Play for Keeps Opening a Complete Success!

we were told again and again that january was a hard month for first thursday in portland. the weather is too cold for most to brave, and many are financially tapped out after the holidays. elizabeth and i approached the opening last week with excitement mixed with trepidation. despite my uncertainty i chose to go into it without expectations, because in my experience expectations often lead to disappointment.

in the final hours of the day, approaching 6'o'clock when we would throw open the doors, i felt nervous. the show looked amazing, it filled the space well, and all our ducks were in order, yet i couldn't help but feel a bit anxious simply because it mattered to me so much. i'm a social person, but i get nervous in large crowds of people and openings have been notoriously hard for me. i'm not sure where it came from, but in the final minutes before we opening i managed to stumble on a rather significant well of confidence, and when people started streaming in i felt like a million bucks.

luckily, this feeling of elation was not only engendered by how amazing i felt in my little black dress. from the very beginning the public's reception to the show was amazing, and the room filled quickly! for almost four hours the tribute gallery was packed wall to wall. though i did spend a good chunk of time pouring beer (generously donated by our friends at ninkasi brewing) and leveling pieces that were gently jostled by the lively crowd, i managed to have a number of wonderful conversations with people about art, curation and the tribute gallery.

we sold six originals the first night, which is great for a january first thursday! and more importantly an impressive number of portland's art lovers got the chance to see play for keeps in all its opening night glory. tribute gallery was the most hopping spot on the block without a question. while other galleries hosted beautiful openings with plenty of breathing room, the play for keeps opening could only be described as HOT. the body heat alone was enough to send me running (more like slowly making my way) out the door into the cold january night every few laps. elizabeth and i got some of the greatest compliments. one man told me that it was the best group art show that he had been to since living in portland, and someone said to elizabeth that they saw more pieces in the show that they would hang in their bedroom than any other show they'd seen (bedroom art is personal! that's a big compliment!)

all of the pictures that i've posted here were taken by jon macnair's friend ellen, who was a delight to talk to, and took some amazing pictures! i will hopefully have more to post soon. you can see more at jon macnair's blog scritchy scraps.

team work makes the dream work!

(image: brooklyn yards, se portland)


the good news continues!!!!

art stars, i appologize about the delay in blogging!

worked my tail off and saved enough to replace my long ago stolen laptop. i was unable to replace the macbook due to lack of fundage, so i took a gamble on an hp... i will not be jetting off to vegas any time soon, as my risk assesment skills seem to be askew... the hp's mother board crashed within two weeks of me owning it, so i was subject to yet another sad bout of off-lineness. however, after some seriously nerve frying trouble shooting and a three week computer hospital stay, my new computer seems to be on the mend and ready to work!

i spent my first couple of months in portland heavily ensconced in a world of constant work, in a perpetual state of confusion about where i was. i love portland very much, but in terms of infrastructure it is more than a little confusing at first. as i mentioned, i got a job bartending at a spot on north mississippi. loved it during the summer, but like any restaurant job the charms quickly wore thin (not in small part because customers who caught wind of the fact that i once worked at an art gallery never tired of reminding me of what a "step down" my job was). my position at casa ended a couple weeks ago (many high end restaurants in portland are on dangerously uneven footing due to the economy, as well as clever pdxers' food cart revolution - more on that later), which would have been PANIC inducing had i not had a very special project, very close to my heart to work on. this coming month will mark the opening of my first curatorial endeavor here in pdx!

jon macnair, hide and seek, ink on paper, 11"x14"

the image to the left is by baltimore artist jon macnair. it was created as a submission for Play for Keeps a group show of new works on paper at The Tribute Gallery in old town china town, pdx. (we used this image for our promotional material. i will post images of our flier, created by the lovely yamille at cloudstop design, as soon as i have the appropriate file type!) my good and brilliant friend elizabeth lamb worked with tribute's wonderful owner brian t. wilson previously, and when they decided that elizabeth would guest curate a show at the gallery she brought me on board.

we made our call to artists in november, and put it out in the universe not knowing what to expect. elizabeth is a brilliant arts adminastrator who works as coordinator at white box gallery, and who i've known for many years as a close personal friend and beloved dance partner. i was extremely flattered that she chose to involve me in her project, and very pleased to discover that we make quite a dynamic team. we mulled over many thematic ideas for the show. working with brian to hone our vision and clarify our thought process when it came to what kind of art we wanted to exhibit was a really interesting experience. i had never been on that side of the fence, and i enjoyed the flexibility and humility it required of me. i am very excited for brian to see the final result. i think that he's going to love the show, and so will our friends, audience and participating artists!

joshua witten, running with scissors, graphite and ink on paper, 8.5"x11.5"

we were very lucky to recieve a high volume of exceptional submissions. i was astounded at the outpouring of talent. we got a bunch of really cool submissions from local portland artists, but also artists from all around the nation. we have participating artists from nyc, florida, dever, los angeles, indiana... the list goes on and on! i'm honored to mention that jon macnair, patrick haemmerlein, and joshua witten, who all participated in my menace to propriety show, will be exhibiting with us. i also have art coming from a dear friend (and coordinator of the awesome international mail art program that i tend to hinder with my lateness) in florida, breanne rupp, who will be shipping off her pieces before a cross country move to the bay, and four wickedly inventive paintings by an old college buddy and portland resident (a talented artist and entrepeneur - check out his hard work at hasbeen design) huy nguyen, whose work i have been wanted to exhibit for a very long time. though it was fun to draw talent from all over the nation, it was extremely rewarding for me to get a glimpse of the depth of talent in my new home town, like the beautiful and gifted ashley sloan, whose charming graphite drawings will certainly be a highlight.