Works of Words and Whimsy

Since the At Home in Central Illinois magazine is not available in Springfield, I am going to add Elyse Russo's article to my blog so people can read it. I wish that you could also see Robert O'Daniell's wonderful pictures. With the pictures, the article is 5 pages, but the pictures take up most of those pages.

"Springfield artist makes mixed media creations

Fruit books. Clarinet ladies. The Springfield alphabet. Painted mannequins. Satiric Blagojevich greeting cards. To name a few, these are the artistic endeavors of mixed media artist, Katherine Pippin Pauley.

'A lot of the articles about doing art now are on the play aspect; just play with it and see what comes,' Pauley said. 'And that's what I do.'

While the Springfield artist has no formal training, Pauley has established herself as a local mixed media artist whose works often emerge from play; specifically, playing with materials and playing with words.

'She is what I think of when I think of an emerging artist,' said Jane Johnson, executive director of the Prairie Art Alliance. She said some artists struggle to find their niche, but Pauley has already found hers.

Pauley got her start producing art by playing with cloth and sewing. First it was making costumes for her daughter's childhood plays, and later feminizing men's jackets for women to wear for a company she and a friend started called True Glitz.

In 1996, the jacket company disbanded, but Pauley's creative flame was ignited. So she began making figurines called Character Creations, which truly began her fascination with using different materials to create artwork. One Character Creation which she has kept is a figure of Noah at a drawing board sketching the ark. It uses clay, cloth, woodwork, sewing and other artistic techniques.

'It was hammering, it was sewing, a little bit of everything,' she said.

Pauley was still producing Character Creations when she joined Prairie Art Alliance in 1999, marking her membership as a mixed media artist. She said the mixed media field at Prairie Art
Alliance was wide open , and still is, which allows her a lot of freedom in what she showcases there.

'I decided when I retired, I was just going to go for art and so I started feeling my way, trying different things.' Pauley said, and that's just what she's been up to. Retiring from teaching in 2004, Pauley has devoted herself entirely to her art.

While playing with many materials inspires Pauley's artwork -- 'Mostly I like taking junk I find at flea markets and garage sales and turning it into something' --words and word play often give Pauley an artistic springboard.

'I can't remember never reading,' she said. "It was just something that I always did, and reading has been a huge part of my life.'

An English major in college, Pauley loves to incorporate letters and words into her art, from alphabets to witty greeting cards. Her Black and White Inchie Square Alphabet -- S is Shadow, Z is a Zebra, and so on -- was accepted for publication in a national craft magazine Somerset Studio. Every letter is one inch square.

Sometimes words are art in Pauley's works. One of her most recent artistic accomplishments, for example, was decorating one of the large top hats that dot the city of Springfield in honor of Lincoln's bicentennial. Titled 'In Mr. Lincoln's Words,' the top hat features white stars with quotes from the famous 16th president.

'She just keeps coming up with new ideas and new things,' said Johathan Reyman, of Springfield. He and his wife Laura own many of Pauley's pieces. He said her work spans a very wide range. She incorporates humor into a lot of her work but sometimes her serious pieces, like the 5-foot long 'City of God' collage that the Reymans just purchased, are emotional and thought-provoking, he said. 'It changes color as the light in the room changes,' Reyman said, describing the collage.

While Pauley was the featured artist in the November/December 2007 Prairie Art Alliance showcase, she said she hasn't really felt comfortable calling herself and 'artist' until just recently. 'I have a very hard time with the a-word,' she said. 'So I'm beginning to feel and now I can say. Yes, I'm an artist. I'm succeeding. I figure if I can cover what I spend, that's good enough.'

Katherine Pippin Pauley's works are on sale at Prairie Art Alliance of The Blue Door, both located in Springfield. Or you may shop online at her Web site, http://www.katherinpippinpauley.etsy.com/."

Photos include two of my figures, "Gift of Creativity and Gift of Endurance", me holding my Ear Worm, the bowl of fruit books, the quilted violin, the Lincoln Hat in front of the Widow at Windsor Antique Shop, and one of my cards--Zach who wanted a Mustang for his birthday. Right now, the fruit books, violin, and cards are for sale on the etsy site. The figures are at the Blue Door.

I was very please with Elyse's article and felt that she captured the essence of what I do. I am going to work on Barnes and Noble to carry At Home in Central Illinois because it is a lovely magazine which showcases many central Illinois locations.

Lincoln Hats in Springfield

The Lincoln Hat project was completed in May. The Springfield Rotary Club (Brian Barstead) was the driving force in accomplishing this. There are 11 huge hats dotting the streets of Springfield and (I believe) 11 large hats to be found inside businesses. After turning in my huge and large matching hats, I said that I could use another of my designs and do a second large hat. So I have a total of 3 hats.
My first huge and large hats are located at The Widow at Windsor antique store at the corner of 5th and Cook in Springfield. These hats are painted black with a gold hatband which says "In Mr. Lincoln's Words". The stars are edged with mini gold stars which create a gold band and each had a Lincoln quotation on it. The quotations on the large hat had to be entirely different than the huge hat because they could not be reduced and still be legible. So the large hat has short quotes.

The second large hat is from my 2nd winning design and is brown with a copper band. It says, "If I had a different face, would I wear this one?" It has four Lincoln profiles each filled with a collage of Lincoln photographs. This hat is also on 5th street--in the window of the radio station offices just south of the Old State Capitol plaza.

The Rotary and local businesses sponsered a wonderful reception for the artists and the hats at the Inn at 835 here in town. The hats went up by June 1rst. Many will come down in September, but mine will stay at the Widow at Windsor, thanks to the generosity of the owners, Tom and Marilyn Kushack. It will be a permanent display.

If you are in Springfield, you should try to see all of the wonderful hats on display around town.

Thanks to being a hat artist, I was interviewed for the Champaign magazine, At Home. The article, complete with pictures of my studio, art work, and (probably) inane comments by me will be published in the Sept/Oct issue.

Arts News

My life has changed yet again. I have been babysitting two grandchildren (at my daughter's house) for the past 3 1/2 weeks. Tomorrow the 3 year old begins preschool and I will have the care of my only granddaughter, Cecilia, 3 months. Because she can come to my house, I will be able to go to my studio and (hopefully) get some work accomplished. I have so many projects underway. While 2 children kept me tied to the house, I hope to be able to go places with CeCi.

This past week, Macy's held a reception for the artists who have work on display (for sale) in the furniture department. It was a lovely reception with food and drink. I have two pieces on the wall and was able to take in several others to show that evening. Thank you, Macy's!

Navigating the new frontier of electonic communication

Last month I opened a shop on the etsy sales site. I simply posted some pictures and prices and hoped for the best. Having people discover my shop is taking time. So I purchased a plan on having success with etsy sales. The basic information tells me to get out there on the internet. . . to blog, twitter, and make connections. This is easier said than done!!

My etsy shop is: katherinpippinpauley.etsy.com

My twitter (does anyone really care about twitter?!!) is: twitter.com/pippinpauley

Originally I just put my at on the internet in picture albums. Then I started a blog (both were my son-in-law's suggestions) and now I have started a twitter account (at the plan's suggestion). I still am unsure about this entire business. I do not know if I can make these online connections or really how to start. It seems to be a huge undertaking. Do I really care if I sell a lot of my art?
Well, of course I have to make sales or the art would just take over the house. In fact, the art has taken over my attic, half of the basement, one bedroom and now the garage. I am painting the biggest top hat you could imagine. It would not fit through the doorway of the house, so it is in the garage. The hat is one of 12 to be installed here in Springfield for the Lincoln 200th birthday year celebration. I know that 2 of the other artists are painting on their front porches. I actually have two hats--the large one and a smaller version for inside the business where it is displayed. I need to be spending time on the hat so need to stop worrying about making internet connections--at least for now.

Featured Artist

During the first year that I was retired, I was asked to be a featured artist at the Prairie Art Alliance. This is a big event; featured artists can bring 50-60 pieces (depending on size). At the time that I agreed I did not have a artistic medium that I felt would be good for featuring in a large show. I was playing around with altered books and boxes and knew that I would need a large number of wall art pieces. But I wouldn't be featured for 3 years--lots of time to figure out what to do.

Three years was not a lot of time to find myself artistically. I dabble. I want to try everything. A year passed and I was no closer to knowing what to do. But I had to start getting ready. My Woman's Alphabet had sold so I decided to create a Springfield Alphabet. But using photos from brochures and tourist booklets was out because of copyright issues. To solve my problem, I decided to draw all of my images on road maps--since Springfield is near the 90 degree longitude point and close enough to the 45 degree latitude to say that we are in the middle of the hemisphere--and the USA. So I collected road maps of various ages, colors, and regions. I tried to use the original color of the map when it was appropriate, although I did have to start coloring some of the images with colored pencil. I looked for words that were appropriate to the item being illustrated (ie. Horseshoe Bend for my horseshoe plate, Cinderella on my ballerina tutu, Grant, Whitman, and Hooker on the Lincoln home image, etc.). This took time. I did a lot of research to choose the 26 words to use. Q was not going to the the Quick 'n Easy, so I used Quest, as in a history quest--genealogy research. Words changed as I got more ideas--it was hard to fit everything in a category and some letters did not seem to have a category. X became the eXecutive mansion--doubly good since I placed a removable ribbon X over the image since our current governor does not live there. Creating the completed 26 canvases took a lot of time and the space they used was not huge. I had to keep going. . . and going much faster!

http://picasaweb.google.com/KatherinePippinPauley/SpringfieldAlphabet

Each show at the Prairie Art Alliance has a theme and my show's was "There's No Place Like Home". I decided to run with the theme. The Springfield Alphabet was a good start. Home would be a focus of my art. Another artist created a Lincoln image that was cut out of a black plastic. I asked where he had it done, and discovered another option for my show. I had SPRINGFIELD cut out of a heavy plastic and I collaged each one in a slightly different way. Some had Lincoln images; some had Springfield homes; some had special background papers (made by me) with local businesses, streets, and events listed; some had each state with a Springfield in it--"Find the Springfield & name the state", a few just had a top hat--we are a one hat town. I made about 15 different plaques. And I offered to personalize SPRINGFIELDs with a family's personal names & images. More wall space utilized.

Home brought images of childhood and of family. I created two Memory Boxes out of old cigar boxes: a boy's box was collaged and filled with items that a boy of the 1940s might have had; a girl's box was filled with items from the 1950s. I had a large wooden checkerboard which I used as a backdrop to wood burn a typical midwestern farmhouse image. Then I took old family photos and printed them on transparencies, along with birth & death certificates, diplomas, etc. The images were attached with double sided tape allowing the house image to be seen through them.

Of course, I had to include a Wizard of Oz piece, given the theme. I painted and collaged a chair with the Wizard theme. The yellow brick road spiraled on the seat; the ruby slippers were on the front legs, the witches' turned up toes on the back legs; the lion's tail, the scarecrow's gloves, and the tin man's funnel hat were attached in appropriate spots. The Emerald City was on the back rest bars, Dorothy and her 3 companions were on the top. It was a fun piece and fun to plan.

I decided to alter some musical instruments--most of which I had purchased (broken) at garage sales. I had a banjo & a clarinet, tambourines, and a friend gave me a violin. The banjo was collaged with an old music cover and I added some polymer clay items. The two clarinet halves became two sisters--of the Jazz age with long black gowns and cloche hats. The tambourines were joined together, collaged with gypsy & forturne telling symbols, and lots of ribbons & charms were attached. The violin became a Music Maker(like a Southwestern storyteller doll) with 9 young violins sitting on his knee, shoulder, and at the side. The smallest was a baby in a cradle-board on the back. This image is at the top of this blog page. I loved this violin; I had to solve several problems and win an eBay auction (for all of the small violins) to create it.

At any rate, working on this show forced me to stretch myself. I was a basket-case before (and during) the opening. My work was so different from what the other members were doing. My show looked so different than others. [I was paired with Eda Mae Shafer, who paints lovely watercolors, so we were a contrast.] I felt that I was putting my soul on display. The works were truly a part of me--lots of thought, planning, and time went into their creation. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, and one of the most rewarding. I am so happy that I did agree to be featured. It has opened new artistic paths for me to follow.

You can see pictures from my show at

http://picasaweb.google.com/KatherinePippinPauley/ShowAtPrairieArtAllliance

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Many of the teachers I worked with were unsure about what to do with retirement. Several became substitute teachers and discovered the other side of the classroom. A few enjoyed having no preparation and walking out at the end of the day with no workload to carry home. Others were dismayed by the lack of respect and control they experienced. They left the substitute pool and tried other part-time jobs--in retail, in the library, or offices. Some taught in private schools. It was too difficult for them to imagine another life.

I planned on re-creating myself. I left school so far out of my mind that when I saw a school bus on the street late the next August, I was bemused. My mind had pushed it so far away that I (momentarily) wondered what I was seeing. That is a real mind-set change. So I managed to mentally erase my old life, but creating a new one was a challenge. I decided to become an artist. My problem was that I had no background in art--not even classes in high school or college. My lack of credentials in a credential-driven society is still a problem for me. I have been retired for 4 years, have had some success as an artist, but still can't use the word "artist" to describe myself. I am working on it.

People have always called me "creative." Over the years I had tried a variety of crafts--mostly sewing and embroidery with some ceramics thrown in. Since my daughters participated in local theater groups, I found myself making costumes for several productions. It was a small step to designing men's coats for women. Jan Jones and I started a business called "True Glitz" in 1990--nearly 15 years before retirement. We had fun taking men's jackets and adding different elements to make them into women's jackets. At first we only added lace, ribbons, jewelry, and rosettes. Then we became bolder, adding ties, gloves, epaulets, chains, and doilies. Our business became a local success. But after 5 years of decorating, we decided that we had done everything to a man's coat that we could think of doing and ended the Glitz business.

Jan was done with having a side business (we were still both teaching), but I needed to have a creative outlet. After searching for an idea I came up with "Character Creations --Little People of the Imagination." These were figures made of Sculpy which I sculpted and clothed. My early figures were simple and had bodies filled with sand. Then I added more elements and a background scene. I used my love of literature to make figures from fairy tales, poems, and classics. I also added a quotation to each figure as a way to tell a little bit about the personality or background. The characters were fun to make, but cumbersome to take to a show. Many scenes were large, they had fragile elements, and took up a lot of storage space. Still, I made my characters for about 5 years, and probably sold over 200 in that time. With the Characters I was juried into the Prairie Art Alliance (P.A.A.) as an artist member. [The picture at the top is one of my Characters--Noah designing the ark.] You can see other Character Creations at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KatherinePippinPauley/CharacterCreations

During my last 4 years of teaching I did very little artistically or creatively, but I kept paying my dues at the P.A.A. each year so that I could work on artistic endeavors after retiring. The year that I retired, the Prairie Art Alliance moved into a beautiful new gallery at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. I volunteered to work at the desk in the gallery and met more of our artists. Little-by-little I moved into new artistic endeavors. I started taking art workshops. My most exciting endeavor during the first year of retirement was going to Sarasota to take a workshop with Maxine Masterfield. I had her books and loved her work. She opened up new ideas in experimental water media for me.

I kept trying new materials and techniques. I say that I am a jack-of-all-arts and master of none. However I love collage and I started working more with paper images. My first real success at the gallery was my creation of "A Woman's Alphabet" which was done on 26 6" x 6" canvases. I also love alphabet books and have a small collection, so creating a new alphabet was a natural idea for me. This piece took me 8 months to complete--mainly because I had to search for just the right image to illustrate each letter. The canvases had 3-D elements attached (a wooden nickel, a locket, a garter, etc.) and were bound with ribbon on which I had sewn the appropriate letter of the alphabet. I wanted to have cards made of the images, but our local printer said that they could not make images due to the 3-D attachments. So I decided to try. I scanned the canvases and started making cards. My "Woman's Alphabet" sold during the opening reception of the show, as did my first set of cards. It opened a new window for me. The (first) Woman's Alphabet can be seen at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KatherinePippinPauley/WomanSAlphabet


I have been continuing to create collages using vintage pictures combined with bright backgrounds. I decided to make a series that would have captions--as though they were in a family album. So a new line of cards was born "The Family Album." I look for old photos which have a element that I find humorous, and I write a quip for them. These cards have been successful and I now have over 200 different Family Album cards. My best sellers are the teacher cards.

You can see some of my Family Album cards at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/KatherinePippinPauley/FamilyAlbum