November 24, 2010

Be carefull about what you say!

It all started as a "wouldn't it be fun to" conversation. Last summer we were bemoaning the fact that the big house has sooo many walls that will require dressing. Then we installed all of the art lights. There is a huge problem with art lights that no one mentioned before their installation, they are meant to light...
you guessed it, "Art"! Well now don't that beat all. I don't think posters from Z Gallery count as "Art" so we now have really big problem. That was the moment I was struck with enlightenment, a glow formed around my over taxed brain and I heard my lips moving and uttering a single phrase...

"Art in the Ruins"

Concept; invite artists to mount and show their art in the house for one evening, make an event out of it.
Add fun lighting (clip-ons), free flowing wine, a touch of diva music, and price cards on all of the pieces.
Allow the artists to sell their art to the public and in exchange we would receive a piece of art in lieu of any commissions.  Fun concept that would allow us to gain some art for the walls and at the same time support our artist friends. We laughed about it and moved on.

That was until sometime in mid October. An artist friend approached us and brought up "Art in the Ruins", as he was looking for a venue to sell his art so that he could donate all of the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project. How can you say no to such a  noble request. A date was set, other artist were contacted and the first "Art in the Ruins" took place on November 18th.


Five artist were advertised and a sixth joined in the last couple of days prior to the event. The post card above was emailed out as a private invitation, and we initially expected forty to fifty guests, but the responses kept rolling in, and in, and in. Two days prior we were prepared for at least one hundred.
However, Thursday November 18th proved all of our expectations wrong when, at seven thirty in the evening we had already gone through one hundred pieces of stemware and a mad dash was made for another hundred. All in all there were over two hundred people in our home and they drank four cases of wine. Seventy Eight pieces of art were displayed, the house survived just fine and the artists sold quite a number of pieces of artwork.

A fantastic evening that really gave us a momentum boost. Would we do it again?
I think so, but perhaps in the spring when the weather is warmer.

The evening was documented by photographer Rick Tang who has graciously allowed me to post the photographs here.

Enjoy!
































9 comments:

  1. Creativity at its peak (I must say)...
    Amazing. So beautiful. The paintings are awesome and creative.

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  2. Great! But which piece did you pick for your home?

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  3. How fabulously wonderful!!!!

    Kathy
    mylittlerivercabin.blogspot.com

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  4. What a beautiful evening I had and was worth the pain in my legs the following day getting in to your house. First steps I have navigated with lots of help from family. Loved the picture books that were made and loved talking to her. Hugs and you are doing a wonderful job and relax as you have lots of physical help and support from all of us. The neighborhood you are joining is quite fun and Tim enjoys chatting with you in the moment.

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  5. This was such a fabulous idea...Would love to join the fun next time if you do it again......... I bet this was so fun..

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  6. Thanks for posting those images. I enjoyed seing them. I love the structurs and design of the house and nice paintings also. Thank you.

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  7. What a fun idea. I am so cautious about saying "wouldn't it be fun to" because my friends are pretty energetic and would go along with anything and I'm kind of the opposite (which is sad). This looks like it was a fantastic way for artists to show their work.

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