Sadly, things are going to get worse before they get better. Due to our current economic downturn, the museum industry is taking a hit. At a time when Americans are spending less and actually more likely to visit museums, the museums themselves are losing donors. Traditionally museums are often sponsored by wealthy donors and foundations but with the economic crisis many are investing their money in organizations that provide food and shelter for those hit hardest.

Major museums across the country are laying off staff, freezing recruitment and tossing out plans for expansion. While it may not seem like the end of the world, it takes a lot of people to maintain and care for our museums. This money is not made up by visitors. Visitors cost a museum approximately $23 per person while apparently bringing in an average of only $6.

So, the next time you visit a museum, thank the staff. They deserve a pat on the back!

In addition to the stained glass, my other passion right now is cake decorating and sugar arts. I’m the President Elect for Capital Confectioners of Austin. Each year we hold a big cake show in February. This year’s show will take place from Freb 28- Mar 1st and will have around 300 cakes and 3000 attendees. We have some amazing artists lined up. We have Debbie Brown coming in from the UK. Debbie is the most prolific writer of cake decorating books in the UK. We also have Nick Lodge coming, who is British but he lives in Georgia and Elisa Strauss from Confetti Cakes as well as Jacquy Pfeiffer, the founder of the Chicago. It’s going to be an amazing show! Visit out website at www.thattakesthecake.org.

I’m interested in all forms of art so please feel free to share your passions with me!

Don’t 3, St. Petersburg, FL, NOW

The Studio @620 is presenting a multi-media performance piece by Alice Ferrulo of Black Horse Theatre. The set designer is Frank Strunk III, one of my favorite artists. The photo is by Michael Conway. The show runs until Jan. 19, so catch it while you can.

Charles Banks Wilson: An Oklahoma Life in Art, Tulsa, OK, NOW

As I reported yesterday, Charles Wilson was an Oklahoma artist. The Gilcrease Museum of the Americas is holding an exhibit through March 9.

Lights: A Photographic Exploration, Bellevue, PA, JAN. 19

The Pittsburgh, PA blog reports that Creative Treehouse will be holding this one night event of poetry and photography. The Shutouts, Andrew James, The Dream Intended, and The Jim Dandies will be providing music.

Art for the Heart Silent Auction, San Francisco, CA, FEB 7-9

I read about this auction on the blog Diary of a Crafty Chica. The auction benefits the Encantada Gallery; the auction preview is Feb. 7-9. The auction isn’t until the evening of Jan. 9. Due to setbacks caused by a house fire, the owner of the gallery, Mia Gonzalez may have to close shop. The auction is designed to keep this from happening.

That’s what struck my fancy this week. If you know of any events going on in your area, please feel free to let me know about them.

Oklahoma’s Charles Wilson

Charles Wilson is the topic of a recent Tulsa, OK blog post. The blog focuses on Oklahoma life, and Wilson, as one of Oklahoma’s native sons, is a perfect fit. The post gives a brief description of Wilson’s career and provides some context as to why his work is important in Oklahoma and beyond.

Tom Toles illustrated the sexist backlash against Hillary

The Washington Post cartoon shows the double standard stacked against Ms. Clinton in pretty straightforward way.

Pat Oliphant shows a more conservative view of her chances and leadership abilities.

Another comic in the Post shows an entirely different view Hillary’s now famous emotional reaction.

Summer Minor gives instructions on how to make paper

In a post geared towards home schooling moms, Minor gives a how-to and a brief history on making paper.

Shopdropping

Web Urbanist provides an explanation of the urban trend of shopdropping along with a guide to who’s doing it and a breakdown of their projects, complete with pictures. The most interesting to me was a project by Zoe Saldana, where she takes cheap clothes by Wal Mart and recreates them by hand, using the same fabrics, notions and stitches, then puts the tags from the originals on them and returns the homemade clothing to the store.

Here’s what I have planned for this year:

Interviews with comic book artists.

I’m going to a few conventions this year, and I plan to take advantage of my press passes. I’ll be talking to comic artists, set designers, and the regular artist and author folks who come out.

Fashion designer posts.

I’m going to interview more fashion designers for posts this year. I have a few under my belt already, and I will be working on more as time goes by.

Posts on premium artist supplies.

From hand-dyed yarns, to hand-made canvases, to hand-woven fabrics, I plan on writing a special series of posts dedicated to getting info on the best artist and crafting supplies out there.

Posts on special-effects and professional makeup artistry.

From makeup for model shoots to monster magic, I’m going to highlight artists who are living out their dreams.

Regional hotspots.

This is where I’ll showcase the best of the best in different cities around the country.

The best on the web.

The best of artist and art-related Web sites.

General 451 mishmash.

I always keep my eyes on the 451 network for tidbits of information that interest me. I usually end up finding crafting challenges and recipes. You may have noticed italicized sections at the end of my posts where I add extra info I find, like a link to a recipe for Italian bread lasagna or get political and link to a post about gay rights. This will continue; it’s just a way for me to add a little bit of news from the network, since I browse through the new posts every day. Since there’s usually a couple of new posts every hour, there’s a lot to read through.

This is all in addition to highlighting artists, giving basic advice and keeping people up-to-date on my own progress.

The past few weeks have been very busy for me. My insane schedule has forced me to make a choice. I can either spend a good portion of my time of writing about my art, or I can spend a good portion of my time making art.

I’ve chosen to make art.

First there were the holidays followed immediately by working extra hours. In addition, I’ve had to block in time for eating, bathing, sleeping, spending time with friends and religious obligations. The result has been a large decrease in blogging. I hope to remedy this soon.

Because I’ve had to make some hard choices, I realized that the majority of people out there have to make the same exact choice every day.

There are accountants who keep an art studio for the weekends and stay-at-home moms who write when their children are down for naps. In our modern society, everyone has to compromise to truly be happy.

In a new year’s post, Jummie writes about setting craft goals; the advice has helped me balance out my life and my hectic schedule. Every night after work, I sit down, turn on the TV, and knit for a set time. I try to write a minimum amount each day and once a week I get a few hours of improve acting under my belt with friends.

For 2008, I’m setting a challenge for everyone: look at your schedule and find the spot set aside for playtime. It might be oil painting. It might be reading a novel for a half hour each day. It might be taking pictures of the world around you. Is there even such a spot in your busy week? Is your schedule so rigid there’s no room for a spontaneous walk or sketch?

Sandra Williams of Parenting Under the Stars blogs about balancing spontaneity and scheduling. Though it’s aimed at parents, the advice is universal.

Spending time with fun, mind-expanding activities is high on my priority list and keeps me happy, I think it would work for you, too.

I’ve been working about 40 hours a week at my job at a bookstore for the semester break. I’m processing internet orders for textbooks for the upcoming semester, and next week I’ll be working even more, starting tomorrow.

I’ve been trying to catch up to my future classmates in a graduate class I’m taking. I have to learn web design and HTML; the class deals with multimedia journalism, i.e. making Web sites, writing television packages, writing online and print articles, and tying everything together. I bought a book and am taking baby steps; I’m unsure as to whether or not I’ll catch up sufficiently before the class starts, though. I’m nervous about it.

I spent five or six days from the last two weeks with my family. We did the whole “Christmas” thing, and then my aunt and uncle came to visit from Michigan. I’m am definitely family-stressed out.

I spend two or three days doing things with friends. We saw Sweeney Todd on Christmas day, and I went to a Christmas party that involved me getting presents and playing Nintendo (yay).

Sweeney Todd= Merry Christmas!

I worked like crazy to finish up making and wrapping holiday gifts, and what I didn’t get done I made up for with store-bought gifts. Next year, I hope to do a better job on keeping on-task. Television helped me complete the gifts that did get wrapped and given away, although I’m not sure I’d ever want to watch so much Tila Tequila again.

I also bought the Dexter DVD and watched the entire first season in two days. Way to spend some quality time right there. I plan to start in on the Heroes DVD soon, even though I’ve seen the entire series so far.

For next year, I have some plans. They include starting an office hours tradition for writing, attending FX 2008 (for comic book artists and some actors/ creators/ designers I want to interview) and Megacon (for more of the same) and seeing the movie Juno. I’m also toying around with starting my own Web site and Etsy shop. I just hope 2008 is as fantastic as 2007 was.

To say the holidays can be stressful is an understatement.

To the hobby artist or professional crafter, they can be a nightmare.

Some people work full time, have kids and a social life, and create art in the spare time, because it completes them.

Some people mass-produce crafts, on their own or with small staffs, to meet quotas for the stores selling their art. Much of the time, they’re also trying to juggle their family and social life at the same time.

With pressure mounting, artistic endeavors can fall behind. Projects sit half-finished on easels, pottery wheels collect dust.

Creating eases stress and keeps the mind active. Making art is a great way to take a breather and protect the soul.

On days you can’t dedicate the time to finish a full project, stop the rat race you’re caught in for a half hour or an hour. Work on a painting, sculpt something small and fun, or write a bit in your journal. Even if you’re behind, it’s important to stop the stress before it reaches your breaking point.

If the muse refuses to come, or you just can’t dedicate the time for what you want to do, go for a short walk outside or read something you find uplifting. Look at your favorite masterworks. Even better yet, flip through a magazine or pictures you find inspiring and file them for later.

Taking a hot bubble bath with a glass of bubbly and a good book or lighting a few candles and relaxing for a few minutes can also help.

Remember, when you’re stressed, the rest of your life can fall apart, which can lead to a block. It’s easier to keep creating when you don’t break the flow.

When I get stressed, I eat more sweets, can live for days off of Cherry Coke, and am lucky if I get a shower scheduled in every day. Everything suffers until I sort myself out.

If you guys have any tips on staying de-stressed for the season, let me, and the other readers, know what they are!

At the worst, mindless internet distractions might help a bit with the holiday frazzle. Check out the PacMan Christmas tree. Or, veg out in front of the new Deelishis video.

With most of the jokesters, creators, and snarksters on strike, this may be what TV looks like at this time next year.

In the movie realm, we may have low-budget indie type creations in about two years.

American Gladiators, American Idol, Big Brother.

No Heroes. No Ugly Betty. And, no Pushing Daisies, which is by far the most innovative and artistic television show I’ve ever seen.

If you’ve never seen Pushing Daisies, check out Pushing Daisies, the blog, which has write-ups of each episode.

The show centers around a pie maker who can raise the dead, for a minute at a time. If he goes over a minute, someone else dies in the deceased’s place. The show has lush photography, musical numbers, quirky characters, and superb writing.

But, who wants a masterpiece when they can watch female mud wrestling or a bunch of hopefuls compete to win some sort of nationwide singing title?

While TV will suffer, movies might get better. I’m very excited about the upcoming release of Sweeney Todd, but I love indie films more than most mainstream releases. If more indie writers got into the business of film writing, I would probably be happy with their diverse view of the world more than I am with explosions, bland sexual encounters, sappy romances, and trite, generic animation.

Many people probably believe the studios will eventually give into the writers and the world will be fine again. But, with the internet, hundreds of cable news channels, and video games taking up so much time, I have a feeling the average Joe out there isn’t too worried about the face of the nation without the striking writers. This is a horrible time for such a union, because they don’t hold as much power as they did before the cyber boom.

I know, I know, it’s all very depressing. Quick! Look! It’s a cat in a Christmas Tree!

The available days to send out holiday cards are dwindling. Christmas is 13 days away; if you haven’t finished making those cards and gifts yet, you’re behind. Fortunately, there are some quick and easy card and gift ideas out there for those of us who procrastinate.

At Getting Crafty, there’s a whole slew of ideas to work from. The idea: use brads, fabric, stitching, and papers to make the best card out there.

And, at Bead Arts, they link to a pretty great beaded gift card project.

I have a couple of ideas to expand upon these cards. I love decoupaging; just take some varnish or glue (ask about supplies at your local craft store) and use it to attach magazines or personal art to card stock before applying the brads and other extras that will give your cards a touch of glitz.

Even better yet, create a beaded and wearable work of art, then string a necklace or bracelet through the card and wire it down. Or, attach a pair of earrings as a glittery decoration and gift. Think about how happy the recipient will be, expecting a simple card and discovering their own, personalized gift.

Some other ideas:

Instead of cards, send out a small booklet of your work. Other people send out boring holiday newsletters, why not send out something chronicling your best projects?

Use spare fabric to make your cards. I know a few fashion designers, and they always have yards of scrap fabric lying around, taking up room.

And, even though it’s a little late, next year consider making this Advent calendar. It wins on every level; it’s bright, whimsical, and super-creative.

Just make sure to mail everything out before your time runs out.