It Finally Happened

Late afternoon I got up to the Jersey Shore Arts Center and to get ready for the last scheduled drop-in drawing group of the season.   We had scheduled four weeks of the event to take place in t he 3rd floor Cafe Artiste room.  Unfortunately, the group had not been much of a success.  Lots of promotion, but so far no one had showed up for any of these Wednesday night events.  I always have things to do in the Studio, so each Wednesday I would show up, take care of stuff down in my space, be up in the 3rd floor room for 6pm, but no one was showing up. This afternoon I got up to Ocean Grove, checked in with Nichole for some other business, then made my way downstairs to do things for a while. No evidence of Molly being present or having done any work of her own,  but there was a new table in our room.

I have no idea where she got it from, but I got the idea she would start filling it with stuff soon.  But that was not happening today.  So as I was taking notes I enjoyed a home made disc of the Jayhawks, a disc I had made for the Texas trip, in case music was needed.  It wasn't, so the disc became part of my initial Studio library.  It's pretty much their major label debut album Hollywood Town Hall, and a good bit of its follow up, Tomorrow the Green Grass.  Two 90's classics that put them at the forefront of the Alt-Country movement.  Actually this is one of Molly's favorites, second only to the Beatles disc that she has taken home a few times.

A little past 5 pm I made the trip up to the 3rd floor.  Tonight's class was a still life challenge, meaning I was to set up some still lives, and participants would have to meet the requirements, all devised by Nichole.  I had even brought with me my large bag of still life objects, items I have used many times over the years in my college classes, but left it in the car waiting instruction.  Nichole had received word that a few people planned to show up, but we had heard that before with no people showing for the event.   Since I was there, I told her to go ahead and hold it.  Shortly before the 6 pm start time Nichole brought some art supplies to the room, but no students yet.  I went down to my car in the parking lot and got my large bag, one of the giant art tote bags that Rebecca used to make out of the giant promotional banners for shows at the BAC, this one with my train design from that show. Nichole and I set up two still lives, and got ready for the class.  And then someone actually showed up.

One set up was pretty much all stuff I have commonly used in set ups for years, the other included one of my green bottles (a gift from someone who thought I could make use of it), some other stuff I had, including a cloth that Molly had printed with a design and I have occasionally used in still life set ups.  Nichole was one of our artists, but we had one other person, whose name I don't remember, but was a local woman with some artist training who said she had been meaning to try out the group and had finally gotten around to it.  The plan for tonight was a limited palette challenge, which Nichole may have adapted from one of the college assignments I had shown her.  Used the white of the paper plus two mediums of different colors.

Nichole (above) chose a complementary pair of colored pencils, while our other participant had brought with her a large piece of heavy paper (probably for water color) and used jarred paint, gesso, and pastels,  combination from her college days.  Neither felt obligated to match exactly what was set up, but this was not a class and neither was obligated to.  They wanted to have fun and that made sense to me.

Meanwhile, we had a steady stream of visitors from the dance classes. When the 3rd floor was first opened up a few years ago, a full commercial kitchen was constructed, with plans to create a place for visually impaired people to learn cooking skills.  For various reasons this never happened, so this kitchen has never really been used.  The dining room and its tables have gotten much use, including this Wednesday night group, but we can't sell food from the kitchen until the proper licensing is arranged.  Maybe soon, with a plan to sell to the dance and yoga people, and anyone else who might be interested.  Meanwhile, the counter sells chips, candy, cookies, and other already prepared items.  In the past we had people show up a few at a time seeking treats, but tonight one of the classes let out as we were cleaning up, and we had a small mob scene.  Once we get those fry vats working, this space could prove to be quite popular.

So that's the end of the planned Wednesday night drop in groups.  We will be off for the next few weeks (holiday season), but back in early December for a planning meeting, open to the public.  No specific things decided yet, but tonight's art was good, so I think down the road there will be more things like tonight.