Last Saturday night was the Art Experience gig. The whole day was a blur, and between that and a crazy day Sunday, I’ve managed to pelt myself with a bunch of random thoughts about my “coming out party” (as Judi Harrison called it). Time to clear my head and make some sense of it.Picking the pieces for the show was easy. I knew that there would be at least one other photog at the show, and that she did mostly portraiture. I am more in to what I call “situational portraiture”–capturing the world around us and the people in it. I guess you could call it street photography or photojournalism or whatever, but that doesn’t really capture the nature photography part of what I like to do. Picking the sizes and framing options was excruciating. I wanted to be sure to have a lot of options. I settled on 4 nature pieces that were 10x15, linen textured, mounted on 2mm styrene, but not matted or framed; 2 pieces at 11x14 that were linen textured and mounted on 3/4" foam standout (similar to gatorfoam) ready for hanging; a 16x14 on 3/4" standout; the Zoom Zoom picture on a 20x30 gallery wrap canvas; the Warhol’s Chevy prints mounted on double-weight matboard, matted with white acid-free mats, and framed in flat black frames (I forget the dimensions); the three Faces of Hollywood prints 8x8 in large, brushed nickel frames with ivory matboards (again, I forget the dimensions); and 2 5x7's matted and framed. I ordered about half the photographs from Mpix and half from White House Custom Color (which I love for their standouts and textures). I ordered the two 5x7's from Mpix and tried their custom framing. I was pleased. Their frame selection is not too shabby and their turn around time is pretty quick, too. I had the rest of the framing done at Hobby Lobby. I picked the pre-fab frames (not the open-back ones) and the mats (they have surprisingly few acid-free boards on hand), they did the assembly. They messed up one of the Warhols, but they fixed it and they turned out quite nice. This being my first show, and with the economy being iffy, I didn’t want to invest a lot of money in framing.
Set up was Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I got there about 10:00, thinking I’d be finished in about an hour. Ha. I walked out about 1:15 after two trips to Wal-Mart to get more table top easels. (A hint–those cheap little plate easels? They suck. Get the easels that have the flat horizontal cross-bar to put a picture on. Trust me.) One thing I was worried about was lighting.
Once I got set up I knew I needed more light than what was going to be in the room. Fortunately, I was lined up on a wall with a 4-way outlet, so I brought a couple of lamps from the house and put them on either end of the front table. There was also a pillar out in front of the table with a 4-way outlet at the end of a conduit from the ceiling. I took a work light with a clamp and aluminum reflector and plugged it in and clamped it up about 7 feet up, pointed down onto the display. Rock and roll.Showtime was 6:00 p.m. I had a ton of traffic, and met lots of fun people. It was really gratifying to share the stories behind the photographs with people who seemed genuinely interested to hear them. Being situated about 25 feet from the main bar didn’t hurt, either. At the end of the evening, I sold 4 pieces, gave out a lot of cards, answered a bunch of questions, gave out blog and flickr page addresses, was asked questions about what I had in my collection dealing with sustainability (I have obviously ignored my prior interest in stock photography–gotta fix that). I had no expectations, and came away with a wealth of information on the process of showing art. It was a great party.
I have a lot of people to thank. I’ll just go in order. First, I have to thank Judi Harrison for believing in me and my work. Were it not for her, I never would have known about this event. More than that, Judi is the person who pitched me to Jennifer Koon, the artist coordinator for Art Experience. Judi is a dear, dear friend and a wonderful artist in her own right, and she gently nudged (ok, shoved) me out of my comfort zone and into the semi-public eye. Next, I owe a big thanks to Jennifer Koon and the Art Experience committee people for taking a chance on me. I was up front in telling Jennifer that I had never done a show before and that I had no clue what to do. Undaunted, Jennifer invited me to be a presenting “artist with collection.” Jennifer and the Art Experience volunteers were at the artists’ disposal during setup. Really, a first-rate group of people to work with. Rex and Dalas Warr loaned me the easels I needed, without which I would have really been in a panic. Beth Cook at B La Rue loaned me some glass blocks and shelves to elevate things on the table and added a little personality to my tables. Many of you have offered your congratulations, encouragement and suggestions about what to show, and I greatly appreciate the input, support and encouragement you have given me; I have the greatest friends! Finally, and most importantly, my wife Julie has really been amazing about this whole project. In the early weeks, I had a lot of late nights trying to figure things out, and that meant many mornings of not getting up and hanging out with her (or just plain not getting up). She’s been very supportive and encouraging, which for me is very fulfilling. Despite having every right in the world, she has not complained at all about all the time and wheel-spinning I’ve spent on this endeavor. What else can I say? Thanks, babe.
After I hang up some of the remaining pieces on the walls around the house, I need to find a couple of galleries to hang some stuff in. Beth Cook has offered to let me hang some things in B La Rue, which I should have up in time for Art Walk. One of the artists suggested I look into Poor Richard's in Rogers, so the next time I’m down that way I’ll go look. Of course, now I need new material. Time to get out and shoot.
