Sharing in Ocean Grove

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Molly asking me to forward an e-mail to the members of our critique group.  One of the regional non-profit arts groups (NJ/Eastern PA) that she has worked for, Young Audiences, would be hosting an event in our building in Ocean Grove.  Called Artist to Artist Lunch 'n Share, it would be a gathering of creative types who had worked for them, to have a lunch and a discussion of art, which would include Molly doing a demonstration of silkscreen printing, as she might demonstrate to school students.  The only other thing I knew was that her boyfriend, an occasional professional cook, including the omelet station at a local Asbury bar, would be doing the cooking for the meal.  The event was scheduled for mid day and mid week, so I had doubts as to how many might show up, but I sent it out.

I didn't register for the event, figuring I would just show up, if for nothing else but making sure that my part of the Studio would be in shape, plus free food.  Didn't know exactly what it would be, but I'd eaten Sean's omelets a few times and found them tasty, and if not being registered meant that there wouldn't be food for me, I could just grab a slice across the street and come back.  I got there about 45 minutes before the start, Molly about 20 minutes later.  My table was still semi-organized from the Open Studio event, so I just moved  some large things off and under it, then went up to the 3rd floor for the lunch portion, as Molly was busy clearing off her central table (below).  That is the cleanest that table has been in a few years.  She joined us before food was served.

I had left my bag (and camera) downstairs, so I have no photos of the lunch.  It was up on the newly renovated 3rd floor (where we had the ribbon cutting and dedication brunch last year) and 15 people had signed up, so it looked like there'd be plenty of food.  Steam trays of a south Asian curried chicken and vegetable dish (as well as a tofu version for the soylent crowd), steamed rice, various Thai style condiments, and salad.  Plus a platter of tasty lemon cookies, and iced down beverages.  None of my mailing list was in attendance, but I was sitting with Michelle and Adele, two old friends of the Studio and occasional critique participants.  While there I also met Nanci Hersh, who I had never seen before in person, but with whom I had collaborated on the international post card project in 2010.  The card that she started and I finished can be seen here in all the posts from April 19th to April 29th.  After lunch, Molly showed some digital slides of her work, while others shared poetry, photos, and other related stuff.  From there we led people down to the first floor, where the large displays of our woodcuts were still hanging in the hallway from the WinterArts Festival, then we took the trip down to the basement.

Molly talked about the basics of how screens can be made, with the focus on her low-tech method of creating photo based images.  (photo emulsion + glass coffee table + clamp lights + subject = screen)  She had several screens with photograms of plant images, literally photo silhouettes of leaves, stems, roots, etc, and a few hues of green ink, and showed how easy it was to layer such images on paper or cloth.  Since this is an education based group, it showed how easy it would be to do such a project with school kids, and most of the crowd created a plant image collage to take home.

After everyone left I cranked out a quick proof of a student woodcut for someone in tomorrow's 2D class, cleaned up, and headed home.