Kool Kat of the Week!

ATLRetro.com named me the Kool Kat of the Week.  I'm honored. Check out the write up and interview by clicking the image below.

Time to pledge!

I cannot thank you enough for all of your encouraging words, supportive emails and generous pledges.

It's the home stretch.  The Kickstarter campaign ends in just 7 days, so if you have not yet pledged, please help me reach my goal to bring art to the people.  

It's about art and artists and love and you.

Click here to contribute!

Kickstarter Campaign Featured in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Hello most amazing and supportive backers and art enthusiasts! With your support, we are over $9,000 on the way to our goal of $15,000. In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have imagined getting such a positive and encouraging response to my crazy idea. But I have, and it makes me feel like things are right in the world.

I have two exciting things to report.  First!  The Atlanta Journal Constitution has written a feature article on the Crusade. Check it out – it’s a great read!

Second!  Heidi Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Schwartz Gallery artist and creative wonder, has given five of her mahjong tiles to the first five backers at the $75 level. Get on this! They are gorgeous, and each one is a little treasure.

Thank you so much again for your support. The Crusade is on!

The Crusade Continues. . .100 Backers!

Thank you, 100 totally awesome, enlightened, inspired backers.  You know what's up.  As for the rest of you. . . well, there's still time.

35 days to be exact.

As a special "35 days left, 100 backers strong" tribute, we are offering a new backer reward.  Lori Vrba, photographer extraordinaire and co-pilot on the first leg of the tour, has donated five 8x8 signed silver gelatin prints of her image "Rebecca's Palm" to the cause.  If you are one of the first five people to pledge $200, you will receive this stunning photograph.  Get on it people.

And just so you know, if you have already pledged, you are not out in the cold on this one.  Let's say you pledged $10 (thank you! send me a sticker!) and are thinking, "If only I hadn't already pledged! I'd love that Lori Vrba photograph!", you are in luck!  You can increase your pledge amount at any time.  (Phew! Big sigh of relief.)

"Rebecca's Palm" by Lori Vrba

Seriously - this has been an incredible journey so far.  The outpouring of encouragement and support has been truly heart-warming.  

I feel so passionately about this.  Connecting to art has been one of the most gratifiying experiences of my life.  I don't have a formal art education, and to be honest, the term "collector" feels a little strange to me too.  But I buy art.  Right now I am sitting in my living room, and I see beautiful things.  Photographs and paintings that make me feel something.  Some are by artists who have made a name for themselves, and some are by artists whose name I can't even remember, but they are all amazing to me.

I want this for everyone - everyone who pays attention to and cares about the things, large and small, that make up their world.  

Be original.  Buy original.  Heart art.

The Making of a Crusade

Well folks, planning a crusade can be pretty messy.  When we decided to do a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the van (crusade-mobile) and get some buzz going about the trip, it was obvious that we had to go big.  It is a crusade after all.  No simple video would do.

Luckily Sara Keith, assistant extraordinaire, just graduated from SCAD with a degree in photography and video. And our intern Beau has boundless enthusiasm for all things. . . well, all things.  Production team - check.  Our gallery manager, Meghan, is the backbone and organizational mind behind everything we do, so between the four of us, we hammered out a pretty clever idea.  Now all we needed was 60+ scenes and accompanying outfits, an extremely complicated projection/lighting set-up using the most barebones equipment, and wine.  Lots of wine.

I was also fortunate to have a team at home who was more than happy to help me with costume procurement. It's amazing what a 5 and 7 year old can dig out of their rooms to correspond with an around-the-world journey in photos.


Four suitcases of clothing, six bags of props, a 12 foot sheer screen, and a make-shift lighting situation later, we were ready.  Well, sort of.  Can you ever really be ready to hold a cardboard cut-out of a van in front of 60 projected images with an outfit change between each?  And the hats.  Oh, the hats.

Sara sets upluckily my son is in a gladiator phaseand to think I never thought I'd find a use for this hat. . .kimonos are complicated, but I literally got trapped in the sari

sometimes there just isn't enough wine