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July 22, 2007
good things come in threes
by gl. at 11:59 pm
three art events this weekend:
- gadzooks! amazing books by northwest artists
shu-ju was exhibiting several pieces at gadzooks; the reception was yesterday and it was a good excuse to visit the maryhill museum w/ michaelmas, todd & kristen. it's a long journey there & back again, but we were rewarded by beautiful books (though they were, alas, behind glass).
in addition to shu-ju's work, i was impressed by douglas schafer's delicate & bold venerius didymus, mar gorman's intricate and compelling songs my mother taught me and diane jacobs' socially astute pair of woven portraits, ann and veda.
muse talk
today i picked up my pieces from fat straw, which means the show is officially over. can't beat a piña colada fat straw smoothie, though. :)contemporary craft museum block party
big day in the north park blocks today: the contemporary craft museum hosted a block party for its grand opening, as well as for the four other galleries who are also sharing that block (two of which have moved from other locations: when i saw grace's work, i suddenly realized i was at the augen!).
all the cool kids were there, including very busy craft tables heroically hosted by diy lounge (ATCs w/ melissa woolsey), church of craft (felt bracelets w/ diane gilleand) and pdx super crafty (matchbox shrines w/ susan stars). i donated some stuff to diane earlier in the week, but i wasn't sure i'd get to go to the event because a friend is visiting from colorado. (it turns out she was in ashland this weekend, which mean i could go do art stuff instead!).
random: i wonder if the CCM "lab" is available for anyone to use. and a funny story: i heard a woman ask her friend, "is antique better than retro now?" the friend said, "no....!"
i had an epiphany while checking out the ccm, though: there's a type of art snobbery that criticizes museum gift shops, implying that only "tourists" visit the gift shop because they can't possibly understand the actual art in the museum. but after 20 minutes of being repeatedly reminded that "Touching Harms The Art," i was thrilled to get to the gift shop so i could touch & hold the bowls, jewelry, clocks, chairs and art i was forbidden to get too close to in the actual museum. that's why gift shops are so popular, because they allows you to physically engage with art in a way that's not possible with most museums & art shows.
posted by gl. | July 22, 2007 11:59 PM | comments (5) | categories: exhibits & events
Comments
Wow! I've been waiting my whole life for someone to identify me as a "cool kid!" :-)
I think you're right on with your gift-shop idea. I think that when you see beautiful handmade things, they tend to transmit the joy that went into their making, and so you begin itching to get tactile. It was so interesting yesterday, watching how enthusiastically people dove into all the making going on at the event. Like they just had to release some pent-up creative energy.
Posted by: Sister Diane at July 23, 2007 9:08 AM
Great observation, g.
Posted by: shelley Noble at July 23, 2007 4:50 PM
That's a great observation about gift shops. Never occured to me before, but I bet you're right! And thanks again for coming to the exhibit, and the plug for the show!
Posted by: Shu-Ju at July 24, 2007 10:18 AM
We seem to have had the same weekend, except in parallel universes. Oh, except for the middle part.
Museum gift shops rock!
Posted by: michael5000 at July 24, 2007 1:19 PM
michael5000: i know: i can't believe we didn't run into each other at the maryhill, at least!
Posted by: gl. at July 24, 2007 11:18 PM