Take a Shot at Love! in Happenings Forum

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Take a Shot at Love!

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Bluejay

Take a Shot at Love!

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Jan 30 12 1:15 AM

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Well, it has been a long time coming, but we installed our art show, Take a Shot at Love, today at the Oasis Gallery in downtown Marquette, MI, our old stomping grounds. The show opens tomorrow (Monday) at noon and will be up through Feb. 25. Opening reception will be 6-9 p.m. Feb. 3, with some post-reception tippling at a local watering hole to follow.

While the south shore of Lake Superior is admittedly a bit off most BBFers' usual travel routes, thought you should all still at least get an invite!

Our promotional image, which we set up on a forest road a few miles north of town, is of one of the signs in the Signs of Love, County Road 550 Series on exhibit in the show:
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Jan 30 12 1:19 AM

Just as it did at our wedding 20 years ago (the inspiration for the exhibit), the winter sun came out as we began hanging the show.
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#2

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Jan 30 12 1:26 AM

My daughter, who was 6 at the wedding and a flower girl with her step-sister, helped us hang the show -- now 26 and giving her best "Vogue" pose against the backdrop of b/w photos by Andy Gregg. Ours was not a typical nuptials -- it was a performance piece of sort in a working painting studio. We commissioned artist friends to document it in photography, painting and video. At the time I was finishing my master's in writing, with a thesis of performance poetry centered around rituals of daily life. Few people had ever seen the works created that day, at least all together. And we created a few new items to play off the theme.
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Blues Train

#3

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 975

Jan 30 12 3:08 PM

Looks great Jeff, wish we could get over to see it, especially the opening and the first night drinks after, anyway thanks for the invite!!!!!!!!!! CHEERS, Reg and Yvonne.

climb aboard n' boogie Blues Train Myspace

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Bluejay

#4

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 2 12 5:22 PM

After considerable e-mailing and phone calls, the gallery has finally updated its website to provide info about our show: Oasis Gallery

Somehow my wife's and my names have been "blended"

-- we are decidedly not the hyphenated types -- but at this point, we're just glad to have the info out.

"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#5

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 5 12 9:57 PM

Back home from Marquette after a very successful reception Friday night at the gallery. Great turnout of old friends and complete strangers, with very enthusiastic responses to the installation. Lots of smiles and laughter, our kind of art event.

Mary was just checking to see what made it into a Google Search, and we were the recommended event to kick off the weekend on Country Extreme 103 radio's calendar.

Here's a photo during the reception of me and Mary with our wedding trolls, which our niece gifted us when we got hitched 20 years ago. Their usual residence the past 5 or 6 years has been lashed to the compression post below decks on our sloop, Revision. They became part of the Great Leap portion of the installation -- signifying our 2/29 wedding date.
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Blues Train

#6

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 975

Feb 5 12 11:19 PM

Glad all went well Jeff, you both look great!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE THE TIE. Reg and Yvonne

climb aboard n' boogie Blues Train Myspace

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Bluejay

#7

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 6 12 8:13 PM

QUOTE (Blues Train @ February 05, 2012 05:19 pm)

LOVE THE TIE.

A gift a few years back from Mary -- brought back from of all places, Finland. Who knew the Finns were into string ties? The slider is a silver design of two birds entwined. Awwwwww.....

"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#8

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 17 12 1:47 AM

Well, a couple updates for the show -- tomorrow (Friday) we head back up for a second evening reception to take advantage of a big community event that will bring a crowd downtown, the type of social event you only get in the Great North -- the ceremonial start of the U.P. 200 Dog Sled Race.

Also, our show is getting a second run -- the gallery at my college will host it from Feb. 27 (two days after we take it down in Marquette) until sometime in March, joining the bill with a previously scheduled "love" themed show that turns out will not be able to fill the gallery space on its own. Serendipity.

"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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FishFeathersMacTeeth

#9

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 3374

Feb 17 12 4:45 PM

..looks good Jeff...!!!

Fish Feathers MacTeeth - All the way from Luthermuir, Scotland

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Bluejay

#10

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 19 12 3:40 PM

QUOTE (FishFeathersMacTeeth @ February 17, 2012 10:45 am)

..looks good Jeff...!!!

Thanks. It's been a lot of fun. Friday night was interesting as the crowd downtown for the dog sled race start would peer in the windows to see what was going on in the gallery. We had a table with my wife's homemade cookies set outside the gallery entrance from the building's hallway and that lured quite a few folks to come even closer, and some of those we lured all the way into the show. All had a good time, and the Love & Lust Toss game at the front of the gallery got most of them involved. We always try to get viewers to participate in our installations. And this little game looks much easier than it really is. The kids that came in with parents had a blast with it.

We also got to meet our one daughter's new boyfriend, who was in town visiting for a few days. Of course we insisted he prove himself at the Love Toss:
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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7844473

#11

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 30580

Feb 19 12 11:25 PM

Rene
Paris, France.

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Bluejay

#12

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 26 12 5:06 PM

Well, it only took about an hour and a half to take the show down Saturday afternoon (four hours less that installing it, lol, what with no arrangement worries). Curator was very, very happy with the show and the response and we are invited to do more shows in the future.

Remarks in the gallery guest book were overwhelmingly positive, often sparking reminiscences such as:

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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#13

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Deepest Blue

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Feb 26 12 5:07 PM

And this:

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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#14

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 26 12 5:09 PM

We knew we met one of our goals for our work with this:

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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#15

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 26 12 5:10 PM

The English may be a bit fractured, but we got Rosa's point:

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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#16

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 26 12 5:14 PM

Someone who knew me back when, but whose signature I can't read, even supplied a pretty accurate caricature of me from 20 years ago (the benefit and hazard of having artists for friends):

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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#17

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 26 12 5:16 PM

But my wife's favorite comment in the guest book was the very first other than signatures, and the only negative one over the 4 weeks. As my wife said, if we hadn't pissed off someone, we weren't doing our job:

--------------------
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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Bluejay

#18

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 2687

Feb 29 12 1:01 AM

The transition between galleries went well -- nice weather Monday afternoon helped. The show is now up at the college gallery through March 17. Nice to have another 3 week run. The difference in ambience between the galleries is striking --we've gone from stark white painted walls with high ceilings, a hard tile floor, and a lot of window light to gray/earth tone palette of fabric & wood surfaces with lower ceilings and all artificial light. For musicians, I guess it would be comparable to different acoustics in different venues. Show looks good still, with a slightly different layout, too:
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"I've got blisters on my fingers!"

Sailing Green Bay

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kinghendrix

#19

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Deepest Blue

Posts: 6385

Feb 29 12 7:16 AM

QUOTE (Bluejay @ February 26, 2012 05:16 pm)

But my wife's favorite comment in the guest book was the very first other than signatures, and the only negative one over the 4 weeks. As my wife said, if we hadn't pissed off someone, we weren't doing our job:

Who says that love is not a contemporary art ?

for the beautiful story.

Jean-Claude
Lyon (France)

Gallery Blues Attic
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