Back to the Boardwalk

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy's arrival here in New Jersey.  It was at 2:00 pm on the 29th that my power went down, and stayed that way for 8 days.  It was the largest such storm in history (this country anyway), and though much work has been done up and down the shore to  repair and rebuild, the job is not done.  Everyone was affected to some extent, and I'm still feeling the effects in a number of ways.  For example, I haven't completed a new print in my boardwalk series in over a year.  Not because I can't get there to gather material, but because having to deal with fall out from the storm has taken up what had been art making time.  Some of the creative things I've been involved with are related- this table project of the past few months is a post-Sandy community building and healing project, and a saint print I did in the spring was inspired by hurricane relief efforts.  One of my goals for 2014 is to get that series going again, finishing the one I have mostly drawn and a few more from the planned list of ideas.

However, I got back to my boardwalk prints in a way recently with my involvement in an art show of sorts.  A local artist I've known for years (long before this blog existed) talked me into submitting work for the 71st Annual Exhibition of Audubon Artists, an arts group that operates out of the Salmagundi Club in New York.  For the moment their headquarters is undergoing renovation, so shows are being done strictly online.  I'm not big on the idea of an online show (I have hundreds of works online 365 days of the year), though it does save me from having to transport framed art up to the city.  And a bunch of other BAC artists have participated recently, so I sent in an image and a check.  I decided to go with my wheel game image, which won last year's big annual juried show in Belmar, and was recently part of my contribution to the Rahway show this past spring.  Work for this show was chosen by jurors for each medium, and so I was in the Graphics category, and knew I was in a few weeks ago. Awards were chosen by outside jurors, two people from the curatorial staff at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, specifically the prints, drawings, and photography department.  Today I got confirmation that I received an award, something called "The Old Print Shop Graphics Award".  It doesn't come with a medal like the top awards, but there's a nice check, which comes in very handy right now.  Two prizes in two years- I guess I can consider this print a success.