White Christmas

If this cool groove doesn't put you into the mood for Christmas....

Thank you for stopping, for shopping, and for supporting the local, regional, and national artists featured at the gallery. We wish everyone a very joyous and blessed holiday season...and all the best in 2011.

"Out of Africa" Reception and Open House

Thanks to everyone who came out to our "Out of Africa" Artist Reception and Open House in November.

So many enjoyed seeing and learning about Chicago-area Artist Amy Odom's exhibit of African-inspired original paintings and giclee canvases and prints, plus a small selection of limited edition, African-inspired glass pendants. Her originals went back to Chicago with Amy, but prints and some of the glass pendants are still available.

We also enjoyed offering tastings of organic, sustainable African wines from WineTime and yummy olive oils and vinegars from The Olive Twist at Covington Plaza. For those with a sweet tooth, French-cafe inspired sweets from Madeleines Bakehouse were a big crowd pleaser.

Other featured artists included hand-carved serving utensils by Jonathan's Wild Spoons, silver metal jewelry by Alice Ward Seely, ceramics by Janine Sopp, glass vessels by Bernard Katz, "wild" wooden purses by Timmy Woods, jewelry and animal print handcrafted purses by Collem Design, and cuffs, earrings and necklaces by the South African artists of World Shoppe, a fair trade boutique.

Thanks to the artists, local retailers and all those who stopped in to shop, taste, or learn more about local, regional and national artists.

Many artists going or utilizing "green"

The American Craft Council celebrated "green" by featuring artists who view "going green" as a method of artistic expression. The council now recognizes a category — "GreenCraft" — at most of the shows in the past few years, and close to 25% of artsts create all or a portion of their work with recycled materials and/or sustainable processes. More and more artists are using or incorporating found, recycled materials and/or sustainable processes.

On Saturday, at 2:00 pm at the gallery, meet artists Amy Morris and Katie Stapleton from "Recyc-Le-Bowls" — incredibly crafted decorative art in the shape of swirls, stars, flowers and more — made from recycling shredded documents and paper.

A few of the other "green" artists you'll see this weekend include:

"Art for the Soul" — Napa Valley artist Jennifer Utsch creates affirmations, picture frames, and more using reclaimed metal

Twisted Sisters — Nashville artist Linda Hobdy used metals, wood, glass and other found treastures to create unique and whimsical lamps, sculptures, sconces, centerpieces, and more

My Mother's Buttons — Washington state artist Linda Wright collects antique and vintage buttons from around the world and as far back as the 18000's to create one-of-a-kind jewelry and accessories

Freakin' Billboards — Indianapolis artists Beth Mast and Ann Stark create one-of-a-kind artistic accessories (purses, totes, bags, clutches) out of recycled highway billboard vinyl

gallery8010 on Facebook

Be sure to check out our Facebook page - new pics of the gallery - updates on artists and collections - and please become our friend on Facebook - of course we want people to "like" us! Click here now...

Re-Opening This Week!

We're so excited to finally be able to re-open! Illinois Road is a dream with four lanes, a passing lane, sidewalks, bike paths, and people!

Construction is done and the doors are finally open. Please tell your friends and join us this October weekend for featured "green" art, refreshments and new items from all of our artists!

Thursday, Oct. 14 — open noon-6 pm
Friday, Oct. 15 — noon-6pm; Reception 5-7pm
Saturday, Oct. 16 — noon-6pm; Open House

Come meet featured artists Amy Morris and Katie Stapleton, creators of Recyc-Le-Bowls. Originally intended as gifts for the family, papermaking for stationery sets quickly evolved into colorful, unique, handmade paper bowls. Perfect as a functional decorative container or perfect for adding pop and prominence when placed in groups on a wall, it's hard to believe this beautiful pieces of art once were shredded documents.

Always a gallery8010 favorite, Suzi Emley of Collem Designs returns with wonderful new decorative pillows and purses, and artistically-styled jewelry. We catch her right before she leaves for Paris for a week-long trip of inspiration and new ideas. Suzi takes inspiration from whatever she sees and never knows what a purse, pillow, necklace, earring, watch or bracelet will look like until it's absolutely finished.

Sneak peek at the Taste - new items at gallery8010

If you stop by our booth at Taste of the Arts on Aug. 28, you'll have a chance to see a few items from local and regional artists new to the gallery this fall. Take a look.......

Designs by Sue Ann...

Wife, mother, and now grandmother — Sue Crawford has always enjoyed the arts, but hadn't quite found that certain "niche" that fit. Inspired by her beautiful granddaughters, Sue began to design and create flowers for them to wear in their hair. These unique and one-of-a-kind hair adornments look equally fabulous on babies, little girls, teens, and even women.

Like real flowers, once you see these, you'll want to pick an entire bouquet — one for every little girl you know!

Dotti Potts

Although not new to the gallery, Dotti Pott's elegant and whimsical porcelain jewellery (she is from Canada) is always a treat to the eye and to those who wear it. Ceramic artist Sandra Silberman designs these almost sculptural mini works of arts from the Dotti Potts studio she and her husband run in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

These yummy pieces from her newer collection are alive with color, texture and and graphic appeal — that's what they appeal to us so much!

Come see gallery8010 at the Taste!

The weather promises to be beautiful on Saturday - it's almost the last weekend of summer - what better event to check out than Taste of the Arts?

gallery8010 is excited to be a part of the Art Marketplace - you'll find us right in front of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art - along with other galleries and artists.

In addition to displaying and selling a sampling of wonderful items found at the gallery, we'll also be doing a "community painting" project as part of the Taste — so be sure to stop by and say hello.

Taste of the Arts runs from noon-7pm downtown in a four-block area and includes something for everyone — Entertainment on five stages all day long, hands-on activities for kids, the Art Marketplace, tours, free movies at Cinema Center — and of course, the food! Check it all out here: http://www.tasteoftheartsfortwayne.org/

Plus, you'll want to be sure and stay for DESSERT — after the Taste — a FREE concert featuring a great line-up of bands. They'll be at the stage in the parking lot over by Artlink — Clay and Berry Streets — learn more here: http://www.dessertfw.com/

 See you at the Taste!

Light at the end of the (construction) tunnel

We're happy to report that we can finally see the end of construction drawing near! Our mantra has been "it will be great when it's done" - and it already is. This photo, taken back in March, gave us cause for pause - will it EVER be finished? Somehow when you have mounds of dirt in front of your building (yes, it beats the peat), you're not so sure. But driveways have been poured, a cut to the highway has been added, and the sidewalk to our doorstep is now in place. We've recently been rewarded with the sighting of people now using the newly paved sidewalks to walk, run, push strollers, walk dogs, ride bikes, and roller blade along Illinois Road, safely enjoying the summer.

For those of you who made the extra effort to get to us this past December for your holiday gift-giving, we so appreciated your efforts and your business!

Watch for details of our re-opening plans and events after construction is complete later this summer.