i have been talking to folks about the Steve Keene exhibit since I found the card advertising it on the counter at mill mountain coffee in downtown roanoke. i couldn't wait to see his work b/c i was sad i never bought something when i saw him in philly. how happy i was when i found 3 of his cville paintings in the basement of a house i rented - i can see then now from my spot on my couch. i wanted to talk to him about the backdrop of a play he painted back in the 90's. a backdrop i still have (well, have access to).
i decided to go on the last day - the last day he was an artist in residence - because i work during the week and i figured he'd need a little time in the area to make some good work using local images.
his paintings from 1992 that i have, well, none of them are local imagery but when he was onsite in philly he painted local images so i have reason to think he'll do a few - the star, that biscuit tin sign on a wall on church street - anything really. just want to have some roanoke sk for my wall.
so the card says in BIG letters
Olin Gallery
October 26-November 16, 2007
(but I knew they were trying to trick me with the large font so i read further:
centered below information about an artist lecture and the opening reception (i have no interest in art gatherings) I saw this:
*Artist in Residence October 26-November 10*
Steve Keene will be painting onsite during his residency at Roanoke College.
*Extended Gallery Hours: 10-5 pm everyday including weekends*
(oh, the top line is also underlined, but I don't know how to make an underline on this blog)
So imagine my surprise when I get to the gallery at a few minutes after noon on Saturday the 10th of November to find it dark. After chatting with the 3 people I had brought with me and the 4 who were already there waiting (2 "grownups", 2 students), one of the waiting students went to find someone to unlock the gallery.
Security showed up and told us it didn't open until 1, couldn't we see the info on the door of the gallery? Huh? Saturday the 10th is a weekend within the dates the show runs. I checked a poster in the hall. Nope, I'm not crazy.
Well so, ok, for some reason they aren't following the info on the card. That's cool. But now I am nervous. I really want to see the artist in residence, say hello, perhaps grab an iconic painting of this area that he made while in residence, painting onsite, as the card and posters all indicate, and go on my way. Will I get to do this? Bad feeling in my gut.
While waiting for 1 pm we wander over to a building that has an info desk in it. I'm not familiar with the college so don't know the name.
The student at the desk (who tries her hardest despite having a bad cold) has never heard of this show, has no phone numbers to call except the one on the poster i brought over to her (though she doesn't call it since it is the number for Olin Gallery, which we know is closed).
After fruitless conversation, we go back to the gallery. Now unlocked it contains:
1 student who has absolutely NO information about anything
2 giant frames for displaying s.k. work
a big silver box for collecting $
4 teeny tiny paintings
a nice show (ironically, i know most of the folks who's pieces are displayed)
it does not contain an artist in residence.
it does not contain work that reflects any local sights
it does not contain any indication that said artist will return any time soon.
it contains many disappointed gallery-goers. We exchanged stories about how far we had driven. it was a very mini-tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless.
So - the 3 people i brought with me, the 4 we met in the hall and the 6-8 others we encountered while we were there sadly looked around thoroughly. glumly. bummer-edly. ok, so a couple of them didn't seem to care, but they also didn't know about the show in advance and were just there to see whatever might be going on.
So, mlogan at roanoke dot edu, I send you my tale of woe. Many hopes that it helps you remedy this with future shows, as, alack, there is nothing that can be done about it now.
bp
excville
current r'noker
Steve Keene will be painting onsite during his residency at Roanoke College.
*Extended Gallery Hours: 10-5 pm everyday including weekends*
(oh, the top line is also underlined, but I don't know how to make an underline on this blog)
So imagine my surprise when I get to the gallery at a few minutes after noon on Saturday the 10th of November to find it dark. After chatting with the 3 people I had brought with me and the 4 who were already there waiting (2 "grownups", 2 students), one of the waiting students went to find someone to unlock the gallery.
Security showed up and told us it didn't open until 1, couldn't we see the info on the door of the gallery? Huh? Saturday the 10th is a weekend within the dates the show runs. I checked a poster in the hall. Nope, I'm not crazy.
Well so, ok, for some reason they aren't following the info on the card. That's cool. But now I am nervous. I really want to see the artist in residence, say hello, perhaps grab an iconic painting of this area that he made while in residence, painting onsite, as the card and posters all indicate, and go on my way. Will I get to do this? Bad feeling in my gut.
While waiting for 1 pm we wander over to a building that has an info desk in it. I'm not familiar with the college so don't know the name.
The student at the desk (who tries her hardest despite having a bad cold) has never heard of this show, has no phone numbers to call except the one on the poster i brought over to her (though she doesn't call it since it is the number for Olin Gallery, which we know is closed).
After fruitless conversation, we go back to the gallery. Now unlocked it contains:
1 student who has absolutely NO information about anything
2 giant frames for displaying s.k. work
a big silver box for collecting $
4 teeny tiny paintings
a nice show (ironically, i know most of the folks who's pieces are displayed)
it does not contain an artist in residence.
it does not contain work that reflects any local sights
it does not contain any indication that said artist will return any time soon.
it contains many disappointed gallery-goers. We exchanged stories about how far we had driven. it was a very mini-tragedy, but a tragedy nonetheless.
So - the 3 people i brought with me, the 4 we met in the hall and the 6-8 others we encountered while we were there sadly looked around thoroughly. glumly. bummer-edly. ok, so a couple of them didn't seem to care, but they also didn't know about the show in advance and were just there to see whatever might be going on.
So, mlogan at roanoke dot edu, I send you my tale of woe. Many hopes that it helps you remedy this with future shows, as, alack, there is nothing that can be done about it now.
bp
excville
current r'noker
1 comment:
The response I received:
Dear Brooke,
Sorry that you missed Steve while he was here at Roanoke College. You are correct in that Steve was in residence here until the 10th but had depleted all of his materials by the 9th (painted and sold 2,000 works while in Olin Gallery). We tried to alert the public via the colleges website and posters on the gallery doors(which I hear were removed) that the show was sold out. I just spoke with John Owen and he says “Hello”, we may have met in our Charlottesville days, Dan Friedman and John are dear friends of mine. Welcome to the Valley.
Best,
Talia
I guess that response was ok. but there was no explanation as to why HE wasn't there. The place was full of cans of paint and there are plenty of places to buy wood....
oh well. why am i so damn grumpy this month?
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