Memories

I have always kept postcards, newspaper articles, artist statements, photos, and other miscellaneous things from my art "career."I have 3 big notebooks full of stuff and the last one was getting soooooo overly full that I decided it was time to move on to a new 4th notebook.

Last night I was going through them and resorting. I really wanted to scan some photos but discovered that my old overworked scanner has finally come to the end of its life. So this morning I took a few photos for the fun of it.

Look at these hand printed and lettered (wacky) announcements from some of my earliest shows. And I even made a two-color hand printed business card!

The one with the big pink ART was from my very first show. I moved all of the furniture out of my apartment and arranged it nicely in the back yard. I hung art in all of the rooms except the one with the horrible bubbling flowered wallpaper. In that room I covered all of the walls floor to ceiling with blank newsprint and set out a big bowl of markers and crayons. By the end of the night those walls were COVERED with drawings! It was an all day party with lots of food and music, an outdoor lounge and lots of my out of town friends came.

The next year I did the same thing with a friend who made jewelry and we were slightly more formal including naming our "gallery" Off the Beaten Path. By the next year we had a real gallery space with the same name in downtown Salida, CO. Here's a photo of my friend Kristin and her son with me at the second show. Ahhh... the good old days. :)

Do you have stories about your early art shows? I'd love to hear them!