All Good Things Must Come to an End

Yesterday was the last official day of my recent show in Belmar, and I was told that it had to all come down this weekend.  Another show is scheduled to arrive for this week. Given a choice I want wth Saturday.

I had been told when it was offered that I would be responsible for installation and taking it down, including repairing any effects on the walls.  As part of the redecoration of the room, a pair of parallel wooden strips was installed on the main wall, and I got verification that I was supposed to hang work from these.  No problem, in fact probably better than having to nail hooks into and repair drywall.

Taking down the works was easy, all on wires hanging from hooks.  Next step was removing the hooks.  Got the 6 foot folding ladder from the store room, and I had brought a hammer for home with a claw for pulling nails and such.  Problem is that first one I tried did not want to come out of the wall.  Got a set of pliers (the nail head was lost early and the hammer claw had nothing to get hold of) and still had to make a lot of effort to pull that small nail from the wall. The hook had come off easily, and with a lot of tries, most of the nail was removed.  (a short piece remained buried in the wood) Luckily the other 3 hooks came down very easily.  There was a small plastic pail of spackle and a putty knife in the closet, so patching the tiny holes made by the brads was very simple, and there was a large can of the red paint for the walls in the big closet.  I had brought a small paintbrush with me, and touched up the repeated areas quickly.

And now the empty red wall was back.  Probably spent more time moving furniture than removing art and patching holes- the lounge is way too full of furniture to be a proper gallery.  Couches, coffee tables, tables with chairs,  rocking chairs.  I get the impression that this was partly created as a way of storing unwanted furniture.

While I was there, Diane (our office employee) shared some information that she found unbelievable, but seemed quite plausible to me- We had cancelled the Tuesday class that day at noon for lack of students, and around 4 pm there was a voice mail with a woman asking about joining the class. Over the years a lot of people have decided at the last minute to take a class.  That is why I showed up that night for the planned start, just in case.  As far as I know, no one came that night looking to be part of the class.  Also present today was Dana, one of our co-chairs, and they would really like the class to happen, so I was asked if both the previous student and this new one still wanted the class, could I do it?  I could be prepared if they have the space, so Diane was going to try to reach them by phone and see if it could be worked out.  However, I never did hear anything else today, so I don't know if I have a woodcut class on Tuesday, or starting the following Tuesday, or maybe none at all.

Since Dana was around today, I asked her a follow up question about the idea of a new t-shirt, since my current block is almost done and that would be the logical next project.  What she had told me before was they liked the idea of something that involved sea shells, and they wanted a current BAC logo. (not allowed on the first shirt, by the organization that allowed us to have a t-shirt sale and required the sail boat theme) The problems that the new logo involves multiple colors, and while such things can be accomplished with both blocks and silkscreens, for t-shirt production of such a thing it would require multiple separate ink runs, bringing the cost way up.   As a woodcutter, I am used to achieving such effects with varying the marks used and created, and the pieces I had in the show had many such examples, it seemed a good time to bring it up.  She said she had already been considering that, agreed that a single ink run was what they would want, and said that she had a black and white version of the same logo that they had already prepared- she'd be happy to send it to me today.  Like the woodcut class, I didn't hear from her today either.  My current print project will keep me busy for at least several more days; I'll deal with it some time after that.