“Remember those sad children’s faces with big misty eyes? If you don’t, you were not around in the late fifties when they were hung on a lot of living room walls. Nowadays, this sort of painting has been sent to the basement or the dumpster. Remember all the Parisian scenes or black velvets? The black velvets made there exit as marked downs at parking lot flea markets.”...............Genn 2012

Fashions come and fashions go. One generation doesn’t always want what the former generation liked. Human nature, inevitable. We all seem to have a need to appear smart and not be like our parents. If you are stuck in ‘what was’ then take a step back, turn around and try a whole new approach. Who knows, green skies and orange water may be the next big thing.   

Evolution is a part of life and existence. It seems nature does not evolve unless there is a need. Consider the shark. It has been around for 250 million years and unchanged for most of that time. But sadly, other material things continually evolve even if we would have them stay as is.

I did an art show two weeks ago in Ocean City. The visible evidence of unwanted evolution was everywhere. Sixteen years ago doing this show made you a part of 250 or more vendors in two huge display areas broken down into ‘crafts’ and ‘fine art’. The current show had less than 75 total vendors with arts and crafts mixed together. The interest in art seems to be shrinking. It is hard to understand why it happens. Complacency?  The economy?  It would be impossible to pinpoint why interests peak and fade. Still it is sad to watch the world push art aside so technology may flourish.  Can’t we co-exist?

The first week of the New Year and I find myself sitting at my desk, going through 15-20 small pieces of paper about 2-3 inches in size and wondering what I may have been thinking when I wrote the cryptic little notes.

I am sure everyone does it.  Get a thought. Jot it down on whatever scrap is handy and then shove it in my pocket.  Eventually the note ends up on my desk only to come back and haunt me weeks or months later.

What was I thinking? What was I doing? What?

These little bits of reference material once had a urgency.  The creative memory is fickle and needs to be kept fresh.  If you sieze the day and act upon your thoughts timely, you will find your creative ideas are more sure and strong.

Hello Harford artists………A special note to the two dimensional and three dimensional artists in the county and especially those in the Bel Air area.  The mall at Festival has had many different stores. Times has brought a little bit of everything in and out. However, now there is a sign announcing an A C Moore will be moving into the mall.

Good, good. Many of the Michael’s and A.C. Moore products overlap, but not all. And, sales competition is good for business and can be good for the artist looking to get the best price on materials. No date as to start and completion of the store, but at least we are advised it is in the works.

A patron friend, some years ago, began talking about her own art. She had spent several years making small pieces of jewelry and thought she might try and sell at an art show. Thus began our journey of getting her ready.  Creating a few things for friends is a whole lot different than holding yourself ‘out there’ and shouting “Here I am”.

We encouraged her, forwarding all show information, helping her design business cards and even helping with a tabletop design. Still she had self doubt and was afraid. Always she had what she considered a very good reason for waiting a bit longer.

Well you can only push so much so we backed away a bit giving her space. We did ask that when she finally decided it was time, to please let us know.

Guess what! I got an Email last week, rather long, that was filled with surprise; delight a little pain but a great deal of enthusiasm. She had actually done her first art show, very small but she had put herself out there and immediately indicated signs of being hooked into the art life and show circuit.

It has been said that work is not work when the work is loved. Bet me. Long days, grinding conditions and opinionated customers are just a part of an art show and while you may love it, there is an awful lot of work.   

My calendar says today I am going to blog.The word blog sounds a bit disgusting but seems to work with everybody's vocabulary.
I do ten to twelve art shows a year and meet about 1000 people per show. When you take these numbers back 20 years the total 'new friends' probably exceeds 100,000. And yet, folks will approach you smiling and say "We bought one of your pieces in 1999. Do you remember?'
The issue is memory and what you do with it. I find that if I answer too quickly with a 'NO' I have lost them and any possible current or future sales. But taking an extra couple of minutes and asking them to help me remember often leads to good feelings all around............

Happy Thanksgiving

The gallery will be open Friday 12-5pm, Saturday 12-6pm and Sunday 12-4pm

It is a great place to find one of a kind gift items created by our local artists.

We have free onsite parking!

We are located in the little cottage at Rockfield Manor.