Yahoo! I finally got the right combination of e-mail address and password to get back into my blog. And you thought I was missing in action.

I've been involved in Artworks Holiday Gallery during the holiday season. This is the third year for the gallery, but my first year as director. What a joy, what a challenge, what a blessing!

The gallery is a co-op of 25 artists from the Fort Wayne area, open only November 1 through January 7. The artists each have their own space in the gallery, which is located in a vacant storefront in the nicest mall in town.

A portion of the proceeds go to benefit Mad Anthonys Children's Hope House, (think Ronald McDonald House on a regional scale).

This is a front view on opening day November 1, 2010. The space is 3500 square feet of beautiful open space devoted to the work of local artists.

Each artist works a minimum of 10 hours a week in the gallery. Some serve on the marketing and promotions team, others freshen displays, plan events, etc. Everyone works the front desk, greeting visitors and explaining our relationship to Mad Anthonys Children's Hope House.

The artwork is juried by a governing board and work is selected to represent a variety of media, with the goal of complimenting the work of others, without being in competition.

This is what the space looked like during set-up. It looked like a lot of open space and I thought we'd never fill it up. Silly me!

Since we are in the space for such a short time, the aluminum tree came down the day after Christmas and we created a bright springy look that is in great contrast to the other stores, still resplendent with holiday decorations. What an eye-catcher!

This is to the left of the front door.

This is to the right of the front door. The big poofy flowers are made from tissue paper. Remember making those as a kid? It works on large scale, too!

The glass dulls the color some. This is how vivid the colors are in real life.

So, welcome back to Muttonhead world. This time, I've updated the user name and password and written them down so I can get into this blog again!! Sigh! Isn't technology wonderful?