In the Saturday spotlight, we’re getting to know some local artists. During the annual Cedars Open Studios tour, you can tour the artist studios in this Dallas neighborhood. The event culminates with the Corinth Park Party, featuring live music, a group art exhibition and the "art as fashion/fashion as art extravaganza." Click here for the event's Web site. And if you plan on going, here's a map of participating studios.

Stephanie "Tefi" Hindall is a Dallas-based jewelry designer who runs her own design studio, Tefi Designs. Not only does Stephanie create some really unusual and creative jewelry and accessories, she is also the founder of EtsyDallas.com, a cooperative craft collective of artists and designers living and working in Dallas. These folks sell their merchandise on the Etsy Web site, as well as at local and regional craft fairs and events, one of which is taking place on Saturday at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas. The 2nd Annual Jingle Bash will feature 50-plus Dallas Etsy artists exhibiting and selling fabulous creations, perfectly timed for the upcoming gift giving holiday season, or for your own personal pleasure.

In an e-mail exchange, we took a peek inside Stephanie's creative and inventive mind as a part of this week's Art&Seek Q&A:

Art&Seek: You are quite the crafty gal. When did you know that you had a knack for creating such wonderful jewelry and accessories?

Stephanie Hindall: It’s a pretty unremarkable story, really: Girl graduates with English degree and no job prospects, girl meets beads, girl starts making necklaces. It was a creative outlet for me at the time (1998) and just blossomed from there into a full-fledged business.

A&S: What sorts of materials inspire your designs?

S.H.: I use top quality beads and findings of all kinds: gemstones, Czech glass, pearls, sterling silver. I also make my own needle felted beads using 100 percent naturally-, ethically-raised wool. For my fabric items (brooches, hair clips) I use designer and vintage fabric.

A&S: I don't particularly like the term "craft." However, when I hear it phrased as "handmade," I want to break open my piggy-bank and shop 'til I drop. What is your take on the world of crafts now, versus, say, 20-years ago?

S.H.: Honestly, I didn’t think there was a world of crafts 20 years ago. That would have been 1989, when I was 14 and starting high school. Back then, “crafts” to me meant lanyards and plastic pony bead stretchy bracelets – you know, the things reserved for summer camp and vacation Bible school. The artists of Etsy Dallas, who I am proud to be associated with, are professional, talented artists who take the term “crafts” to a completely new level – one that is emulated by successful retailers like Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Fossil.

A&E: When you are creating something, do you have the story in your head as to how you’ll describe it? Or is it the other way around?

S.H.: For the most part I make a piece, photograph it, then name it right there on the spot as I add it to my online shop. I draw from my insanely useless knowledge of pop culture as well as all the schooling I got in the English department at UT Austin. You can’t go wrong referencing Heathers or quoting e.e. cummings. People in the art/craft world often take themselves way too seriously. I like to mix it up with a bit of humor and self-depracation from time to time. I’m not curing cancer or rocketing to the moon. I’m just a girl making pretty things that I hope people will like (and buy!).

A&S: You work full-time as a grant writer for a local non-profit serving homeless children, and you are an adviser for La Reunion, a member of the North Oak Cliff Conservation District, a board member of the Oak Cliff Artisans, a wife, a mother and the founder of Etsy Dallas. When do you find time to sleep, much less create these works of art?

S.H.: This word you use: “sleep.” Yeah, I’m not sure what that means.

A&S: Share with me some of the history of Etsy Dallas and what you hope to accomplish (or continue accomplishing). Also, what sorts of artisans can be found among the Etsy Dallas crew?

S.H.: I founded Etsy Dallas back in September 2007 as a response to the lack of inclusive craft groups in Dallas and the need for a leader to step forward and start a cohesive and active craft collective. So I rolled up my sleeves and took the lead. Today, Etsy Dallas is made up of a group of local artists and designers who have been juried into the group for both the quality of their work and their level of commitment to the team.

A&S: Of all the goodies you have for sale, which is your favorite and why?

S.H.: Boy, that’s like asking a mother to pick her favorite child. The newest pieces I am working on are my fabric brooches, which sold very well at this past weekend’s Cliff Fest. But my staple is my original design Peapod pendant necklace, which is a customer favorite.

A&S: I actually shot some video footage of your jewelry at Cliff Fest this past weekend and was really kicking myself for not acquiring some of the treasures I saw. So, I’m very excited to attend Jingle Bash this coming Saturday. Tell me about the event and what visitors can expect.

S.H.: This is the second year we’re putting on the Jingle Bash and have been planning it since April. It’s going to be amazing – a sort of collective community party that happens to have incredibly talented artists selling their handmade wares. Aside from a variety of locally crafted clothing, jewelry, body care, art and more, the Bash will also have two full bars, great home-cooked food, pool and shuffleboard, DJ tunes and live music. And if you’re one of the first 50 shoppers, count yourself lucky because you’ll be handed a free collectible canvas Goody Bag chock full of handmade items.

The Art&Seek Q&A is a weekly discussion with a person involved in the arts in North Texas. Check back next Thursday for another installment.

Congratulations to Masako Fujinami of Dallas, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! A few weeks back, we asked our regular submitters to the contest to go out and shoot their best photo of the Arts District, and Masako took us up on the assignment. The above picture is part of an excellent series of photos she took of the Wyly Theatre and the Winspear Opera House; some more of them are below.  Masako follows last week's winner, Neff Conner.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It's fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We'll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We'll post the winners' photo on Wednesday.

Now, here's more from Masako:

Masako Fujinami

Title of photo: Dee & Charles Wyly Theater by REX | OMA

Equipment Used: Nikon d200

Tell us more about your photo:

The Wyly Theatre appears monolithic when compared with the Winspear Opera House across the street at the new AT&T Performing Arts Center. Four hundred and sixty-six aluminum tubes drape down the sides of the building like a giant metal curtain. The surface appears to ripple due to the aluminum tubes varying in diameter from three inches to 10 inches. However, I just love how the building's skin changes colors to reflect the surrounding environment and time of day.

I also appreciate the very thoughtful design – the true uniqueness of the Wyly is the structure and flexibility. It is the building’s basic functions which have led to this design. The walls retract, the stage moves and the tiers of seats can be hoisted away. Truly designed to be one of the world’s most innovative theater facilities, here in Dallas, Texas. I am so proud to see that.

Congratulations to Neff Conner of Bedford, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! Neff previously won the contest in September with this photo of the Traveling Man sculpture in Deep Ellum. Neff follows last week's winner, Wade Griffith.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It's fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We'll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We'll post the winners' photo on Wednesday.

Now, here's more from Wade:

Neff Conner

Title of photo: Window Washer

Equipment Used: Canon SD750, PhotoShop

Tell us more about your photo: November 6, 2009: A Friday like most other Fridays, except there were people dangling from ropes, casting unfamiliar shadows in the office where I work. Were they wannabe stuntmen climbing up to the roof? Or a S.W.A.T. team repelling down the face of the building in a daring rescue attempt or training exercise? No, they were window washers wielding squeegees, and they were practicing their trade and risking their lives so we can fully enjoy our view of the city and beyond.

I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pics as the worker quickly and skillfully serviced the pane directly in front of me. The outside of the glass is quite reflective, so I don't know if he saw me or not. I felt fortunate to have been able to catch this moment. We were physically 3 feet from one another but couldn't be farther apart, in some ways. I was safely inside a climate-controlled, high-rent office as he dangled dangerously in the bright midday sun. Two contrasting worlds separated by a thin pane of glass. Studying the photo more closely, I notice that the windowpane is halved – a clean side and an unfinished side – and the worker seems to be peaking around the defined line separting the two, further accentuating the dichotomy.

In the Art&Seek Saturday Spotlight, we’re skating for a cause. The Art of Skateboarding gathers 200 skateboards designed and decorated by local artists, celebrities and art students. The event begins at 7 at Southside on Lamar in Dallas. If you attend, you can bid on the boards, with the proceeds benefiting Texas Scottish Rite Hospital.

Click here to ready Cindy Chaffin's recent post on the event.

Congratulations to Wade Griffith of Dallas, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! Wade was the third ever winner of our contest and has contributed more photos to our Flickr pool that anyone. His winning photo is part of a series he shot recently. We liked the collection so much that we decided to run some of the other photos below. Wade follows last week's winner, Hector Arencibia.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It's fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We'll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We'll post the winners' photo on Wednesday.

Now, here's more from Wade:

Wade Griffith

Title of photo: Finishing Touches

Equipment Used: This was all photographed with my Nikon D90, mostly using a wide-angle Sigma 10-20mm lens for that documentary, photojournalistic look.

Tell us more about your photo: The photo Finishing Touches was one picture in a series of B&W images that I shot of my older brother getting a half sleeve tattoo on his arm for the first time. He sat for a couple of 7 hour sessions on two different Sunday afternoons, and I was there about half the time to document it. A good friend of mine, Chris Clements, is an award winning tattoo artist at the new shop on Lower Greenville in Dallas called Stainless Studios. I was also shooting the photos to promote the business as well.

Art Conspiracy is a grassroots fund-raiser, art auction, concert and all-around heck of a party.  The venue and the beneficiary change every year, and today details were announced for ArtCon 5.

Here's the skinny:

Date: 7 p.m., Dec. 12

Location: A warehouse at 511 West Commerce, Dallas. It will be transformed into a performance space and gallery for the evening.

The Art: 150 artists contribute their work, all created on Dec. 11, just for the event.

The bands:  Telegraph Canyon, The Crash that Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2

Your host: The fabulous Paul Slavens, of 90.1 at Night, now on KERA radio, soon to be on KXT.

Admission: $10

The beneficiary: Resolana. The group provides rehabilitative arts programming to women in jail in Dallas.

If you are an artist, and want to participate, you need to take action at noon today.

You'll hear a lot more about Art Con here in the coming weeks, because Art&Seek is partnering with the group on this year's event. So stay tuned for more.

Press release after the jump

Art Conspiracy is Turning Five

December 12^th event is equal parts off-the-grid art show, concert and fundraiser

November 3, 2009 – DALLAS, TX – What started off as a “one time only” fundraiser has become one of the most anticipated annual art events in Dallas.  On Saturday, December 12, starting at 7:00 p.m., Art Conspiracy will mark its fifth year of bringing artists and musicians together to “conspire” for good causes.

This year’s Art Conspiracy will be held at 511 West Commerce in Dallas. Once again the Art Conspiracy crew will transform an empty warehouse into a one-night-only art gallery and performance space. The event will feature music from Telegraph Canyon, The Crash That Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2, video installations from Edward Ruiz, art from 150 Dallas area artists and emcee, Paul Slavens, host of KERA-FM’s 90.1 at Night.

Art Conspiracy differs from other arts fundraisers because the artists do their work on site the day before the event. On the eve of Art Conspiracy, artists work in shifts to fill 150 18 x 18 plywood canvasses. During the actual event on Saturday, December 12, all pieces will be sold in rapid-fire live auctions. Starting bids for all pieces is $20.

“We’ve worked to make Art Conspiracy unique, it’s an event built on creativity but the end game is doing good,” says Cari Weinberg, Executive Director, Art Conspiracy. “Art Conspiracy is fun, fast-paced and accessible to everyone. Over the last five years thousands of people have given us their time, talent and support. The result is a collaborative night showcasing the best of the creative community in Dallas while raising money.”

This year Art Conspiracy has formed a partnership with KERA’s Art&Seek, an online community at artandseek.org where creative people can come together to find, discuss, create and react to art. “Art Conspiracy shows that powerful – and really fun –  things happen when artists come together as a community,” says Anne Bothwell, director of Art&Seek.  “And our Art&Seek community shares so many of Art Con’s values and goals, it’s a natural fit. We’re excited to partner with Art Conspiracy as it continues to grow.”

In 2009, Art Conspiracy will donate the proceeds of the event to Resolana, an organization that provides rehabilitative arts programming for women in the Dallas County Jail and Dawson State Jail in Dallas.

“In an uncertain economy, being the beneficiary of the Art Conspiracy is  a tremendous gift . . . a real godsend,” says Bette Buschow, Executive Director, Resolana.  “Resolana has recently been assigned its own classroom space in the new addition to Dallas County Jail and over the last six months, our programming has grown from six hours of classes per week to 16-20 hours per week.  The funding from Art Conspiracy will make a HUGE difference in our ability to support and sustain this growth and in our ability to serve the women at Dallas County Jail.”

Since 2005, Art Conspiracy has raised over $50,000 for groups including

• Preservation LINK, an organization that teaches audio and visual media to students in South Dallas and Fair Park
• La Reunion TX, an arts residency in the making on a 35 acre urban forest engaged as outdoor studio space and gallery.
• St. Anthony Community Center, a center that offers visual art, music and dance to more than 800 children in South Dallas.

Art Conspiracy is street level philanthropy. Members of the creative community in North Texas pool their talents to create bi-annual fundraising events that support other nonprofit arts programs. Art Conspiracy events are designed to be affordable and offer everyone a chance to purchase original artwork at a reasonable level. Art Conspiracy is a 501c3 organization with IRS nonprofit status (so your donations are tax deductible!) More information is available at www.artconspiracy.org

Media Info:

Art Conspiracy organizers, musicians, and artists are available for interviews. For more

information and/or Art Conspiracy artwork, please contact Cari Weinberg at

cari@artconspiracy.org or call 214-794-3510.

Art Conspiracy Details:

Date: 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December 12

Location: 511 W. Commerce, Dallas, TX 75208

Participants: 150 Dallas Artists, 4 Bands

Admission: $10

Benefiting: Resolana

The guidelines for the Annual Catholic Foundation Plaza Artists Competition are pretty wide open. The main requirement is that your piece fit on the 28-foot by 9-foot, 8-inch wall in the Plaza. But given the Plaza’s location in the Arts District, working the performing arts into your design seems like a smart way to score some extra points.

That’s the logic that David Zvanut rode to winning the 4^th annual competition. His piece, Music on Parade, will be displayed in the public spot for the next year and earned him a $2,500 check. The piece is a combination of digital photos of four of Zvanut’s paintings and two of his glass mosaic panels that he layered together using Photoshop. The composite image was then blown up and pieced together on the wall.

So how does one go about conceiving such a large-scale piece? The Commerce-based artist talks about technology’s role in producing Music on Parade, as well as how his piano training influenced the creative process, as part of this week’s Art&Seek Q&A:

Art&Seek: You’ve said that Music on Parade is part of a series in which you try to, “convey some of the passion evoked by a serious musical work using purely visual means.” How do you define a serious musical work?

David Zvanut: Well, you know I don’t want to make anybody mad, but I’m thinking more like stuff that would be played in symphony halls. Not pop music. But not necessarily strictly classical music. I’m talking about anything from Beethoven to Philip Glass.

A&S: Do you listen to music while you work?

D.V.: Sometimes I do, sure. Not all the time, but sometimes, I do.

A&S: When you are thinking about how to visually represent music, what do you focus on?

D.V.: I’m an amateur musician – I’ve played music since I was a kid and studied it a little bit in high school and college. Then I went into visual arts, and I got into the Abstract Expressionists – especially Jackson Pollock and the emotional content of splashes and drips. And in trying to organize those splashes and drips, I hit upon, well, why not try to drape those forms across a musical notation, which I was somewhat familiar with. … One thing about visual arts, and a painting in particular, is you are able to get the full experience of the work instantaneously. And in music, you have to devote time to the work in order to get everything the work has to offer. I think that might be for me, being biased, one reason why painting is a little more superior art – it can convey its image instantaneously. So I’m trying to get that experience that you would get over time in a musical work to happen right away.

A&S: In addition to painting, you also work in glass and sculpture. What’s the benefit to you in working in more than one medium?

D.V.: Well, for one thing, in my glass work and my sculpture work, a lot of the materials I come across don’t cost me any money. They’re free materials, they’re recycled materials, found objects. With painting, you’ve got to buy paint. And paint’s not cheap.

A&S: But besides the practical benefits, does working in one medium affect how you work in another?

D.V.: I don’t know about that. I think for me it’s good to be able to do different things just so I don’t get bored.

A&S: When you submitted your entry to the contest, you knew that the painting would be nearly 30 feet wide by 10 feet high. How does that large scale play into how you conceive the painting?

D.V.: One reason I was very interested in entering that concept was that they were going to take this image and enlarge it. I had done a couple of things where I had taken photographs of my art work and combined them in the computer and just produced them as small, I guess you would call, Giclée prints. And then I saw this opportunity, and I thought, “My gosh, this is the perfect thing. They want me to submit an original art work that’s going to be blown up.” (Click here for a series of photos showing how the piece was assembled on site.) If you take a painting or a drawing and blow it up, you can’t really call the resulting work an original work. It’s a print of an original work. Whereas what I was doing with combining these painted and glass images and producing this digital print – every time you produce that digital print, it’s an original work. For the contest, I produced it in 1/12^th scale, which was 9 ¾ by 28 inches, which is what they specified. That’s a digital print. Well, the print that they enlarged for the wall was also a digital print, and to me it’s just as much an original work as the small, original work that I had produced. So instead of reproducing a painting, they are producing an original print.

A&S: It must be an interesting process to combine these different pieces that you have created and watch as technology interprets how they should fit together.

D.V.: Yeah. I got my MFA in the mid-80s, and computers were just starting to come out. I was kind of dissing them, saying, “Oh, I’m never going to use anything like that.” And now, the MFA classes at this particular school in Commerce are devoted to what they call new media, which is a little bit of that – using computers and different kinds of mechanical ways to reproduce work to try to get something new. So I guess I’m a part of that tradition, and I’m lucky enough that the underlying work is strong enough to where when I do put them together in this technological fashion, the image comes out and it’s strong. And I can still call it all my own.

A&S: What does it mean to you personally to know that your piece will be on display in such a high-profile location for a year?

D.V.: I wake up every morning thinking about it. And I think, “Gosh, I wish I was closer to Dallas so I could go see it more often.” … It’s fun for me to go down there and watch the symphony let out and watch the people come over there and get a look at it, and then to see it from inside the symphony hall with people milling about – it’s very meaningful. I wish it could be up there forever, but I’m glad that it’s there for the time that it is.

Congratulations to Hector Arencibia of Keller, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest! He follows last week's winner, Lily Sloan.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It's fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We'll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We'll post the winners' photo on Wednesday.

Now, here's more from Hector:

Hector Arencibia

Equipment: Nikon D60 Camera with AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm lens

Tell us more about your photo: This was one of the early performances at the Dallas Art District Open House in the Winspear Opera House. I'm new to photography, so I was trying out different techniques under the low lighting.

Congratulations to Lily Sloan of Denton, the winner of the Flickr Photo of the Week contest!   She follows last week's winner, Leigh Ann Field.

If you would like to participate in the Flickr Photo of the Week contest, all you need to do is upload your photo to to our Flickr group page. It's fine to submit a photo you took previous to the current week, but we are hoping that the contest will inspire you to go out and shoot something fantastic this week to share with Art&Seek users. If the picture you take involves another facet of the arts, even better. The contest week will run from Monday to Sunday, and the Art&Seek staff will pick a winner on Monday afternoon. We'll notify the winner through FlickrMail (so be sure to check those inboxes) and ask you to fill out a short survey to tell us a little more about yourself and the photo you took. We'll post the winners' photo on Wednesday.

Now, here's more from Lily:

Lily Sloan
Title: enter.move
Equipment: Canon EOS 40 D
Tell us more about your photo: This was taken at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival at Texas Woman's University during a late-night improvisation jam.