Tag Archives: Karen Tashkovski

art, art education, art exhibition, art for sale, ceramics, Karen Tashkovski, sculpture

Sizzling Summer Ceramics

Image July 27, 2016 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

My new favorite place: the Half Moon Bakery & Bistro! It is located at 6500 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville, NY (13078).

Cozy…and delicious! The cupcakes are perfection. This place reminds me of every Wayne Thiebaud painting I have ever seen. Proprietor Debbe Titus prepared amazing quiche and salad (and iced coffee!!!) for my friend Bobbi Rock Petrocci, art teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, Dewitt, NY, and me last week when we visited to discuss our upcoming art exhibitions. Mine will be during the month of October 2016. We installed Bobbi’s show this morning.

Bobbi’s former student Beth L. helped too – a recent graduate who will be attending college in Albany this fall. We used the technique I call measuring! Lol – math and art are like two fingers crossed, as are art and every other subject in school. There was a lot of measuring here – to make sure the shelving was of unified height and the same distance apart and to insure the shelves were level. This part took the longest but once the structure was in place, everything made sense and the pieces fit beautifully. It is the first ceramics show in the bakery!

It was really incredible watching Bobbi work out how to decorate this space. It was as if her vision was coming alive before our eyes. She used the small shelves to exhibit her own work alongside student work created during CBA’s Sizzling Summer Ceramics Camp.

Students created these pieces during the intensive one-week event. The work will be on display through the month of August 2016.

For more information regarding this exhibition and the bakery including hours of operation, contact the owner at 315-492-0110 or check out the website – www.thehalfmoonbakery.com

More information to come regarding my show including a plan to have a little gathering/reception, maybe on a Sunday afternoon. I will be showing a dozen paintings. Super excited! <3 And Bobbi Rock Petrocci will be back in November 2016 with a new crop of CBA student ceramic art! 🙂

art, art exhibition, art for sale, Green Lakes, Karen Tashkovski

Sums Me Up

Image July 23, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 2 Comments

For those of you who may actually think highly of me, this is going to make me look very bad.

I did not go to the art reception for this new exhibition at The Point of Contact Gallery, 350 W. Fayette Street in Syracuse, NY. I pilfered the photos off Facebook.

In my defense, if there can be one, I have been spending my days chasing pokemon at Green Lakes State Park and my nights enjoying live music at various venues in the area. I blame the pokemon craze on my twenty-three-year-old friend Helen, who exposed me to this phenomenon. I kept wondering why people had their cell phones at the ready while hiking the trails instead of experiencing the wonder and beauty of nature.

No apologies. I was obsessed with the game for three days. It is all I talked about to CFOs of major corporations and other super-duper successfuls at my high school reunion.

Of course, once I ran out of weapons to capture the pokemons, the thought of purchasing more ended it for me and I snapped out of it, lol.

Now I am back to normal, albeit obsessed with getting a good photo op of the owl family that lives in the space between the two lakes. (This one was taken by my friend, Animal Behaviorist Janet Ridgeway).

I am not apologetic about my social life either. This has been an amazing summer so far. Many memories with very special people. A lot of singing and dancing. (In fact, I was doing exactly that on the night of the opening – to Brass, Inc. at Borio’s.)

Good times and great fun!!!!! <3

I will try to get out to see the Sum Art show in person. A lot of fabulous work by some of the best talent in Syracuse. It is up for another week or so. Check their Facebook page for more information here.

art, art exhibition, art for sale, cats, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting

Road Trip

Image June 29, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 2 Comments

I drove to New Jersey on Monday. Visited with friends in Jersey City and Morristown, and stopped in to see my art exhibition at Summit Medical Group in Berkeley Heights. I love how easy-peasy it is to find your way around the country via Google maps/GPS, by the way. It is clearly the greatest invention to eliminate fear of travel. It was an effortless, fun-filled journey!

This place is so beautiful! Space Planner Elizabeth Wiech did a magnificent job installing this show. I feel lucky to be a part of it. It turns out that my work is the most abstract of the bunch. I picked up the artwork I had delivered that wasn’t used – actually my friend Anne had delivered it for me originally, and so this was my first time there. Everyone was so nice and helpful from the valet parking attendants and security people to the reception desk ladies and maintenance. Thank you, everyone! I am just so incredibly grateful for the experience.

The art exhibition is in the basement floor of the Lawrence Pavilion building in the complex at 1 Diamond Hill (Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922). Each artist is represented with an artist statement and information on how to contact them in order to make a purchase. A portion of sales will go to a pet charity – this is an animal-themed art show.

Eight of my paintings are there – from my 18″ x 18″ oil & collage Echolalia series.

The exhibition will continue through November 2016.

Contact Elizabeth Wiech at (908) 277-8806 for more information. This is a medical office building – she will know the building hours. The show is open to the public and can be accessed through a separate entrance with stairs leading to the basement floor or through the main entrance using the elevator.

art, art for sale, fashion, Karen Tashkovski, watercolor

Wearable Art!

Image June 26, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 3 Comments

I have a BFA in Fashion Design, as well as in Studio Arts from Syracuse University. I used to imagine being on the cover of WWD (Women’s Wear Daily) as a fashion designer. All the headlines that would work. Like TASH SPELLS CASH or if I was designing bathing suits, TASH MAKES A SPLASH. There was TASH IS A SMASH, and, lol, if I put out a bad collection, TASH MAKES TRASH.

Being a fashion designer has never stopped being one of my deepest desires. And now… I am!

www.redbubble.com has added new merchandise to include dresses, skirts, scarves, leggings and chiffon tops! I spent about five hours last night updating my work. I have several watercolor paintings on the site. You can purchase all sorts of items designed with my original paintings’ images on them – phone cases, satchels, stickers, mugs….and now all of these clothes!

The quality of the image on the merchandise is really outstanding. And there is a quick turn-around time. Items are usually shipped within a week! Right now they are offering a 20% off sale on all goods and in addition, the scarves are on a special sale.

I am sooooo excited about this! This is a sample of the abundant choices in the Karen Tashkovski – Visual Artist line. I will link each picture to its page on the site for easy access.

art, art exhibition, art for sale, ceramics, Karen Tashkovski, painting, photography, sculpture

The Cuban Phenomenon

Image June 25, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 1 Comment

John Dowling’s inaugural art exhibition at the Dowling Art Center is nothing short of phenomenal. I attended the opening reception on Thursday, June 23, 2016 – the show will be up all summer (if you didn’t get a chance to make it there yet). The new gallery is located at 1632 Hawley Avenue, Syracuse, New York (13206). It is home to John’s photography studio where he creates his own art, as well as providing archival inkjet printing and fine art reproduction services, and is home to this impressive gallery space, which he plans to both house art shows he curates and rent the space to artists for shows, workshops and meetings.

The theme for this exhibition is Cuba.

David Creedon is from Ireland. He and a Spanish-speaking assistant travelled to Cuba to photograph the people. John Dowling purchased rights to the photographs and reproduced and framed them for the art show. Although none of the artwork in this show were yet labelled for sale, John said these are available for $300 each.

Here I am speaking with the artist – he told me that the Cuban people were really friendly, happy people. They welcomed him into their homes and allowed him to snap whatever he pleased. The one of the car in the living room is particularly stunning, isn’t it? Viewing the photographs makes me desire a trip there – as Tina Fey says, “I want to go to there.”

David said the food is delicious and the atmosphere is sort of a throw back, almost like a 1950s meets modern-day. The people don’t make a lot of money but there are a lot of free services, like PhD level education, health care, and food and other items are not expensive so it is all relative.

See more work by David Creedon at www.davidcreedon.com.

Abisay Puentes, like John, is one of my Facebook and Linkedin friends. Unlike John though, I had never actually met him until this show. His artwork has a surreal flavor and is hauntingly beautiful!

Here I am with Penny Santy. We are listening to Abisay’s original instrumental music, which accompanies his work. In this way, he creates a sort of phenomenological encounter, engaging all senses. He has videos on youtube that you must check out!

The other artists in this show are a combination of locals who are from Cuba – most of them live in the Eastwood section of Syracuse near the gallery, or the work has been shipped in directly from Cuba! It really is a must see!

Contact John Dowling for more information about the gallery space and this show specifically, including hours of operation – (315) 466-8189 or jdphoto@twcny.rr.com.

art, art exhibition, art for sale, hearts, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting

OZ & Me

Image June 24, 2016 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

Twelve of my Talisman series paintings are hanging in the Community Room of the Sullivan Free Library in Chittenango, NY. I installed the show yesterday and the work will be there until I go back to school in September (2016).

I love my connection to the Chittenango community and with Karen Fauls-Traynor, who pops me into the calendar every July! The Community Room can be rented out for events and so, there are always people in there. It is part of the library but is accessed through a separate door at the entrance. I heard there will be a graduation party in there today! They also have afternoon movies (free) every Wednesday at 1:00pm.

The paintings are $200 each. They are 18″ x 24″ mixed media pieces comprised of oil & collage and chalkboard paint. I created them in the summer of 2008 in a studio space on my front porch while the television in the living room played Harry Potter videos 24/7.

It is pretty fascinating how positive energy and the idea of magic can create magnificent outcomes in our lives. One of my friends told me I need to immerse myself in painting again, but I don’t feel ready to go back to that type of isolation. I would need to sell quite a bit of art to fuel that inner motivation again. That seems to go against the grain of how other artists see themselves – as though art making is a desire that surpasses all consequences of the act.

Oh well. It is what it is. The idea of someone else valuing what you do, what I do, is what I crave. My friends in Florida have several of my paintings in every room of their house. I visited them last month – I hadn’t been there in thirteen years, so seeing my presence in their home filled me with so much gratitude and love. The idea that I matter to people. I don’t know how else to explain it. I just don’t want to make a bunch of art that sits in a pile in a closet somewhere, unable to breathe or see the light of day until I am gone or something. That just seems yucky to me.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these paintings, contact me. I can sell it off the wall and replace it with another. There are twenty-four pieces in this series. And they all need homes…. <3

The Sullivan Free Library is located at 101 Falls Blvd., right off Route 5 in the village of Chittenango, NY. It was the former State Bank of Chittenango. Click the link at the top of this post for hours of operation.

art, art education, fashion, Karen Tashkovski

Last Licks

Image June 23, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 2 Comments

Bailey 44 top and skirt, Michelle DaRin jewelry bracelets, BCBGeneration sandals

BCBG Max Azria dress, Michelle DaRin jewelry, Minnetonka boots

Banana Republic T-shirt and skirt, Michelle DaRin jewelry, Calvin Klein sandals

Here I am, officially home from the last day of school. I will be heading over to the Sullivan Library in Chittenango, New York in a bit to install my annual summer art show. It will hang through August 2016!

BCBG Max Azria dress, BCBGeneration sandals

Chan Luu bracelet, BCBG Max Azria T-shirt and dress, Nine West booties

I have many plans for my summer – travel, parties and lots of art shows. I thought last summer was my best ever, so I am really looking forward to all the fun and surprises in store for me in the next two months. I don’t know why I am certain it will be even better, lol, but I get the feeling that my life is getting better and better every minute…because it is!

Banana Republic T-shirt and skirt, BCBGeneration sandals

BCBG Max Azria dress, belt and pants, Calvin Klein wedgies

Here are my final outfits of the day (#ootd) from the past couple of weeks. No more outfit pics for a while since I will be living in Champion sports gear and Trina Turk bikinis, although I just received my new Trina Turk top and am dying to wear it. Lord & Taylor had a CRAZY sale on-line – 30% off almost everything plus an additional 15% off on top!

Honora necklace, Banana Republic jacket and pants, BCBG Max Azria T-shirt, BCBGeneration sandals

Michelle DaRin jewelry, BCBG Max Azria T-shirt and top, Trina Turk skirt, BCBGeneration sandals

I love fashion!

Honora necklace, BCBG Max Azria top and pants, BCBGeneration sandals

Bailey 44 top, Banana Republic skirt, BCBGeneration sandals

Happy, happy summer!

Michelle DaRin jewelry, Bailey 44 top, Trina Turk pants, Nine West sandals

BCBG Max Azria dress and belt, BCBGeneration sandals

BCBG Max Azria dress and pants, Calvin Klein wedgies

art, art exhibition, art for sale, cats, Karen Tashkovski, mixed media, painting

Pets Are Good Medicine!

Image May 24, 2016 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

Here are pictures of the art exhibition at Summit Medical Group! Curator and space planner Elizabeth Wiech sent them to me this morning.

It is an animal art show featuring dogs and cats. I am thrilled to be a part of it.

The show has an indefinite end – somewhere in the six-month range. Summit Medical Group is located in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey (1 Diamond Hill Road, Lawrence Pavilion). Call (908) 277-8806 for more information.

If you are interested in making a sale, connect with me here via the contact page or email me at ktashkovski@gmail.com. I have extra paintings that can replace the ones sold no problemo.

art, art education, art exhibition, art for sale, fashion, Karen Tashkovski, products, watercolor

Blue Star

Image May 22, 2016 Karen Tashkovski 2 Comments

I just bought this phone case for my Samsung Galaxy 6! They finally added cases for my phone at http://www.redbubble.com! So excited. The quality of the case is outstanding. The color is so accurate. It is really so amazing to have my artwork on products!

This is my painting Blue Star. It is a 10″ x 7″ watercolor. It’s one of my favorites because it is a perfect representation of how my hand moves. I am not normally a blue person – I decorate my home in neutrals with greens and reds, but I do wear a lot of navy blue, at least lately – not as extreme as Diana Vreeland, but enough (to matchy-match my phone).

IMG_20160511_084713 — BCBG Max Azria cardigan, Banana Republic pants and leather top, BCBGeneration sandals

It is so sleek now. Before I had this leather wallet thingy on the cell phone, which carried my license and stuff, so it was convenient but very bulky.

IMG_20160516_094915 — Banana Republic sweater, Trina Turk skirt, BCBG Max Azria belt, Ralph Lauren boots

I received another email that I’ve sold another product on redbubble! I am on my way to actually getting a check from them. You have to sell tons in order for it to add up. If you are interested, find your favorite here.

IMG_20160517_083017 — Lucky Brand cardigan, Banana Republic dress, BCBGeneration sandals

I have not been to any other art receptions/shows since the one at the View and I’m waiting for the curator to send me pictures from the art exhibit in New Jersey. I will post them as soon as I can. I cannot get down there until at least the end of next month. That is when school is out for the summer! I think there are twenty-three school days left. Yes, exactly that.

IMG_20160520_090521 — Bailey 44 silk top, Calvin Klein jeans, BCBGeneration sandals

OMG, I cannot stop checking my phone. I am obsessed. I think I have been on Facebook and Instagram every five minutes today, like a total nerd. I am sure I will adjust to this newness unless…. Should I buy more cases? It was hard to decide which one to pick. Yeah, that would be cool to have phone cases that match each #ootd.

IMG_20160518_084308 — Berkeley Cashmere cardigan, Sophie Tashkovski yoga top, Banana Republic skirt, BCBGeneration sandals

art education, fashion, Karen Tashkovski

Classroom Tashionista

Image May 10, 2016 Karen Tashkovski Leave a comment

JCrew blazer, BCBG Max Azria top and pants, BCBG Generation sandals

Lucky Brand top, BCBG Max Azria pants, BCBG Generation sandals

Here are my most recent #ootd pictures. I am grateful for Katy Conden, my fellow art teacher, work colleague and all around bestie who has been taking such good pictures with my Samsung Galaxy 6. She makes it so fun to vogue it up every morning.

I am getting my hair done more frequently these days. Amanda LaDue at Miracles in Fayetteville, NY is a true miracle worker. She has single-handedly transformed my look. The other day one of my work colleagues told me that I look younger now than I did ten years ago when we first started working at the middle school together! That is so sweet!

Banana Republic cardigan vest, Bailey 44 top, INC pants, Nine West sandals

It is such a thrill to get such positive responses on Facebook and on Instagram as well, where a lot of other fashion bloggers are giving me kudos, most notably the local fashion sylist, Jackie Terribile (@thesmalltownstylist) She is a friend of my little sister. Jackie blogs about the Syracuse fashion scene and does some guest hosting on a local morning show.

I am a lot older than the typical fashion blogger so, yes, it is all so flattering and wonderful. I am empowered by Madonna’s statement about her Met Gala outfit and the idea that age should not even be relevant when it comes to fashion, beauty and all that.

Coach headband, Lord & Taylor cardigan, BCBG Max Azria top, Banana Republic skirt, Nine West boots

The above picture was taken by Roberta Mou, the Home & Careers teacher (when Katy was absent one day). Note the kitchen background. I am never normally in a kitchen, lol. I never cook except to make cupcakes once and a while for the art talks we have at school.

BCBG Max Azria dress, Ralph Lauren boots, Fossil bracelets

I wore this white dress on a day I was demonstrating an India Ink lesson! I wore two smocks. In my defense, I love this dress and I can’t just stare at it in my closet and not wear it once and a while. I am going to an event at the end of the month that has a dress code – resort casual – and this dress is perfect except for the color. It is literally never appropriate to wear white to anything wedding-related unless you are the bride.

Honora necklace, BCBG Max Azria T-shirt, knit top and leggings, Ralph Lauren boots

Vintage necklace, JCrew cardigan, Bailey 44 top, Calvin Klein jeans, Nine West sandals

Nine West asked to repost the above picture on their website and on their Instagram account. Those sandals are my most recent purchase. They are so comfortable. They come in two other colors – emerald green is one of them. They have a zipper in back and a gladiator style lace-up in front. I love the support this style offers!

Free People cardigan, Trina Turk top and pants, Nine West sandals

Vintage necklace, BCBG Max Azria dress, Nine West booties

The beaded cross necklace – my mother got it from the Indian Village at the New York State Fair in the 1940s. I am in love with it! I built many of my outfits in the past two weeks around this blue, gray, beige and gold color scheme.

BCBG Max Azria T-shirt, Lucky Brand top, 7 For All Mankind jeans, Nine West booties

Now that the school fair is over, it is pretty much smooth sailing until the end of the school year. Hopefully, the backgrounds in my #ootd pictures will improve, meaning I will start cleaning the room and putting away unnecessary supplies. (Sure I will.) And then before we know it, it will be summer vacation!

Yeah, I guess I am not a typical fifty-something, lol. No cooking or cleaning, but a big yes to a stress-free aesthetic in four-inch heels.

Free People cardigan, BCBG Max Azria dress and belt, Calvin Kliein jeans, BCBG Generation sandals

Michelle DaRin jewelry bracelet, BCBG Max Azria top and pants, BCBG Generation booties

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Visual Artist