Celtic Cross

Today Mike erected a Celtic Cross he carved out of local granite. Check it out.

Mike's gig

Here are a few pics and a very short video from tonight's gig. I have an older digital camera and I only get about 14 seconds of action at a time. The gig was held in Athens at The Melting Point.

gig in Athens

If you're in the area, you can catch Athens A-Train Band at the Melting Point Thursday, July 17th, 7:00pm. Come on out and catch some jazz.

art with the neighbors

We like to let neighbor kids come by and make art. Today they worked with air dry clay.

some flowers blooming today

There is a huge drought in Georgia. I hear rumbling in the distance. Rain is coming. Yay!! Here are some flowers that are blooming in our backyard right now.

some of our stuff

About Stephanie

I'm an actor, writer, pysanky artist, palmist. I've written a tongue-in-cheek salute to the poetry slam entitled, "Disgruntled Fumes". The character with the saw is Marva who recites her poetry while playing the musical saw. You can also see me in the upcoming film, "White Lightnin'". I play Birty Mae, Jesco's mom. Warning...the film is not for the weak stomached.

My writing partner, Lisa Mende, and I have an original two-woman show, "It Was Open Mic Nite At Ye Olde Rustic Inn". Pictured are the Scmeckle Sisters from said show. To see and hear the Schmeckles in action you can visit myspace.com/yeolderusticinne

I love making pysanky (Ukrainian eggs) and egg jewelry which I cut from goose egg shell. The folklore and symbolism involved in pysanky sucked me in and I haven't stopped making them since I started 14 years ago.

About Mike

Mike's been making art since he was a kid. We were friends in high school and he was always
making something. Back then he made miniature furniture. For a while he was sculpting limestone. Now he sculpts stone, granite, wood...whatever he can get his hands on. A lot of his stuff is mixed media. He'll find an interesting piece of metal or a nice pair of marbles or some tin and want to incorporate into something he's working on.

He's also a jazz musician. He plays sax. He used to play in a band called "Donkey". Anyone remember Donkey? They were around in the 90s. They were great. (OK, just to be clear, I, Stephanie am writing this. I LOVED them.) He plays in several bands now. One is the Tiny Jazz Arkestra, a great jazz trio. Another is Athens A-Train, a jazz band with a female singer...great at weddings.

Mike is completely self-taught. He just starts in, with no particular plan, and carves. It amazes me that a granite Madonna can come out of a guy who's never taken a lesson in his life.

Our house

Here's some photos of our house.....the front door, the hallway and various looks kitchen.....the kitchen window, the sun in the ceiling, and a look at the kitchen window from the outside of the house.

It's my first day

Hey, I'm Stephanie. I'm creating this blog so folks can learn a little more about Carlton ART Factory. My husband, Mike, sculpts and plays sax. I make pysanky and am a professional actor. You can see our work at carltonartfactory.etsy.com or www.pysankyjewels.com

We bought an old (1920s) house that had termite damage and a lot of problems. Mike tore out almost everything and has put in new floors (some of them slate and tile), new windows, torn out walls, etc. and has made us a great place to live and create art. He built a granite herb garden in the backyard. That's also where some of his bigger pieces hang out. Here's a little peek at it.




Mike creates wood, stone and mixed media sculpture. Here he is in action.

I've got to go mix up a bunch of dyes. I'm teaching a pysanky class tomorrow. So not much time to learn about blogging. But, it's a start. I'll be leaving posts about our art, our performances and maybe some of the adventures of the neighborhood or stories of our son who is living in Japan.....