Jo Myers-Walker's Blog

Bassinet painted with helpful dogs
(currently holding painted pillows)

I’ve been rearranging The Left Bank Studio by color, and still bringing more things out of the vault. At right is a baby bassinet which my dad and I made. It holds a legal-size mattress for a newborn, and as the child grows it can be turned upside-down and used as a toy box. (I can make things like this to order.)

Shown below are “neutral” and “blue” collections. The floor lamp at left is made from steel curved like the railing outside the Studio, using the same method.

Stop in during gallery hours and take a look, whatever your preferred palette!

Update: I’ve sold the little bank in Gilbert, and now I’m based in Iowa City. Check out my blog to see what I’m doing these days!

See, I can do neutrals!
(front room at The Left Bank Studio; curved-steel lamp is at left)

The Blue Period
(middle room at The Left Bank Studio)

This past Monday I was in Des Moines to help hang an exhibit at an interesting location – Gallery West, in the Imaging Waiting Area of the VA Central Iowa Health Care System! The regularly-changing exhibits in Gallery West are part of their “healing environment” initiative, meant to make this waiting area a welcoming, relaxing place for the people coming through. The color brightens it up, and there is a lovely hanging system — Olson-Larsen Galleries of West Des Moines advised the facility on the hanging system and helped the staff learn how to use it.

Two of the friendly and dedicated VA staff,
who installed my exhibit at Gallery West

The opposite wall of the exhibit at Gallery West
in the Imaging Waiting Area

We installed 14 of my works including a man’s head in ceramic, women’s heads sculpted from handmade cotton paper, and a variety of watercolors. About 700 people come through the waiting area every week, needing medical imaging (like CT scans) for all kinds of reasons, and I met some of them while I was there. Often family members come along, and wait for them — it’s hard for families, too, to see loved ones suffer. I’m very grateful for what our veterans and their families have done for all of us.

There will be a small opening reception for the exhibit on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. I’ll talk about art and healing, which fits right in with the VA staff members’ interest in the healing environment. I’m thankful for the opportunity not only to display my work, but also to meet these dedicated people.

Tree of Hope in hatchback

They said it could not be done… we said, yes it can! Here John M. demonstrates the advantage of a hatchback by transporting a large tree in a small car.

As it turned out there wasn’t room to include it in the Octagon’s Festival of Trees (which ran through Dec. 2), but it’s available if you’d like to have the Tree of Hope for your own (comes with its own supply of hope!). My Art of Living exhibit is at the Octagon through December 22, 2012.

Despite my absence, I was well represented at last Friday’s opening reception for my Art of Living retrospective show at the Octagon. “Thank you” to Marty and Angela, who stood in for me as art students demonstrating techniques we’ve used in class, and to Carole Horowitz for her nice write-up in the Ames Tribune. And to Linda W., who sent me this photo from the exhibit — they interpreted my “Jo in a Row” poster of bird prints, with a whole row of Jo’s!

Jo’s in a Row (wearing “Jo” masks)
from Linda W. and co-conspirators

Asked for her impression of the opening, Linda notes that the exhibit includes very diverse artwork from across the past 30 years, and writes, “In them all I see your joy, love of life and family, especially in the newest watercolors but also in the paper sculptures of children, the funky colored sculptural collages and the puppet-person ready to be on the move!” I appreciate the kind words, and the participation of everyone who evidently made the opening a fun event! The exhibit will be in the Octagon’s third-floor Main Gallery through December 22, 2012.

After 300,000 miles of good and faithful service, the red van brought me home safely from a recent trip and could go no further. The bottom had rusted out. Repairs would have cost close to $1,000 and even then, the parts might not have stayed in place because of the extent of the rust. The van had been an escape vehicle, workhorse, and service to many people, a place to pray and to paint from the back of along the roadside. It had been all across the United States hauling things like bricks, trees, and art shows. I took pictures to document the murals (detail below) before it continued its service through recycling.

St. Francis beside a tree, hanging out with Brother Sun and Sister Moon

St. Clare on the opposite side; Sister Water flowed all around the van