Finishing up the cow art display

It's crunch time for the debut of Cow Art and More at the National Holstein Convention! One of the final things to do over the last week was making the fabric covers for the pedestals.


Some of the pedestals will have a nice pale green cover. This is a fire retardant fabric I bought directly from the manufacturer.












I used my handy-dandy sewing machine (which had not seen the light of day in awhile) to finish the edges.












I also did the same with some burlap fabric, but had to use a "edging glue" to keep the sides from fraying.











To hang these to the pedestals, I have a applied velcro to the cardboard pedestal and the fabric cover.

Look for pictures of the finished product later this week!

Art gallery display pedestals

One of the things I'm going to need in a couple of weeks is counter height display pedestals. I'm making my own floor standing pedestal displays made from cardboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF). I'm not necessarily a do-it-yourselfer, but I weigh the cost versus the time. In this case, I figured I could get 4 to 6 pedestals for the price of buying one if I did it myself.

My research led to the websites of several large home improvement stores. I found the MDF I wanted and it came in a 4 foot by 9 foot size. "Great!" I thought to myself. That will definitely be enough. Got my wood working buddy to agree to cut it to size for me, so off I went to Lowe's.


When I got there, I asked for help finding the said 4 foot by 9 foot MDF. As the very nice men at Lowe's took me there, I had this, "Oh my God, what was I thinking moment". How the heck did I think I was going to get this home in my vehicle???? (Notice said piece of MDF in the picture. It's huge!)

I looked at the two Lowe's guys and asked, "Can you guys cut this?" In a rather confident, respectful tone, one of them answered, "Ma'am, we're Lowes."

Yeah, I should have know they could do it.






So the very nice sales associates at Lowe's cut up my MDF (and thought I was a whack job for taking pictures too).













In the end, I have enough pieces to do 6 pedestals. Next on the to do list for this project is to cut the cardboard.

Stay tuned for the next part of the pedestal making.

Portable art gallery flooring

One of the first things I did in designing the booth was deciding that I wanted a distinct gallery feel to the space. When it comes to setting up in convention centers, there can be anything from carpet to a bare concrete floor. I considered an area rug, but then found these great spongy tiles (that have the same sponginess as the tiles used in milking parlors).


I settled on two foot by two foot interlocking tiles with a wood grain pattern. I also bought a zippered carrying case for them. The portability also made them more appealing than an area rug.











As you can see they are pretty easy to put together. My youngest was having a great time helping me make sure the tiles were going to work. The great thing about these mats too is that they should help people (and me too) feel comfortable while standing.

A conversation with Julia Swartz: Part 2

How did you get started?

I always drew or painted as a child. I can remember as a child using my Mom's oil paints, she was an artist and painted at home for fun. After I got married, I took painting classes with Jay McVey, a local oil painter. When I had my children, I would draw and paint them as babies and toddlers. When my youngest child went to kindergarten, I started studying more seriously. I joined the local art association and took classes to learn watercolor. I started winning prizes right away so we jumped in the business. We bought some framing equipment, got some prints of my work and started framing and selling my art. We started by going to several local juried art shows and eventually were doing 18 to 20 shows a summer from NY to VA and MI to NJ. After several years of juried art shows we decided to join the arts movement in Lancaster PA and opened a gallery on Gallery Row. See more information at www.lancasterarts.com. It's been two and one half years in the gallery I am having more fun then ever.

Picture credit: A view of Julia Swartz's gallery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.