Saturday, January 14, 2012

happy happy, joy joy

Today was the opening reception for the 4th annual Joy of Art juried show at the Topsham Public Library's Crooker Gallery, and I'm very happy to say that the turnout was quite good; plus, the live music by Bill and Kate Gray was great! I have two paintings in this show ("This Is The Year" and "Kat's Magical Snapdragon"), and Mandy Russell, a fellow member of Brunswick Art Collaborative (www.mandyrussell.com), has two mixed media pieces on display. Peggy Kapisovsky, also from Brunswick Art Collaborative, stopped by the opening reception to show her support, which is always appreciated! We had a lot of fun chatting and taking in all the different work. The only bummer for me was the fact that there are two typos in the program on my page. They left off the "y" in "Usery", and the price for "Kat's Magical Snapdragon" is listed as $400 instead of $450. Oh well...

Awards were presented by the jurors, but there is still a People's Choice category that hasn't been decided yet...so if you feel compelled to stop by and put my name in the ballot box, please do! The show runs through February 18th, but the People's Choice votes will be tallied up several days before the show's end (there will be a closing reception on the 18th). Here is a link to the Topsham Public Library website: www.topshamlibrary.org.

Friday, January 13, 2012

space...the final frontier

I got a call the other day from my boss, Walter. When I saw his information on the caller ID, I figured it would be a work-related phone call. Not so. He said, "Hey, did you know that Space Gallery is having an unjuried show?" I grabbed a pencil and started taking down notes. "I saw it on Portland Buzz. The time period for entries is still going on, so I bet you could get in." I hung up and immediately ran over to the computer. Yes, he was right: an unjuried show at Space, and the deadline hadn't passed yet! The show is called Free For All, and it's an experimental show. They're opening it up to any and every artist who brings work by during the specific time periods they've set aside. Anyone who submits a piece to this show is in. How cool is that? So, today I dropped off "Believe". It's 12" x 36", so I hope they have an easy time finding a place to hang it. I know I won't be able to attend the opening reception (since that will correspond with the next First Friday Art Walk), but the show runs from Wednesday, January 25th through Friday, March 2nd, so that gives me more than enough time to stop by during their regular business hours. I'm really curious to see what kind of entries they get (and how they decide to hang everything)! If you're curious, here's a link to their website: www.space538.org

Sunday, January 8, 2012

happy new year, happy anniversary!

Well, this month's First Friday Art Walk was a lot busier than I thought it would be! It was the one-year anniversary of my rotating solo shows at the Closet Factory office/showroom, and it was a wonderful night. The traffic flow was heavier than last month's, which was a real surprise, and the people who did make it out were really engaged and paying attention to the artwork I had hanging. My dear friend Jennifer Moscone of Interactive Tarot (www.interactivetarot.net) even had a client come all the way from Bath just to get a reading! Several friends made it out (thank you Erica, Rebecca, and Jen C.), which is always nice, and many of the people who stopped by have become regulars or semi-regulars. I know it's not easy for people to come out when it's cold, so I'm very appreciative when it happens.

I got some wonderful feedback from Art Walkers, too. One little girl (who, with her parents, has become a regular) looked at a new collage and exclaimed, "Forty dollars? That's it? That's a really good price! If I made that, I'd charge five hundred dollars for it!" My favorite quote of the night may have been from Celine, though (by the way, I went to high school with Celine on Long Island and now we both live in Maine...how weird is that?). She walked in and said, "I came tonight because I needed to see COLOR!"