Old Shoes in Belmar

Tonight was the opening for the first show of the year in Belmar, and the theme is Old Shoes.  Between  the holidays and school stuff I had no time to create something new for the occasion, but luckily I had an old piece in stock that fit quite well.

Back in 1994 while in grad school I started my Everyman series, my second largest series overall (around 80 and counting) and my widest exhibited and collected series.  ST LAMBERT was part of that original group completed in Carbondale and shown in my MFA exhibition in 1995.  The short version of his story is that he was a 7th century bishop from what is now Belgium.  A political dispute caused him to be thrown out of his office for several years, and for a while he was staying in a nearby abbey.  One evening he let his shoe drop to the floor loudly, which caused the abbot to demand that whoever had done that should go outside and kneel before the cross outside the church, and pray for forgiveness.  Lambert was not one to put himself above others, so obeyed.  Later the abbot learned that he had forced the bishop out into the cold and quickly went out to bring him back inside.  The shoe in the image is a leather work shoe that I owned at the time.

The first show of the year is done in a Salon format, so the artists are invited to talk about their piece for a few minutes.  I basically told the above story.  Some of the artists talked about process.  They kept it moving, so we got through it in about a half hour.  I am the blogger for the BAC so taking photos is my unpaid job, and it was very  difficult tonight with this huge crowd.  Not complaining because it's good to see so many interested people.  More photos from the reception can be seen at the BelmarArts blog.

My piece as it appears in the show itself.  If you want to see it in person, drop by the gallery before January 29th.