Faculty Exhibition 2018

Two weeks ago I brought two framed pieces with me to school to loan to the next faculty art show at my university.  I was a little concerned as my chosen pieces were not particularly new, but of the things I had ready to go, I felt they were the best choices.  Since no required dates were given I went with my own criteria- things not shown in that location before and art that could hold a wall well.  Last week we were asked to send titles and such so they could create title cards for the works, and a few days ago they requested that we fill out an insurance form.  Couldn't make the insurance form attached to an e-mail work, so I went with plan B- grab a printed form left in the mail room, fill it out this morning, and leave it in the organizer's box.  Despite delays caused by the 4th major rainstorm this week, I got to school in time to take care of this before class.

The show was scheduled to open today, but as usual, when I arrived the gallery was locked and dark. No problem, as I would be there for several hours anyway.  During a class break I wandered down to the 2nd floor where I found Tino at work on a new woodcut in the print room.  I shared some requested information about tools, and he asked about ways to transition patterns and stuff in his complex composition.  I told him he might find answers in my portrait piece in the faculty show, and the organizer mentioned that she had opened the gallery so people could check it out.  We took a walk down to the 1st floor, and while the lights were on, the gallery doors were locked.  Have to try again later.

About an hour later the organizer stopped by my classroom and mentioned the she had opened the door again (mystified as to who had locked it earlier) and on my next break I collected Tino and we checked out the faculty show.  When I show my work to students, whether it be at the college or in a local class, I always emphasize that it's not because I want them to copy what I've done, but just to show them how I decided to resolve the issue.  His subject and style are very different from mine, but it seemed he was getting ideas looking at my piece from almost 20 years ago.  I'm sure we'll talk more in future weeks.

After my classes were over, I was up on 4 returning the slide projector and ran into another adjunct who has work in the new show.  He had a few general questions, including whether I was planning to hang around today for the opening reception.  I hadn't heard anything about a reception, and told him I was planning to go home after class.  On the way out, I stopped in the gallery and talked to the student watching the place.  She knew nothing of a reception, just planning to lock up when her gallery shift ended a little later, but seemed a little disappointed that one wasn't planned, feeling that the show was good enough that more people should come to see it.  I wasn't surprised at the lack of a reception as the last faculty show we had the school declined to hold a reception or provide refreshments, leaving it up to the faculty to provide whatever we decided to bring in.  We are now fewer in number than we were then, so I'm not expecting anything over the next 3 weeks that the show in on the walls.  I took a few quick photos of my pieces to document my part of the show

and when the gallery student realized who I was, she became very interested in talking to me.  She said she had been very curious about the title of the portrait piece and what it meant, so I gave her a quick version of the story of my model and how I came up with the idea, which seemed to satisfy her.  As long as she was there, I gave her a brief version on the boardwalk story as well.

After all these conversations today, I am no longer worried if my pieces are too old for this show.  Our chair was eliminated years ago and our deans are now in a new building and never set foot in the art building, so no one of consequence is likely to see the thing.  All but a few of the faculty are part time, so we have little interaction.  I figure this show is something for the students to see, and today students who need no grades from me were very interested in the work I showed, so my decisions must have been fine.