Lot (and lots!) to see at the Carnegie reception

I’m going to try your patience here just a little bit, because I think some short videos will convey the spirit of the huge crowd at the Carnegie Center for the Arts reception better than my thousand words could. The first one is the newer building with its nice combination of natural light and focused lights. My painting is in this gallery, but since someone is standing in front of it I will post a photo after the video. Also, pay attention to three clay vases in a glass case which appear about 10 seconds into the video. More on that in a minute!

 

So here’s my painting, in case this is the first of my blogs you are reading…

“Michigan Orange Frost”, oil on canvas, part of my “Orange” series

 

Now for the interesting part about the three vases. As soon as I saw them, I was pretty sure they were fired using horse hair as a decorative element. Here’s a closeup of them–

 

Now take a look at my Christmas gift from a couple of Christmases back–with my horse’s hair used in a similar way!

Opening my Christmas present…

So sure enough, when I got close enough to read the description, it clearly stated that it was horse hair! I always appreciated my vase as a work of art, but never expected it to appear in an art show in the same room as one of my paintings.

Anyhow, moving right along–here are three of the other four galleries at the Carnegie Center. The last one wasn’t ideal for me to get video because 1) it was so crowded you could hardly move, and 2) I’m really short.

Here are a couple of photos detailing the atrium and the stained glass. The old section of the original Carnegie Library can’t be beat for turn-of-the-last century decoration.

Looking down from the second floor to what was originally the main desk of the library.

Looking up from the first floor through to the stained glass in the ceiling of the second floor.

Looking into the first floor gallery, the one I couldn’t get a good photo of. It was also where the food was, making it even more crowded. I think the early 20th century was quite into faux marble columns.

 

Greg, my faithful gallery-hopping companion, accompanied me to this show as usual. We compared notes and discussed our favorites, then awaited the awards presentation which took place in the area of the photo above. We had decided pretty much upon first sight that this large pastel painting titled “Jayce’s Mood” deserved to be near the top of the list.

“Jayce’s Mood”, a way-bigger-than-life-size pastel painting that was awarded “Best in Show”. Greg and I were pleased to see that, for once, the jurors agreed with us! Artist is Al Harris, Jr.

 

The other artwork that both of us thought was great wasn’t “in the ribbons” as we like to say at horse shows, but both of us again agreed that it should have been. This is one that begs for individual interpretation by each viewer, so I won’t play art critic here except to say that it addresses its subject matter on many different levels. It’s called “Strike A Pose” and is basically a photographic medium although it looks like a painting. The substrate looks like Naugahyde, which is a texture I have never seen used in an art piece but seems to work especially well in this one.

“Strike A Pose”, artist is Lynne A. Kasey

And so, what happened with my painting, you were wondering? Well, the usual. I didn’t win anything. But for me, it isn’t about winning. It is all about getting my work seen. And I’ve decided that this is the year I’m going to mount a concerted effort to make it happen. I have plans…