Peak Year coming in

Today was delivery day for the ten artists of Peak Year, the exhibition opening on Friday.  As the work was coming in, I was floored by their ingenuity, their brilliance, and the perfect construction of their ideas.  The tower that Otto built - it held me for several moments before I was able to look away from the salmon eye that stared down at me.  The trash bits in Patrick's salmon kept me peering inside looking for more things I could identify.  It was like "Where's Waldo" only better.  Cindy's stained glass was just stunning with the light behind it.  I'm absolutely thrilled to present this exhibition, and so proud of these artists, who did this on a fairly tight deadline and with very little direction from me - only to interpret that amazing salmon run of 2010.  I stepped up onto Eric's viewing platform and leaned on the railing, just like I do every year at the Adams River run, staring into the tumbling river.  Except this time I wasn't trying to hold onto my kids.  It's going to be a fantastic show.

Fall Fair Art

Did anyone else spend an unusual amount of time in the line-up for both delivery and pick-up of Fall Fair art items?  I'm sure the fair board will be reviewing the process and therefore find ways to make the process more efficient next year.  In the meantime, I couldn't help but notice the reduction in overall art participation.  The adult works were crammed together as though one giant lego project, while youth works seemed thin on the other side.  In fibre arts, submissions were definitely reduced.  I would love to come up with a wonderful way to increase the quantity and quality of works submitted, but alas, I can barely compose a legible blog after a weekend of 30+ degrees and too many mini-donuts.  I think that the enormous group of volunteers at the agricultural association would appreciate anyone of any background getting involved to help them move this fair forward.

Mash-less

Okay, I know some teenagers and they are actually quite responsible and interested in the world.  So why did I have 18 teens register for MashUp (youth mixed media exhibition at SAGA), and only 2 brought in artwork on delivery day?  Is it the end-of-summer bummer?  I had to go out and rustle up some youth artists and get them to bring work in last minute.  Thank goodness the art teacher from Armstrong delivered a dozen student works two months ago.  Otherwise, the show would have been mighty slim indeed.  We created three large collaborative interactive works to mash on during the exhibition, which is great fun.  But ultimately, this may spell the demise of the annual youth exhibition.