zines – Jen Fries Arts

Open Studios, November 23-24

November 21, 2024November 21, 2024 Jen

You are cordially invited to visit with me at the Brickbottom Artists Open Studios event, this weekend, November 23 and 24, 12-5 PM each day.

Yes, I’m actually coming out of my house! I’ve been doing so much work that I decided to make one of my rare public appearances to show it off and tell people all about it. I’ll be displaying medium and small works on canvas, small works on paper, journaling/note cards, and tiny micro-zines, and I’ll be happy to answer questions and engage in sociable chit-chat.

Get event info here: Brickbottom.org.

Behold! A selection of the art I’m bringing to the event.

Meet and Greet the Artist

Technically, I’m not literally opening my studio. I’ve been a member of the Brickbottom Artists Association of Somerville since 2020, but I only live near, not in, the physical Brickbottom Artists Buildings. I’m what we call an Affiliate Member. (Though, to be honest, I’m really freaking close, just a few streets away.) So I am bringing my studio to you, thanks to a kind and generous resident who is hosting several Affiliates for this year’s event.

I’ll have pieces for exhibition and pieces for sale, and I’ll be there to say hi, chat you up, answer all your questions great and small, and generally make myself pleasant.

Start Your Holiday Shopping Early

This is a great chance to exploit my fever of experimentation, as I will be showing a wide selection of small artworks and handmade cards for mailing or journaling, all very easy to buy, carry home, and gift to loved ones or yourself.

Works on canvas are ready to hang. Art Books and micro-zines can take you on amazing journeys, as books do. Mini paintings can adorn any desk, wall, cork board, or table, easily. And journaling and note cards are the ideal chance to embrace Art as Lifestyle, with original, unique abstract paintings designed for work as journaling cards, bookmarks, or note cards.

*Hand-painted abstracts for journaling, writing, or display.*

Business Stuff

If you’d like to buy some of my art, please be advised I’m accepting cash only at the event.

Yes, I know, it’s terribly backward of me, but I do so few of these events that it would actually be less efficient to set up a system to process credit cards.

But I realize it’s inconvenient for many of you, so you can also buy art online, right now or any time between now and the end of the event on Sunday evening.

If there’s any art on this site you particularly like, email me, and I’ll let you know if it’s available and for what price. You can buy it online before the weekend and pick it up from me in person at the Brickbottom.

The journaling cards are $15 each, or buy three and get a fourth card free.

Be sure to ask me about any other special offers as well as ongoing or future projects on the event days.

Hope to see you there!

-Jen

The New Day, such as it is

November 19, 2024 Jen

**Brickbottom and Joy Street Open Studios, Nov. 23 & 24**

End of November Web Forecast: Expect an unseasonably heavy flurry of update posts from yours truly for the rest of this week.

Okay, it’s been a period of time. My last post was made the night before Election Day in the US, and by now, we all know how it turned out. Sigh.

I just want to say that, for me, nothing has changed from what I wrote then. I chose hope. I’m not googling how to change my mind after the fact, like many maga voters reportedly did. You can read the full pre-election post here, if you missed it earlier.

However, when I say I choose hope, don’t expect any pollyanna-ist reassurances here at Jen Fries Arts. No fluttering of the thing with feathers. That’s not my scene. My style of hope is the kind that spits out a bloody tooth and wades back into the fray, because where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I will be damned if I ever give up on what I know to be right.

Of course, it’s all been terribly inconvenient. There were emergency jettisons of certain social and personal connections, some of whom wouldn’t leave quietly. I still feel physically like I’ve been in a car accident. There’s My Sainted Mom who feels just as bad and just as pissed off. And on top of everything else, the cat’s been poorly, poor baby.

All of it utterly derailed what was supposed to have been a whole month of prep and info for my Open Studios event, which is scheduled to start – checks notes – frikkin this weekend. November 23 and 24.

So this is just to get you all caught up. Expect an unusual-for-me rush of posts about the Brickbottom and Joy Street Open Studios weekend here in quaint and romantic Somerville, MA. Also some website and shop updates. I’ll be doing all this work tonight and tomorrow, basically. Apologies in advance, but the new info will be good for you to have.

For starters:

Open Studios, November 23 and 24, at the Brickbottom Artists Building, 1 Fitchburg Street, Somerville, MA.

I’ll be sharing space with some colleagues in Unit B450, in the Bakery Building of the Brickbottom complex.

I seldom do these kinds of events, so this will be a rare opportunity to see me outside my little stoat burrow. I’ll be showing small to medium works on canvas or paper, hand-painted journaling cards, some micro-zines, and maybe some hand-made art books if I can finish them on time. I’m also up for chit-chat about methods, styles, affordability, sustainability, and life in the zombie apocalypse.

So if you’re around then and there, come on by. Info at Brickbottom.org.

Social Media.

I am now on Bluesky. If you use that platform, please look me up there @jenfriesarts.bsky.social.

I joined Bluesky as an alternative to Facebook, but I am still also on Facebook and Patreon. Of course, it’s all just social media with the usual nonsense, so …

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Keep calm and carry on. See you soon.

-Jen

Meet & Greet Event: Yart Sale

August 8, 2024 Jen

It has a kooky name, but it’s a fun event. In Somerville’s city-wide Yart Sale, Saturday, August 10th, the local arts community open up their yards and front porches for impromptu art exhibitions and sales. It’s a relaxed way to get to know your more boho neighbors, soak up the culture of Our Fair City, and maybe pick up something beautiful for your home or a gift. I’ll be participating again this year, showing new and favorite works.

Rain is predicted, but the forecasts so far think it will clear out well before noon on Saturday, so we should be good to go. Just in case, the rain date is Sunday, 8/11.

Visit the Somerville Arts Council Yart Sale page for event details and an interactive online map of all the participants, HERE.

I will be on my porch, 12:00 to 6:00PM, with a short break at around 3:00.

I’ll be showing paintings and collages, artist books, and tiny art that’s great for bookmarks, journaling, and notecards. If you will be in the Somerville area this weekend, do stop by for a meet-and-greet.