened though, was that Hoysted found it very difficult to get contributions of “last cigarettes” because smokers find it too hard to part with them even when they have made the commitment to stop smoking. She’s resigned herself to the probability that it would be easier to get cigarettes of people who are not trying to stop.
Hoysted’s exhibits over the past year include: Delaplaine Arts Center, Regional juried show; Glenview Mansion, Rockville Art League juried show;
Corcoran College of Art & Design, Washington DC.; Artomatic 2007; and a solo show at Gaithersburg City Hall, MD, juried. She continues her active participation in the
Rockville Art League and in her participation in arts training through The Corcoran.
April 11, 2008
Posted by
shauna lee lange |
Uncategorized |
Comments Off
Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory invites the international public to anonymously submit pictures of beauty to our community art project – post beauty.
Other sites promote your negative hidden secrets. We ask you to share pictures of positive life events, love you find, and unexpected kindnesses encountered.
Post Beauty gives the world a venue for light, life, and love through beautiful images shared. Email your digital images to postbeauty@gmail.com. New photos will be uploaded periodically.
April 10, 2008
Posted by
shauna lee lange |
Uncategorized |
Comments Off
The
Alexandria Volunteer Bureau in conjunction with a host of other noteworthy organizations is participating in
Spring for Alexandria. The event is a three-day celebration of giving and service in Alexandria, Virginia. Several programs will be highlighted from 4/24 – 4/26 – including a Generations of Giving Gala, a community service day, an Earth Day celebration, and the 10th Annual Business Philanthropy Summit. We’re honored to participate, even if only in a small way, in this opportunity to celebrate the arts, business, and nonprofit community’s contributions to our city. We look forward to learning more about how we can help others, especially through art.
April 10, 2008
Posted by
shauna lee lange |
Uncategorized |
Comments Off
As an arts advisor, it pays to know what calls are currently open, what galleries are on the hunt for which material, and when the timing is right for an artist to make a move. About a month ago, we were contacted by a painter who claimed she could not find a gallery to accept her work. We consulted with her, reviewed her portfolio, made a few phone calls, considered the whole situation, tested the market and called her right back.
We knew of a Chelsea gallery wanting to host an opening on a particular subject, and although this painter claimed not to want to be a pigeon-holed “type” of artist, we encouraged her to immediately submit her works. You can see where this is going, right? Yes siree, not less than a month later, this painter who couldn’t get placed in a gallery will now show in New York City’s esteemed Chelsea gallery row.
Even if the piece doesn’t move (which we believe it will), and this artist generates NO interest (which we KNOW she will), it’s a success for the gallery, for the painter, and for us. And that’s why we love advising artists. It works, it’s successful, and when the effort is timely and well-researched, it’s like putting a round peg in a round hole. Beautiful.
April 9, 2008
Posted by
shauna lee lange |
Uncategorized |
Comments Off
There’s a lesson in loss and it may just be that all loss has a purpose. We were very disappointed to learn we lost a much loved public arts project bid for which we had expended a tremendous amount of research and legwork. Our intuitive reaction, that the organizers wanted permanent sculptures and local townspeople to construct them, proved dead on correct when the final results were published.
Not unexpectedly though was the fact that the finalists for this particular competition were all extremely insightful, talented individuals with unique ideas, and giving of their time and efforts. We were well pleased to be in such great company. So it turns out that one of our top competitors, a woman I can only describe as literally having had thought about every single available facet of her proposal, also lost.
You know when you hear a competitor’s proposal and you’re thinking to yourself, GULP? We couldn’t understand how her idea could be passed by. Well, where the door was closed, the window opened. This woman (an events coordinator) and her truly fantastic public art festival not only secured an alternate site for her event, but graciously invited us to bring our loved luminaria proposal along with her.
That’s collaboration at its best, and the winner in this case will be the families who attend our breathtaking evening event in July. Stay tuned for more about Starry Teller Festival and our Luminaria highlights.
April 9, 2008
Posted by
shauna lee lange |
Uncategorized |
Comments Off