Getting the Word Out

Back in mid January we were in the process of putting together a post card to promote the show that is now on display in Belmar.  The other four artists eventually sent an image of a single artwork.  I felt that showing just one panel of my Fourth of July wouldn't give much of an impression of what the piece looks like on a wall, so I selected 6 favorite panels, put them together, and took the above photo.  You won't see these particular prints in this exact order on the wall (these represent dates from September to May), but it carries the idea of a grid of individual images well enough.  The cards were made (you can see it here) and we began to distribute them in the weeks before the show.

Up until this week we hadn't gotten much publicity in the media.  The local weekly that usually covers everything we do declined to give us even a blurb, much less run our full press release.  However a newspaper group that publishes free weeklies around much of the county decided to give our show some notice.  They had received via e-mail copies of all the images used on the card, the file names reflecting the artists.  I received a call at home asking me to supply the titles of these works for use in the article, and it was needed in a couple of hours to meet the press deadline.  As the person who put together the gallery handout I had a list of all the titles in the show, but not necessarily anything to say which image went with each title.  Time to put on my detective hat.  I knew my title of course.  Three of the artists had sent me their work and I still had those files and e-mails.  One put the title in her file name.  Another included it in his e-mail.  The third didn't provide titles, but when in the gallery I noted the title of the piece that ended up on the card.  The fourth artist had sent his image straight to the postcard designer.  I had his written list of 6 titles, but no other information.  I had a photo of his 6 works on the wall, and I did know the titles of two of the works.  Those two titles on the list corresponded to the order those pieces were on the wall.  Hoping that his whole list worked that way, I took the title that would correspond to the image in question, added it to the others, and sent it in on time.  And when I was able to get into the gallery a couple of days later, I learned that I had guessed right.

This media group publishes papers through all of Monmouth county... except the corner of the county which includes Belmar and the homes of most of our members.  I got a call from one former co-worker who said she was able to get one, and we got the word out to our members to find copies, so we'll eventually have it for our files, and then I'll post a photo of the printed version here.  Meanwhile, it is available online, at least for the moment.  It turns out to be a very short story, and only 3 of the artist works are shown, but one is mine, and if it brings a few new visitors to the gallery, it will be worth it.