Art On The Porch 2024

 Last year's Art on the Porch event in Ocean Grove must have been seen as a big success, as it was back this year, with even more artists participating- something like 80 or 90.  Not me, as I have never done well with selling works at outdoor shows, so I was there as a viewer.  The idea is simple enough- artists display work on host porches around town, and viewers walk around and look at it.  Free admission, and Ocean Grove is a small town, so not hard to walk around.  In my case I knew 5 of the participants- 2 from the building where I have my studio, 2 who were former students, and 3 who had been regular participants in our critique group (some were in more than one category) so I had made a list of names and addresses in town, and a simple map to show how the streets were laid out.  I got up to the building a little after 11:00 and went in long enough to use the restroom.  I did notice that all the walls were now full of art, and there were a lot of tables and chairs set up in the wide part of the hallway, but I didn't know why.  And with that, I left the building and set out on my walk around town.  

I started with the few people who were on porches in the north half of town.  (Main Ave kind of cuts it in half, so I started by going straight up that way toward the beach, then over a few blocks)  My first stop was to see Rosie Rounds, a former student and a building resident; she took a small studio on the 1st floor recently to work on her jewelry.  She has a small kiln, one that can be powered from a standard outlet.  The downside is that she can only make small works in it, but so far she is pleased with having a place to work, and visitors to her studio.  She had tables of her work next to a house and on a porch of a house on Heck Avenue.  

From there I went a few blocks over to see Harriet, who I've known for years, between her being a former student, but mostly from being a regular in our critique group.  In fact, she even held the crit at her house a time or two.  Her host was only a few blocks from the beach, on Pitman Avenue, so wind and out of towners were a factor.  I remembered some works from last year, but some things were new, at least to me.  She had so many visitors (more than last year she said, and was already tired an hour into the 5 hour event) that we really didn't have much time to talk.  I remembered this standing figure in blue from last year, but the pink man was new to me.

Now a longer walk, to the south half of town.  My first stop there was on Franklin Avenue, to see Michelle, who was a model for a character in one of my boardwalk prints, plus a regular in the critique group.  She said she hadn't had the big crowds yet, but while I was there a lot of people dropped by to see her arcade and fair inspired works.  She said most recent were a series based on paint spray cans, but there were other things I didn't recognize as well.

From there two blocks to Joe's porch on Cookman Avenue.  I know Joe from the art building, where he helped organize the Open Studio events, as well as the figure group I have attended recently.  I gave him an update on how that class went this week in his absence, and to give him some general updates regarding the building.  Like Michelle, he thought attendance and sales were down from last year, though like her a bunch of people came around to check out his work while I was there, so who's to say what will happen in the rest of the day.

My last planned stop of the day was Tim's porch, a few blocks over and one up on Abbot Avenue.  He recognized me before I even got to his stairs, and was probably the most glad to see me, as he hadn't seen me in the longest time of any of today's artists, and he wasn't sure how to get in touch with me.  The last time Tim appeared on this blog was back in the spring and it was for his music, not his art.  I told him about the music thing, as that song specifically mentioned birds, a common subject of his art in our critique times, as well as a part of his current art.  He said he was fine with viewers coming up with their own ideas of what they all meant, which as an artist I understand.  (I've heard it said that black and white artwork can increase this, as viewers are forced to decide what objects actually are, and it involves them more)  His nice large porch was probably the most comfortable one of the day, though the breeze was knocking down a lot of artworks on a regular basis. 

I worked my way over to Main and started the walk back to my car.  Stopped in at Artisan Gallery, where I once had a solo show right around the time of the pandemic. (the show lasted a long time, probably because everything was shut down during that time)  It was clear that Jackie recognized me, but didn't know from where until I explained it to her.  I passed Jeanne on the way.  I congratulated her on finding work for all the walls.  She said that all the tables were for some kind of post event art function, but I wasn't going to hang around that long.  I stopped back at the building and saw Bobby's car, so I stopped in to say hello, then began the drive home.