Last Saturday I was honored to have some of my art shown at Art in the Valley. Art in the Valley is a pop up gallery in Fairlawn, Ohio. It was held in a club house at the Cedarwood Village Apartments, near the Saffron Patch. The Saffron Patch offers the best Indian food I've ever experienced, and provided free appetizers.
This is Jenna and her boyfriend. Such a cute and warm couple! Art in the Valley is Jenna's brainchild. This is the second pop up she's done and judging from its success, there will be many more! Her boyfriend served as the bartender and made everyone feel welcome.
This divine beauty is my good friend and artist extraordinaire, Haley. Thank you so much to Haley who acted as my agent for this show. She chose the work, and together she and I came up with the theme.This is the DJ. Sorry, I don't remember his name. He also had a warm and welcoming vibe. He is posing next to my photos.
Music was provided by the fabulous Leah Lou! Leah is adorable and so talented. Leah's band is entitled Leah Lou & the 2 Left Shoes. She was solo this night and is a multi-talented one woman band. She sings, plays guitar and plays the drum and cymbals with her feet! You can listen to her album for free on her website, once you do, you'll want to buy it! I have no doubt we will be seeing big things from her in the future.
There were tons of hipsters! Best dressed was this lovely creature in a flapper dress and cute beehive! Wish I had that kind of courage. Here's a couple of my pieces that were shown. Thank you to crowd for the reception I received. It was a thrill!
The theme of the show was Alien/Alienation. One of my favorite pieces is entitled "Six Hours" and comes from a dream I had of being on another planet. For the story of how this painting came about, see previous post here.
This painting is entitled "The Universal Language." It shows a Vietnamese farmer and an alien discussing Einstein's famous equation. It seemed appropriate to feature this painting at this time, since CERN recently discovered the Higgs boson, probably the most significant discovery of our time, but I digress.
Four of my paintings were shown and four of my photographs were shown. Among the photographs was this photo of a temple in Tremont. This speaks to me of alienation, as I have long been alienated from the church having attended a fire-and-brimstone-girls-are-born-of-original-sin-and-therefore-not-worthy kind of church as a child. I consider myself to be spiritual, but not religious. I adhere to no group-think, no labels and am fiercely independent. Again, I digress, but art, politics, spirituality and science all lead to the same path. We are all one, we are all part of something great. Alienation is merely an illusion.
Also included in the show were three of my photos from my trip to Seattle last year (see previous posts on Seattle here). The tree is included based on our alienation of these magnificent beings. I have always adored trees and feel devastated that they are cut down so recklessly. When it comes time to buy a house, the house will actually be secondary to the land. I'd rather have a crappy house with a lot of trees, than a McMansion with no trees.
There are so many benefits I have enjoyed since moving to Akron, such as the love and proximity to my family. The downside has definitely been the lack of trees. I lived in an area in Cleveland that was lush with trees. I am now living in a mainly concrete jungle, which makes this hot summer excruciating. Thank goodness one of the few trees in the area is right outside my window. I am so grateful for this tree. I can think of no greater blessing. I start each day giving gratitude to the cosmos for my apartment and the tree outside my window.
There are so many benefits I have enjoyed since moving to Akron, such as the love and proximity to my family. The downside has definitely been the lack of trees. I lived in an area in Cleveland that was lush with trees. I am now living in a mainly concrete jungle, which makes this hot summer excruciating. Thank goodness one of the few trees in the area is right outside my window. I am so grateful for this tree. I can think of no greater blessing. I start each day giving gratitude to the cosmos for my apartment and the tree outside my window.
The pop up gallery was a wonderful experience, I had a great time. Thank you to Genna and to Haley. And thank you to my friends and family who attended the event. xo
To see all works exhibited, click here.