Mural Mania a Hoot!

Mural Mania, my new comedy, performed at the Edmonds Mural Society's First Annual Unveiling Gala, was a huuuuge success!  The wacky performances of New Classics favorite Lars Enden, alums Robin Strahan and Eileen McCann, and the New Classics debut of Catherine Bailey all hit the audiences' funny bone on target!  The idea of three hapless muralists at each other throats as a Mural Society board member tries to marshal them into collaborating on the raising of a mural went down as a hoot that night!

And most importantly, it put everyone in a festive mood as the real work of the evening began.  The raising of all that cash that shall raise our murals this summer.  I'm still waiting to hear the final numbers, but it appears that we raised all the cash we hoped to!


(Be gentle with me, though, if some unforeseen cost comes up...)

Regardless, we did well!  Very well!  And thank you, all of you for making this happen!  In particular, let us heap laurels on these following hardy souls of the Edmonds Mural Society Board (and, when you run into them next, be sure to bestow their cheeks with wet and gooey kisses!)...

• Tricia Thompson - media extraordinaire and tirelss work horse
• Shawn O'Connor - Tricia's sis and equally indefatigable worker
• Rebecca Anjewierden - board secretary and tracker down of glittering auction packages
• Pat Brier - muralist liaison and creator of one of the five murals being raised this summer

They have - we have - all done very, very well!  Go Edmonds!  Go Edmonds Mural Society!

Jeff

newclassicstheatre.org

I'm a fairy godmother?

Yesterday, an artist came into the gallery to say hello.  Cheryl Waale paints lovely impressionist paintings inspired by nature, with lots of texture and intense colors.  Several years ago, she submitted an application to our Third Thursday Art Walk.  It was near the beginning of her career as an artist, as she had recently left behind the hectic and soul-killing life of the corporate world.

She was quite flabbergasted when first one, then two, and then more and more of her paintings were sold to Edmonds Art Patrons.  She found a home at the downtown Edmonds shop Housewares, where you can still see and purchase her paintings. 

Just recently, she decided to submit a proposal to the Edmonds Mural Society to see if perhaps her work might be chosen to be one of the 5 murals they plan to mount this coming summer on the many blank walls of downtown Edmonds.  And much to her amazement, her proposal was indeed selected.

Stunned at this exciting turn of events for her, Cheryl reflected on her growing career as a fine artist and asked me if we ever felt like the fairy godmother of artists, because of all the emerging artists we've nurtured over the years as the founders and directors of the Third Thursday Art Walk, now in its 9th year.  She told me about the April 15 Art Walk, which she was attending as a patron.  A visit to Bluefish Designs, an Art Walk participant, had another emerging artist showing colorful and whimsical paintings of cats.  This artist, Fran Downs, had just sold one of her paintings.  In fact, Fran had told me of this exciting sale.  What Cheryl added to the mix was that this was the very first painting of Fran's to sell!  The sale of an artist's first piece is one that remains in their memory forever.

On that same April 15 Art Walk, we got to hear about the two photographs sold at the Resident Cheesemonger by Finn Gaaras.  And Howard Frank came by to thank us because he sold one of his impressionist landscapes while being hosted by Edward Jones Financial Services.

And not least, Joel Patience has found great satisfaction and joy over the success of a painting career that began as art therapy following two car accidents.  After nearly a year of encouraging him to participate in the Edmonds Third Thursday Art Walk, he finally took a deep breath and dove in.  Since that time, his art career has flourished with many paintings sold, a recent TV exposure and news story, and one of his paintings chosen to be the cover of the Daniel Smith Art Supplies catalog.  He regularly comes into the gallery to thank us for believing in him and his art.

It is both exciting and humbling to hear about how these artists are encouraged to get back into their studios and continue painting - all because they took that scary step of putting their work in front of our Edmonds art patrons, and sold something!  Art requires an energetic exchange between the artist and the patron.  What more wonderful result can be had when those two things come together!  The artist continues to grow and expand.  The art patron continues to evolve in their tastes and exposure to a wide variety of art.  It's truly wonderful!

I feel so happy and honored to be the fairy godmother of all those artists!

Now, where's my wand...

Manya

What's Next?

Yes, let the work begin!  (Or is that: Let the work continue?)

From a wee gallery featuring Manya's jewelry designs, to an Art Walk that grew to be one of the largest in the state, to the newly celebrated Mural Society, to my latest, most artistically ambitious play: Teacup Tipsy (my fourteenth produced!).  That's an awful lot in just ten years.

What's next?  If anyone had told me a decade ago that our lives would be so full, I would have dismissed him as a crank.  For, I know that when you look at Manya today, you see the sober, responsible, arts leader.  Nevertheless, I can safely assure you that the Manya we all know today bears little resemblance to the girl I met in Asia twenty years ago.  Indeed, that winsome lass was equal parts reckless hellion and effervescent party girl.  Hardly the type we would expect to sprightly jump through all those logistical hoops, smilingly endure the seemingly endless committee meetings, patiently harmonize all those clashing tempers, or tirelessly rally the troops to the cause again and again and again; in short, all the ingredients needed to found, say, an Art Walk of acclaim.

Still, we did that.  We do that.  How?  Why?  I know that part of the answer is the public service bone that I inherited from my mother.  Yet, sometimes I have to scratch my head and wonder.  There's no luster in it.  And there certainly isn't any lucre.  And, yes, there are those moments in the hard times, during the darkest hours of the night when I wake thinking, "I can't go on."  

More fundamentally, though, I know why we do it: You.  That's why we do it.  That's why we keep working hard to help build this art scene in Edmonds.  Some things we do for you, that's true.  But I always love it most when we get to do them with you.  Nothing gives me greater pleasure than a delightful conversation at the gallery about some aspect of the growing, fertile arts scene with someone who truly cares.

Let this blog serve as a new clearinghouse for shared ideas.  Let it become a beacon of inspiration on those dark nights.  Let it become a central focusing point as we all move forward mounting those five murals next summer, celebrating the Art Walk's ninth year, and watching the summer exhibitions top fifty artists on that evening each month.

And whatever comes next, we'll do it together.

--Jeff