Design, Social Conscience, Coffee Culture

The new website is not yet officially born. Right now it exists only on a thumb drive, backed up on two laptop hard drives. So in a way, we're still kind of "pregnant" with it!

As this project evolved, the original concept of having a web presence for our graphics design and art morphed into other personality facets that we believe will give the potential client an important feel for what Sapphic Graphics is really all about. We realized we don't wish to be the typical corporate design shop, but instead to use design and creativity to further our belief in social responsibility... with a passion for coffee culture! Designing for like minded people - the Vegan communities, the Peace Alliances, the Hippiegrannies - these are the values we wish to help our clients promote.

The music for the index page? "Evolve" by Ani DiFranco.

1st Draft of a New Phase?

I guess it's about time that I thought about creating that with which I am so obsessed. I'd like to thank Jack and Steve for sending me to school to learn and Mr. Simpson for learnin' me. Oh, and the Academy. Stay tuned for a real link.

Gracias. Merci. Danke.

Imaginista Lives!

The idea has been in my head for over a year, and last week I finally was able to combine concept with conception. Behold! My photographer identity!

We'll be unveiling our latest photography works (featuring our new Photaggio line) along with new Beadlemaniac Classic Rock Jewelry and Higgiegranny's Groovy Granola at the Third Avenue Page Avenue Art and Gift Boutique on Saturday, November 24 from 12-5 pm.

It has been exciting as we gradually developed our little mom and mom art and business ventures over the past year; our work has been displayed in several places and continues to gather interest. We hope to have a presence in more public spaces in the year to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mermaids at Play

Go with the flow - and watch out for waterfalls.

-Sister Sophia Mermaid

I was tooling around Googlevania today looking for a quote to use with this collage and I stumbled upon the most delightful blog by the name of Church of the Old Mermaids. After swimming around a bit in it's delightfully whimsical pool of wisdom, finding and borrowing the above quote, I felt it was absolutely essential that I should share this collage and hopefullly some other mermaids will come over to splash and play.

Combining Art Forms

Averie Consalvo

Averie is my oldest granddaughter. She's one of those people for whom everything sports related seems effortless. She is an accomplished motocross motorcycle racer, a surfer, and very good at soccer but not interested in that sport at this time. Her newest passion is gymnastics. She follows in the family footsteps. Her mother, my daughter Alexis, was a very good gymnast all through her school years. She was always the one who did the back handsprings for all the cheer and pom routines in high school.

Averie has been working hard at this sport since moving to Arizona a year ago and has been invited to try out for the competetive team at her gym. She is working in all the disciplines, tumbling, balance beam, uneven paralell bars and vault.

I created this collage of Averie from a picture taken by her second cousin, Rachel. The echo quality of it happened rather accidently, as is the case with most of my best pieces!

Paris in Phoenix

Last spring Focused Art Photography was invited to display twelve large black and white photographs featuring scenes we took in Paris with a few shots from Barcelona thrown in for good measure in the upscale downtown dining establishment Circa 1900. Located in a renovated historic home in Heritage Square and decorated by the restauranteurs in an urban contemporay theme mixed with antiques, the decor looked authentic, chic and Euro with the addition of the "Paris in Phoenix" installation.

The artist statement is as follows:

All photographs on display are for sale and the exhibition will run through the spring of 2008.

Cross Post

"Chelsea Brown's Barcelona Fantasy"

Over at my 360 blog, the one I do for fun and connectedness to friends, real and cyber, there is a weekly event called Picture Perfect Friday. It was the brainchild of a woman named Heather who currently resides in Tucson. Each week she thinks of a new theme and the participants(hundreds at this point) post a photo that the theme represents to us personally. Then we all go around and visit as many of these Picture Perfect posts as we become aware of or have time for.

This week's theme was "black and white." Initially I thought I would go into the European black and white photo stash we have after mounting exhibits at both Kathie Gummere's law office and Circa 1900 this year and pull out something cool and kicky. But then I had a hankering to create a new collage and the first group of pictures I dove into were of Chelsea Brown, the very definition of black and white! It grew from there and evolved into the collage displayed above.

I think I am becoming obsessed with collage!