DIARIES

TUESDAY OCTOBER 4, 2022

I went to Walton Art Center’s Artist Preview of the Our Art Exhibition after work and feeding the dogs. Rob met me in the parking lot across from WAC. He needed mints and something to drink because he said his voice was getting worn out and he had a presentation later that evening. Paid for 3 hours of parking [$2.50] and were one of the first persons there. Talked with J.S., one of the three on the Exhibition Team. An artist showed with sunglasses but they said they couldn’t display them with the piece and that broke my heart a little for her. The show was actually really well put together - everything just flows well together. My piece is on a wall with a lot of other pieces all close together but it looks so incredible that it doesn’t feel crowded- don’t know how they did that. They told us that the labels just got made an hour before the preview opened so they didn’t have time to put them out. We would have to rely on the paper catalog of the show and talk to other artists to learn about the show- which was a lot of fun after I got over being shy. Rob was able to stick around for a half hour before he had to go back to work- we had a bottled water each and a plate from their charcuterie. 
I met S.R. and her supporter, she wanted to know if I worked at WAC (I wore a stuffy get up because I wanted the suit jacket, shirt, and clip on tie to match the color of my painting- awful night, my back sweated all night long), she wanted to know about the missing lables. She explained that her pieces (4 wooden framed images) were made from digital coding- which impressed me because I don’t understand how that is possible but they were nice pieces of art- the yellow was my favorite. 
I spoke with H.K. and his terra cotta pieces- he was softer spoken and I struggled to hear him clearly with the crowd noise. But he explained that he also did the huge sphere on the Fayetteville Town Center (where I graduated Blue Cliff). I met D and P.H. next- I told him that the yellows in his piece spoke to me. D. told me she thinks Springdale will be the center of local art soon. I think I met M.E. next- the woven box sculpture of old t shirts- I told her that I thought it had to be supported with wire- I resisted telling her that my Dalmatian Coolidge would love playing and tearing up a piece like that. She told me that the last time a piece like that was in a show that people kept turning it upside down. At some point I spoke with A who was D.S. plus one- he made her wooden panel. I told A that I couldn’t have the patience to paint all the dots of snow on D.S.’s piece. I did a lot of wandering- D.S. and I spoke for a while after A had moved on. I decided I wanted some wine so I ordered a Pinot Grigio and sat outside the Gallery for a while. D.S. came around with a plate and asked if she could sit with me- we had another good talk and she said goodbye to M.J. as he was leaving- then noticed A all alone by the door and excused herself. I wandered back inside the Gallery until I ran into a conversation with A.S. and she kept describing her painting as depressing and I hope I didn’t offend her intention with the work but to me it’s a sense of Serenity and Comfort to me- I did tell her that the piece felt masculine so I was amazed she had been the artist. I also spent a brief moment with D.P.S. - I told him Rob said his oil painting looked right out of Crystal Bridges- like an old masters painting- D.P.S liked that and gave me a fist bump about getting accepted in the show. A.S., S.R. and I were approached by J.R. while discussing my piece and pointed out his self portrait- I liked it. J.R. wanted to see A.S.’s piece so they walked off. I think at that point I was approached by the social media director J. and agreed to be interviewed. I’d never worn a mic before and I forgot to answer questions by repeating the question after introducing myself. I hope they got something that was worthwhile. M.E. ran past me later and said she saw me get interviewed- said she’d never want to do that! At some point (earlier or not) I talked with M.J. and his family- his daughter was really impressed with my show which was exciting because it seems she “represents” her father M.J. she had to leave but M.J. spoke with me a while - his work is so impressive because of their scale and they open the Gallery- appropriately too! C.S. came in with a girl and we eventually crossed paths- he complimented the metallic in my work (a common theme about the night) he told me it was like a conversation between our work because they are on the same wall and in similar size but he used metallic gel pens. He called the space we’re on the “gold star wall” and I think he’s right. I also briefly spoke with S.M. and didn’t really connect to her piece at first from a distance but she did individually painted dots on the frame herself- when I got a chance to look closer I wanted to ask if  it was a collage. I ended the night with a great conversation with S.H. about color- we are both on the same wall too. We both don’t like red but our work features reds in them. I told her I liked the unpainted canvas that sneaks in the longer you look at her piece and that I don’t usually like abstract work but I liked hers quite a bit. 
Everyone kept saying how much they liked Strip Tease and especially wanted to know how I did the metallic color. Someone told me it was executed very well. Spacing/Composition was also complimented- which is probably why it’s so popular on social media and got accepted to the show. A.S. pointed out something I couldn’t even see about it- the abstract background! I had a great time and look forward to Thursday night.