I was contacted last month by The Conception Arts group.  They hold one night, event-style art shows in major cities around the country.  One of their principals had seen my work on Instagram and suggested I submit for the show coming up in November at the Hard Rock here in Las Vegas.  I did and was accepted!

It was a bit of a challenge in that my allotted space was 5′ X 5′ – which would be fine for an artist showing smaller work; but my things are BIG!  I have one piece up at The Corner Gallery this month that is 6′ Square!  

So I had to be judicious in my selection.  I decided that a few well placed pieces that followed a rough artistic theme would be better than cramming as much as I could into my small space.  I chose one medium sized piece (‘Dog Joy’) and three smaller pieces relating to Western landscapes.  

This is a picture of my chain-link fence space.  In addition to an Artist Statement and Name Banner, I included a QR code that led to my website.  Also, I borrowed an idea from my friend, Marsha R. Bonner.   An extraordinary person, she posted a ‘Take What You Need’ sign on Facebook a few months back and I thought it was an excellent idea (Thank you, Marsha – you enrich me).  I printed my website address on the back of each tab. 

Not in the picture are two Conductor’s Music Stands.  One had an 11 inch tablet velcroed in place, playing a slideshow of my paintings.  The other held my ‘Book,’ a leather binder with large photos of all of my work.  

As the night progressed, my big yellow ‘Dog’ drew people over.  ‘What do you see?’ I’d ask.  I got: a whale, a pig, a horse, a nude on a sofa and two people having sex.  Oh, I also got a dog having his back scratched.  From there they’d usually focus on one of the smaller pieces or gravitate to the tablet.  I had one group of three youngish people spend about half an hour going through the slides.

Almost everybody stopped to ‘Take What They Needed,’ though a few read the sign, thought, and then said, ‘I have everything I need.’

I didn’t sell anything, though I ran out of cards and had serious conversations with a handful of people I hope to stay in touch with.  The surprise of the night came when the show closed and it was announced that I’d won The Excellence Award – their equivalent of Best of Show!  True, I didn’t come to win an award, but it sure will look good on my resume!  And — though I also have everything I need — a little external validation is always appreciated.

I did a short interview with one of the show’s organizers.  We talked about process and concept and what I’m trying to communicate.  Here is a short clip of from that conversation: