Catching Up in Belmar

Tonight was the opening reception for the latest show at the Boatworks, the headquarters for the BAC (formerly the Belmar Arts Council).  I didn't submit anything to the current show (Cornucopia of Color) but I was there to cover it for the BAC blog.  But I know a lot of people there, so I always end up having many conversations.

Early on I had Beverly thank me once again for being so efficient in removing my show from the Lounge gallery and doing such a fine job in repairing the walls. (above- the current show in that space) I told her I had learned from my last such experience.

My last big self hung show in Belmar was my display of the Fourth of July, part of an award from the annual juried show.  Two prints per page, and two push pins per page, meant 366 push pin holes to spackle before repainting the wall. No regrets- it was worth showing. but this time a more minor show on shorter notice.  So I chose to hang only four framed works, so only four hooks to nail up and four to remove and four holes to patch.  That's one way to get done quickly.

Ran into Stan and his wife, both now more active in the BAC, but I knew Stan originally as one of my old woodcut students.  They couldn't make the opening reception, but he said they did see my show while it was up.  He was unfamiliar with my larger size woodcuts.  I pointed out that all four had appeared in previous BAC group shows over the years, but whatever.  Twice he said that they were particularly impressed with the Death on the Highway piece (above).  It's a fine print, always gets a good reaction, which is partly why I chose it for this show.  I mentioned that the full edition was printed and I could easily sell them an unframed copy.  He said they liked it, but....  Such is the life of an artist.

Saw Dana there tonight, one of our current co-chairs, and the one who was present when I took that black and white show down last week.  She's also the one who is interested in having me do a new t-shirt design for the BAC, made some suggestions, and promised to send me a black and white version of the new BAC logo to be part of the design, but I got no e-mail from her.  She apologized profusely, and promised it would arrive soon.  I admitted that I had been too busy to even do a paper sketch of my ideas, so her delay had not impacted me too much.  Hope it comes soon, as I expect that will be my next piece.

Many people asked about the woodcut class, which ended up being cancelled twice.  Not my fault- a lack of commitment from so called interested students.  And not unique to woodcut-  many classes have been cancelled this year.  And it won't be back in 2019, just not enough time with the holidays coming.  I did mention the still life group in Ocean Grove starts this week, but due to the drop-in nature of the class, I won't know how many will be there until each one occurs.  Just have to hope that the people who say they want to do it decide to show up.