Upcoming Events

Dear Visitors,

It has been a while. Too much to do with my regular art work, art shows, staffing the galleries and organizing my trip (paper cutouts exhibition) in China. Below I am listing the art shows (for June and July) where you can visit my booth and view my artwork:

June 21st - Art in the Park (La Entrada Park, next to the Corrales Library, hours 10 to 4, Corrales, New Mexico, showing paper art and photography).

June 26 - 28 - New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair (New Mexico State Fairgrounds, in Manual Lujan Bld., Albuquerque, New Mexico; hours: Friday 10-9, Saturday 10-8, Sunday 10-5, showing paper art and photography, together with my husband- artist Celestyn Brożek).


July 4 - 5 – Santa Fe Wine Festival at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, (New Mexico, hours: Saturday 12-6, Sunday 12-6, showing paper art.

July 18 – 19 – Summerfest Arts Festival (Evergreen, Colorado, hours: Saturday and Sunday 10-5, more information: www.evergreenarts.org). Showing paper art.

I hope to see some of you soon.

ELŻBIETA AND CELESTYN

GOOD LUCK ROOSTER

In many countries the rooster is a symbol of good luck, prosperity, strength and fertility. It is believed to chase bad spirits away, crowing when most people are still sleeping. Many stories and legends support these beliefs, but my favorite one comes from Spain.
In the 14th century, a man, his wife and their son were making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. They stopped for the night at an inn in Santo Domingo, where the innkeeper’s daughter took a fancy to the young man, who virtuously resisted her advances. Hurt, she plotted revenge. She hid a silver goblet in boy’s baggage and in the morning denounced him as a thief. The boy was arrested and hanged.




As his parents were preparing to depart they heard their son’s voice telling them that he was still alive, as Saint Dominic was holding him up by the feet. They ran to the house of the judge, who was just sitting down to dine on a pair of roast chickens, a cock and a hen, and told him the extraordinary news. The judge retorted that the boy was no more alive then the cock and hen on his plate. At that, the birds jumped out of the plate, grew feathers again and began to cackle and crow, thus demonstrating the hanged boy’s innocence.
To commemorate this miracle a carved niche with a Renaissance grille, known as the chicken coop was build in the cathedral in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. It contains a pair of live white chickens, a cockerel and a hen. Naturally, if a pilgrim hears the cock crow it means good luck!














How not to love a rooster? With his beautiful tail and a red comb it is fierce and bold, takes care of his flock, watching for predators and giving laud warnings, often offering found, tasty food to hens or little chicks.
All images of roosters shown in this post were created with the scissors by the artist Elżbieta Kaleta in the medium of paper cutout. Multilayered designs are mounted on a museum board. All shown originals or their reproductions are available. If interested in purchasing call, or email me, please, for more details and prices.

I hope to see some of you during RIO GRANDE ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Location: EXPO NM FAIRGROUNDS
Time: March 13, 14, 15, 2009; open 10 am – 5 pm Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
Booth #: A10 (showing paper cutouts and photography).


ELŻBIETA

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear Friends,

Welcome back in 2009 and big thanks for your support and encouragement in 2008.
January is a month to organize and gather strength for the whole year of art shows and exhibitions.

Here are two art shows coming up very soon:

1. TUBAC, AZ – February 4-8, 2009; daily 10 am to 5 pm. showing paper cutouts and collage.
Tubac is located south of Tucson, off I-19, exit 34 (signs will be posted).

2. FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ – February 20-22, 2009; 10 am to 5 pm Fri. & Sat, 8 am to 5 pm Sun. Showing photography. Location: Avenue of the Fountains at Verde River Dr.

Please, look at these examples of my work (scissor paper cutouts) with a Valentine’s Day theme:

“I Love You” – 11”x11”
“Sheltered Love” – 19”x19”
“Love Garden” – 19”x19”









Happy Valentine Day!

ORNAMENTS FROM MOTHER GOOSE (For everybody, especially farmers)

Dear Friends,
Does your Christmas tree already adorn your home? If you like unusual ornaments I have them for you: goose eggs decorated with scissor paper cutouts! I make them following a beautiful tradition from my native country Poland. This is only one of many ways of decorating eggs in Poland but for an artist working with paper, like me, (paper cutouts/collage) it is an obvious choice.


When you hold one of these in your hand think how much work is involved in creating each ornament. First you have to find a nice farmer who will save them for you. Then you drive to the farm, buy and bring them home. Next they must be washed (they are stained with dirt, grass, mud, and I won’t tell what else). After drilling two holes, a thin stick is inserted to puncture membranes and mix the whites and yolk.

Everything is then blown out with a plastic straw (you can save it for baking, my dog loves it scrambled). To do it you have to have the lungs of a hippo.
Having suffered of severe asthma for years, one day, in desperation, I tried to employ my old nebulizer (a pump for asthma medication) to that effect.
EUREKA! Please, don’t be envious - enjoy your healthy lungs!

After blowing out the insides it is necessary to wash the eggs again. After drying they must be sterilized in high temperature in the oven (the shells cannot crack or get discolored). In the meantime I cut hundreds of tiny decorations, free hand, using scissors and art paper (acid free and colorfast).Then I glue them over the eggs’ surface. This is the step everybody simply dreads.

Finally I insert ribbons, so the eggs can be used as hanging ornaments. I don’t like to coat them with sealers because they lose (in my opinion) that great, natural look.

The egg, with its perfect shape, makes such a beautiful symbol: the promise and the gift of new life, new beginning, the most precious gift we have. I like to put on them tiny tree of life designs and often roosters –symbols of good luck, prosperity, strength, and fertility.

What a wonderful ornament for Christmas, Easter, for somebody blessed with a child or just recovered from illness.




Speaking of people who raise or care for animals, especially those who love them, I created, some time ago two images: “Blessing for the Forest” and “Blessing for the Farm”.


The original cutouts are sold, but I used them to print an edition of silk-screens on archival, marble paper (each one printed individually, by hand and signed).The whole image has a sepia/burgundy tone.

“Blessing for the Forest” is sold out – I have only one left, framed under glass (sorry for the reflections in the included photo). “Blessing for the Farm” is still available (framed or unframed). In both images, in the tree, you see Kokopelli (the Native American entity, believed to bring good crops and fertility among other powers).

I am closing this post showing another paper cutout from the group called generally “Stars”. This one’s title is “House Blessing”.

It was a pleasure to see many of you during my shows. Thank you very much for buying my art. My last show this year will be in Tucson, Arizona (details –my previous post).
If you have any questions, email me, please.
Wishing you all the best,

ELŻBIETA

Paper cutouts (wycinanki) –“The Forest” theme.

1.Ravens Party 2.Confetti Flowers

Dear Friends,
Shown are my favorite, one piece compositions, cut out, mostly free hand, with the scissors (acid free, colorfast art paper).Each one is a result of a variety of foldings and cutting. Whimsical and humorous, they make everybody smile and think “green” about the forest. In most cases I mount them on a museum board, over hand made art paper with some subtle organic parts embedded in it (leaves, twigs…).
Framing is archival (double mat), size, framed: 24x30. Two more images are in progress. For more information, contact me, please

Also available (below) is a new edition of “THE FOREST” 5x7 greeting cards (set of 4 - $15). Each one is printed by myself on white, high quality, heavy weight paper with archival black ink, and signed. Greeting cards are packed, together with envelopes, in a crystal clear bag, which flips open to show all images. These cards are great for framing!
Bigger prints of these images are also available.

For my current art shows schedule check, please my previous post.

With best wishes to all of you,

ELŻBIETA

Scissor paper cutouts – traditional Polish folk art designs with the rooster

It was a pleasure to meet some of you in person during my recent art shows. Thank you so much for your interest and purchasing my art.
Recently I got a number of messages inquiring about my traditional Polish folk art designs with the rooster. Responding, I am posting today several original cutouts I have currently for sale. All were cut out free hand with the scissors. I use high quality, acid free and colorfast paper. The art work is mounted on a museum board and framing is done with archival matting. Copyrigth: 2006-2008 Elżbieta Kaleta. High quality reproductions of posted images are also available.
If you have questions or are interested in purchasing my art, e-mail me, please.

Wishing you all the best,

ELŻBIETA













1. Title: ”Good Luck”
Size: 10x12
Framing: black frame, off-white mat
Price: $85

2. Title: “Proud and Beautiful”
Size: 13x15
Framing: black frame, off-white mat
Price: $135














3. Title: "Love and Luck”
Size: 17x17
Framing: black frame, off-white mat
Price: $185

4. Title: “Outing with Daddy”
Size: 14x18
Framing: black frame, off-white mat
Price: $265


5.Title: “Strength”
Size: 18x22
Framing: black frame, off-white mat
Price: $285










Shipping charges: add 20%.

ART SHOWS:

November 22-23, 08 -Annual Placitas Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Sale. PLACITAS, New Mexico. Big tent East of Presbyterian Church, 636 Highway 165.
(Showing paper cutouts, collage, mixed media).

November 28-30, 08 -Rio Grande Arts and Crafts Festival. Albuquerque, New Mexico,EXPO, NM Fairgrounds, booth # H 16.
(Showing paper cutouts, collage, mixed media and photography).

December 12-14, 08 - 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair. Tucson, Arizona. 4th Avenue, booth # 722.
(Showing paper cutouts, collage, mixed media).

A visit to the Underground World of Wonders

Thanks to Lois Manno, Santa Fe artist and writer I became aware of the exhibit: “Visions Underground: Carlsbad Caverns trough the Artist’s Eye”. On the opening day, October 25, 2008, Carlsbad Caverns National Park was also celebrating its 85th birthday.
I arrived early, saw the beautiful exhibit with delight but didn’t meet anybody I knew. Somehow I missed the actual celebrations and speeches, although I noticed an enormous “model” on a long table guarded by smiling ladies, which (as I learned later) was a cake! THE CAKE!


A terrible migraine must be blamed for my disorientation, but 6 aspirins and a cup of coffee made me feel better, so I decided to visit the caverns taking the natural entrance.
I saw this 8th wonder of the world years ago with my family and a throbbing and noisy crowd. In the season about 7000 people visit the caverns every day!



That Saturday, when most visitors were being held by celebrations and a cake upstairs, a park ranger actually had to wait for a small group and finally send 5 people on the way down. Everybody rushed forward and I was left alone.
An amazing experience started with my first steps. Groups of chirping bats were still zooming in and out of the cavern (it was about 10 am), preparing to migrate for winter to Mexico, I think. Smelling a faint odor of guano I was walking lower and lower in a silence, nobody around.



What I saw during those 3 hours underground made me speechless, trembling, my heart beating faster. I felt so small, fragile, unimportant, even ridiculous aiming my camera at wonders produced in darkness by Nature and incomprehensible length of time. The magnitude of this world and its processes is frightening and unimaginable for a human being with such a short life spun.


It was a world from a cruel and bizarre fairy tale, enchanted into a cold stone existence, all in enormous proportions, mixed into unbelievable variety of columns, statues, cathedrals, grottos, boulders, bottomless holes, towers, forests, chandeliers, drapes and castles.


I walked in awe and wonder, in some places in fear, overwhelmed by the feeling of gratitude for what I was able and allowed to see. I thank you Carlsbad Caverns National Park for guarding and maintaining this miracle since 1923. Happy Birthday!
After I took the elevator (6 people inside, no waiting) rushing up like a vertical train, I was able to taste THE CAKE! I got a piece of a back wall of the building.


What I photographed with my trembling hands (no tripod) will give you only the faint idea of the size. I gave those formations my own names: The Cathedral Window, The Organ, The Bride, The Bride’s Vail, Maids of Honor, Cavers’ Angel, The Chandelier, and The Wedding Cake (weddings are happening in my family recently).


All these images (and more) are available for sale in different sizes starting from 4x6 on a greeting card. Copyright by Elżbieta Kaleta.
Finally, I am posting my own version of Carlsbad Caverns designed after my first visit there. It was a one piece paper cutout, done with scissors and mounted on a museum board. I also created an edition of serigraphs, numbered and signed, individually printed by hand on archival paper (still available).


I hope to see some of you in Las Cruces, NM during my art show (November 1-2, Young Park).
Wishing you a very Happy: Halloween
or: El Dia de los Muertos

Elżbieta