Friday, August 17, 2012

retro revival and art fair fun


dancing goat studio is stepping back in time to mid-century decorating. bright orange, robins egg blue, avacado and berry pink paired with cool black make this fall inspired fabric the perfect backdrop to our groovy theme. fun fall leaf ceramic decor finds it's way into the dancing goat and hanging swag lamps make a bright comeback. rustic retreat plaids in red , blue and orange also create a cabin kitsch nook.
the weekend of august 17 and 18 will bring in an artsy fartsy crowd with new london's fine arts fair and music festival. so stop in to say hello and see what's new. there is always so much to see at dancing goat studio!!
 
book purse special orders are starting to come in at dancing goat. consider a funky altered book purse for the gifting season and pick out a perfect one of a kind present for someone special in your life. special orders are easily made via e-mail and photo coorespondence. contact kim at kwendlandt@tds.net for more information.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

summer bounty


typically this is the time of the month that i pre-view fabulous re-design photo's from dancing goat studio, just prior to the second weekend occasional sale. but instead, i am showing pictures of 'what i did instead'.
the motto of dancing goat is to recycle, repurpose and
re-design. at dancing goat the phrase 'earth friendly' is thrown around a lot. often times the term is used to describe the buying of a repurposed book purse or a repainted wood table, instead of buying box store wanna-be's (pleather and pressed wood). the main concept at dancing goat, is the idea that it is better to recycle what we have instead of filling, the already overflowing, landfills with our castoffs. in short the recreating of and finding beauty in the seemingly ordinary and less than perfect.
many of you already know the story behind the name 'dancing goat' but here is a refresher for you and a reminder to myself: i have been teaching papermaking to children through 'artist in residency' programs for 18 years. the kids make paper out of recycled shredded paper from the school offices and together we discuss recycling and how important it is to our environment. during these some 18 years of teaching, my husband, children and i moved to a hobby farm and our first farm animals were goats. we also began an enormous vegetable garden that produced far more bounty than we would ever be able to consume in a summer. often times, tomatoes and zuchinni in the garden would grow too large for consumption and would become 'goat food' for our two crazy goats: butterscotch and baxter. every fall, my husband would clean out the straw (aka goat poop) in the goat pen and cover the garden with it's nourishing goodness. at some point through the years, i realized that being 'earth friendly' was not a new concept. following the first earth day in the 1970's the term 'green' was coined and escalated in status in the 1990's. the idea of being earth friendly was not a term used by farmers through the years, but it has always been a way of life. so the dancing goat studio name, is a nod to what farmers have been practicing for years. so when you drive down a country road and get a wiff of a farmers 'manure pile', understand that he is and always has been the ultimate 'green living' model.
with all this in mind, please forgive me for canning the vegetables in the garden, instead of working diligently on the dancing goat august redesign. we have been open several weekends in a row for special summer events and have worked hard to keep the store restocked at all times. there are many new items, but the new august theme 'retro couture' will be done for next weekend instead, august 16, 17 and 18. of course, unless we have a bumper crop...

moving forward in 2022 dancing goat will be open thursday-saturday beginning may 28th for the summer season. follow us on facebook and insta...