I have two mason jar paintings up at the Emporium until the end of the month for The Bridge Exhibit which benefits Bridge Refugee Services. Please go check out this show and support this great organization with your dolla bills.

June 1-29, 2012
The 2nd Annual Bridge Exhibition
The Emporium Center
100 S Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
Gallery open M-F 9am to 5pm

My birthday is next week, and I have two wishes.

One, a hula hoop.

And two...

I would love, love, love if you purchased a ticket to my next art show.

I'm really excited about this exhibition. I'll be showing in Nashville for the first time next Thursday, June 21 at Mercy Lounge from 8pm to 12am. I've been asked by the organization Raw: Natural Born Artists to be a part of this monthly, multi-artist show.

It lasts one night and gives visual artists, musicians, fashion designers, photographers, and more a chance to showcase their work together. I will also have the chance to show in other cities nationwide through Raw once I show in Nashville.

Tickets are $10 and I have about 10 more to sell. To buy one from me, you can visit my Raw Artist Profile Page. If you'd rather not pay using paypal, you can pay me directly. Email me at beth@bethmeadows.com, and we can work it out.

I hope you can come, but even if you can't, you can still sponsor me by purchasing a ticket.

This is a small but huge way to support me and help me get the ball rolling to show in other cities.

It will also be a great start to my 28th year!

Bonnaroo, an unexpected time of reflection.

Russ

I ended up having a great time.

This isn't to say there weren't rough spots (i.e. sharing porta potties for eight days with thousands of other people), but my mind was distracted by what was good, and there was a lot of that.

Brian and Forrest

While Bonnaroo facilitated the experience I had, what I enjoyed the most was much simpler, and that was merely the joy of being with people. Constantly.

Dean

Being in Knoxville so long, it's hard not to compare college days with late twenties life. So much of my time is spent in solitude which is fine, but it was nice to shake things up a bit.

Though they were a feast for the eyes, it definitely wasn't the thousands of people that I liked being around but our small team of workers. We made art together, ate together, hung out in the mornings before we'd go hear music. We walked around listening to music and talked about how crazy everyone else was. Because they were. Absolutely crazy.

...I'll admit, too, the aspect I liked so much about this team was that it was predominantly male...

It's something my single female friends and I talk about, how male friends drop off the map as you become older. I know it's the natural progression of life as they move or marry, but I was happy this past week to have a little glimmer of my past. I've missed that so much.

It was also nice not talking about babies and pregnancy for a short time, as has become a common theme to conversation lately in my married friends' lives. 

Forrest sporting my grandfather's hat

Me varnishing the top deck for Bow Line

Dean helping with the varnishing

Beginning stages of the project Mirror Field, created by Jason and Lisa Brown

Another part of this trip I enjoyed was the collaborative aspect. I've been on several trips where I've built houses or painted fences, but making something sculptural with others outdoors, sweating for the sake of creativity, was new and refreshing. I've been hoping to collaborate more, and this experience allowed me to do that.

I also liked not having to think about the pieces conceptually but to just make. I can always appreciate anything where I don't have to think.

Mirror Field

Dean and Kevin put together the rainbow for Mirror Field

Katie and Willie applying mirrored mylar to Mirror Field clouds

Me painting the rainbow for Mirror Field

Carolyn working on one of the arches for Mirror Field

Centeroo ferris wheel in the background

Willie and Kevin working on the bench for Mirror Field

Dean takes a break

I hope this experience permanently flipped a switch. Since I've returned, I've talked with three artists about making work together. I'm excited about the prospect because it's time to hurdle some mental blocks I've had lately.

Teamwork. Applying more mirrored mylar

It could just be a rut, but when I hit points like this, I always tend to wonder if art might be fading from me all together. I don't know why I think that way, but I do. It's good timing to have some help from others.

 

In the meantime, I'll think fondly of painting the rainbow above that filled thousands of hippies with delight last week. 

One of the projects I helped with at Bonnaroo Bow Line is featured here on notcot.org. You can also see some more images on Brian R. Jobe's website.

I'm back from Bonnaroo, and it's official. I want a hula hoop.

I'm wondering if it can be done in the privacy of my one bedroom apartment, just until I get the hang of it. I'll have to move some furniture around I suppose. Or if you hula hoop and want to hula with me, I could be up for that. I'm not ready for public displays of solitary hula just yet.

One day though, I could be that free-spirited looking girl with rock hard abs shaking my hips in the front lawn of my apartment building, looking as if there was not a thing on my mind. And then maybe I can take it on the road. One can always dream.

All this is to say, I did make it back in one piece, and I have many pictures and words to share. Stay tuned.

Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill from momandpopmusic on Vimeo.

I leave for Manchester, Tennessee tomorrow. Bonnaroo doesn't start until Thursday, but I'm going early with a crew to help build a sculpture, or a Pod, to be exact.

Scoring free tickets to shows is a small hobby of mine, even if it means working for them. The only other time I've been to Bonnaroo, I volunteered, and though I received a free pass, I did also vow then that I would NEVER mix work with Bonnaroo again. The festival was loads of fun, but the volunteer experience was hellish.

Volunteer Tent: Trying to nap on break during our 12 hour shift. Miz.

When the opportunity arose for me to go again this year, I considered how different this time would be compared to my last. I'd be going with friends and making artwork. Plus, I was told I'd be fed, have access to showers, and be wearing an Artist pass. Although I'd be there for an entire week, I'd be living in the lap of outdoor festival luxury. I was all in.

But, oh, how the winds have changed over the past week.

I've learned that all those perks were ever so slightly exaggerated. I won't go into detail about it, as I'm trying to get over it as much as I can, but it's not going to be as glamorous as I was told (and then made up in my mind).  I fear this is my punishment for breaking my No Work at Bonnaroo vow.

VIP Tent: My brief glimpse of fancy Bonnaroo life. To know that sweetness, you never want to go back.

If I make it through this week of being exposed to the elements, I'll be sure to post some pictures and fill you in on all the details, and if you're going to Bonnaroo, come visit me at Pod 4. I'll be the one that looks like a lobster.

I was with my family last weekend at my grandfather's lakehouse in Alabama. I've been going there my whole life, and it's where I learned to eat well and ski.

My goal for the past few years is to be able to get up on one ski on the first shot of the summer. I'm usually unable to do it, but this year it happened effortlessly.

BETH MEADOWS Gluttony's Humble Get-Together acrylic on canvas 2011

I know, however, that it wasn't effortless. I've been in preparation for this season over the past few months- seven months to be exact. I've lost almost 25 pounds in that amount of time, and I've been taking care of some aches and pains, in my back, shoulders, and legs, that I've had trouble with over the past few years.

While there seems to be evidence of my hard work physically, there is still more work to be done in the way of self-discipline as I, sometimes agonizingly, count calories, stretch, swim, hike, jog, and bike. I wouldn't say I always do it cheerfully.

***

I'm not sure exactly what brought on the motivation to alter my life last November. I remember being fed up with my shoulder and neck hurting, so I joined the YWCA so that I could swim, to see if it would relieve the pain.

Then I started doing yoga, and after a month or two, I had accidentally lost five or so pounds. After that, losing weight became contagious. I wanted to walk into a room confidently.

***

After graduating from college five years ago, I sort of let myself go, as they say. Mentally, I was a wreck, but I was also on the mend. I knew I had a lot of healing to do, so I decided the remedy was to live my life "organically", to go with the flow, to do what I wanted, in big and small ways. For me, there was freedom in finally listening to myself, but it was also horribly confusing, not only to myself but to those around me. The problem was I wasn't quite sure what I wanted yet, especially on things that really mattered, when other people were involved.

At the same time, I was relishing in life, going out, eating and drinking with little to no limit. I have no idea how I made it work financially, but somehow I was able to keep paying my rent. I was fatter and happier than ever.

***

I was in a not great relationship at the beginning of this year. It's not that we didn't enjoy each other, we really did, but we weren't on the same page about a lot of things, and you know how that ends up.

It was hard to let go of him, but at the same time, I, rather sadly, realized how much I loved him, more than anyone I've been with in a long time, while also realizing how little he wanted to understand me or listen to what I thought. I was falling for someone who wasn't being the man I needed him to be.

I'm still not quite sure what he wanted with me, someone who thinks about every detail of everything, when he didn't want to think about much at all, but I've always tended to be a magnet to men like him.

I walked away from that disaster, and at the same time, felt like I was walking away from every other relationship I've had over the past ten years. I've liked every person I've ever dated for different reasons- how much they made me laugh, how smart they were, how dorky they were about their interests. My affections can run so strong for only an aspect of a man, so much so that I tend to overlook the qualities I could never live with.

***

It's odd to realize you've never fully loved someone, but I guess it's for the best.

***

I hate it when single girls in their twenties say that they'll probably never get married. (I've said it before, so I can say just how much I hate it.) I won't say it again, but I do know I'm in transition- a stripping away of the foolish girl I've been in the past. I've had to tear my heart out for so many men, to help myself let go of them. Sometimes I wonder how I still have hope, but I do. I don't think a heart can lose it's ability to love.

I'm trying to will myself to turn away from my natural inclinations and look toward something... brighter.

***

It is my desire to be more sensible these days; I have to be able to counter my heart that is always so full. I'm working on self-control, because, quite frankly, living organically has turned out to be a bunch of crap. It left me wreckless, fat, and poor.

Strong relationships, friendships, and bodies don't happen naturally. All of life goes against it. The more adamant I am about eating right, the more friends and co-workers give me free drinks and food. It's a proven fact!

I have to run and I have to eat less than what I used to if I want pounds to shed. While I often (stupidly) daydream of wearing smaller clothes that fall better on a less rotund body and to have men fall for me left and right as a result, I'd like to hope my motivations run deeper.

Though I run the risk of being self-absorbed in my fitness endeavors, I hope that at some point it will mean thinking about myself less.

It's worth a shot.