Tomorrow is the show at Rowan College (9/5 12-2 pm), recently renamed from Gloucester County College. I am very excited to be a part of this. Myself and four other artists are being featured here, two are from the area, and two from other parts of the country. They feature some pretty well respected contemporary artists, a couple of which I am proud to call friends. I was part of a student show at GCC about ten years ago, and I am happy to return for what I'm calling "The Big Kid Show". I recently started attending courses here again actually, and will submit to show in the student show in December as well.
I have about 45 pieces of work in the show, ranging from collages to timepieces to photography and a couple paintings. I'm grateful to be allowed to show such a variety of work, and the creative freedom allowed to me by the gallery director Eoin Kinnarney. The other artists all fit a niche of some kind. One does these sweet collages featuring a drawn portrait and found materials. There is one artists who does these abstract stone carvings, they are so tiny but seeing a photograph of them makes them look larger than life. There is a photographer (lyndphotography.com) who is displaying her contact sheets and several wood prints of her work. The contact sheet idea is a well executed idea, she did 365 of them with one photo being taken each day. They are printed with about 16 on an 8x10 sheet. The result takes you from this giant space to getting lost in a tiny little image, while the world behind you fades away. Another artist has these incredible scenery paintings, my sister really loved these. Some of the paintings have these birch trees that reminded her of our childhood playing out front by our birch tree. It was a neat tree with three main limbs coming out of the ground that allowed you to use it as a seat or climb it pretty easily. It has long since rotted and become an unsightly hole in the ground, but those memories came rushing back while admiring the paintings.
Today was my first day of class. I am slowly chipping away at my liberal art pre reqs at a pace of one class a semester. English Comp 102 is what I am in now. I'm definitely the 'old guy in the room', at the age of 30. The teacher posed the question "Who enjoys American Literature?", to which mine was the only hand who went up... Fifteen years ago I may have been embarrassed or shy enough to keep my hand down, but those days are gone. I also had a horrible speech problem and was frequently bullied, time and disregard have fixed both of those.
Yesterday, my fiance and I went to pick up her engagement ring. We're official now! It's almost as beautiful as her. We wanted to pick it out together and I'm glad we did. She imagined something kind of vintage looking, in keeping with the aesthetics of my art and personality. I think we really picked a winner.
I'm stoked for the show tomorrow, but maybe not necessarily for the reasons one might think. My friends and family have always been super supportive of my work, and it always amazes me who shows up to these events. It's a great hang out time, and as we all get a little older each year, those times get fewer and fewer. The only unfortunate thing about it being at the college is the distinct lack of wine...