Morning Errands

On my schedule for today was going to Spring Lake to pick up my piece from the art show I have been a part of since late last year, one organized through BelmarArts.  A new show will be replacing it, which I learned of through a notice in the local paper.  I contacted the organizer, sent an image of a piece I had available, and was told they'd be happy to have me in the show.  The original plan was to pick up the saint that I had in the previous show today, and the drop off day for the next one was to be on Sunday.  Then we got an e-mail a few days ago saying that the drop off would be either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  No problem, as the piece was done more than a decade ago and is already framed, but it occurred to me it would be easier if they let us drop off the next one on the same day we pick up the previous piece, and the talk of a major snow storm occupying the state for a few days this week gives another incentive.  

So this morning I brought the piece for the next show with me, leaving it in my car ready to go when I arrived to pick up the previous piece.  It turned out that other artists had the same instinct and new pieces were coming in the door, and with the organizer agreeable, I went back out, taking my old one to the car and bringing back the new one.  

The piece going into the next show (above) is Tenpins the Old Fashioned Way, a print produced originally for a "ten" themed show in South Orange in 2004.  When told that the work must have a "ten" theme, my first thought was of the ten pins of a bowling alley, and the idea would be better served if we put the pins in the foreground.  I thought the most practical approach would be a more old fashioned set up, back when people had to reset the pins between frames, before the massive pin setting machines were invented and installed.  The figures in the distant background are based on an actual photograph I had, from an old Manasquan bowling alley.  (the photographer's information was stamped on the back- phone numbers in those days had only 3 digits) My pin boy and alley set up are made up, based on guesses and descriptions I ran across.  When I dropped it off this morning the organizer mentioned that some grandkids were fascinated by the piece and the concept of people resetting the pins, a system that predates my experience, but that's the way it was.  Anyway, it's a good print, has appeared in other shows, even won an award a few years ago, and since it was in a frame already, seemed a good choice for this show.