Art Box Round Robin 2011 - Part 2

Last week, I shared a little background regarding the Art Box Round Robin 2011 and how it came to be.  If you missed that post, you can catch up here.

This week, I'm featuring another box from the exchange.  This one, a Goddess Box, created by Liz Forbes.  Here's what Liz had to say about her creation:

It was important to have a round container as a vessel for the goddesses.  Every culture in the world has goddess images, myths, beliefs, dogma - on and on.  The sacred feminine is often overlooked in our vision of God, so I try to bring a balance.  My personal belief is that God does not have a specific gender - there is a balance between masculine and feminine.  The worlds' cultures have veered towards all masculine and all feminine at one time or another.  My wish is we all find a balance within ourselves to reach for that perfect harmony with God.  

I also thought it would make for creative, intellectual and fun artwork and discussions among my friends! Enjoy!

Let's take a look inside:

Liz Forbes glorious goddess box.

Liz Forbes (front cover)

Liz Forbes (back cover)

Nancy Ellis-Hines (front cover)

Nancy Ellis-Hines (back cover)

Nancy Kreischer (front cover - closed)

Nancy Kreischer (front cover - open)

Nancy Kreischer (back cover)

Nancy Yoshimoto (front cover)

Nancy Yoshimoto (back cover)

Arley Berryhill (front cover)

Arley Berryhill (back cover)

Cheryl Valadez (front cover)

Cheryl Valadez (back cover)

Kit Stein (front cover)

Kit Stein (back cover)

Art Box Round Robin 2011

As we eagerly anticipate the grand reopening of our favorite gathering place for both shopping and camaraderie, I thought I would share the artistic journey of a group of crafty friends who decided to trade some art.

Early last year, Arley Berryhill organized an Art Box Round Robin and invited some folks to participate.  The players in this production were Kit Stein, Liz Forbes, Nancy Ellis-Hines, Nancy Kreischer, Nancy Yoshimoto, Arley Berryhill, and little ol' me, Cheryl Valadez.  The idea was to select a theme and craft a box and/or decorate a box out of whatever materials were appropriate to effectively see your vision come to life.  Once the boxes were complete, each person passed off their box to the next person on the list and created a page interpreting that person's theme.  The boxes were traded once a month with the idea that at the end of this process, every box would proudly house a piece of original artwork from each member of the group.  The results were staggeringly beautiful, amazingly clever, and above all else, incredibly original.

Over the course of the next 7-weeks, I'll share detailed photos of each box.  Let's start with the box created by our Organizer Extraordinaire, Arley Berryhill.  Here's what Arley had to say about his theme:

For my Art Box, I chose the theme "Pandora's Box".  It represents the box Pandora was given (from the Greek God Zeus), which held horrible evils.  As the myth goes, Pandora's natural curiosity got the better of her and accidentally released all the evils in the world.  So, I asked the artists to create a piece of art that represents "evil" to go in the box.  

Let's take a look inside:

Arley's incredible Art Box.

Another view.

A peek inside.

An inspirational back story to get us started.

Arley Berryhill (front cover)

Arley Berryhill (back cover)

Cheryl Valadez (front cover)

Cheryl Valadez (back cover)

Kit Stein (front cover)

Kit Stein (back cover)

Liz Forbes (front cover)

Liz Forbes (back cover) 

Nancy Ellis-Hines (front cover)

Nancy Ellis-Hines (back cover)

Nancy Kreischer (front cover)

Nancy Kreischer (back cover)

Nancy Yoshimoto (front cover)

Nancy Yoshimoto (back cover)

An Update and a Few Pictures

Hello, everybody!  I hope your holidays were joyful and that 2012 is off to a great start.  I'm popping in with a quick post today to give you an update regarding the shop and to share a few photos.  China Pheonix 2 is well on her way out of the ashes at this point and Nancy says if everything goes according to plan, we may see a grand reopening in early February.  This is exciting news!

A few days ago, Nancy graciously allowed me to take a peek and snap some progress pictures to share with all of her friends on the blog.  CP2 is looking very different than she did back in mid-November.  The soot is gone. The heavy smoke-laden odor is gone.  All of the fire and water damaged debris is gone.  In its place...newly constructed stairs leading to the storage area on the second floor, a brand new ceiling, and a lovely fresh coat of paint that our group decided should be called Dusty Salmon Misty Rose Adobe.

Here's a few photos to whet your whistle:

Newly constructed stairs.  They're up to code, too.

Nice, bright, and clean.  It looks so different from the photos I took directly after the fire had occurred.

A new ceiling.  The ceiling tiles will finish this off nicely.

The classroom with it's beautiful fresh coat of paint.  Flooring will go down in a few days.

The front of the shop.

I tried to get a better shot of the paint color, but wasn't having any luck in the low light.

You'll notice the cash wrap is going to be set up on the opposite side from it's original orientation.

Bright smiling faces eagerly anticipating the relaunch of our home away from home.  I suppose I could have chosen a better backdrop, but everyone looks fabulous none-the-less!