Ramblin' Guy

Today was a day spent travelling around the state on various art business. First up today was a trip to Rahway to deliver my part of the "Relief Printing: Contrasting Surfaces" show. Curator Steve McKenzie had asked me to contribute 9 pieces to the show, based on his visit to the Studio several months back. These were my 3 large pieces (all 24"x36") and 6 of my supermarket prints. Didn't have to do much to prepare- reframed 2 of the supermarket prints last night (would have been 4 if I had these prints that had been in Iowa were available when I needed work for PCNJ in January) and packed them all into one of my shipping boxes. Loaded all the stuff in my vehicle this morning, and after a couple of stops in town, took the long drive up the Parkway. Arrived at the Arts Guild of Rahway exactly on time. I brought my pieces in and got them unwrapped. Molly turned up about 10 minutes later, having made a wrong turn at one point. Met the guys from the gallery, and a few of the other artists who were also dropping off work. A pleasant surprise was seeing Donna Gustafson there, picking up work from the previous show, which she had curated. Donna was the director of exhibitions at the Hunterdon Museum several years back and a fan of my work, having given me a solo show there back in 2004. That one was also mostly supermarket prints. Today she had a chance to see a few new pieces of mine, still leaning against the wall. She also mentioned that she had considered inviting me to put a piece in the show that had just come down, one that it turns out will be in this one.

When I took care of all my business there, I worked my way back to the Parkway, then down to 440/I-287. Stopped off for a snack, then back to the interstate, to route 22, and then arriving at the Printmaking Council around 12:30. They were open for business, preparing for the opening of a new show. I brought in all the stuff I had used to wrap/carry my prints to Rahway, now using them to wrap and pack the work I was picking up- 5 prints, 3 of which were copies of prints I had just dropped off. I ended up hanging around a while, helping put together some catalogs, discussing some upcoming shows (exhibition committee business), dropping off the entry form for the upcoming Humanity show, etc. From there, the long ride home, having covered about 140 miles when I was done.