Secret Ambition

Everyone has a secret ambition. Some people want to don a cape and be as fast as a speeding bullet. Others might want to don that latest fashions and walk down the catwalk. When I lived in San Francisco, I used to go art receptions at galleries down near Union Square. I enjoyed, the atmosphere, the little glasses of wine and tidbits of cheese. I not only enjoyed looking at the art but also took note to how it was presented. As a teacher, I would often try to draw what I was trying to explain, this ended up being more of an exercise in humor and imagination than anything else. After the students figured out what I was trying to draw, they would ask...really that's a ..... (fill in the object I was drawing) up there? I would come back, "hey, take note someday this might be worth a lot of money--this is quality stuff here, not everyone got what Picasso was trying to represent either." I would love to be an artist but that is not where my talent lays.
But being an artist is not my secret amibition. What I really want to be is a gallery owner. I am not patting myself too hard on the back, when I say that I think I have more talent in display and event planning. As a librarian, I have found that I can indulge in some of my secret ambitions--because there are more than one--through my programming. Remembering how much I enjoyed going to the art receptions in San Francisco, I decided that I would like to try to create art receptions at the library. Fortunately for me there are a lot of artists in the nearby area and my library was the first library designed with the new mandate to include civic art. So building on these facts, I designed the Community Art Contest at the library and then segued into a 3rd Friday Art Reception where I feature the work of local artists.
In February, I featured some artists in the acrylics class from the nearby McGroatry Arts Center. . I had 10 students from the class exhbiting. I told them they could bring between between 5 and 8 pieces each which meant I was looking at hanging up to 8 pieces in the Community Room. Earlier in the week so of the artists dropped off their art but I didn't really have a chance to really think about any of it until Wednesday afternoon before the Friday reception. Some of the students wanted to come help me with putting up the art, so on Wednesday afternoon, I have arrayed on the floor about 50 pieces of art. At first I wondered how in the world I would get all this up on the walls, but then I took a deep breath, centered myself, and reminded myself that as always the right way would present itself. I wanted to keep the artists works together as much as possible, but with the number of pieces and the limited space that wasn't completely possible. Also sense different artists had different styles, I wanted to put complimentary pieces next to each other. Here is what I came up with. I started with the big pieces brightly colored pieces of one artist.

William is a retired engineer and clearly his art is dominated by clearly lines add extreme detail. At the reception he brought photos of his portfolio, what a treat. I was amazed at the detail went into his work.
His work carried on to the next wall so I placed the Montrose street scene on the other side of the window from his other pieces.

The Montrose street scene was darker than the other pieces and was primarily blue rather than yellow like the other pieces. So that left only one picture on this wall, I stopped there and decided I would get back to it later. Next I saw that there were two artists work that were very vivid in their use of colors. Although their styles and subjects were quite different, I felt that they would compliment each other.

This grouping actually ended up being the focal point of the exhibit. A number of were in awe with the execution of these work. Next, I realized that two artists had works that dealt more with nature. They also had a number of smaller works so I began to get them up on the wall letting the works present their natural flow to me.

At this point I started to get a little nervous, I still had a lot of art and only one big wall and part of a small wall to fill. Survey the works, I noticed that there were several dark pieces most of them having blue as the dominate color. I decided that they would work best next to the Montrose street scene.
Still with a number of pieces, I determined that many of the remaining artworks depicted water in various forms and seasons. So the next stage was putting these pieces together.

Nearing the end, I realized that most of the remaining smaller works had outdoor themes, so up on the wall they went.

All that was left now was about 8 very large canvas pieces. I had easles that would support these lightweight peices in the corner but I had to pick and choose which ones to display. From these, I felt that four of them moved well together with the colors.

As I was work with the art to determine the order to display it, I try to create back stories for them in my head. This time a couple of back stories presented themselves.

In this series, I started with the dog, who I imagined lived in the house with the man below, who in turn I imagined was waiting for his wife to return from the field in the work below it.

With these two I imagined that the spirit that manifested over the city in the first one moved across the sky and in the second piece we see the tail of the same spirit.
Now I know probably neither of these back stories were the artists real intentions but for me it helps me to find the flow in the display so that the eye can move from one piece to another.
One of the reasons, I like to have the receptions where people can meet the artists is because we can hear the real backstory from the artist. As I was hanging the art, the piece with two elephants was slight confusing to me, one elephant was clear and the other was very faint. But then when the artist told me the title and explained the meaning, this piece quickly became my absolute favorit. the title is Fighting for Survival. I found out that the two elephants represent elephants of today and elphants in the future. The future elephant is dispearing but the present and the future elephants have their trunks locked with the present elephant trying keep the future elephant from disappearing. What a powerful piece.

Letting out a big sigh of relief that I was able to represent all of the artists and ony had a handful of works that I couldn't display. I stepped back and surveys my work and found that I was pleased. The meeting room had come to life with color and was visually appealing. The artists assisting me told me they were amazed that I was able to get it organized and ready for display so quickly. I was thankful for them being their because they were able to make sure everything was straight. The hanging system is great and very versatile as a result of this positive feature, it is sometimes take tedious patience to get the art of hand straight. And since I am more of a global thinker rather than a detailer, I find this second step almost painful. But an hour and half later everything that I could hand was hung and ready for viewing which was good because just as we were finishing up people were arriving for the movie that I planned to show that evening.
The reception was a resounding success with over 100 people in attendance. The artists, most of which are retirees who have picked art back up after their careers came to a close and their families were raised, felt their efforts validated and that someone other than family and friends are able to appreciate their work. While the art was on display we had numerous compliments on how vibrant the meeting room looked and how much they appreciated being able to see the artwork. And my secret ambition of having a gallery is statisfied. Everyone wins here.

Spring Mother Daughter Tea at the Library Part I

This spring was my third Mother Daugther Tea that I hosted at the library. I host them in both the spring the Saturday before Mother's Day and in the winter a few weeks before Christmas. The word is getting out that this is a good program to come to. This year I set sign up to begin on April 27th, the participants could e-mail me, call me or come into the library. By 1:00 pm the sign up list was full and the waiting list was being generated. I set the total at 21 mothers plus and daughters, granddaughters, grandmothers, etc that there might be. I actually increased the number to 24 mothers before I shut the list down--I have a hard time saying no!

There was one initial concern, we had a mother call to sign up right at 11:00, she wanted to register her and her son. I didn't quite know how to handle this, I explained that it was the Mother Daughter Tea but she insisted that she should be able to attend with her son if she wanted to. Yes, it is a library program so it is open to the public. Since this is billed as a family program and she is a family therefore she falls into the category. I told her that I needed to get with my supervisor and then I would call her back. I decided to check with other libraries that host Mother Daughter Teas. I trolled the internet for a couple of numbers, one was in Lousiana and the librarian there told me that sometimes they get mothers and sons but she just explains that if the son will be comfortable in the atmosphere then feel free to bring them. I also called Santa Monica who has been doing the tea for about 5 years, the librarian there said that she hadn't run into the problem yet and that she felt that the title of the program was self explanitory.
Why a Mother Daughter Tea? Why not just a Mother's Day Tea? I've have pondered this and other than well, it sounds catchy, feels right, and other people are doing it, too, I haven't gotten very far without getting philosophical.
Gender issues are always complicated. The whole reason I have put the tea together is that I would love to attend one with my own mother. I remember the times that my mother and did events together and still do, these bond us, create memories, and we can do girly things, talk about girly things. Yes, gender differences are alive and well in my mind. I don't think that gender differences have anything to do with actually equality. I personally think that there are certain areas that women wrongly and dangerously use their femaleness to their advantage--but I might explore this at a later date.

At any rate the mother and son duo was a no show. Oh well, I had wondered how I would handle this situation if it arose and next time I will be able to handle it better--it's all a learning process. I am still fairly new at the hosting the tea. Each time, I get a little better and the overall product is smoothers and more professional. One volunteer that helped me last year during the first tea, was astounded at how much better prepared I was this year. I still have a bit more polishing to do but again it is a learning process, I am figuring out when to get things started to minimize the chaos on the day of the tea. This year I had 68 people in attendance which is the maximum number of people that I can handle in the room.
In the winter, I have decided that I will handle the sign ups by lottery. Because the sign ups closed so quickly and a number of the attendees were repeaters that knew that they needed to get in quickly, I want to give other people that haven't heard of the tea a chance. So in the winter, I will have the entry time over a period of a week, then I will do the drawing, contact the winners and then hold the others on the waiting list. I think that this will be easier for me and the staff. The first 3 hours of Monday the 27th was chaos with people. I believe I will also be able to manage the list better. This year there were a couple of snafus in the list that I had to sort out during the seating period of the tea. Again it is a learning experience.

Library Programming

I'm not the only one with good and evil on the mind. While at the gym I saw a TV commercial for Nightline or some other news show asking Does Satan Exist? But enough of this line of thinking. I'm talking about library programming tonight.
With the sagging economy and a hiring freeze we will have to do more with less. But at the same time, I think that libraries need to do step up to the plate and do more for their customer base. So recently I have been planning monthly programs for our adults. I am lucky because I have a generous Friends of the Library group--FOL--that help pay for things that the County can't. This includes refreshments, prizes, and supplies and expenses.
In February, I asked on of my Aide's mom to do a jewelry making workshop. She did one last summer for the teens, so I was confident that she would do a good job. I had almost 30 people--29 women and one young man who wanted to make his girlfriend a gift for Valentine's. How sweet. Success.
Tonight I had a Fashion Swap Party at the library. It was a small turnout but everyone wants to do another one again so that they can convince their friends to come next time. One person picked up a silver frog ring for her sister's birthday.
I had three tables out where people could place their items depending on how nice they were. The participates could pick up tickets for each item they brought and then could choose from the same value table or a lesser value table. I served refreshments, had a CD on for background noise, mirrors stationed and a game. Everyone left happy. Yeah! Total cost for this program was about $30 ten of which went for the two Cold Stone Creamery gift cards I gave out. The other $20 was roughly for refreshments, but since, I drew from our refreshment supplies maybe that is exaggerating the budget.
Next month I have a free program which is a traveling art exhibit of the Santa Clara river valley--includes vintage photos and maps. The opening night reception will include live animals--bob cat, owls, etc from the valley with a professional talking about them. Then I asked a magician to come in for a show. I have passed out tickets. Several people have told me that it will be Mommy and Daddy's night out.
Then in May, I am doing a Luau out on our patio--that is seriously under utilized--for the family. I will have a limbo contest, several craft projects, photo opportunities, and some light snacks like pineapple, mango, and etc.
Anyway, that is what is happening in my library.