One More Update for Act #5
18 White Large Bath Towels
As promised I took the $74 I received from the new owners of “Hitchhiker” and went shopping for a donation to give to FACE. I drove up to the pet store getting ready to head in I decided to give the clinic a call and find out what they were in the most need of at this time. I was expecting to hear, food, dog beds, cat litter, but instead the nice technician on the line told me “White Towels”. I didn’t think of that off that top of my head, and now realizing I am at the wrong place for Bath Towels I head toward my favorite guilty pleasure of a store, Target. Three Bags full of White Bath Towels I spent every dime and them some to purchase 18 Large Bath Towels for the surgeries that take place at FACE.
If you are ever in a donating need they have a wish list on line and always appreciate the help with any of the items they have listed. http://www.facespayneuter.org/help.html
Thanks again for reading all of the follow ups to this ACT. Stayed tuned…I’m working toward a few good ones over the next couple of months.
Casey
UPDATE (ACT #5)
Amanda loving on her new Kitten.
Less than 24 hours after my post about our little “Hitchhiker”, she has gone off to live with her new forever family. A friend of mine that I met a couple of years back in the art world of Indy contacted me this afternoon thrilled to see the kitten was available. Her children came over this evening to meet her and fell in love instantly. Gotta love a happy ending.
12 Selfless Acts (ACT #5)
My New Year’s Resolution is to do 12 selfless acts this year. I have noticed recently how many people have become “ME People”, and I would like to believe I am moving in the opposite direction. So, if this your first glance at my ACTS I would like to catch you up. For the month of January I donated over 14 inches of my hair to “Locks of Love”. February was donating all of my winter coats to go to Guatemala to keep someone else warm, then I donated the majority of my clothing to a local home for pregnant teens in need (FYI, I never replaced MY WINTER COAT). March I opened up my Studio on First Friday with reduced prices on my artwork to raise money to fight Heart Disease. Not taking a single penny from the sales I raised $550 in one night for the cause. During the months of March and April I donated my time to a Senior Living Community. I took paint supplies and visited with the residents of the Alzheimer’s wing where we painted on three separate occasions.
This brings me to Act #5. Well I had been working toward something pretty darn good, but I am going to save that for another post, because sometimes you find yourself going along in your day and all of the sudden your path is diverted and you are faced with a choice. This was mine.
My family were driving through Tennessee this past Saturday afternoon when we suddenly decided to get off the highway due to a large back up in cars. While going over the overpass, which I will add is 4 lanes of Highway itself, I see a small cat up ahead dart in between two cars and make it safely to the grassy median. I pulled the car over, well sort of over. I managed to get out of the way of the on lookers who watched me jump out of my car and race toward this cat. As I approached I realized this tiny creature is about 7-10 weeks old. Scared and obviously a little turned around. I scooped up the kitten, which seemed to believe I knew what I was doing because she instantly snuggled into me. When I returned to my car I handed her to my husband who is a saint himself, because we are 350 miles from home and he is graciously accepting that this kitten is now hitching a ride with us.
Hitchhiker found a place to nap.
So, I have given HER a name of HITCHHIKER. I believe we found her to bring her back home to Indy with us, but I think she has one more ride till she finds her forever home.
Peekaboo Hitch
Hitchhiker is extremely sweet and can purr up a song for such a tiny little creature. Once we returned home, I took her to FACE (http://www.facespayneuter.org/) a great clinic that is open on Sundays. The people are extremely helpful and kind. The vet thinks she is about 10 weeks old, and now having most of the shots she needs to be well on her way she is ready to find her Forever home. I am hoping if you are not interested you will pass this on to someone who may love our little Hitchhiker. I am asking the $74 I spent at FACE for her, but to keep true to my selfless ACTS I will be in return purchasing much needed supplies for the clinic with the money.
Playing
She loves playing with our son.
Hitchhiker has a bit of a short tail
Yes, she has a bit of a short short tail.
Bath Time
We hope to find someone to love this little girl.
Comfy Afternoon
Please contact me at caseyjoailes@hotmail.com if you are interested in this beautiful kitten.
Thank you again for reading my posts about my selfless acts!
Casey
12 Selfless Acts (ACT #4)
Tina helping the residents paint
Tina helping the residents paint
My resolution this year is to do one major selfless act each month. For the month of January I donated over 14 inches of my hair to “Locks of Love”. February was donating all of my winter coats to go to Guatemala to keep someone else warm, then I donated the majority of my clothing to a local home for pregnant teens in need. March I opened up my Studio on First Friday with reduced prices on my artwork to raise money to fight Heart Disease. Not taking a single penny from the sales I raised $550 in one night for the cause. This brings me to April.
Casey painting with Grandma
At the first visit the residents were asking when we would be coming back to paint again. On the next visit I took flowers for the residents to use as their inspirations for the paintings.
Painting Flowers
I went back and painted again with the residents on April 22nd.
Flower painting on April 22nd
I have plans to continue painting with the residents as long as I can afford the supplies. Not only does my own Grandmother enjoy the time but other residents and their family members get excited about the painting sessions.
Thanks for reading,
Casey
12 Selfless Acts (ACT #3)
Green Bubbles
Spring Breaks Through the Ice Storm 2011
After several hours of 40 mph winds, fallen tree branches and enough ice build up that my dog looks like a cartoon character when walking outside the storm has seemed to subside. Opening the curtains on the back side of my home this morning I noticed a bit of hope springing up in my back yard.
Something has sprung up in my back yard...
Punxsutawney Phil has nothing on my back yard.
Spring has Arrived!!!
Flowers in Full Bloom through the Ice Storm, 2011
A Bit of Color after the Storm, 2011
Color after the Ice Storm, 2011
Thought we could all use a bit of colorful cheer after last nights cold, cold storm! ~ Casey
The New Indy Indie Artist Colony
Indy Indie Arts Colony Gallery
The Indy Indie Preview Party took place on Wednesday January 26, 2011 from 6-9 p.m. at 26 E. 14th Street (14th & Penn Downtown). The Indy Indie Artist Colony is a new live work community for artists, that features a street level gallery showing resident artwork. The Colony is managed by Philip Campbell who is also the Gallery Director. This night claimed to be the largest gathering of the year and maybe it was, but when I arrived the gallery had a little more than dozen people wandering around and the majority of those were with Indianapolis Downtown Artist and Dealers Association (IDADA). The two large rooms making up one of the newest gallery spaces in the downtown area was less than inviting. Having been in a position for several years of putting together gallery shows myself I only say this because with such a small crowd not one person said “Hi, and welcomed me into the space”. Had I been an outsider to the gallery world I may have felt uncomfortable, even unwelcome in a venue that has great potential for future gallery shows. The art work aside the space is great, street level just around the corner from the already well established Harrison Center for the Arts (www.harrisoncenter.org), which will help bring a crowd out on First Fridays to this new space. The Colony is not a new concept to artists, living and working together has been going on long before our time and has been a great success. Like many things in life, creating art together has often been more successful than being a recluse. However, for several artists this method works well, so I won’t downplay working alone. Like many great 14th century architects, working in seclusion provided you with the security that your art and designs would not be stolen, but how I see it, if you do something well no one will be able to copy your creations.
The building stands at a great living location for convenience to all the downtown attractions; to top it off, the “Green” movement is taken on by the building developers in several ways. My favorite was keeping the renovations to a minimum and reusing as many original features as possible. The vintage 1926 resident quarters had a bit of an old world charm. It was nice to see that they weren’t gutted and replaced with cheap fixtures from a mega hardware store. Campbell said, “Every city in the world that has become successful banked on culture”. I hope that more buildings like the Colony will entice people to move into this area for the sake of culture. Now, in my opinion the building was very rough around the edges, which I believe makes it a perfect space for young and upcoming artists. Had this been opening as I was finishing up my undergrad in painting and photography I would have jumped on the chance to live in a place that was not only affordable but would give you opportunities as artist that you may have to struggle to find, such as available gallery wall to show your work.
While checking out the artwork by artists I have yet to meet, I ran into a friend who has a studio next to mine at the HCA. He mentioned to me he had just found out about the opening event a couple of days ago through an email sent out by the HCA. We got to talking about ways you can find out about some of the arts related events in the city and one is through IDADA. One can download an app for First Fridays onto your phone. I was having some technical difficulties with the application downloading on to my iphone, but I am looking forward to getting this one working. Although most First Fridays I am working away in my studio and visiting with guests, it is still nice to stay in the know of what is going on around the downtown area. Another great site is the Indianapolis Arts Council (www.indyarts.org) to check out what is going on around town not only in just the visual arts but also the performing arts and much more.
The website available for the colony wasn’t working while I was writing this article, but for future reference here is the information incase you would like to check out future events. www.indyindieartist.com or contact phil@IndyIndieArtist.com.
12 Selfless Acts (ACT #2)
Dan with my winter coat
When we got home I still had a huge pile of clothes to clean out of my living room, so I started to get ready for my next drop off.
My Living Room Normally doesn't look like this!
Project Home was my next destination. This is a new home in Indianapolis that is opening to help pregnant teenagers that do not have a home to call their own. I took in too many boxes to count. I filled my car with everything from maternity clothes, to shoes as well as summer and winter clothes to help these girls out in their time of need. Oscar was also on board with donating many of his clothes which he no longer needs to the kids that will be calling this place their home.
Project Home Donation at P.H.
If this wasn’t enough I still had three bags of clothes that I took to Goodwill. I now have a much cleaner closet and warmer heart knowing someone who is more in need than myself will have something to wear to keep them warm while the winter chill sets in.
12 Selfless Acts (ACT #1)
With New Year’s Resolutions in full swing and hopefully not failing yet I chose something a little different this year.
Each month I would like to do one selfless act. So, for my first act I decided to donate my hair to “locks for love”. This is something I have been talking about doing for a long time now and late this last year I received the motivation I needed to cut off more than 13 inches of hair.
Before the Big Hair Cut
A good friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer and knowing that chemo would take her hair she cut it off first and donated so that some little girl could have the long beautiful hair nature wouldn’t allow her to have. With tears in my eyes just thinking about the special gift my hair will give to a child out there in need I smile.
The Big Cut
The Hair
Beth styling my hair
On a side thought, when I pulled up the website for all the details on what I needed to do to donate my hair I printed out a certificate from the site for the donation that says, “thank you for your selfless act”. I couldn’t imagine a better way to start out my resolution!
Over a foot of hair later
Over a foot of hair
Locks of Love
Certificate of Appreciation
Finally moving her paints out of the house!
In the new space
Yesterday, I signed my very first studio lease at the Harrison Center in downtown Indianapolis. I took my family down last night to take a look at my new creative space. I will be sharing studio #79 with local Indianapolis artist Kathryn Dart. Kathryn is also a painter working primarily in encaustics and is excited about sharing a space with my work and the occasional visits from Oscar.
Merlin's Teapot can be seen in my studio @ HCA
Come out to see my new home for my paintings at the Artist Reception and Open Studio Night, Friday, September 3, from 6-10 p.m. The HCA is family friendly, so please bring the little ones and old ones to step out and enjoy the night on the town. Please keep in mind access to the studios is downstairs and there is no elevator, although upstairs is handicap accessible there are several steps to take to get to my studio.
Harrison Center for the Arts
1505 North Delaware
Indianapolis, IN. 46202
