Art Receptions

Party Pug

4x6 inches

watercolor

Have you ever gone to an art reception? What is that you expect from them?

There's been a couple of articles on FASO lately about being yourself and such. One example is the art reception. They go on to talk about being true to yourself. Such as, if you're one who shows her work, very sociable and open to talk to people and yet when everyone is gone, you say to yourself, "God I hate these things." then you're not being your true person, just someone others may want to see. On the other hand, if you're one of those people who cringe at the thought of talking to someone who asks you questions about your art, yet you still answer them as openly honest as you can be, you are still being true to yourself.

When I had an art reception, the guy who put it together said that it was going to be an artist talk as well. The artist being me. Well, I wasn't NOT prepared for that. I don't mind talking about my art work, it was standing up in front of those people.. that's what freaked me out. Hence the reason for a vodka tonic before I went into the reception. But as it turns out, it really wasn't so much of a talk as I made it more intimate by going up to people, introducing myself (to those who didn't know me already) and asking them, "what is it that made you come out tonight?" Is this a true reflection of me? I believe so. Especially the vodka part.

I was at a reception over at Mt. Ida college in Newton a couple of weeks ago. It was a group show, so there were a number of artists there and each had about 5-10 minutes to talk about their art work. I loved one artist in particular who did prints that were very nautical in a way... the colors that he used and did it with a variety of things that he found walking the beach. All these questions came up in my mind: When were you in Ireland? Do you still have these pieces of material that you used? what it the process of this piece.......

But when the talks were over, they artists, especially the one I wanted to talk further to, were too engaged in the circle of friends that came to support them. I guess this is a good thing, it's nice to have support from friends and family (my mom, dad and aunt come frequently to my receptions) so I'm not going to frown upon that. But is it the responsibility of the artist to make him/herself accessible to further questions? I think so, but maybe he thought he had already talked enough. Well, I guess it really doesn't matter now because I really don't remember his name.

So when you go to an artist's reception, what are you looking for? Do you want to meet the artist? Would you rather have them talk to the group or one on one? Do you go just for the refreshments? Would you rather not talk to the artist at all because you want your own interpretation? Is there really a right/wrong way?

So that being said, Unbound Visual Art group is having a show at the Harvard Learning Annex at the corner of Western Ave and N Harvard Street in Allston, Thursday May9th. I'll be there to answer all the questions you may have about the pieces that I have up.

Hope to see you there!