This is a bit of a late announcement, but I wanted to let everyone know that I will be participating in a group show called "The Next Generation" at the Carla Massoni Gallery in Chestertown, MD. I was selected for inclusion in this show by Deborah McLeod, former director of the McLean Project for the Arts and currently a freelance art critic for the Baltimore City Paper.
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect with this show. But, I knew that if Deborah was involved, and if she had only one choice and she chose me, it would be a worthwhile affair. This past Saturday I drove to Chestertown for the first time to drop off work. The town is located about 45 minutes west of Annapolis. It was founded in 1706 and is home to the oldest chartered college in the country (Washington College). When I pulled up to the "downtown" area - after driving by several beautiful, old homes - I saw the Carla Massoni Gallery sign. In the window next to it I saw a room full of antiques and had no idea what I got myself into. I walked through the door and immediately encountered stairs... meaning the antiques were not associated with the gallery. Whew.
Once in the gallery I met Carla Massoni. Her pleasant demeanor was a warm welcome. In no time though she was discussing her vision for the show (the art, installation, etc...) and it became evident that this woman really knows art. I immediately became impressed with the gallery and confident in her abilities to recognize good art and even sell it.
Quick story: I knew that the gallery would be sending me postcards that I could send out to my mailing list. Time was running out though. One day a FedEx man arrives at my door with an overnight package. I opened it and found it was a package from the gallery. Included was a stack of postcards (~50), folded press releases, and, get this, a stack of stamped envelopes. All I had to do was put the materials in the envelope and address them. Everything was paid for and ready to go. I sent them all out that day. That is a very professional gesture and earned my immediate respect. When I thanked Carla for doing that, she said, "You sent them all out didn't you?" I said yes and she responded, "I thought so." Nice!
This Saturday the gallery is hosting a reception for the show from 2-5pm. All the artists will be in attendance and it promises to be a great event. If for some reason you find yourself in the area, I do hope you'll stop by.
I want to also take this opportunity to introduce you to a new blog I found. Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson, husband/wife collaborators, will be participating in this show. Together Robbi and Matthew founded Idiots Books, a self-publishing book company. The books they produce are illustrated by Robbi and written by Matthew. I was introduced to their books on Saturday and immediately fell in love. The books are smart, engaging and wonderfully illustrated. We purchased four that day and will likely pick up more. Currently they are offering for purchase a subscription to their upcoming volumes. For just $100, you will receive 10 new books in the next year as well as a free book for doing the subscription. That's 11 books for about $9/each. The books are well-printed and bound by the artists themselves. Oh yeah, I mentioned their blog, theBarnstorming. It's a fun read and I recommend it. Right now you can read about the process of doing a wall painting for the show.
Oh, and I have to tell you about their greatest book to date (just recently published). It's called "Ten Thousand Stories" and you really get that many stories in one book. Here's what they did. On the left is an illustration and on the right is text. Each page is cut into 4 sections. You open the book to page one and read the first section. Then, if you want, you can turn the second section to the next page. Guess what. The story continues and makes sense (to a degree). Not only that, but the illustration on the left changes and it matches the story. No matter how you read the book, no matter which page you turn to, the text makes sense and the illustration matches. For $25 it's a steal and it supports a couple of young, inventive artists. I hope you'll consider purchasing a book or subscription. Here's an excerpt (click to read):
And then if you turn the second section to a new page you get this:
Cool, huh?
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