Studio Visitors

 Occupying a bit of my time the past few days has been a visit from one of my old college friends and her traveling party- her husband and two friends.  This is Jenny's fourth visit to my area in the past decade or so, each time with different people in her car.  I know Jenny from the three years we lived in the Italian studies house in college, from staying at her home in Northern Virginia, her visits to a few of my art shows, and her recent visits to the shore area.  In the last case, sometimes buying art.  I would think that at least some of this is that she enjoys being around me and seeing my art, but I know that part of it is that she loves New Jersey pizza and wants to get some of that treat.

I got an email from her saying that she was coming to the area, and had reserved a room in Asbury Park.  She finds Asbury and Ocean Grove to be fascinating places, especially for the architecture.  But that was back in January and I hadn't heard anything new.  So I exchanged some emails with her a few weeks ago and we hammered out the details.  She was planning to stay in Wildwood on Saturday night, then drive up to my area on Sunday, and if she got to town soon enough, pizza at Vic's, her favorite area pizza place.  I would be invited to that if it happened, but either way, we would definitely meet on Monday morning for a building tour and to see some art.  I had the days free, so it was a plan.

I had my phone ready all day, and did finally hear from her, with the sun still up. I changed and met her at Vic's, which I pass every time I go to the Studio.  I was surprised to see so many cars in the side lot and parked along the street, it looked like all the way to the ocean.  However, as I waited at a light, I saw a lot of cars seem to pull out of the restaurant's parking lot.  If any of those were cars leaving after an early dinner I was in luck.  And it turns out, this was the case and I got a spot just across from the door.  But big crowds inside (to match all those parked cars), and though she had called me from nearby Asbury, she and her party were still waiting for a table.  Eventually we got in, and we ordered her favorites- a salad with provolone and salami, and two pizzas, one with eggplant.  She loves eggplant, and Virginia pizza places just don't have it.  Yet it is very common in New Jersey pizzerias.  As for salad, she said she has been perfecting a salad dressing of similar nature.  We talked of friends and family and stuff like that.  She said she had enjoyed the trip so far, though she found Wildwood kind of boring this time of year.  Wildwood is mostly known for its boardwalk, so this isn't surprising.  It was dark when we left the restaurant, but I've driven that road so many times, I could almost do it blindfolded. 

Part 2 of the plan was to meet up at my Studio building at 10 am.  No problem getting up for that with this sunny weather.  I first stopped downstairs to fix things up and put out recent work to see.  They were just arriving as I went upstairs to the 1st floor, I guess let in by someone else.  Jenny wanted the building tour first, so we checked out the theater there on the 1st, then walked up the stairs to see the 2nd and 3rd floors, on the latter she found a painting showing the platform tents that are available to a lucky few in summer.  Eventually we took the elevator to the basement, where they saw my art and toured the spooky features of the basement.  I had organized a pile of relatively recent works, done at the beginning of the pandemic and since.  For example, my most recent supermarket print, which shows empty shelves, a cart filled with canned goods, one way signs, and masks.  This is the way stores were back then.  (Jenny remembered her husband was able to go to special seniors only hours at supermarkets) We talked about living underwater last night, and today Jenny saw the prints I had made from my narwhal relief sculpture a few years ago.  She remembered the deer print from a few years ago, and now saw its mirror image copy.   Her favorite, though, was my St Dwynwen print, a saint not acknowledged by any church, but still the center of a major holiday in Wales.  Below are some of those:

I also had out my recent Robert Johnson prints, some framed from the show they had been in upstairs.  Her male guest knew of Johnson and his place in the blues.  I also showed the latest completed unframed print, and the block drawing in progress for the next one.  Jenny particularly liked the print for "Cross Road Blues", which she got to see as a print, as well as the block.  I showed a few other blocks as well, and her guests were suitably impressed.  She wants to know more about the Nashville show, but even I don't know what is going on with that.   Below are the framed prints, and she took a photo of the one from "Love In Vain."  

We had originally talked of taking a walking tour of the town, and getting lunch somewhere, but she decided to give that up, to avoid the cold and wind, and to just start their trip back to Virginia.  Besides, she had seen the painting of the tents, and didn't want to eat pizza a second day in a row (I don't mind that) so she and her party left, and I went back downstairs to put everything away, then went home myself.  Much closer for me that for them.  Meanwhile, she has promised to look into some art opportunities for me in her area, so I may hear something about that before long.