Art Show #1
On Saturday, Sept 15, I hosted the first of
two art shows at my studio home in Drayton.
Glad to say that I sold 4 works (possibly five pending if painting matches someone's couch) including Sweet Trash, Bright Bassoon, Diva, Missive and Fox Trot II and these works will be making their homes in Waterloo, Orangeville, Drayton and Los Angeles.
Next show is Saturday, Sept 29 from 11am to 4pm for Culture Days Ontario and I will be showing some hitherto unseen new works for the first time. There will also be posters and cock-a-doodle-doo coffee mugs available with the cultured rooster from my poster!
This past weekend, I displayed a large swath of my work, from
1998 to date with 30 new works being shown for the first time. My junior artist
colleagues came over early to set up their art and treated the numbered
catalogue as the key to a treasure hunt.
On the beautiful hot September afternoon, friends and neighbours came to visit and the even the mayor of Mapleton attended. And ten young people came to look at the art, ranging in age of 3 to 15 years old. They were vocal about which paintings they would like to buy and they generally had expensive taste.
On the beautiful hot September afternoon, friends and neighbours came to visit and the even the mayor of Mapleton attended. And ten young people came to look at the art, ranging in age of 3 to 15 years old. They were vocal about which paintings they would like to buy and they generally had expensive taste.
I featured guest artists, including Dawn
McLeod, a Drayton-based photographer who specializes in wildlife and nature shots. She is working on a new website to show her remarkable and sensitive art photos. She also photographed all of my art for my website shop, a difficult task and a godsend for me to have.
The junior guest artists were my youngest
neighbours, Caitlin, Hannah, Daniel and George Rogerson who displayed a large
selection of the clay objects that we created during the year after our
intermittent bassoon lessons, plus paintings that they have done. I wanted them
to have the opportunity to expose their art to more people and also to see it
in a new space.
At the end of the day, after almost everyone had left, I taught a bassoon lesson to a gifted young player who
had driven in from Toronto, starting our official lessons for the year. After a day of thinking about art, we focused on the fundamentals of sound, finding ways to let the
full spectrum of tone colour emerge from having a correctly formed embouchure and
airstream… amazing how quickly and immediately young people can understand. The
sympathetic acoustic of my church-turned-studio, which is even more resonant
now that I have decluttered, revealed the quick changes in tone production that
my student was able to make.
Having an art show is a bit like presenting
a solo concert… you muster the faith and courage to present your best
work in the present moment. Doubt may
flicker, but really, taking the step to bring our work to other people is as
important as anything in becoming an artist. Oddly though, I am fearless when
it comes to showing my visual art, though I was quite tired the next day!
Regardless, I know that it is essential to have many and frequent opportunities
to present my work and music, and for that reason, I also work hard to provide
opportunity and support to others. And I am as grateful as can be to those who
helped me on my way, including everyone who came to the show, the kids, the
neighbours, the buyers and fellow musicians and artists. We really are all in this together.
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