Twice In a Lifetime

The days have dwindled down to a precious few and the leaves have turned or at least some of them have and the fog is rolling in once or twice a week and that can only mean fall is soon to come.

So who cares?

Well you should cause with fall comes the best chance for you to display your art. And it comes not once but twice within a few weeks.

CAM, our own Coos Art Museum hosts the CAM Biennial, or a Public Hanging of Oregon Art. Hosts and accepts just about anything you have display ready. Sure of you’ve done a whole series on serial killers and their victims or maybe the complete anatomy of the human buttock they’ll ask you to reconsider, but for the most part if you’ve done it in the last three years you can show it.

No jury, folks, just bring it in and they’ll hang it.

So are you ready?

The reason I ask is the submissions start October 2, 2012. That’s just around the corner, so if you aren’t ready you should be getting ready so that when the time comes you are ready.

Now it’s probably too late to create something just for this show. But you’ve been a busy artists and have been filling your time with work so that you have closets stuffed to the rafters with art and now all that remains is for you to pick something out that you’d like to show and get it framed and ready.

The reward for all of this work is showing and not having to cater to a jury is one of the perks of the Public Hanging, so you’d better be ready.

Is you art framed, matted and ready for the wall? No hangers allowed. You have to have it wired for the show or they won’t let you use it. That’s not such a bad thing, you can do that part yourself, if the frame didn’t come that way when you bought it.

Art Connection has a wonderful selection of metal frames which are so easy even the Ole Trawler can figure out how to use them. Want something more, just let the guys at Art Connection know and they’ll whip it up in a matter of days. But even as wonderful as they are, with all of the skills and knowledge and equipment, they have to know in a very few days if you want it by October the second.

If they don’t fit your needs, Jane and Ken Snoddy at Easy land Frames and Select Gallery can do the job and you might want to suck up to them anyway cause they have a gallery and if you have art framed there they might just be disposed to let you enter one of their shows. If you are really, really good they might even decide to represent you, so getting your work framed there is a great idea. In a pinch Ken can do prints for you, but again, do it now cause even the best can do it over night.

You do still have time to go to American Frame where for very few dollars they will print, amt, and frame your image and send it back all within a two week turn around.

http://www.americanframe.com/

For a few dollars more, no, not the Clint Eastwood flick, you can get the job done at Picture Frames. They are a bit more expensive than American Frame but they do beautiful work so the cost is not the most important thing. Remember even without a jury you want to look your best.

http://www.pictureframes.com/scripts/WebObjects/PictureFrames.woa/wa/Home

So why go to all of this trouble just for one show? Well there is the jury thing, there is the hang anything thing and there is another show thing.

That’s right, just about the same time, Florence hosts it’s Celebrate the Arts show at the Florence Events Center.

http://florenceartists.com/fec.html

http://www.ci.florence.or.us/eventscenter/celebrate-arts-2012-overview

Now that’s two shows in less than a month and all you have to do is show up!

Okay, you do have to bring cash, but then you’d want to be paid if you were going to all of the trouble of herding artists into a show so it’s only fair that these guys get a buck or two.

And since we’re talking about getting your work show ready, let’s take a minute to think about mats and frames.

Most shows, most museums, a bunch of galleries and a lot of knowledgeable people think mats should be white or off white and frames should be black or dark brown. Now if they think that shouldn’t you give it some consideration? They are the nice folks who host the shows, hang the art, lure the crowds and bring in all of the publicity so that your art can be seen and what do you do? You come lugging a Grand Baroque frame done with enough gilt to redo the chandeliers at the Paris Opera House and you wonder why they give you the hairy eyeball.

Okay, so they are too gentile to give you the unshaven eyeball or even a five o’clock shadow eyeball, but you should think carefully about that when you start looking for a frame.

And…there’s always and and isn’t there and in this case there is so lets do the and and be done with it so that a loose and won’t be hanging around for the next post and so…remember it’s the art that should be center stage. The frame is supposed to be just a way to protect and draw attention to the art and you don’t want your frame to be the whole story, so be subtle, be soft and be smart.

Six weeks and counting, so get a move on!