Art shows with a capital A

It's summer and to a couple of self-employed artists that means art shows with a capital "A". This is serious stuff. It was the great debate in my head and my heart but I decided that I won't be doing art shows this year. My Etsy shop has me busy full time and it has Gavin busy about 25-30 hours a week. I just couldn't see having the time in our summer for both of us to put together separate bodies of work for multiple shows this season. Gavin shows 3-4 times while I had 8-10 shows during the summer. So gracefully I backed out from the scene this year. I really feel it's important to support Gavin and his work to the same degree he supports Olivia and I throughout all our creative ventures as well.

For those that follow the goings around here, Gavin is one badass designer-blacksmith and I'm just so proud. We even met at an art show back in 2010. Meant to be? YES!! Anyway, his work is almost exclusively hand forged wrought iron. As a product of the Rust Belt and of greater Cleveland, few creative media could be more appropriate than iron. Having earned a degree in Studio Arts and Business Administration from Baldwin-Wallace in 2004 and completed world-renown certificate programs at the Lincoln Electric CHQ Weld School, his formal education in both Fine Art & Design and metalworking is also quintessentially Cleveland.

The products made in his studio and shop, The Designer Wrought Iron Company, are almost exclusively custom, privately commissioned wrought ironworks and range in scope from railing systems to drawer pulls and candlesticks. 

Funny, I didn't realize that you can't see his face in either of these install images!! 

His work has been featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sun Times, and on the PBS television series “Applause”. 

In case this video isn't working (blogger is playing tricks on me!) here's the link:
http://designerwroughtiron.com/movie/Gavin.swf

Gavin's next art show will be the Cain Park Arts Festival, July 13-15th in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. You can follow them here on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CainParkArtsFestival

We are feverishly preparing for that as it's his most prominent show of the year with 150+ artists from all over the nation travelling to exhibit their work. And with Near & Dear Designs on the rise, as you can imagine, this keeps us quite busy!!