Wow. Twenty Years in the Making.

Anne Elser
Artist Statement
March, 2010

I see our universe as a living, breathing organism, rich with color, passion, grace and infinite goodness. All things being interconnected, our worlds reflect everything about us. I paint in fullness, in love, employ metaphor, and am guided through the deconstruction of our subconscious prejudices. The work is a snapshot of this process. It is a reflection of the connections shared by all.

Biz card box

A new box for business cards. The pattern on the yellow paper I did in acrylic before gluing it to the box. Fun fun fun! The bottom has an extra wide foot to give it some air while resting on the surface of the table.

So Much

The answer to You Are Loved.

New Business Cards

I finally printed ACTUAL business cards instead of hand making each one. Good thing because I'm too busy to spin my wheels. I love saying that. :)

Grace Signage

Hallo Friends,

Today I spent the day at the gallery painting the glass windows, interior walls and hanging the grace foam letters for GRACE. A really fun day being part of the live window display as it was being created. Every few strokes, Yu-Kai would fling across Peachtree to take a look at the window display from afar, then shout back his comments for me to absorb. We had lunch, we chatted, we painted, we had fun. And POOF, the day was done and we'll meet again on Tuesday night for the VIP Preview. So excited.

After a day of up and down ladders, my right thigh is pretty sore - but my heart is thumping a glorious march as I absorb all that is happening in my life.

Yay life, indeed.

Up

The answer to “Open Me All The Way.”

Right Now

The cover to the book “Come Alive.”

I Am Safe

This is the answer to the book cover “Thoughts Are Things.” We are always up for the task when we know we are safe.

Yay Life!

The front of one of the boxes soon to be on display at the Kai Lin Art Gallery. I love this phrase. The girly confidence - its solidity.

GRACE Window Display

Working on the window display for Grace. And having a blast. I managed to keep all digits attached to my hands – this is simply black quarter-inch foam core cut with a #11 xacto blade. It’s really liberating thinking and working this big.

Boxes for Books

Just completed the boxes for the books shown in GRACE at the Kai Lin Art gallery. Such fun to do. Acrylic on board covered with washi paper. Each box has a signature on the inside of the back base. Color! What a dance.

Thrust

This is Thrust. She's in the Kai Lin Art show called GRACE along with her other 7 siblings. Thrust is a portrait of a lamp Doug found at a garage sale years ago. It's been in our foyer ever since. A great vintage find, this lamp has been bumped, tipped over and broken a few times. I keep gluing it back together and it's still standing.

Its resiliency resembles my own past and its thrust of me into the healing present. No matter how dark your past might be, there is always its gift to help move you forward. Nothing in our lives is wasted. The "good or bad" is offering us a way through and over something.

I'm just now on the other side of my first major thrust into the present. Proof of this is in this painting. I wouldn't have had the energy to spend on it had I still been pondering yesterday.

This painting has already been pre-purchased with "Listener" and chosen as a pair because they make such a good one.

Speaker

This is one of my new series on Enlightenment called Speaker. This uniquely feminine organ is a part of me I used to give a bad rap and politely disregarded. Well, no more. When I was very little, my first wish was to be a movie star - and a voluptuous one at that. I loved the lingerie, the makeup, the high heeled shoes. And somewhere along the line (in several places), I learned to become ashamed of my femininity.
Going to art school really sealed the lid shut. It just wasn't cool to paint anything feminine, especially if you were a female. And I bought that line and stayed that way for a very long time. It wasn't until a year ago that I had the courage to open the lid on that coffin and begin to let the female within me really glow.

Every male professor I had said the most outrageous things to me about my "decorative subject matter."
"Every young female painter is attracted to Egon Schiele's and Gustav Klimt's work. It's typical. Move beyond your cliché impulses."

"Your paintings look like pot holders."

"You can't see beyond your own navel."

Only one female visiting instructor was wise enough to look at my paintings as a whole, then went to each one and said, "This is you. This one's not you. This one's you., etc."

And there was only one male professor who looked at me and told me I was going to be a great mother someday. I think he meant it as a compliment and I took it that way.

But it was the most off-based comments given to me by my male instructors that I decided to shape myself towards.

For the next 20 years, painting was painful, brought back bad memories and enraged me. It was safer for me not to paint, because then I didn't have to hear those awful voices in my head. This was my choice.

She speaks now. She's aware of her gifts and abilities and nurtures them in gentle love. She's all girl. She's a superstar. This speaker's voice fertilizes herself over and over and over again.

Fernbank

Doug, Anton and I went to a really sweet birthday party at Fernbank last weekend. Took ourselves our first photo booth pictures. SUCH fun. I want to do one every year before he goes off to college. I’m promising that right now. REMIND ME if I forget!

Heather Ross

I have been bitten by the pattern bug and am inspired by Heather Ross. Take a look at her work and tell me you're not engaged. Organizational beauty hits me like nothing else. The best patterns do that and they are not thoughtless. They are loaded with interpretive intensity. So, so beautiful.

Safe (Completed)

Here is SAFE, ready for sale at GRACE in the Kai Lin Art Gallery. She is finished, she is strong, she is FOR SALE and is becoming realized in more ways than one.

GRACE

When you come to the opening, prepare to hear Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and The Andrews Sisters booming into your chest and to share in the vision of three female artists: Mary Farmer, Sun Hong, and myself.

So very excited!

Start Time:	Friday, March 19, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time:	Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 10:00pm
Location:	Kai Lin Art
Street:	800 Peachtree Street NE Suite A
City/Town:	Atlanta, GA

KAI LIN ART proudly invites you to attend our eighth exhibition ”GRACE”, featuring the lush, ethereal work of three female painters Mary Farmer, Sun Hong, and Anne-Davnes Elser.

The show opens Friday, March 19th, 2010 and runs through May 1st, 2010.

GRACE: lush, ethereal, color

LOCATION: Kai Lin Art
800 Peachtree Street, NE Suite A. Atlanta, GA 30308

FOR MORE INFO: INFO@KAILINART.COM

PRESS CONTACT: 404 408 4248

Daily Candy

I've been Daily Candied!

LEARN
Italic Calligraphy
What: Local scrawler Anne Elser teaches a six-session workshop.
Why: You’ve got the write stuff.
When: Thru Apr. 1. Wed., 6-8:30 p.m.
Where: Binders Art Supplies and Frames, 3330 Piedmont Rd. NE, ste. 18, Buckhead (404-237-6331).

Updated Bookmaking Supply Lists & Links

NEW SUPPLY LISTS FOR 2013

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PRICES I'VE LISTED ARE TO BE USED AS A GENERAL BUDGETING TOOL AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE PRICE YOU WILL FIND ON THE SHELVES. People ask all the time what they should be prepared to spend on basic supplies. It varies everywhere and I don't keep close tabs on who charges what.Click on the pictures to download and view larger.



PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PRICES I'VE LISTED ARE TO BE USED AS A GENERAL BUDGETING TOOL AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE PRICE YOU WILL FIND ON THE SHELVES. People ask all the time what they should be prepared to spend on basic supplies. It varies everywhere and I don't keep close tabs on who charges what.

Anne Elser Essential Bookmaking Supply List
Shop with Anne the beginning of class. E-mail her for questions: Anne@AnneElser.com.

1. Lineco® medium-duty awl $12.79
2. Lineco® pack of bookbinding needles $5.99
3. Lineco® bone folder $5.59
4. 2-ply chipboard $4.00
(30 x 40 sheet, cut into quarters)
5. Washi Paper, 2 coordinating sheets $10.00
This is decorative handmade paper that comes in many
different patterns, textures and weights. Pick two sheets
you like together that are not tissue paper thin.
6. Mechanical Pencil $3.19
7. Exacto Knife & blades $3.63
I prefer the Fiskars brand if you want to upgrade.
8. Self-healing cutting mat $9.39
At least 12 x 18.
9. Stiff & springy glue brush $1.09
This price refelcts an inexpensive version of a chid’s
craft brush. Lineco makes a larger glue brushes if
you’d like to upgrade.
10. Non-slip metal ruler $3.89
This price reflects a cork-backed ruler. I find the foam
backed rulers sturdier, if you’d like to upgrade.
11. 8oz container of Acrylic Gel Medium $9.39
Coatings like gloss or matt do not matter because
we’ll brush this on and use as an adhesive to cover our
chipboard with paper.
12. Blank letter sheets of paper (20-25) $5.00
I like to use paper that feels good in my hands.
Sometimes I alternate blank pages with lined and
graphed paper. If you can’t find a ream of separate
sheets you like, then buy a pad of paper you like
and either cut or tear them out.
ESTIMATED TOTAL $73.95

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE PRICES I'VE LISTED ARE TO BE USED AS A GENERAL BUDGETING TOOL AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE PRICE YOU WILL FIND ON THE SHELVES. People ask all the time what they should be prepared to spend on basic supplies. It varies everywhere and I don't keep close tabs on who charges what.Bring from Home
1. Scissors
2. Roll of Wax Paper
3. A phonebook to help pierce holes in paper.

Anne Elser: Bookbinding Classes & Workshops

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The Art Gardener

Please take a minute to check out my friend's new beelog: The Art Gardener. Ashlee and I first met (98/99?) when we worked together at The Partnership. We were young, thirsty and dedicated young women just delving into the beginning of our careers. Now we're both experiencing a professional rebirth (personal and spiritual, too) and love sharing the process with each other and you kind readers.