Another Kind of Studio Business

 

I was back up in Ocean Grove for the second consecutive day, but not exactly for the same reason.  There was a meeting planned for today, something I wanted to know about.  One of the artists in our tenant group there at the JSAC wants to do an open studio event, so naturally, I would be one of the resident artists.  A few issues though.  One thing was that the proposed day was on a Saturday in late April, which is a point at which I may be teaching some classes.  Also, Molly isn't sure yet if she wants to or is able to do it, and since she's the lease holder, she should be part of it, plus it's her mess to clean up that fills up much of the room.  So I haven't answered any emails on the topic yet, but I figured I had time to go today and I'd find out what is planned and when.

I made sure to get there a little early for a reason related to why I was there yesterday.  The person who I sold a print to had asked about others and suggested some other family members might want to buy them. But there was a condition- they should be printed on the same kind of paper.  Because these prints make reference to Japanese woodcuts, it made sense to use a Japanese print paper, and I had a large supply of one type that suited the project.  I think it was a student grade okawara, natural (not bleached) a good size for those prints, and with care it could take the watercolor.  I don't know how much of it is left, but I'm sure I still have some whole sheets, certainly enough for whatever comes my way in the near future.  As to where that paper is, that's another story.  It's not here where I live now. It may have been put into storage with everything else I own.  Or maybe it was on my paper shelf in the Studio.  Only way to find out was to check that shelf.  So I did that today before the meeting. That Japanese paper wasn't there, though I did find a large supply of other papers, so I'll be well covered for other immediate projects.

So I went to today's meeting.  I was first to arrive, and sat on the one couch still in the lobby, which was right under my works.  The organizer and someone he knew came next, and brought over the two chairs there in the lobby. Others arrived and took chairs from further away, bringing them to the place where I was.  Eventually someone found the lights, and two folding chairs.  In the end we had maybe 8 people there, with me and Nichole being the only ones from the basement.  

First thing to be settled was the date.  The pencilled in date was April 30th, a Saturday.  One potential participant thought it was too soon- the ones she had been involved in had about 6 months of planning.  I think one month is more than enough.  Others wanted it later, if only to have more visitors in town, or maybe allow us to match up with another event in town.  The problem I see there is we would be in competition with whatever else was in town, and we would lose that completion just about every time.  The point I did raise was that if we had it on the 30th, the walls would be full of art from the tenants, whereas any event after that would be with bare walls or someone else's art.  The organizer decided to stick with the planned day. (if there is another next year, maybe they try the summer thing)

For the time, Nichole suggested 12 to 5, then moving the closing reception for the show to 5 pm, giving us resident artists a slightly shorter day, and maybe using the reception as a way to lure in more studio visitors.  Everyone was fine with that.  There was also talk of outdoor advertising, sponsorships, a separate website, and other promotion, but some of that will be up to the artists.  And that was the end of the meeting.  Before Nichole could disappear to another meeting, I hit her up with a few questions about the classes.  She had no new information, but her preference is for me to do both classes (have to let her know this week), and we can hope for more students, even though this may keep me from participating in the open studio. I pointed out that I had no objection to open studio people checking out the class I was teaching, and it could promote that as well.  The idea intrigued her.  And then I went home.

After lunch I went online and found mail from my former student stating he had been down in Nashville working on the Robert Johnson project, all was going well, and wanted me to send him my chosen songs.  First I sent Molly an update of the meeting, so she would know what was happening and what she would have to do to participate.  Then I replied to my former student with some of what I had worked out.  The names of two of the songs, the specific lyrics that interested me, and the ideas I had for the images.  Also hit him with some technical questions- exact size if images and paper, how the letterpress part would work, etc. I can't begin until I know that, but now I may need a project to work on, for this open studio thing.  Just in case I am part of it somehow.