Thank you, Rooster's Downtown

Special thanks to Rooster's Downtown, just down the road from us at 320 Central Ave. Rooster's will donate coffee and snacks for our upcoming First Friday Coffeehouse on Mar. 5

Which...
in case you haven't heard us shouting about it already...
will feature...

WAGOGO!

There, we said it Again!

Come on by from 5 to 8 for our First Friday (Artscrawl) Coffeehouse. Wagogo will play starting at 6:00. Gift shop and gallery, open of course.

FREE, but we won't turn down your donation when we pass the hat.

OFFCenter Board Elects 2010 Officers

The Officers of the Board of Directors for 2010 are:

Margaret Lopez, President

Venae Warner, Vice President

Laura Farris, Treasurer

Louise Kahn, Secretary

And we elected new board members Ayren Valery (lower left, in the cap) and Chami MacPherson (middle, in the red jacket). Rashan Omari Jones was elected at the January board meeting.

You may be able to tell from this photo how many board members like to doodle and make things during our meetings!

A very, very special thank you to the dedicated board members, OFFCenter staff, and generous community who hung in there, through an economically tough 2008, into a creative but demanding 2009. Here's to a prosperous 2010!

Silk Painting Class Photos

Claudia Fluegge taught basic silk painting using a variety of materials to a completely full class on Saturday. Here are a few photos of her "happy campers."

Storage Space Needed for Parade Puppets

OFFCenter is looking for year-round, clean, dry storage space approximately 10' x 15' to store our "We Art the People" parade puppets and paraphernalia. Please contact Ron at 247-1172 if you think you can help us out.

WAGOGO is coming March 5!

First Friday Coffeehouse, Mar. 5th, 5 to 8pm

FREE!

Join us for a rollicking return visit from Wagogo, to celebrate the tail end of our Art of Devotion exhibit, and to celebrate just being here in general!

Last year there was room to dance, shop, meet new friends, and enjoy free coffee and snacks.

Our gift shop will be open, and art will also be available for sale in our gallery.

Live performance by Wagogo beings at 6pm

(We will pass the hat for the band, and for donations to OFFCenter)

Intro. to Silk Painting with Claudia Fluegge

Saturday, Feb 20th, 1-4pm

Painting on silk is a playful and colorful adventure. If you have never tried it, this is your change to take an excellent class with the accomplished instructor and artist Claudia Fluegge. Claudia has won numerous national awards for her silk painting work and currently exhibits at Weyrich Gallery in albuquerque.

Class participants will start by stretching a white piece of silk over a fraeme. Then Claudia will lead you through an exploration of basic silk painting techniques such as salting, outlining (in addition to the gutta resist we will be working with soy wax) and applying dyes with a paintbrush.

Usually there is enough time to make two pieces. Finished pieces must be steamed to fix the dyes. Claudia will charge $2 per piece if you would like her to do the steaning for you.

If you have previously taken tis class, she would love to have you back to do more painting.

Art Making Playshops: Ninos y Mayores

Join us at Barelas Senior Center for a new program for elders and school age children.

Classes begin this spring at Barelas and culminate in a show at OFFCenter.

Contact Ron at OFFCenter (247-1172) or Roberta Marquez (269-0829).

This project made possible in part by a grant from the New Mexico Arts, Dept. of Cultural Affairs, State of New Mexico.

Just click anywhere on the image above about the Children and Elder Art Making Playshops to see the info larger...

Photo Montage

We Art the People!

(click for a bigger image)

Valentines Art Making Gathering

Wednesday, February 10^th, 2010 5-7pm Free

Come join in an evening of art making with others from the OFFCenter community of artists!

This Wednesday night from 5-7pm.

Choose from a variety of materials to create cards, gifts and other unique Valentine gifts. Bring along your friends and family.

Friends and Dragons

Our 2010 occasional Wednesday night workshops are proving to be popular and fruitful this year! Last Wednesday was a Chinese paper dragons intensive, in celebration of Chinese New year, led by longtime OFFCenter friend and art teacher Ann Dunbar.

Next Wednesday evening, it will be Valentine Gifts. Stay tuned for more info here, or check our OFFCenter Calendar on our main website. Come on by! All ages are welcome.

Hunger, a poem by Sari Krosinsky

More poetry sent to us by one of the poets who read at last night's Art of Devotion opening:

HUNGER

I cook like my grandmother, whipping up a badass stew
from spare parts. Hers, variations on leached chicken
swimming in grease. Mine, resurrecting potatoes-on-the-edge
with a couple cans green chilé. I mince garlic as you read
to me, baritone against the percussion of popping oil.
Looking at you, I reach for the pot, char my finger.
I thrust my hand under the tap; you go on reading
as cold water seals the burn in a scar.

Like my grandmother, I cook to feed armies. She rallied
relatives, friends, strangers to divide the booty.
I have you. Like her, will I never learn
to cook for one? Or like Orpheus, would I follow you
to Hades and, failing, survive still? When you’re gone,
I’ll play your cd, seal my hunger in your voice.

--Sari Krosinsky

Poetry from the Art of Devotion Opening

An excellent roster of poets read to us on the theme of devotion. Here are a couple of "gifts" from Dale Harris and Bob Reeves.

THE POETS MARRY

This man came careless to my life,
not meaning to,
was bound for somewhere else
and lost his way but stayed.

This man came light, brought only a few mementos,
some photos of old loves.
He didn't need much room.

This man came strong into my life,
cutting through the lies I called love,
rolling away the stone
from my living, breathing tomb.

This man came brittle,
feared that he would break upon my secrets
but learned instead to bend.

This man came thirsty
for truths he thought I knew --
although I never said I did
he thought it anyway.

This man came late,
came when I was tired
and would need him most.

This man came quiet to my life
until a song sang us both --
it sings us still.

--Dale Harris, 2006
-------------------------------------------------

SEEING YOU

We breathe into the air in front of our heads
facing the same way, two ends of a table,
a trace awkward, a trace killed by anything.
How did we stack up these unreachable lives
of changing adult dispers? singing in subways?
work, play, grief, our double names
hardly ever present? How can it feel like
my gaze is so heavy I have to lift it with both hands
to turn it on you? Can love really include
this much distance and waste? Of course, but
I'm sorry it does. I'm sorry. I'm in need.
Something in you finds me, a straight dart
through my dark mist, always. Something
in me wants to find you just as surely.
But I'm the older one. The sides of my paths are higher.
Show me how. Come, let's do this again.

--Bob Reeves

(printed with permissio of the authors, copyright remains with them)

Wednesday Night Workshop -- Chinese Paper Dragons

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 5-7pm

Get ready for this year’s Chinese New Year!

Join Ann Dunbar who will lead this structured workshop to create your very own Chinese Paper Dragon!

It will be a concentrated two hours of cutting, folding and gluing resulting in a delightful paper dragon that you will cherish.

Children under eight may need adult help to finish on time. All ages welcome!

$5 donation requested per dragon

OFFBags at Form & Function - 516 Arts

The OFFCenter artists and designers, who created and continue to make OFFBags, are being recognized for their work for exploring sustainability, reuse, decoration and innovation in designs and production of these one-of-a-kind, unique creations at 516 Arts' Form & Function exhibit.

OFFCenter will be at 516 Arts with about a dozen other artists and designers showing work in this vein. There will be a selection of OFFBags (made from recycled materials, lovingly gathered by OFFCenter artists) available for purchase at FORM & FUNCTION. Also at the exhibit, the new satchel models will be unveiled and available for purchase. Proceeds from sales will mostly benefit OFFCenter with a small amount to benefit 516 Arts, a non-profit whose vision "is to be an active partner in developing Albuquerque's cultural landscape...and offers programs that inspire curiosity, dialogue, risk-taking and creative experimentation, showcasing a mix of established, emerging, local, national and international artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds." We're proud that 516 Arts has chosen OFFCenter as one of their many collaborative partners toward achieving these goals.

FORM & FUNCTION
Exhibit at 516 Arts, 516 Central, SW
Public Opening Reception: Saturday, February 6, 6-8pm 516 Arts Member Preview: 5-6, Music by Soul Calypso
Artists: AREAWARE, Eliana Arenas, Angelo Arnold, ART GENS, Roger Atkins, Julia Barello, Sonya Cramer, Roberto Gallegos, Welmoed Laanstra, Cal Lane, Maria Michails, OFFCenter, Beth Rekow, Joan Weissman

A Heart Day's Night -- Valentine Art Sale

MAKE ART ~ BUY ART ~ MEET NEW FRIENDS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday, February 7
10am -- 2pm

Come visit OFFCenter's
Annual Valentine's Day Gift Sale
featuing a dozen of OFFCenter's studio artists.

Stop by and pick out some special artwork for that special someone!