A Very Nice Night

It's raining here. It's coming down in gobs. The noise is not as relaxing as it is exciting. I miss a good, hard Mobile rain. It's certainly different from any sort of precipitation I've felt anywhere else. So, I felt this would be a perfect time to sit and tell you a little about the night of this gallery show. I apologize in advance for the cold, newspaper reporter way I'm about to write. I'm just not in the mood to embellish.

I found out about this gallery called Entré Arts from a friend of a friend. They were telling me that this guy was opening a new gallery that also was studio space for several local artists, plus it would feature a cafe in the back. So the idea is that people come in for lunch, see the art AND the artists working and the work on the wall suddenly becomes more real, more personal. Anyway, I contacted a few people and got an interview right away. I showed my work to the gallery manager and he immediately asked when I could hang them. I was suspicious of his excitement. It's like the old Groucho Marx quote, "I don't care to belong to any club that would have me as a member." I came by later and hung three of my pieces; it was my author series featuring HG Wells, Jules Verne, and Rudyard Kipling.

The gallery opening was scheduled during on of Mobile's monthly "art walks" where ALL of the galleries open and try to have something exciting to draw people in. This, as I said, was the grand opening of the gallery I was in. There were so many people all the time! I stepped out a few times because I get uncomfortable around that many people pushing against each other. My pieces were on the wall next to (sort of behind) the live band which was a good and a bad thing. Good because everyone who walked in at least glanced over at the band and saw my pieces. Bad because the view wasn't great. My pieces are sort of detail oriented and need to be seen up close. Sure you can see Jules Verne, but can you see the tiny little men attacking the squid swimming by his shoulder?

Anyway, early on in the show I met some former friends of mine from high school days. Some were fun to talk to and we caught up a little. Many of them, however, were unenthusiastic and seemed upset that I was talking to them. It was a bit disheartening. I grabbed some free wine and snacks and stood guard by my pieces, reading my book. I talked to just about everyone who stopped in front of the portraits and they were all so kind, many of them telling me that my stuff was their favorite of the gallery. Most people wanted me to explain what medium I used and how I got that old cracked paint look. I told a few of them that I drew all of the cracks with an ink pen by hand. They bought the lie and were in awe of my patience. A couple people even approached me and asked me for prices and ways to contact me. I ran out of the 25 or so business cards I brought with me.

As much as I was enjoying myself by that point I started to think to myself that these cheese cubes and grapes were not going to cut it and that I was getting hungry. Not but ten minutes passed and the girl who had a large canvas next to mine returned with some pizza and a dr. pepper. I hadn't said anything to her about being hungry, she was just being kind. I was blown away by her simple kindness. The show started to wind down and I met a very cool artist who graduated from her school in New Zealand about seven months ago. She also let me know that she was going to run the cafe in the gallery and was trying to start a poetry reading there as well. I expressed my excitement about not only the prospect of a poetry reading but also at merely meeting such an interesting person. We traded websites. This is hers: http://www.elizabetelliott.com

So the gallery show ended and I left with some friends of mine from years ago who stopped by. They were much more kind than the first batch. They invited me to come hang out. I was excited because since coming back to Mobile I hadn't gotten to chill with more than one person at a time. The rest of the night I had a great time reconnecting with these wonderful people. All in all, thumbs up, Universe... Thanks for a good time.

Click on the photos below to enlarge them. (don't get too disappointed about the shots taken with my phone. Haha!)