Well, I’m through the first two days of a 5 day stint at the West End Gallery in Corning. Thus far it has been pretty uneventful with pretty light traffic, less than we had hoped for the days following Christmas.
I was able to meet, for the first time, several collectors who came in. One was a lady from California who had acquired several pieces of mine over the years. As she came through the gallery with her daughter, who she was visiting in Corning, I asked if I could be of assistance. She said no, saying see just wanted to see some of the work of Gary Snyder, the artist who had done several paintings she had purchased there. As she went up the stairs to the upper gallery, I ran through the artists who have shown there and couldn’t for the life of me, remember a Gary Snyder.
A while later, she came down the stairs and I asked if she saw anything of interest. She said she loved Snyder’s work that was there.
Perplexed I asked if she had actually found some.
She said yes and explained how she ‘d followed his work since the smaller blocks of color and the first red trees. It suddenly dawned on me that she was confusing my name.
“Do you mean Gary Myers– GC Myers?”
In that moment it dawned on her as well that she had the name confused. “Oh my, yes!” she exclaimed then told me she was thinking of a California poet named Gary Snyder. I told her that I was the painter and she was very surprised and pleased to finally meet me. We talked for quite a while, having a pleasant conversation, and she left with one of my books.
There were several other encounters of that sort, enough to make the days go by quickly. The piece at the top, Away From the Chaos, a 20″ by 24″ canvas has been garnering a lot of attention. It has an interesting rhythm in the sky that has been making people stop and take notice. One of the benefits of being in the gallery is watching how people react to different pieces from different artists, seeing how different colors and elements attract the viewer. It’s a constant reminder of the elements that make a painting work and how important it is to keep those elements central to the piece.
So, even when it’s been slow in the gallery there are lesson to be learned. Got to run and get ready for class…
Redtree Times 