OFFCenter at the Downtown Grower's Market

Yeehaw! OFFCenter will have a booth this year, every Saturday, at the Downtown Grower's Market.

We'll be selling our great one-of-a-kind quirky handmade crafts, recycled and repurposed goodies for your home, and gifts for your loved ones. As usual, a huge chunk of the selling price goes right back to our artists, so you know you are supporting our mission -- which is to provide economic development opportunities for emerging community artists.

Stop by and say hello when you go the market.

Here's the where and when of it all:

2010 Opening Day entertainment by Joe Daddy & the Fat Cats/ Higher Ground Bluegrass.
Jun 5, 2010 (and every Saturday through October!)
7:00 to 11:00am

Robinson Park 8th & Central S.W.Albuquerque, NM 87102

(right across from OFFCenter!)

Folk Art Festival 2010 -- CALL FOR ARTIST VENDORS

We ART The People Folk Art Festival and Giant Puppet Parade
September 12, 2010 (Sunday)
10am - 5pm
Robinson Park - 8th and Central SW

Heads up Fellow Artist and Crafters – OFFCenter’s upcoming "We ART the People" Folk Art Festival will be accepting applications for booths starting on JUNE 1st, 2010.

Please note: Only handcrafted work made by the booth artist will be accepted and displayed in our annual Folk Art Festival.

We heard your suggestions last year and we are assigning booth space this year. Booth reservations are on a first come, first served basis. So if you know the spot you want you will need to do the following:

1. Come to OFF Center starting on Tuesday, JUNE 1st. (No early applications will be accepted.)
2. Ask for Marcie.
3. Please bring a sample(s) or photo(s) of your handcrafted work that you will be displaying.
4. Fill out the application in person.
5. Choose you booth location(s)
6. Pay via cash, check or credit card -- booth fee is $30.00

We have a large map at OffCenter that has the park divided in 117 booth spaces. There is a perfect one for each and every one of you!

We look forward to your participation. If you have any questions please call Marci for more information at 505-274-1172.

Beeswax Painting & Collage Workshop

Art workshop with Lindy Hurst

Sunday, June 13, 1-4pm

Have fun painting & collaging with pigmented encaustic. The results are very exciting and beautiful even if you have never drawn or painted before!

Just bring some small sketches, drawings, and/or pictures and favorite embellishments and collage materials.

Cost: $35

Space is limited to 12 people, so call 505-247-1172 now!

Registration & pre-payment required.

Lindy has an MFA from UNM. She has been teaching all ages and levels in New Mexico -- from little kids up through college level and beyond for more than 20 years.

The most common blessing, a poem by Tani Arness

Albuquerque poet Tani Arness, who read at OFFCenter a few months back, sent us this excellent poem today:

The most common blessing

I.
The long-tailed birds are calling to me.
They are calling me into the coppery
brambles of winter. They keep promising
a pretty treat, a shree, a pretty treat, a feat. . .

II.
I have wrapped the sun under one arm
and the moon under the other
and I am prepared to carry them
as far as necessary—

III.
Reflections of yesterday and tomorrow shadow
the smalls of my eyes—
photos of birds on a wire,
songbirds balancing ecosystems in their beaks.
Birds are the most common blessing—
we forget to etch with ink their eyes—deep black.
I want to find, in art, my healing. . .
the first etching—a bird on a pole,
the last etching—a war song of sparrows.
Each moment the crows call to each other.
Each moment we listen or we don’t listen.

IV.
The ripple, jagged with affection,
is not right or wrong,
it simply loves us.
Can you understand
such a thing?
The mountains surrender their form to horizon,
The wind whispers over flickering black stones.
When will we let the world love us?


V.
All our relations,
each crane, each goose,
restores
a piece of the living.
I Feel it in the hollow of my bones,
the blue dusk. . .
Nothing more is necessary.
The stars fold the sky
into my direction.

VI.
I race with black-tipped wings
and white face into the curve
of canyon. The sky a path of rivers—

June First Friday Coffeehouse with Jasper!

Friday, June 4

Come listen and dance to the popular eclectic rock and roots band trio JASPER.

JASPER features Frank McCullough III on electric guitar and banjo, Terry Bluhm on stand-up bass, and Jefferson Voorhees on drums and percussion. All three members contribute vocals.

Special guest: Singer/songwriter George Page

~Singer-songwriter Bonnie Bluhm hosts.
~Doors open at 5 pm. Music starts 6 pm and ends about 8:30pm.
~Ongoing art exhibit is SHELTER.
~Admission is free and coffee and refreshments will be available.
~The OFFCenter Art Shop will be open featuring the work of over 100 local folk artists.

All ages welcome! A community art making table will be set up for you and your family to make art throughout the evening. See you there! Big Fun Tonight!!

A Pass The Hat Production.

Susan Zimmerman's Silent Auction House

A subtle rendering by Susan Zimmerman.

Visit Susan's website: http://www.szimmerman.com

SHELTER Exhibit Opening -- Friday May 7

FIRST FRIDAY EXHIBIT opening:

“SHELTER: A Refuge for Mind, Body and Soul”
Friday night, May 7th, 2010 5-8pm free

Whether in a tent, in a friend’s company, or by reading a good book, everyone seeks refuge from the world’s stresses and dangers. Once sheltered, we begin the process of restoration.

An open community exhibit running through June 8th.

iCreate guitar class graduates will provide music.

A Message from the Board

Dear OFFCenter Community,

WOW! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who helped make OFFCenter's 5th Annual Albuquirky House Tour such an amazing success.

We had TWICE the number of attendees this year compared to last year, largely thanks to the exposure we received in last weekend's Albuquerque Journal article. Volunteers (planners, house volunteers, musicians) did a fantastic job!! KUNM and Whole Foods helped out a ton also with promotion and refreshments!!!

A great success that helps OFFCenter to be able to continue to provide all the wonderful things OFFCenter does! We look forward to seeing all of you and more again next year.

Margaret Lopez, OFFCenter Board of Directors President

Photo by Deanna Nichols. Visit Deanna's website.

Thank you Silent Auction Artists

Your creativity inspired our new friends and community members. Your contributions of "little houses" helped us double our target goal for the 2010 Albuquirky House tour.
THANK YOU!

Visit our website for a complete list of Silent Auction artists. Stay tuned to this blog for more images and accolades.

We're still here -- thanks to you!