I'm happy to announce that three of my wire art portraits will be on display at the Sacramento Poetry Center in the "Writer's Brush" show, in February!

My wire art will be on display at SacPoetry Center's art gallery from Dec. 8th to Jan. 21st as part of the show featuring Milton Bowens' social justice paintings. If you are in the Sacramento area, consider attending the Second Saturday Art Walk event in Sacramento on Dec. 8th and stop by to see me! The Facebook page has more info.

I was pleasantly surprised, recently, by an invitation to display some of my wire art at the SacPoetry Center's art gallery. My work will hang from December 1st through January 22nd during a featured showing of paintings by social justice artist, Milton Bowens.

My small wire portraits are inspired by strong, quiet women in literature and in silent films, while my mobiles capture humans in the act of flying. I'm not sure at this time how many pieces will be on display, but I will post an update closer to the opening date.

In September, I began my second wire art project (my first is here) which was to form wire figures inspired by my family members caught in "flying" poses from my photographs and use them to create a wire mobile. I finally finished my "People Caught Flying" mobile today and hung it. It was so much fun to make, especially the evening I worked on it at a friend's house when a group of artist friends got together and worked on art, which we hope to continue monthly. Here's a photo history of my process:

My new Middle Grade short story, "The Secret Zoo," is in the latest issue of Hunger Mountain, the VCFA Journal of the Arts! "The Secret Zoo" is set in occupied Warsaw and inspired by true events in young Rys Zabiniski’s life. Check it out here!

While in the Mowen Solinsky Gallery in Nevada City, CA last weekend, I was inspired by Diane Komater's wire art to try my hand at making my own wire art. I bought a variety of pliers and wire cutters and I'm using dark annealed steel wire, 1mm (19 gauge). I'm finding it a little difficult to bind the wire neatly to the frame and would like to find a more flexible wire for the image, but have enjoyed my first three attempts.

The first piece was inspired by my recent reading of The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan, and the second was inspired by watching Greta Garbo in her debut, a silent movie, "Saga of Gosta Berling," a surprisingly complex and moving film with a beautiful score, and a later film, Queen Christina, in which Garbo portrays a cross-dressing Swedish Queen. The third piece was inspired by an early silent film actress, young Maude Fealy, whose intense looks sometimes remind me of a main character in one of my stories.

I find that creating something that requires my complete focus and uses my whole body and mind in concentrated energy is very satisfying. But god, how my fingers ache.

It's a new year, and I'm starting it off with a new website! http://christylenzi.com/

We spent part of our Thanksgiving break in San Francisco, where I took the kids bike riding from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. Directly under the bridge is a Civil War era building called Fort Point, which is open to the public. We rambled all over it and watched the surfers under the bridge. The views along the bike trail were breathtaking. I'm thankful to live in such a beautiful place and be able to share it with my loved ones. And when we got home, I was thankful to get these beauties, which have a story by... me!

My friends, I hope you are having a happy Thanksgiving and savoring every minute. Enjoy!

Want to read an adventure tale about a clever, kick-ass girl? The excerpt of my MG story, Forty Thieves and a Green-Eyed Girl, is in the latest issue of Hunger Mountain journal of the arts! While you're there, check out fellow category winners of the Katherine Paterson Prize as well as the interesting and thought-provoking piece, "Writing from Both Sides of the Brain" by my friend Kelly Barson.

Once a year in the fall, Hunger Mountain Journal of the Arts publishes a print edition which is sent to subscribers and sold in bookstores around the country. This annual issue is also sent for consideration to prestigious awards committees, such as the Pushcart Prize, for literary magazines and short stories.

So you can imagine how happy I was to learn that Stone Field, the excerpt of my YA novel, was selected as one of five Children/YA pieces to be included in the big beautiful print edition! Not only that, two of the other four pieces, both non-fiction, were written by my EMLA sisters, Jennifer Ziegler and Clare Dunkle! I'm so excited and look forward to having this year's edition, Hunger Mountain Managerie, in my hands soon!

Yesterday I was told that my middle grade novel excerpt was selected as a runner-up in the 2011 Katherine Paterson Prize and placed first in the Middle Grade category! The prize, named after Newbery Award-winning author Katherine Paterson, was judged this year by National Book Award winner, Kimberly Willis Holt. Holt says this about my excerpt:

The opening of the story manages to show a lot without the reader feeling overburdened. I quickly cared about the main character because of the way she interacted with her brother on page one. And because I cared about her, my heart pounded for her when she was in peril. That's important when trouble comes so early in a story. Some writers expect readers to care just because the main character is in trouble, but you have to care about them first. This writer accomplishes that.

Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's nature art, we recently joined friends at an environmental art event in Berkeley's Thousand Oaks Park organized by Zach Pine, a talented local environmental artist. It was pure fun. Using stones, shells, flowers, bark, and other natural objects, we created spontaneous artistic expressions around the park. Footage of people and creations from the event were included in a short film (below) that was shown at the Berkeley Community Media’s Summer Shorts Movie Jam.






Around 0:59, Josh's friend, Max, talks abut artistic expression and later you can hear Alan speak as well. Look for glimpses of Josh, Noah, Alan and me and the final shot of my piece, "Free Speech"!