Moon Magic

Since the beginning of time, our closest celestial neighbor has inspired and intrigued all whose eyes are drawn to the heavens to view it's greatness glowing in the sky, peeping from behind luminous clouds, trees gently cradling the glowing orb from full to sliver crescent in their reaching limbs.

It's nearness to fully exposed generally causes much agitation to its terrestrial denizens, to those who are sensitive to it's tidal effects, it's magnetic pull on our very being.

I'm usually emotionally more sensitive and easily triggered near the full moon. A little less patient…and physically feeling like tiny bugs are crawling at the nature of my neck.

This recent moon though… something different happened. Creativity, Motivation and inspiration took hold and I've been riding the full moon wave into my studio every day for the past week or so, like a man possessed!

Paintings, sculptures and photographs are pouring from my soul, electrifying my being with the winner and excitement of a small child. My creative juices are flowing as freely as the tree sap, creating sweet syrup, creating sweet creative creations.

Thank you, Oh Great Moon, oh great white pumpkin in the sky, thank you for knowing you're there, keeping watch and inspiring all who care to gaze upon your magnificence.

Moon Magic

Opening Reception: Awakening: Mixed Media Works of an awakened mind. Nov,5, Mendon 64, 5PM-9PM, 1364 Pittsford Mendon Rd, Mendon, NY 14506

Challenging Times

2020 is becoming the year Artists have had to figure out alternative ways to showcase their works, as hundreds of shows across the US are cancelling their show dates due to the COvid-19 pandemic and physical distancing mandates.

At the end of a long year of shows in 2019, I had decided that the show circuit as a means for showcasing and selling my works of art, was not how I wanted to continue doing business. For 2020 I had planned two major alternative events of my own creation, of which now may not actually come to fruition. I will fill you in on these plans when the time is right. For now, on to other

Late 2019, my colleague and friend Brandi Marino approached me with an idea for creating a collective of artists and studios in East Rochester, at the Piano Works. Brandi had a dream of creating a collective of Creatives in the East Rochester area…conveniently located between the city of Rochester and the suburb communities. Someplace where established and new artists and creatives could have studios, workspace and classrooms to teach and grow.

The owner of the complex, Michael Kuskin, is a huge patron of the arts, helped make our project come to life by renting our 10,000 square foot office space to the artists for well below market value. Without Michaels generosity, the artists in residence would never have been able to afford being part of the CC Collective.  In early 2020 Central Creatives, a Co-Work of Art at the Piano Works, East Rochester, was born. Our Grand opening was in late March of 2020 and we are all excited to have it open to the public once again.

Central Creatives is a collective of artists who seek to foster a greater connection to the community while working in a Co-Work environment. Central Creatives has two gallery show spaces, two classrooms for art classes and a thriving community of Creatives eager to invite the public back to enjoy our open house events, workshops and gallery shows.

As our country begins to reopen and events continue to develop, you can follow my progress on Facebook as Mark Groaning and Mark Groaning Studio and Mark Groaning and MarGroaningStudio on Instagram. Basically, if you want to find out where I am and what I am doing, search for Mark Groaning Studio or Mark Groaning and you are sure to find me.

Be Safe. Be Kind. Taking each day one day at a time.

The Waking Dream

Dreams within Dreams within Dreams.

Each night I dream in Glass and Paint and Steel.

The video you see when you visit the Mark Groaning Studio website is the culmination of months of work by our Dream Team that was organized by Carrie Riby of Riby Media, James and Eric of Hunger Media and Jonathan Everitt/Copy Writer and yours truly…the Visionary. Truly, all of the players in our Dream Team are Visionaries. We’ve created The Waking Dream as an introduction to the many layers and facets of the Artist Mark Groaning.

This is the first of a series of video chapters we will be creating. There are big projects in the works and I look forward to revealing them to you very soon.

In the mean time, explore my new website and experience the new layout and works I’ve recently finished creating. Very soon we will have a Buy Me section where you can adopt one or more of your very own Mark Groaning creations.

Thank you for your support.

Sweet Dreams.

Mark

Hand of the creator

Creation. It can be as easy as falling off a chair or as arduous as climbing Mount Everest in sandals.

The gears. The gears are always turning. Always churning….sometimes making progress, as in constructive progress. Progress with a project, a thought or an idea. Progress on personal level. Maybe progress on something business related. Progress with my view of Self or how I process world news, events, tragedy, joy and pain.

The part that takes patience is when the gears are churning at inappropriate times… When I’m trying to sleep while the gears are grinding, not so productive. When the gears turn and turn and turn slipping gears, spinning gears…running that same song through my head…not just overnight, but into the next day.

Awakened during Winter

Thoughts transformed into words. Words strung together like an alphabet candy necklace for the reader to nibble a letter here, a word there, until something worth reading catches their attention. Something clever that I’ve written to set myself apart from the rest of the pack. All I have in my head pours out my fingers as words or I create physically tangible representations of images that dance in my minds eye. Did this work? Did I catch your attention or shall I return to my warm bed to slumber till springtime sunshine stirs me from my blankets.

Seed Planting

Waking up. Seeing and experiencing the world distant or near...every moment is that of planting a seed. Experiences sometimes evolve into works of art. Some moments take, while others are swept under the rug or frozen in time to be realized at another time upon its thawing. 

The seed idea of simplifying this website was planted quite some time ago. Many attempts were made for a new cleaner look and feel, but none of them really stuck or felt right and always it was me describing what I was looking for to someone who would then translate my vision into what could be done. Often losing something in the translation and even more often me changing my mind midstream. 

So now I am reworking my website once again, in my own makeshift manner. Simplifying my vision online, while also revising how I showcase my works offline. Essentially, reinventing how I present myself across the board.

what will sprout from this seed planting? Always something new growing in the fertile soil of my imagination. Please do explore the website. If something peaks your interest, I'm happy to share its story with you.

Peace

Change is good

Hello, my friends. Thank you all for your thoughts, concerns and for checking in on my well-being since I announced the official closing of the Mark Groaning Gallery on East Ave. This is a happy event, not sad at all...not one bit.

 Let me assure you that I am better than OK now that I do not have the pressure of having the responsibility that owning a gallery entails. I see my many friends who have  their own businesses and I applaud them. Bravo to you one and all! You are an inspiration to many. I've owned a couple of brick and mortar shops over these years and especially since this most recent experience I've learned a valuable lesson and it is...Let your friends carry and represent my art...leaving me to the fun of creating it.

I have often heard many of my artist friends who begrudge the commission rate of a distributor, Gallery or whomsoever might be representing their work..."Its too much", they say. "I'm not letting them take half of my sale", They Cry.   Puh-leeze.

I gladly and gleefully pay the 35% to 50% commission for the Angels that represent my work. That percentage helps them continue to stay open. It helps with their operating expenses.            If you think that percentage rate is too much, by all means do us all a favor and open up your own shop. Know that even on days when nobody comes in, that you still have to be there, you still have to pay the rent and keep the lights on and pay the utilities, the business insurance, as well as all of the marketing fees. You have to staff it, you have to stock it, you have to stay positive and friendly for the customers that do you happen to walk in. If you're a sole proprietor, like myself, all that responsibility falls squarely and heavily upon your shoulders...from the day you open to the day you close.  For me...that weight, anxiety and responsibility are gone and I'm free to find new sources of income on the adventures that are already taking shape. No more gallery means I've been set free from the anchor that kept me from roaming and meeting new contacts...that's the way I got started in this business. Showing my work in my friends businesses and making connections on my road trips.

Thank you again for your thoughts, concerns and for checking in on me.

I'm doing great!

Peace

This sculpture entitled Life of Paramecia, is on display and for sale at Whitman Works Company, 1826 Penfield Rd, Penfield, NY.

This World is not flat

Well, it actually does start out flat, and then with 1300 degrees heat and the help of gravity, these glass circles will become beautiful art glass vessels created to beautify your environment. 

Bright gallery day

Great day at the MarkGroaningGallery today. It was warmer than usual, which means it got all the way up to 30 degrees! People were bundled up and not just walking by, but actually stopping in! 

The sculpture shown here is a Branch Flame Keeper. It is steel and acrylic. It was one of several good sales today. 

Thank you to all the wonderful people who come to the Mark Groaning Gallery and continue to collect my works. You help keep my gallery doors open and inspire me to create more new works. Thank you!

Branch Flame Keeper

Glass projects are like creating jewels

is it any wonder that I enjoy creating new works in glass? The possibilities are nearly endless. 

layers of glass before being fused/melted together in my kiln.

Creating glass art is similar to painting... But instead of using brushes filled with paint, I'm organizing bits of colored glass to form layered compositions that will become crystalline dreams of Glass! 

The edge to the right sites that the glass is actually blue, until layered on top of yellow...blue+yellow=green.

I love creating new glass creations!,

Do it myself

I am finally getting down to building my own web site.

As creative as I can be, I've never thought myself savvy enough to tackle designing and building a web site.   Instead, I chose to pay other people to do it for me. One would think that leaving this kind of work to the people who know how to do it, would be the best course of action. In some cases I am sure this is true. In my case, however, not so much. Time and time again, I have hired others to do what I thought I could not and always wondered why someone out there didn't take it upon themselves to design and market a program that would make it easy for the average Joe to create their own web site. Why hadn`t someone created something that was as easy to use as a "drag and drop, what you see is what you get" system?

As it turns out, someone did! Squarespace is that web site building site and I am currently reconstructing and building my very own web site. Please feel free to look around and if you have any questions or suggestions, please do contact me. My goal is to do this as much on my own as possible, so I am not left hanging out in the cold when whomsoever had helped me in the past has decided to move on.

Please help me, help myself. :-)

Unstructured Day

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...or so it would seem. For that matter, each and every day can be described as such. However; today is the first day after a long list of projects and deadlines...all having been successfully designed, created, delivered and enjoyed by all.

The list looks somewhat like this:

Sculpture awards ( 4 in all) for the Rochester ImageOut LGBT Film and Video Festival. Check!

Sign and wall sculptures (9 sculptures total) for Banzai Sushi & Cocktail Bar, in the south wedge of Rochester. Check!

Autumn Memories series of Images to be applied in edible cocoa transfers onto Peanut Butter Honey Truffles from Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. Check!

7' steel totem "Community Cone" sculpture permanently installed in front of Hedonist Artisan Chocolates and Ice Cream shop. Check!

And now for my unstructured day...sleeping late, breakfast with my best friend Rcat, updating my long over due blog, listening to the wind howl through autumn leaves, thinking ahead to future projects, maybe take a nap.

My life mate and biker buddy Jack, taught me the importance of taking time to have an unstructured day...which is the equivalent of what most people would do on any given weekend. Since my weekends are always filled with working at my studio at Artisan Works and tend to work many weeks in a row without a break; it's important to have a day where there is nothing more to do other than let my mind rest and to go wherever my spontaneously creative mind wishes to take me.

I always feel more excited to go to my studio after I have had an unstructured day...or even half day.

Try it sometime. Best of luck, Mark

Gifts & Presents for GroaningMan

Happy Tuesday!Today I received my first phone call from someone I gave a GroaningMan invitation to at the recent Park Avenue Festival. The upbeat person was inquiring about what present would be suggested as a gift for Mark Groaning (yup, that's me) at the GroaningMan celebration.

The answer I gave is that no presents or gifts are required or even needed. Then I thought a bit longer, of course after I hung up and came to the conclusion that the only thing I really need is the money to host this party at Artisan Works.

Ideally, we need at the very least 300 people to pay the $10 door charge to help cover renting Artisan Works for 6 hours, having it staffed with security and parking lot people to direct traffic. Covering my expenses to organize and throw this event would be the best present ever!

Another wonderful gift would be helping to spread the word and invite your friends to this fun evening of music and art and dancing and merriment.

No other gifts are needed. Thanks for asking.

22 more days until GroaningMan is launched!

Mark the GroaningMan

GroaningMan

GroaningMan is one month away! What IS GroaningMan?

GroaningMan is an awesome art filled, music celebration of my Big FIVE OH !

Many of my friends are coming out to support me and help celebrate my 50th birthday. GroaningMan is also in honor of my life changing journey out to Burning Man in Nevada in 2010. www.burningman.org is where you will find all of the official news, information and photos of what Burning Man really is.

In short though, it's an immense, unbelievable art party that takes place is a 3 mile diameter city that doesn't exist until hundreds of volunteers arrive in the middle of a prehistoric dry lake bed, to build a city that will house over 50,000 people from all over the world. Describing it is like trying to describe the Grand Canyon to someone who has never seen or heard of it.

GroaningMan is my tribute to that amazing journey that I shared with my super cool nephew Ben Berry as well as the hundreds of people I met and the thousands of people I never met, but who helped make Burning Man happen.

Now, two years later I am turning 50 years of age and wanted to do it up in classic GroaningMan style. The party itself is taking place at Artisan Works, an immense museum/gallery/party house where my studio resides. Mark the date of Sept 14 (my actual day of birth) 6pm-midnight.

$10 admission at the door gets you into a 40,000 sf gallery of floor to ceiling art of all shapes, sizes and media. $10 also gets you the rocking Rochester band...The VEiNS who just opened for George Thorogood and the Destroyers on August 9th at Party in the Park, here in Rochester, NY. That same ten bucks gets you two super cool DJ's spinning into the night. DJ Nickl and DJ max, both great friends are spinning their own magic between The VEiNS sets.

We'll have a cash bar, munchies and Lizzie of the Le Petite Poutine truck will be on hand serving up delicious fried potatoes with gooey cheese and gravy. Joe Bean Coffee will be handing out samples of their custom brewed deliciousness, Hedonist Artisan Chocolates will be on hand with taste tempting, mouth watering, amazing chocolate for you to taste and Piranha Sushi Bar and Grill will have yummies as well. All of these people are my friends and part of my chosen family. All give aways are while supplies last. Come early, stay late...enjoy the night.

More soon...Mark Groaning IS the GroaningMan

GroaningMan is a 21 and over party and I welcome everyone to come on out and enjoy an evening of Art, Music and Merriment. Remember though, Artisan Works has a maximum capacity of 500 people. We're expecting to max out, so come early as tickets are only available at the door.

More info soon! You can also check me out on Face Book as Mark Groaning and the GroaningMan events page.

Summer Solstice

It's here...the Summer Solstice event not to be missed. At 7:09 PM on Wednesday, June 20 Summer will officially beginband to celebrate this auspicious event, Joe Bean and Mark Groaning are having a Summer Solstice party at Joe Bean Coffee Roasyers (and MORE !)

Summer Solstice Fun Wed, June 20, 7pm Free Samples from EATME ICE CREAM Plus 20% off Mark Groaning Art Gallery.

This evening of fun and friendly people and delicous tastings will also mark the closing of the Mark Groaning "Coffee Romance" show, currently on display at Joe Bean, 1344 University Ave. Rochester, NY.

The show remains intact until Monday 25th of June and then comes down. Don't wait! Come on in and get your samples of EATME Icecream and 20% off any Mark Groaning item in the Joe Bean gallery.

See you soon! MG

Touchdown!

After numerous months of designing and redesigning Crossroads_Daydream in the studio of my mind and three solid weeks of hands on welding, grinding, more welding, spontaneous accidental burnings of myself, sleepless nights and long, long, way too long hours in the studio...the day of installation has finally come!

The official unveiling of Crossroads Daydream will be Saturday, June 2 at the Fairport Canal Days Festival!

I am very, very happy and relieved that the sculpture is installed, secured and ready to be seen by young and old alike.

Now it's time to get ready for the show itself!

MG

Final preparation

The day of installing Crossroads Daydream is here! I am in final preparations for moving it to and installation in Kennelley Park, Fairport, NY.

The access panel is removed here, so I can work on the new improved solar lights on the inside. Oh yes! It lights from the inside at night!!!

Stay tuned. Transportation and installation to commence in 1 hour.

MG