SSP: "Capturing Light" at Community Music School, Trappe, PA

[DWThomas]

A little self-serving promotion here for the maybe two or three people it might attract ....

Yours Truly is the featured artist for February and March at Community Music School, 775 West Main Street, in Trappe, Pa. That's just west of Collegeville on Ridge Pike/Main Street. (There is a parking lot behind the building.)



There is a reception at 7 PM, Saturday evening, February 8th. The event coincides with one of their concert series evenings, this one with the Academy of Vocal Arts. The AVA is sort of a post-grad career guidance institution for opera singers and last year's event was quite an impressive outing. The reception is free and open to the public, alas, there is an admission charge for the concert.

Barring that blinkety-blank white stuff, I expect to be there. The show will be up from around February 6th and the school is open 1:00 to at least 7:00 pm on week days, and on Saturday mornings. The show was supposed to come down March 10th, but the next artist just had a tragic house fire and it appears my stuff will be up until March 31. Anyone wanting my personal presence for a non-opening tour could PM me here, I'm about 20 minutes away -- and retired!

This is my first solo show (and may well be the last after experiencing the amount of work involved -- I'm supposed to be retired! Although I suppose if a miracle occurs and a flurry of stuff sells I might be seduced into trying another.

And for your safety -- I will NOT be singing!

 

[DWThomas]

And perhaps I should have added everything there is optically printed darkroom based work, all B&W. I do use other technology but you won't see it in this show! Right now about every flat object in the house has something related to this effort plopped on it.

 

[DWThomas]

Well the first opening reception is history, but thanks to the extension of the show, there will be a second opportunity to attend a reception at 3:00 pm on Sunday, March 16th. The musical event at 4:00 that day is Trio Galilei who do early music, Celtic stuff and some original pieces on guitar, fiddle, harp and viol da gamba.

The crowd was a bit thin with the weather folks flogging "snow showers" all day but there were still quite a few folks out.

There is a growing body of record in my PBase galleries, including a virtual "gallery tour" which I've been doing regularly for art club shows (and a few shots of the gorgeous young opera singers last night!)

 

[ROL]

This is my first solo show (and may well be the last after experiencing the amount of work involved -- I'm supposed to be retired

Nice work – keep showin', Dave. Three posts – none acknowledged by the not entirely unexpected pathetic flotsam of gearheads and professional opinonators here on APUG. I salute you for the work, dedication (and balls) required to show.

I visited your pBase link and offer the following recent commiserative image midway through my last installation in evidence that I have also been tired and re-tired:

I noted, with interest, your wire hanging guide. FWIW, I stopped using wire for hanging years ago. Rather, I set two screws in the wall from which to hang each work's frame proper, from which key heights are determined. An inexpensive laser leveling device ls used to ensure screws are level for each wall. Once this is done for a piece or two on each showing wall, all the others slip into aesthetic position very quickly. Individual pieces may then be slid parallel along the screws to fine tune separation and center.

 

[eddie]

The space, work, and presentation all look great, Dave. I'm sure it will be a success (just getting work in front of the public is a success...)

 

[DWThomas]

Thanks ROL, I'm not too surprised at responses, or lack thereof. This Mid-Atlantic forum is not exactly a hotbed of social networking, although my last post here about someone's show in Philly got a thank-you from an Apugger who got to it. In this somewhat distant suburb of Philadelphia there's probably (as I implied in the OP) about two or three people within easy striking distance.

I was invited to try this by the gallery director who knows my work as she and I belong to the same local art club. After some mental anguish, I decided both parents made it to 93, so I have maybe twenty years to go. Typically I've been selling one or two pieces a year from local art or photography shows. Thus, worst case, nothing sells at this current thing and I now own a lifetime supply of frames!

I like your in-process shot -- at least you had a chair!

The two screws for hanging sounds good, but most shows I've been entangled with go for minimum impact on the wall. Of course they are generally all sorts of art, no more than two or three pieces per artist, so there's not many same size pieces to get fussy with. Most places that I've had contact with around here do a hook with one nail. In shows I'm involved with, we may go to two hooks if the piece is super large and heavy, or if the wire length results in the hook showing over top of the frame. The aforementioned director currently has a forty year retrospective of her work at the Berman Museum Gallery at Ursinus College. She told me they have a laser level device they use when they want accurate placement -- bet the French Impressionists didn't have that!

This show was physically hung by the gallery director herself. As I unpacked the stuff I lined up the work against the wall in some semblance of groupings I thought might work, and then she and I discussed and swapped a few things around. I think in the end we got a pretty nice display.

An art instructor from the local community college commented that she had seen a couple of the "Towers & Turrets" shots individually in a previous show and seeing all five of them in a grouping "takes it to a new level." That's encouraging -- of course it may help that she lives on the outskirts of the town where they were taken.

So if I wind up with 37 of the 38 pieces unsold, I'll probably be shlepping them around; I already have a couple of possibilities, but I doubt it's going to be a regular thing.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[DWThomas]

Thanks eddie. Even I have never had a chance to see all of that out in view -- other than a few on the walls it's usually stacked in a corner somewhere! Well, that and fifteen of them were just printed for this event.