Shamrocks and Shenanigans for ALL

"Leap" acrylic painting by Karen Swanson,
"Green Fields"oil painting by Megan Perkins, and
"Celtic Love III" assemblage cross by Shanda Woodward

It's Saint Patrick's Day and Garland Avenue in Spokane is getting on its Irish!

Later tonight is a Pub Crawl, that from reservations made already looks to be successful, but earlier is Little Dog Art Gallery's last art reception. The gallery show Gaelic on Garland (et cetera) is up until end of business Tuesday, March 21st. But tonight is cause for celebration, setting aside the commercial aspects of selling art, and celebrating the creativity of the artists who have shown their work here.

Looking at Karen's painting of an Irish dancer, I think of how rigidly such dancers hold their bodies from the waist up, their arms straight at their sides, hands immobile, while their legs and feet are constantly in motion with intricate stepping and leaps.

It makes me reflect on how owning and managing an art gallery is similar to Irish dancing. The public persona is cool, professional, calmly answering visitors' endless questions, providing insight in to the various artists' approaches and back stories. But the other component of the gallery dance is the blurring footwork that goes on: seeking and meeting new artists, getting their information and photos, coming up with show themes, contacting prospective and proven art buyers and collectors, making sure communication with everyone is clear, designing and hanging the artwork, shuffling business forms and reports, bookkeeping, making sure everyone receives their commission checks, endlessly coming up with publicity ideas, printing, mailing, collaborating with other galleries and art organizations, THEN all the social media to maintain with regularity.

Dance, dance, step, leap, don't fall on your face (too often), point your toe, leap, hop, even distribution of weight!

Yes, indeed! Running an art gallery keeps one on their toes, Irish or otherwise!

Eire Go Brach!

Energy of a New Exhibit

I've thoroughly enjoyed creating and mounting all ten exhibits I've put together for LITTLE DOG Art Gallery. Each one was distinctively different from the others; most had a theme, which changed each month.

I've never had a solo show for an artist. I thought I might get around to that as time progressed. I wanted to offer a variety of work to entice gallery visitors.

My favorite show was probably "Origins of Fear," a show I invited Megan Holden to curate. I sent out a call to artists, and Megan juried what came in. We had a great number of submissions, but Megan was clear about how she wanted the show to look, and was ruthless in turning aside art. She chose well.

I may have enjoyed this show best because there was incredible viewer interaction. Callahan Freet had photographs "Fabrications" of ambiguous smoke shapes and viewers were invited to write down what fearful things they saw in the smoke. It was fascinating to see all the different interpretations. The other work in "Origins of Fear" was sometimes upsetting and off-putting, like Tom Norton's "Room 208 aka Mother Please," or Joseph Tomlinson's "Wait til They're Asleep," but some dynamic came into play, where because it was portrayed in art on the wall of a gallery, a dialog opened up and people spoke openly about their own fears and experiences. It became almost a group therapy, a sharing of the experience of fear.

"Fabrications" by Callahan Freet

"Room 208 aka Mother Please" by Tom Norton

"Wait til They're Asleep" by Joseph Tomlinson

Yes, each exhibit had it's own power and identity. They were ALL incredible shows.

"Horse/Crow" is coming down February 28th, and was a vibrant and colorful exhibit. With the dreary winter weather, I hoped this showing of bright work would help dispel wintry blues. Gallery visitors have responded well to "Horse/Crow" and have enjoyed the dual features of Terry Davitt Powell's monoprints and Clancie Pleasants paintings. Both artists are strongly influenced by crows and their interpretations are distinctively different, and at the same time visually compelling. The work of these two artists, Terry Davitt Powell from California and Clancie Pleasants from Idaho, was accompanied by eight other Spokane artists' concepts of crows and horses.

The anticipation is building momentum with the end of the above show and the incoming "Gaelic on Garland (et cetera)" exhibit for March. As I'm sure you might guess, the theme of March's show is tied in with Saint Patrick's Day. The Garland District is hosting a Pub Crawl on March 17th, the same day the gallery will have their art reception.

I had anticipated the March show being specifically centered around Irish subjects, or Celtic, or Emerald Isle. However, gallery logistics have forced a different aspect to this show.

LITTLE DOG Art Gallery will not be renewing our lease in April. It's been a rather sudden decision, but one well thought out and necessary.  Regrettably this makes the March exhibit the last show, and the gallery will close April 1st.

Because there are many artists who have volunteered and supported our gallery efforts, I've invited them to at least show their work in the gallery before it closes, hence, the "et cetera." Those works will be general interest and not specific to Irish theme.

It's still exciting to plan a new show and to see how it shapes up. There will be a YA fantasy author's talk March 11th (Kate Poitevin's Saving Tir Gaeltacht), the artists' reception on March 17th, and a Celtic Henna activity with Kim Long on March 18. "Gaelic on Garland (et cetera)"  will come down and the gallery will close on March 21, 2017.

Colored Pencil Celtic Knot by Kim Long