Evelyn Arvey
Author
Available on Amazon
Smashing Pottery and Other Creative Obsessions: Memoir of an Artist
Everyone loves art fairs. Amazing handmade art. Great food. Exhilarating ambience. But do you know what goes into participating in one? Evelyn Arvey does.
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In her ground-breaking memoir, Smashing Pottery and Other Creative Obsessions: Memoir of an Artist, Evelyn Arvey chronicles her struggles and her joys as she finds her place in the world of fine art fairs. Having no idea what she is doing, Evelyn launches her career at the Bellevue Art Fair—the biggest, most competitive show in the Pacific Northwest.
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Although she barely makes it through the rigors of her first art fair, she adores every thrilling minute of it and realizes that she’s found her path in life. She continues applying to—and being accepted into—juried art shows, careening from art medium to art medium, loving them all: Batik Eggs. Ceramic dinnerware. Ceramic beads. Woven silver chains. Fabricated jewelry.
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Unquenchable artistic curiosity is a key to Evelyn’s success, along with a solid support system of family and friends. Her husband, Richard, encourages her, teases her, and inspires her every step of the way as she becomes the artist she is meant to be, with the art career she is meant to have.
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With humor, honesty, artistic insights—and eleven amusing step-by-step “art projects”—Evelyn invites you along with her to experience the joys of creativity and her first five years as a professional artist.
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Available on Amazon
“GRAYLAND has left a big impression in my mind and heart. It’s truly an original, fascinating, and inspiring piece of work.”
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—Alan Rinzler, former Associate Editor of Rolling Stone Magazine
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“So vibrant and full of life. This made me believe in the power of creativity to overcome the impossible.”
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—Susan Whiting Kemp, author of “The Climate Machine”
The Architect of Grayland
Elaine, a modern-day woman, is abducted by elite Historical Anthropologists of the far-distant future. Spirited forward through time to their university laboratory, she is locked into a vast, empty, gray habitat built for the study of “primitive” humans.
Elaine awakens in this appalling place, alone, naked, and terrified. She has no idea that a hidden audience of university students is studying her every move. Forced to create food, clothing, and shelter using nothing but her ingenuity and her bare hands, she fights a constant battle to survive and maintain her sanity.
Desperately lonely, Elaine searches for other people. After a journey across the featureless gray landscape, she locates two fellow captives: Marc, who might be her soulmate; and Adam, a brilliant but troubled fifteen-year-old. Together, they form a precarious yet vibrant and supportive community of three.
But now Elaine is about to lose it all. The Historical Anthropologist in charge of the experiment, Professor Mirri Daaha, is methodically destroying Elaine's carefully constructed world to study how her “primitive” test subjects will react to escalating threats to their existence. Elaine must confront the Professor and ultimately bring herself, Marc, and Adam safely home.
We Grew Tales
A Collection of Short Stories
We Grew Tales is a collaboration of creative storytelling by three Northwest authors, Evelyn Arvey, Nancy Bonnington, and Susan Whiting Kemp. They present short stories of speculative fiction, memoir, and literary tales, in a wide range of styles and subject matter. The variety is what makes this collection so enjoyable to read!
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A selection of Evelyn Arvey's stories from "We Grew Tales":
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"Celebrating Sidney" — a mother and her thirteen-year-old daughter celebrate new womanhood.
"Quicksand" — a family travels to the Amazon and must deal with an emerging, frightening disease.
"Jesus on a Rocking Horse" — a disabled woman and a homeless man see an image of Jesus in a dirty alleyway.
Stories From our
Center:
Lives Challenged by MS
Edited by Evelyn Arvey
In March 2020, the Swedish Hospital Multiple Sclerosis Center in Seattle, WA sponsored. univerity-level creative writing class called "Finding Your Voice in Writing" taught by Evelyn and Richard Arvey.
Over the next eighteen months, six talented writers shared, critiqued, and published a wide variety of candid, heart-felt, raw memoir pieces and short stories.
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The result is this book.