Man, it's been a long time since I've shown my photographs to people. I've shown them online, of course, but not in person. I've made quite a bit of new work during the pandemic, and it's been frustrating not to be able to slip a new image into someone's hands and say, "Here, take a look." After all, I'm from the old school where a well made, tangible object, not a JPEG, is the thing.
Gallery exhibitions and art fairs all but slammed to a halt a year and a half ago. Now, in spite of the Delta variant, some are sputtering back to life. One such fair is "Art in the Pearl," a nationally recognized fair that takes place in Portland every Labor Day weekend. It wasn't until a couple months ago that those of us who'd been accepted into the fair were notified that the event would indeed take place in person. It takes a lot of time, energy, and money to prepare for and participate in a fair of this stature; I'm moving full steam ahead at this point, crossing fingers and toes that it won't be cancelled at the last minute - and that people will attend.
Two weeks after "Art in the Pearl" my studio, Northwest Marine Artworks, is having a high profile open studio event. Over 50 artists will open the doors to our spaces and welcome in the public to get a close look at our work, our process, etc. Again, it's a huge commitment of time, energy, and money to put on an event like this. Again, I'm all in... cleaning my studio, repainting the walls, and for this year's event actually turning it into more of a gallery space than a work space. And again, I hope it's not called off at the last minute - and that people will attend.
A lot of us seem unsure how to do this - how to emerge from our homes and move out into the world after such a long time. We might take two steps forward and then one back, we might stumble along the way, act awkwardly, we might even decide we liked it better staying in. Personally, I feel as if I'm in a state of limbo, unable to make decisions, afraid to make plans, and unsure of the steadiness I sometimes start to feel. And so I carefully tiptoe forward.
One thing I have continued to do pretty regularly during the last year-and-a-half is to go to the coast. Even if it's just for the day, the salty air and fog, the steady rhythm of the waves, the wide expanse of sky/land/water, the elegance of the seabirds, and the jaw dropping beauty of it all never fail to humble and inspire me. I'm so looking forward to pressing a print I've made there into someone's actual hand and saying "Here, take a look."
Tiptoeing Out of the Pandemic
8/22/2021
Man, it's been a long time since I've shown my photographs to people. I've shown them online, of course, but not in person. I've made quite a bit of new work during the pandemic, and it's been frustrating not to be able to slip a new image into someone's hands and say, "Here, take a look." After all, I'm from the old school where a well made, tangible object, not a JPEG, is the thing.
Gallery exhibitions and art fairs all but slammed to a halt a year and a half ago. Now, in spite of the Delta variant, some are sputtering back to life. One such fair is "Art in the Pearl," a nationally recognized fair that takes place in Portland every Labor Day weekend. It wasn't until a couple months ago that those of us who'd been accepted into the fair were notified that the event would indeed take place in person. It takes a lot of time, energy, and money to prepare for and participate in a fair of this stature; I'm moving full steam ahead at this point, crossing fingers and toes that it won't be cancelled at the last minute - and that people will attend.
Two weeks after "Art in the Pearl" my studio, Northwest Marine Artworks, is having a high profile open studio event. Over 50 artists will open the doors to our spaces and welcome in the public to get a close look at our work, our process, etc. Again, it's a huge commitment of time, energy, and money to put on an event like this. Again, I'm all in... cleaning my studio, repainting the walls, and for this year's event actually turning it into more of a gallery space than a work space. And again, I hope it's not called off at the last minute - and that people will attend.
A lot of us seem unsure how to do this - how to emerge from our homes and move out into the world after such a long time. We might take two steps forward and then one back, we might stumble along the way, act awkwardly, we might even decide we liked it better staying in. Personally, I feel as if I'm in a state of limbo, unable to make decisions, afraid to make plans, and unsure of the steadiness I sometimes start to feel. And so I carefully tiptoe forward.
One thing I have continued to do pretty regularly during the last year-and-a-half is to go to the coast. Even if it's just for the day, the salty air and fog, the steady rhythm of the waves, the wide expanse of sky/land/water, the elegance of the seabirds, and the jaw dropping beauty of it all never fail to humble and inspire me. I'm so looking forward to pressing a print I've made there into someone's actual hand and saying "Here, take a look."
