More of the Usual

For the past few months I have had art on display in Spring Lake, the Upper Gallery in the Community House, an large old brick building that holds the town library, a theater, and some meeting rooms.  Lately there is a push on to use the largest such room as a gallery space (thus the Upper Gallery), which has resulted in me being part of 3 shows there.  The first was a juried show put together by BelmarArts, the second was a group show where artists from the first show were invited to apply, and the most recent show was an invitational of sorts.  It's the Artists/Activists show, organized by a regional artist group where I know many of the members.  I later found that the show started in a gallery (Asbury I think) and then this was the second location, but the Spring Lake locations was much bigger, and some of the art from the original show was unavailable, which is how I got a last minute invite to put some pieces in it.  That show opened back in early December, and the postcard said it was to close at the end of this month.  There was a very nice reception, and I have received complements for my pieces from people who have had a chance to see the show.

I was a little confused when we got e-mail informing us of a closing reception on March 21st, but receptions don't have to be on the first or last day of a show, so I didn't let that bother me, just wrote it on my calendar.  More confusing was the statement that we could take our pieces home that night, or had to come back the next day to pick them up, about 10 days before the advertised end of the show.  (still haven't got an explanation for this)  Still, no problem.  For those not from this area, you need to know that we have had an unprecedented series of snow storms this past month, one a week for the past 4 weeks, and we may not be done yet.  Forecasts called for the biggest one yet on the evening of Wednesday, March 21st.   Actually we had two storms yesterday, a small one of sleet, rain, and other precipitation early, coming from the west, and then later a nor'easter coming up the coast with snow, so technically we've had 5 this month.  (and we may get another one this Sunday) Got a lot of errands done during the first one, then parked my car to wait for the second.  Snow started falling around 3:00, but nothing accumulated until after dark.  But it accumulated big time.  As I expected, the reception was called off by late afternoon, and this was a wise idea.

When I got up this morning, the roads and my parking lot were plowed, but on top of and all around my car was about a foot of heavy wet snow.  At least the sun was out and there was no wind.  No word yet on whether the gallery would be open or if they would change the pick up of work, but I figured I should prepare for any possibility.  Put on my heavy work boots and trudged out to the parking lot to deal with my car.  Took a break after about two hours, checked e-mail and found that the gallery had managed to open today.  So a few minutes later I was back outside, finished the excavation of my car, grabbed a large tote bag to hold my art, and drove down the hill to Spring Lake.   Packed my two pieces, back to the car, and on to the next errand of the day.  The organizer mentioned in e-mails about the show returning to another gallery soon, but I don't know if it's the same work, or another show she's organized.  I guess I'll find out down the road.