Artist's Choice Award

A kudos I forgot to mention last year - I was lucky enough to get the Artist's Choice Award at the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair in June last year. Winning awards is always fun - nice to get validation for your work from the powers-that-be, but Artist's Choice awards are especially meaningful. That's validation from my fellow artists!

The entry date for the 2008 NMACF is fast approaching (Jan 26): most people don't realize that the fair is juried so far in advance. Some fairs are juried 9 - 11 months ahead of the actual event! When I was doing 20+ fairs a year, the jury fees alone were a serious outlay of cash ... let alone the booth fees, usually several hundred dollars each, paid well in advance of the fairs. When you add travel expenses, motel, meals, etc., you can probably see why I don't travel as far & wide as I used to!

Another honor: I also discovered that they used a photo of one of my pieces on the fair's homepage .... check it out!

DESIGN, PHOTO AND TEXT © DAVID LLOYD STEWART - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

American Style Magazine cover

Last year, I received a nice kudo I forgot to mention: One of my pieces was featured on the cover of the February 2007 issue of American Style Magazine! The cover story was about the art collection of the late great actor, artist & collector Anthony Quinn, and how Katherine Quinn, his wife, intends to share that collection with the world. I made several pieces for the Quinns before Anthony passed away, and they chose this one for the cover of the magazine - very flattering. click image to enlarge
While I wasn't mentioned in the article itself, (not surprising - it was mostly about Rodins and Picassos!) , I was mentioned inside, on page 6 about the cover:

The piece featured on the cover was commissioned by Katherine, after Anthony admired a similar piece in my booth when he was our very first featured celebrity artist at Weems Artfest. This was in November, and I finished it just before Christmas, and shipped it to them in Hawaii, where they were staying with dear friends for the Holiday season. Katherine later told me that he liked the piece so well, that he insisted on taking it with them when they traveled, so he could set it up wherever they were staying and view it there! He was such a monumental talent, that I was very flattered by his validation. I wish we had had more time to develop a friendship.

One of the other pieces I made for his birthday at Katherine's direction was the Spirit Egg featured here on this blog. It was his central piece in the cabinet where he displayed his egg collection.

My First Published Poem!

As many of you know, my forte is in the field of visual arts, not performance or written words. Despite that, I have had a growing interest in those other fields, and was honored when one of my poems, "Lucky Boy" was included in a collection of poems by global poets MUCH better than me titled Spirit of Humanity - poetic visions of a better world, published by Artists for a Better World International. Clicking on the book cover to the right will take you to the Cafépress page where you can order a copy if you like:

Okay, So.... here's the poem (short & sweet!)
Lucky Boy

This is my favorite lifetime
of all that came before
Of all the times I've donned this flesh,
I have not loved it more.

No, I am not handsome,
Nor tall or debonaire,
Nor rich beyond my wildest dreams
with thick and rugged hair!

No, I was given other gifts
- I'm such a lucky boy -
For I can wield an artist's tools
and bring to others joy.

©David Lloyd Stewart
TEXT © DAVID LLOYD STEWART - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Weddings 505 TV Show Guest Appearance

WOW, so much news to catch up on! Look for more posts in the very near future. Let's start with this:

My good friend, Marcy Sargeant, is the host of a new TV show to make its debut in February 2008 called Weddings 505 ..." A Bride's TV & Internet Connection to the 505 Area"! It's a show about all the accoutrements and accessories of weddings here in New Mexico - the gowns, the cakes, and of course, the JEWELRY! I show a few of the wedding ring designs I've done in the past, and answer a few questions about wedding ring design.

Please click the image above, or this link HERE, to be taken to the website for the show, where you can watch the first episode online! When you've watched it, and looked around the site, click the "back" button on your browser to come back here, where I'll have new posts to detail each of the wedding rings shown on the show. ENJOY!
DESIGNS AND TEXT © DAVID LLOYD STEWART - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED