Well, the show in Milwaukee is a success. It was really wonderful seeing so many friendly faces at the opening, and if you haven’t seen the show, you really must. The gallery owners, Gene and Bridget Evans are absolute delights. And, both of their studios are located in the gallery. I bet you could go watch them while they work.
Judith Ann Moriarty wrote a very lovely review of the show, and while all press is good press, good press really warms the ego. I just found out, through the magic of Google, that I was the A.V. Club pick for Gallery Night. My ego is now on fire. Burning.
Fun story about Judith Ann: Ms. Moriarty used to publish Art Muscle, a Milwaukee-based, Midwest-focused art digest. Judith Ann was the most influential writer and critic in town, and one night as I was making dinner for a dinner party, my cell phone rang. When I answered it, the voice said, “Amy O’Neill? This is Judith Ann Moriarty. I want to do a story on you. Do you have a few minutes to answer some questions?” My heart jumped out of my chest, and in a moment of fluster and spaz, I dropped the knife that I was using to chop the garlic. In slow motion, I watched the knife fall end over end, until it landed squarely in the meat of my calf. The knife went so deep into my leg that it just stood at attention, like a lawn jart. We started the interview, but then a few minutes into it I said, “I’m sorry if I sound distracted, Ms. Moriarty, but I seemed to have stabbed myself in the leg.” She answered, “Oh dear. Would you like to continue at another time?” I paused, pulled the knife out of my leg with both hands, and said, “Nope, I’m good.”
It’s always good to be a starstruck dork.
Tonight is the Gallery Night opening of “The Modern Landscape,” an exhibition at Luckystar Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St., on the third floor of The Marshall Building in the beautiful Historic Third Ward of Milwaukee USA. Openings are good. They act as mental bookends. After this, I’ll continue with the series some more. Adding new things. Subtracting others.
Openings are good too, to see old friends and colleagues, former students, collectors, family: the whole lot of ‘em. It’s always good poke one’s head out of the studio every now and again. Gauge the temperature of stuff and things.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Eugene Sobieski, the son of the former owners of John Sobieski Wholesale Meats in Detroit. He saw the painting online and wrote to tell me how nice it was to see a painting of his parents’ store. Art matters.
See you tonight.
Luckystar Gallery of Milwaukee has posted an open call to artists interested in participating in their summer exhibition of 12″ x 12″ art work. Please click here to be directed to their page for more information regarding this show.
Luckystar Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St in Milwaukee, will be including my paintings in an exhibition beginning January 21, 2011. Until then, these paintings will be in the gallery available for viewings. If you are interested in buying any of these works or wish to inquire about the purchase prices, please contact the gallery at luckystar.studio@gmail.com. Or you can call the Bridget or Gene Evans at 414-223-2215.
The Luckystar team sent out this press release for Friday’s show, so I just wanted to make sure I linked to their flier.
With supreme apologies to Anya in London, RIP to Mad Men‘s Ida Blankenship. The greatest line in television was uttered by Bert Cooper on Sunday: “She was born in 1898 in a barn; she died on the 37th floor of a skyscraper: she was an astronaut.”
It is wonderful having Polish women (Misia and Anya’s mothers) in the house to make pierogis and mushrooms. The house smells divine.
I can’t attend Friday’s exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum, but in the hopes that any of you can, the details of the show can be found here.
Some of these paintings as well as some new ones will be in a longer three-person exhibition in Milwaukee in January. I will be there for that show. Because Milwaukee in January is breathtaking.
