Art Comes, Art Goes

Haven't done much new art over the past week, but art is never far from my life.

Last weekend I took care of something at the Boatworks, the headquarters of BelmarArts.  For a few years now we have had glass cases in the back gallery room, which are used to hold art pieces for sale, created by members.  As part of the redistribution of responsibilities, long time member Jim Aberle is now in charge of the "store" and sent me an e-mail offering me a chance to put some small prints in the case. (somewhere between an offer and a request)  What struck me as the best thing for this situation was some of my mini-saint prints, made years ago for sales and things like this.

The above photo shows some of these at a small works sale, in a rack that I acquired long ago, from a store closing sale I believe. The problem was that I didn't know where the prints were, or the blocks that made them for that matter.  I suspected that they were in the Manasquan basement, but finding them would probably require a major excavation of all the junk that's been piled up down there.  Then I was surprised to find about a dozen packaged prints (mat backing boards, typed labels, comic book bags and tape) in a box in my living room, more than enough for this purpose.  (still more missing, so that basement excavation will have to happen eventually) Traded e-mails with Jim for a few days working out the specifics, and then last weekend I dropped off 3 prints as requested, and the inventory form, at the Boatworks.  The work will be there for 3 months, with me being able to replace anything that sells with more of the same.  No official "opening", but there is a brief holiday sale that may bring people in.

Meanwhile, I had a print workshop series scheduled to start there on Wednesday, but promotion was not as good this time, or maybe it's that we are getting close to the end of the year, but no one signed up as of the first day, so we decided to cancel the class.  If I can find a good time slot, I may try to offer it again in the spring.

I know that the Tenants exhibition we have in the Studio building in Ocean Grove is scheduled to end this weekend, but we have received no notice to come pick up our works.  I may need one for another show in the spring, so I stopped by this afternoon to get some information and measure the size of the frame.  I don't know what was going in the building, but the main parking lot was full.  Someone must have left early because there was one parking space.  Since one is all I need, I grabbed it, went inside, and found not much going on.  The art show is still up, no one was in the office, and no events were going on there on the 1st floor.  Took care of my measuring business, and started working my way home.  Just a week ago my classroom was hot and humid, and opening all the windows did no good, but today was like full winter- ambient temperature well below normal for this time of year, plus sustained winds made outside feel like around freezing.  Glad to be done with errands and get home.

Actually I was in the building earlier this week for another meeting, regarding the print exhibition planned there for February.  Questions were answered, plans were made, and we still seem to be on track for the February opening of the show.

Took care of one more thing from the comfort of my apartment, information for an upcoming show.  Back during the faculty show last month I was asked if I'd be willing to participate in another one in the spring, off campus this time.  It seems we were invited by the Long Beach Island Foundation of Arts and Sciences to show in their gallery, part of a rotational thing involving college faculty around the state.  Besides being a regular exhibiter, I was also sought for this because I'm a shore area resident.  Actually LBI is still about an hour away from where I live, but I am probably a lot closer than those faculty who live near Union, not to mention those up in New York, and we will probably be expected to deliver our own work to the gallery.  As with the last faculty show, everything is being coordinated through an online document edit, which as of tonight shows a roster that is pretty much the same as that faculty show, but only about 4 or 5 people (including me) have so far put information  on the form. The deadline is still a few days away, so maybe more will be coming, or maybe more works will be requested.  I'll post details when I know them.