This past spring, I was part of a national juried exhibition called Mayhem at the Arc Gallery in San Francisco. One of the very cool things about the Arc’s national juried shows is that they have an opening reception with the juror in attendance AND a closing artist talk and reception.
I have been to several openings where my work has been shown, but I have never been to a closing artist talk. I planned my trip outside so that I could attend this event.
I know this will seem a little dumb, but for some reason, I did not fully grasp that an artist talk would mean that I would be speaking. So on the morning of the event, when I got an email from Priscilla Otani, Arc Partner, saying,
“We will begin the artists’ talk at 12:30 pm. Please arrive at the gallery before that time. Each artist will have about 10-15 minutes to discuss their piece in the show, their inspiration on the theme, and their art practice (medium used, body of work, etc). We will give time for interactions with the audience.”
I was totally surprised. I guess I thought I would be attending an artist talk where certain artist’s talked and those certain artists did not include me. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I had about an hour to figure out what I wanted to say.
It’s a good thing I love my work, and my friend Jen was willing to let me practice talking about it for the entire drive from Pacifica to San Francisco.
My friend Jen in front of a mural we saw the day we went to the Arc Show.
The Arc Gallery was wonderful. The pieces in the show were artfully hung with good breathing room between the pieces. In the excitment of the event, I did not do a very good job of taking photos. To enjoy the entire show–both the pieces in the physical show and the virtual show–click here.
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- Entrance to Arc Studios and Gallery in San Francisco
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- Elvis in a Skillet and the Ongoing Movie in My Head by Deborah Mavis Lader
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- Fingerprint Mural #1 2013 by Valerie Huhn
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- Close up of Fingerrpint Mural #1 2013
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- Gridlock I by Ann Baldwin May
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- Diesel by Douglas Barrett
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- Carrier #9 by Jonathon Gibson
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- Talk by Olivia Chen
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- Close Up of Talk by Olivia Chen
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- Rage (Against the Machine) by Gwyn Lewis
Getting to hear the artist’s talk about their work was way better than a traditional opening in my opinion. I wish we could have heard from all the artists. For this photo gallery, I decided to put a photo of the art work and then a photo of the artist with their work. My photography was really not up to standard on this day, so again, I will say check out all the pieces on the Arc Studios and Gallery website.
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- Awesomeness Fueled by Pie by Todd Burke
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- I am in love with this work! Todd collects images drawn by regular people old and young and then collages them into these amazing pieces. My photos do not do it justice.
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- E-Waste Traders by Marilyn Hill
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- Can you believe this is watercolor? Oh the things people do with watercolors.
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- Speedy Huggins Plays the Drums by me
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- Photos like this make me think about how I used to sit on my hands so that I would not gesture so wildly all the time.
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- There was a good turn out for the event.
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- Smile, You are in Barra by Christina Guerreiro
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- In my close up, I lobbed off the part that extends. I hope Christina understands this created a better close up.
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- Pump and Dump Prosperity by David Burke
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- This is one of those, you should see it in person pieces. The layering is amazing.
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- Being Alan Bamberger by Howie Katz
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- So, the title of this piece is Being Alan Barmberger. Alan Bamberger was the juror for the show. Howie took images that Alan took of art and then made them into art of Alan. Very not what I normally like, but I have to say, I actually really, yes really, do like it.
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- Rage & Love by Tamara White The base of this pieces are writings about gay marrige from both sides.
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- Another crowd scene
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- Detroit 5 by Genea Barnes I missed getting a solo shot of Genea’s work, but her talk was so interesting, I wanted to include this photo. Genea successfully funded a Kickstart campaign to photograph Detroit and Ghost Bicycles. I want to see more.
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- It Will Get Bad Before it Gets Worse by Joy Bertinuson Another missed opportunity for a good photo. Joy normally works in 2D, and I am always intrgued when an artist crosses over.
The Arc Gallery’s next national juried show is called Structures. After that, they are asking artists to submit work inspired by Tom Waites. I’m looking forward to that. All Stripped Down or Big in Japan? It’s gonna be a hard decision.
