Friday was a glorious Indian Summer day here, a real gift of sorts. It always helps when the weather cooperates for the opening of an exhibition. That evening was picture perfect and at least 200 people made the choice to attend the show. Since I think I only knew about half of them it wasn't just a friends' and family love fest... something else very nice about meeting new people simply because they came to see my work.
I have to say straight away that the show was beautifully installed. This is so crucial to how the pieces are "read" and it takes an experienced eye to plan the order of installation in such a way that each piece flows seamlessly into the next and so on around the entire space. Karen Gillenwater, curator at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, is very well trained and an absolute dream to work with. She did a fabulous job of cohesively integrating my old and new pieces across 2 rooms in a very large exhibit space. The only real debate was whether to eliminate several pieces in favor of giving more breathing room to each drawing OR hanging the show tightly so it could be viewed much like a film strip rather than a collection of uniquely individual images. We opted to include as much as the space could handle since this is essentially a story about knitting together the before and after within the scope of my 30 year career.
Of course a professional installation in a beautiful facility does not mean people will (a ) come see the show or (b) actually like the work, especially the 16 new pieces. This is a large show. I think there are about 3 dozen frames, the smallest being about 30x24". I'll post some installation shots when I have them. Nothing like 100+ year old neo-classical architecture in pale gray and white with gray marble columns to set off my jewel toned colors. The lighting is excellent and the visible daylight is 12' high facing south - lovely in mid autumn light. I really look forward to seeing how this changes into December....
But the fact of it all is that I seem to have scored a hit acros the board. People were earnestly enthusiastic abut the work. Even had 2 sales - a new piece (Blue Moon) and Couple 8 which is 15 years old. The oddity is that both are mainly yellow. I must say that through the years I have challenged myself to work with yellow as a main element. It isn't a color for which I seem to have any natural affinity. Yellow can either bea bit of a bully or be easily manipulated into absorbing aspects of other hues with the resultant loss of that lovely lemon color I prefer. There is absolutely no explanation for why, with so many pieces in a show, 2 of the 3 dominated by yellows are those who found buyers on opening night. If the show had opened in March, as was originally planned, would some other color have held more appeal? No way to answer that any more than I can answer why certain pieces always seem to draw a larger audience than others. Once again I could have sold "Fish Gotta Swim" several times.
Having had 48 hours to bathe in the glow of my own success I am feeling confident that I am back on the proverbial career track. Yes I worked hard for this plateau. No I'm not planning on gloating or resting on my small laurels. It's a new beginning. But then that's exactly what I hoped would happen with an exhibition titled "Phoenix Rising". So I owe a huge thank you to the Carnegie's fabulous Executive Director Sally Newkirk. She was the generous visionary who offered me a retrospective exhibit early in 2006 when I had no idea I'd ever be able to make art again. Wonders never cease.
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