Gobble Doodle

Turkey doodle by Barry Whistler left on my chair
this morning. It's keeping me company today.

Barry is out of town for the holiday, so I'll be running the show today and Saturday. I approved the proofs today for our next two exhibition mailers and am closing in on the press release with our PR extraordinaire, Jeanne Prejean. The Saturday after Thanksgiving is often fairly busy since people are looking for things to do with their families, so hopefully we'll have a crowd. This is the last week of our show, which makes me sad. I have really enjoyed living with this work for the past five weeks.

Field Trip

A studio arts class from the University of Texas at Dallas came by the gallery last week with professor and gallery artist Lorraine Tady to look at Johnnie Winona Ross' exhibition. They asked a few questions about the surface of his paintings so I gave a short explanation of the work and process. Then they asked about me and my background and I blushed terribly.

Package Pro

I make a mean package, I tell you what. Made a couple today for artist Lawrence Lee. Typically, I include a resume, artist statement, some fresh press, an invitation or two with an image, and either a disc with more images or some print-outs. I also include a price sheet depending upon who the package is for. I try to make them interesting, tidy, and concise so that they provide a nice entry point to an artist's work. Epic tomes are the worst.

Cheese!

A portrait of Dan Mendenhall taking my portrait

A super nice student from Texas A&M, Commerce took my portrait with this heavy duty camera the other day. He was making environmental portraits - photos of people in their environment doing what they do. He told me not to smile which is always quite challenging. He took my card, so hopefully he will send or email me a copy like Allison V. Smith always does!

I have been scurrying around making these fancy pants packages on Johnnie Winona Ross and the current show to send to some V.I.P.'s. The price point on Johnnie's work is pretty high, so Barry is really having to coax the sales. Unfortunately, I think this would have been much easier were the economic sky not falling. Nevertheless, Barry is a pro and has been at this for almost 25 years. He's not going to let a little "economic slowdown" stop him.

I'm back

Photo by Allison V. Smith

Everyone is busy, so I have no excuse for my long absence from the world wide interweb. I am new to blogging, but I can only hope that others have experienced dry spells in their blog. However, my blog block has been lifted and I'm walking on the sunny side of broadband street. Let me do my best to get you caught up...

The Johnnie Winona Ross show is still hanging and it's still beautiful. The work is a nice step back from a hectic daily routine. Even if your routine isn't that hectic, this exhibition makes you feel like you oughta slow down a little and appreciate life more. It is quiet, commanding, and demands to be actually looked at for some duration. The paintings were made in such an exposed manner that nearly every visitor inquires about some aspect of Ross' profoundly traditional process. It's nice to have a break from the barrage of visual noise we continually experience.