My dear friend Mely Mitchell is one of the artists in the upcoming exhibition Through The Lens, a photographic examination of historical and contemporary Navajo culture.
This show will be at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona from August 28 through March 27 2010.
Yay Mely!
What a concept for a show. On June 6th of this year, 60 people gathered at Leadership Square in downtown OKC. Each person was handed a disposable camera by romy owens. Each person had one hour and one roll of film on which to capture downtown as they saw it. At the end of the hour, all 60 cameras were returned to romy for development. romy then chose one shot from each roll of film to mat and frame. The 60 photographs will be on display in the Underground Invited Artist Gallery from July 23 through October 15, 2009.
Please join us for an opening reception this Thursday July 23, 5 to 7 pm. The closest street entrance to the Underground is at Leadership Square.
When I went out for the shoot, I took my digital camera along. (Only 36 frames? On a roll of film? Don't fence me in!) romy has carefully concealed the 60 shots she has chosen, so I don't know which of my photos will be in the show. (If you are Facebook friends with romy, you can see the runners-up in her photos.) However, below are some of my favorite "other" shots from that day. Click any image to see larger.
0283
Tiles
Jesus Saves Bindery I
Pencil underdrawing of Young Mundy Tulsa. Click any image to see larger.
Edmond "Mundy" Tulsa was born to a man who was hoping for a boy. Everyone calls her Mundy. She is a prodigious baker, and wins many bake-offs and Opteemah County Fair ribbons.
Young Mundy Tulsa, first underpainting.
The Tulsa family's money went down with Penn Square Bank when the bottom dropped out. But Grampa Dewright Tulsa had placed gold and silver coins inside sections of pipe and buried them in the backyard. One day Mundy undertakes to dig a vegetable garden and discovers the coins. This becomes the startup capital for Miz Mundy Cookies, and later Mundy Buns.
Young Mundy Tulsa, second underpainting.
Mundy Buns grows so successful that Mundy gets a buyout offer from Nabisco. She declines on account of her personal integrity. Soon after, she strikes a deal with Dobbin Wynn to be the exclusive concessions distributor for the Dobbin & Dixie Family Film Fest.
Young Mundy Tulsa, third underpainting.
The Mundy Buns plant remains the economic heart of Normal. Mundy hires Katie Hennepin to help her branch out into organic baked goods.
Normal, OK: Young Mundy Tulsa, graphite and acrylic on paper, 2009
Mundy is seen here at the Opteemah County Fair in 1944, with the blue ribbon she won for her Sweet 'n' Spicy Blackberry Pie.
Back To Normal: Normal, OK Revisited is on display at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum in Oklahoma City through September 19th.
I would like to thank everyone who attended my talk at the show last Saturday, I had a wonderful time. Please join us for the closing reception on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 5 pm.
Normal, OK: Goodnight McBride, ink and prismacolor pencil on paper, 2008.
I'll be appearing at two OKC gallery events this coming Saturday, July 18. First is my gallery talk and book signing for Back to Normal at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum (map here). I'll speak from 2 pm until whenever we get tired of eachother. There will be audience participation, followed by lemonade!
Afterward, head over to IAO Gallery at 811 N Broadway for the 24 Works on Paper opening. There you can mingle, and see my drawing of romy, plus 23 other works by Oklahoma artists. IAO is the first venue for this travelling show. Kick off the tour with us from 6 to 9 pm.
Aloe polyphylla Schönland ex Pillans by Flickr user brewbooks. Click image to view source.
End matter or back matter is a book publishing term that describes all the written elements of a book to be dealt with after the author has finished writing the manuscript. These may include indexes, appendices, glossaries, the table of contents, notes, bibliographies, and so on.
As a gallery artist, I have learned to do a lot more legwork besides making the paintings. I have come to think of certain tasks as the end matter -- what remains to be done after the art is finished. The more of this work I do myself, and do well, before delivering my work to a gallery, the better my professional standing.
Following is some end matter I'm faced with before a gallery show.
Sign and date the work. Sometimes, as with the Normal series, I include a story on the back of the piece. Information like this can increase a painting's value and provenance.
Prepare the painting for hanging in the gallery, either by wiring or framing. I highly recommend Downtown Art & Frame in Norman, OK.
Attach a business card or other identifying information to the back of the piece. This is especially important for group shows where your work might be misidentified.
Photograph the piece. That is, take a good photo, not one with uneven lighting, or glare, or out of focus, etc. The digital formats I use most often are: 300 dpi, 1,000 pixels on a side (for print) 300 dpi, 4 x 6 inches or thereabouts (for print or application to juried shows) 72 dpi, 500-800 pixels on a side (for the web) 72 dpi, 150 pixels on a side (for thumbnails)
Make a backup of the photos, on cd, on the home server, etc.
Upload the image to my website, Flickr, Facebook, etc.
Add the piece to my portfolio, if it's among my best works. Add the piece to my inventory. I'll post more on this later.
Register the work with the copyright office. I keep a text file with an ongoing list of all the works I complete, called "Works By Date." When I finish a piece (or scan a batch of sketchbook pages), I add it to the list. I also keep a folder of small images at 72 dpi, which I will submit as a batch with my copyright registration. When I'm on top of things, I register my work four times a year.
Create an inventory for the gallery. This is so underrated. I make the inventory in two formats:
A spreadsheet containing the title and dates of the show, then the title, medium, dimensions, year, and price for each piece. At the bottom of the spreadsheet I list the show drop-off and pick-up dates, with space for my initials and the curator's. I print two copies: one for me, one for them.
A visual inventory with thumbnail images of each work in the show, followed by titles and prices. (Again, I print two or more copies, and file one for my own reference.) This helps whomever hangs and labels the show, and can also facilitate sales. When a potential buyer calls the gallery asking for the price of a piece, they may only remember it as "That yellow one, with the guy, and that thing in the corner." Having a visual inventory on hand can help avoid all sorts of confusion.
I've learned to leave myself a few days before my deadline to tie up these loose ends. When it's time to ship or deliver my work, I feel much better having all these ducks are in a row.
This post is part of NaBloPoMo for July 2009.