~ Mark Your Calendar ~ The 6th annual Festival is June 27 & 28 ~

Each week between now and the Festival, we'll introduce you to one of the 150 artists from 17 states who will be coming to Midway in June. If you enjoy the newsletter consider using the 'Forward Email' link to share with friends and help us grow!

Meet Carole Gordon ~ Watercolorist .... and more ~

Gordon developed an interest in art at a young age, when her mother took up oil painting as a hobby. Her mother let her experiment with her brushes and paint, but being young Carole didn't have much patience for letting the paint dry. 

In high school, she had an art teacher that worked in watercolors and she began briefly working in the medium.

Majoring in art in college, Gordon took drawing and design classes but did not have any watercolor classes available to her. After working in different media, she always found herself going back to the challenge of working with watercolors.

            Gordon also grew up with a love for horses, as one look at her paintings makes obvious. She bought her first horse at the age of 27, but circumstances forced her to sell him a few years later. She vowed that one day again she would own another horse.

          

Two years ago, she decided to combine her love for horses with her love for the creative process.  Gordon began focusing exclusively on equestrian art.Painting horses and admiring their beauty refueled her desire to own a horse of her own.

After 15 years of not having a horse in her life, Gordon purchased a 2-year-old, American Paint gelding. His name is "Patience".

Gordon now spends as much time as possible with her two passions in life.....Art and Horses.  

           

  

Believe it or not, Gordon is an Emerging Artist at the 2009 Festival. This is a very limited category representing no more than 5% of the show. An emerging artist is not yet juried into professional regional associations but must have a solid body of work, completed in the last 2 years. An emerging artist applicant, while having a developed and cohesive body of work (not a beginner), should not currently be earning a living as a professional artist. This should be viewed as an opportunity to "jump start" a professional art career, and a number of our past years' Emerging Artists have done just that.

I consider it unusual for an Emerging Artist to take us up on our offer to bring 'New Work', but Carole Gordon is the second one to do so this year. Our 'New Work' offer goes like this - We recognize that artists are engaged in continuous growth and evolution. We restrict applications to work in only one media. However, we are aware that artists may have new work, work in a different media, or may be experimenting with new media. We encourage them to bring their more experimental artwork to Francisco's Farm, and our visitors have been delighted to discover even broader ranges of our exhibitors' work.

Gordon has wanted to branch out into three-dimensional treatments of her beloved horses. She has recently started working with wire to sculpt moderate-sized horses that reflect the same spirit as her paintings. This silver horse is approximately 9" wide by 11" tall.

She has created only a few of her wire sculptures - horses in silver, copper, and gold.

Gordon has received positive comments on the wire horses, yet she still considers the work to be in an experimental stage as she works to find the most appropriate gauge of wire to suit the size of each sculpture.

Come visit Carole Gordon at the Festival and let her know what you think of her new work! You'll find her in Booth #148.

Thanks for your support! Talk to you next week!

 
Marcie Christensen
Event Coordinator / Imagineer


PS - Help This Art Festival Survive

 

As I'm sure you can imagine, fundraising is a serious challenge this year. In challenging economic times, non-profits take advantage of the potential to raise pennies from every decent source and the pennies add up! You absolutely would not believe how much you can help us survive just by using a Kroger Gift Card.

Many non-profit organizations and schools earn money through this program, and we've joined them!

Order your Gift Card from us today. Mail a check for $5 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Francisco's Farm at the address below, and I'll send your card (preloaded with $5) and complete instructions. Each time you recharge (add money to) the card, Kroger will donate cash to the Festival.

When you order a Gift Card we'll put your name in the FarmBucks Drawing. One lucky winner, drawn at the beginning of June, will receive $100 in FarmBucks to spend on art at the Festival. AND every time your recharges total $500, we'll put your name in the drawing again!

Magnify your efforts by encouraging friends and family to order Gift Cards, too! There is no limit to the number of cards we can distribute or the amount of money we can earn.

Questions about how the Gift Cards work?
Click here for the All The Answers!