So the other day, I borrowed my brother’s piano moving truck to haul a bunch of big paintings 50 miles to the town of Morrisville, Vermont where they will grace the walls of the River Arts Gallery for the next couple of months. This is the pain in the butt part of art making, but at least I got a lot of help, unlike the part when I am actually doing the painting. You can see that the truck is pretty full. I think that there are over 30 paintings in there.
Here are some of the paintings already in place, but not straightened out yet. This picture makes it look a little less chaotic than it was. But really, it went pretty smoothly
Three excellent helper, Caroline, Marie and John are trying to make four subway paintings hang together in the same space and look good. They succeeded - hats off to them.
And my hero Sid with his ever ready measuring tape, that he never leaves home without, finds a way to squeeze two more paintings in under the exit sign. That painting on the left is of me and my three sisters somewhere on a beach in about 1952.
This little homage to cuteness is ready to be hung in the entrance hall of the gallery. I hope to lure the viewers in with some charm before they go up the stairs to the pictures of lonely people in subways and a world in peril. Which makes me wonder - what is the point of art? To sooth and please with pretty pictures or to shock and educate with blatant messaging? I want to do it all.
The show is at River Arts - 74 Pleasant St, Morrisville, VT. It runs from May 1 through July 9. There will be a reception on May 23 from 5 - 7 pm. The artist (me) will speak.