Creativity Friday: Closing reception, ON THE ROAD OF BONES

I’m so very close to finishing up this DOOMED QUEENS follow up princess proposal that it’s frustrating — hopefully today! It’s been an amazing amount of work, ut as soon as I think “that’s it!” I find another way to improve it. And I’m the sort of person who can’t let go of a project unless I feel that I’ve done everything I can on it. It’s a blessing and a curse.

In the midst of this, mucho activity is going on at the gallery. The big news is that our current exhibit, On the Road of Bones: Ghosts of the Siberian Gulag Along the Old Kolyma Highway is closing tomorrow. I hope you’ll join us for a last look at this stunning exhibit! The curator will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the coldest place on earth. We’ll also have refreshments. Here are the details:

Saturday, March 5th, 1 – 4 pm
CLOSING RECEPTION: ON THE ROAD OF BONES
Children welcome. Free admission.

About this exhibit: Through photography and mixed media, this exhibition reveals the secret history and natural beauty of Kolyma, formerly the land of Soviet labor camps and the coldest inhabited region in the world. Stunning new works by young native Siberian photographers Bolot Bochkarev, Nastya Borisova, and Ajar Varlamov trace the remains of the vast highway built across the taiga, tundra, and permafrost of North Asia by Stalin’s prisoners. “On the Road of Bones” juxtaposes the events of the hidden past with the power of the frozen landscape and the contemporary lives of people in the far north. Learn more at OntheRoadofBones.com.

This event takes place at:
Kris Waldherr Art and Words studio-gallery
1501 Newkirk Avenue (entrance on Marlborough Road, across from Rite Aid)
http://www.artandwords.com/events.html
directions

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Our next exhibit opens the following Saturday! Here’s the poster for it:

More information to come very very soon—as soon as I get this long-aborning proposal off my desk!

• Filed under creativity, events, friends and colleagues, new projects, queens, studio and gallery | 3 Responses

Creativity Friday: Creative Women’s Networking Salon—and a great review

This has been a crazy week here for me work-wise. I’m in the midst of a giant iPhone 4 Goddess Tarot app which necessitated my enlarging every single graphic for the retina display. There are over 500 graphics in the app—need I write more on how labor-intensive this is? However, the good news is that, along with this graphics update, I’m adding a new feature to the Full version. Soon users will be able to e-mail their Goddess Tarot app readings to each other!

More to come on this soon, along with news about the Goddess Tarot iPad app. But one can’t be all-work-and-no-play all the time: The Creative Women’s Networking Salon is back from summer hiatus tonight.

Here are the details:

Friday, October 8, 7-9:30 pm
Creative Women’s Networking Salon

Are you an artist, writer, or creative entrepreneur and practioner? Come out and meet other like-minded women for conversation, inspiration, and wine. At previous salons, we were joined by photographers, crafters, publishing people, designers, artists, writers, and illustrators. Suggested donation $5 for food and wine.

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In other good news, my two new Doomed Queens-themed card decks just received a euphoric review from The Magical Buffet, a website where spirituality, politics, and pop culture collide most entertainingly. For example, they titled their article about  my decks,  “We Are Not Amused, Actually We Are.” Fun!

Here’s what they wrote:

If you’ve been a regular reader of The Buffet for any length of time you have no doubt heard me shout about how (insert item/person/event/other) is the most awesome thing ever. Every time I feel I’ve encountered what will surely be the coolest thing to ever cross my experience, something new comes to light. That said, today we will be looking at what is surely the coolest, most awesome, most fan-freakin’-tastic thing ever! The Doomed Queens Royal Playing Cards and the companion Ask the Queens Advice Card Deck, both by Kris Waldherr and published by US Games Systems…. Both “Doomed Queen” decks are unique and so much fun! Alone or together, they would truly make gifts that keep on giving.”

Read the rest of the review here. Learn more about these card decks here.

• Filed under creativity, events, queens, tarot and oracles, the world around me | One Response

Doomed Queens: Harrowing Historicals and a review

I have a guest post up on Harrowing Historicals, a month-long celebration of all things spooky and history-oriented. It’s hosted by the lovely Allie (of Hist Fic Chick) and the equally lovely Nicole (Linus’s Blanket). (I was fortunate to have met both of them at Mary Sharratt’s reading  at the gallery earlier this year.) A little about Harrowing Historicals:

Each day of the month at witching hour (12 midnight, EST), Nicole and I will feature a different historical fiction (and a few fun non-fiction!) read that has a Halloween tie-in. Because let’s face it – history is fraught with some scary stuff! Join us for chats on the history of vampires, Queens who died in gruesome ways, what it’s like to consult psychic mediums for historical fiction research, and scary personages like Elizabeth Bathory and Jack the Ripper. It’s going to be an exciting month filled with all things spooky history!”

My guest post is entitled “Let Them Eat … Ectoplasm?” Yup, it’s about the ghost of Marie Antoinette. Thanks to Allie and Nicole for inviting me to participate!

On top of this Allie has also posted a great review of DOOMED QUEENS. Plus there’s a giveaway of sets of Ask the Queens advice cards and Doomed Queens playing cards; info is listed at the bottom of my Harrowing Historicals guest post.

• Filed under be-mused, blogs we read, queens, reviews + press | No Comments

Publishing Monday: Out and about with the Queens

Look what Thea* found at our local Barnes and Noble this weekend.

And in good company too.

And with a lovely new back cover, including a blurb from the New Yorker review.

My literary agent had mentioned that Random House would be doing a special promotion for DOOMED QUEENS, but I thought it would be closer to Halloween. So a nice surprise!

*Yes, I probably have the only five-year-old who knows what a Doomed Queen is. Good thing she’s more into princesses!

• Filed under publications, queens, the world around me | No Comments

Project Catch Up: Doomed Queens card decks

During last month while I was AWOL from this blog, I received some delightful news: My two DOOMED QUEENS-themed card decks are finally available!

To give you a sense of them, the above image was scanned from the publisher’s catalog page. The first deck, ASK THE QUEENS Advice Cards (above left) offers wisdom for women who want to get ahead without losing their heads. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) If you like to play poker, the DOOMED QUEENS Playing Cards (above right) feature a different female regent on each card except for the kings. The kings include Henry VIII and Alexander the Great. I think they lend new meaning to getting a royal flush. (Again, couldn’t resist.)

Both decks are published by U.S. Games Systems, the publisher of The Goddess Tarot and Lover’s Path Tarot. While I still need to add the decks to my online catalog—another task on my trying-to-catch-up list—they can be purchased from Amazon now.

DOOMED QUEENS Playing Cards

ASK THE QUEENS Advice Cards

You can take the ASK THE QUEENS Advice Cards for a test run here. In the meantime, reviews are starting to roll in:

…They are absolutely stunning…. I had a great time asking the Queens for advice.

… It is a charming deck to work with…. I absolutely love this deck because not only is each card full of wisdom and experience it also tells you a bit of information on that particular queen and a little of the history too.

In late October, both decks will also be featured by Allie at Hist Fic Chick and Nicole at Linus’s Blanket as part of their upcoming Haunted Historicals feature. I’ll be writing a guest post for them on a DOOMED QUEENS-related theme. More info to come next month!

• Filed under be-mused, publications, queens | One Response