Black and White in Belmar

Another week without getting any new artwork done.  I did write out and mail a few more of my Christmas cards.  Put in a lot of work preparing a syllabus (which means planning the whole semester) for a class that I last taught 6 years ago, but may have a couple of sections of this coming semester.  And since I was asked to help coordinate the postcard for the planned Award Winners show in Belmar, the past few days have been a lot of e-mails gathering photos and distributing information between the group and our card designer.

I was also in Belmar today, but that was for a show that opens next week.  A lot of work (post hurricane clean up) has been put in over at the Boatworks, and it looks like the place will be ready to go for our first show of 2013, called Black and White.  All media, members salon, with the only rule being the work must be black and white.  (grays are ok, too- I was asked to look into that)  By my records, I've shown something like 45 works there over the past several years, leaving me not much recent work that I haven't shown there already,   However I still have a bunch of stuff scattered around my apartment that I rescued from the flooded basement in Manasquan, things that are too old for me to put into a typical juried show, but would work for this show.

The older piece of the pair is the one shown above, Extravagnza, which goes back to grad school.  During my first semester there, Eddie, one of our gang of Scottish grads, decided to take the following semester off to go back home and make some money.  On his last night in America, a group of us went over to the 24 hour Corner Diner (about a block from the Glove Factory, our studios) for an all night art event. The others brought pencils, watercolors, but I brought an odd piece of soft thin wood that my professor had given me with vague instructions to do something with it.  So while Eddie was working on something, I did a portrait sketch of him, and then got out my tools and started cutting.  Gradually the others faded away, but I decided to just keep going until I finished cutting the block.  Since the following morning I was scheduled to be the assistant in two consecutive printmaking classes, I decided  that I might as well stay there and have my usual large Thursday morning diner breakfast, then head off to class.  I was able to keep going just fine until I got to my film history (focus on gangster films) class in the afternoon.  No problems sitting through the introductory lecture, but once the lights were turned off to watch the film, I was out.  Printed an edition of the block the next day to distribute to all those at our diner art session.

My other piece (below) is the 19th print in my ongoing supermarket series.  One of the more literal images.  Walked over to the tiny, ancient supermarket in town to pick up something I needed to make dinner, and as I was looking in the Italian cheese section I noticed that a spider had found time to spin a large web across the cooler shelf.  The place wasn't exactly loaded with busy shoppers.

Like I said, this is a member salon show, so all the artists in attendance (all wearing black and white) will be given a few minutes to present their work to the assembled crowd, and take a few questions, if there are any.  The salon / opening reception will be next Saturday, January 19, 2013, from 5 to 7 pm.  Don't know what gallery hours will be over the next few weeks, so if you want to see the show, come to the opening.