Redtree Times

Exiles at Gmeiner Art Center Wellsboro PA January 1997

Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings.
Not all things are blest, but the
seeds of all things are blest.
The blessing is in the seed.

–Muriel Rukeyser, The Green Wave (1948)

The blessing is in the seed…

Everything we accomplish or attempt has a seed, a beginning.

My career path as an artist had such a seed, which was when the West End Gallery graciously invited me to show my humble little paintings in their gallery. It’s a well-worn story, one that I’ve recounted hundreds of times. I’ll spare those details now except to say that my career there, as it were, began with no intention, no thought that it would ever grow beyond the shell of that seed. I was ignorant like most seedlings, reacting and moving toward whatever stimuli that would nourish and help me grow.

That was in February of 1995. My seed was planted then. Little did I know that it would take root and grow rapidly, thank in great part to two encounters with a lovely Art Center located in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1995, just a few months after first showing my work publicly, I decided to enter a well-known regional art competition held by the Gmeiner Art Center in Wellsboro, a bucolic rural village in northern PA, about forty-five minutes from my home.

The Sky Doesn’t Pity (1995)

I had never entered my little paintings in a competition of any sort. It was all new to me and, to be honest, I expected absolutely nothing. I had only sold a few paintings at that point and still was unsure that this painting thing would ever be more than a happy pastime. I wasn’t even sure I could take decent photo of my painting for the entry. But I somehow managed to send it out with my slides. That painting, The Sky Doesn’t Pity, is shown here on the right

Soon after I was notified that I had taken one of the top honors in the show. It might have only been a third-place award but it felt like Olympic gold.

I was shocked. And filled with encouragement. To have someone see something in my work that made it stand a tiny bit above the other submissions from a variety of artists, including many pros that I knew of, made me feel seen and heard in a way I had not expected. Maybe there was something in this work that could speak to others as it did to me.

My seed was now nearly fully sprouted thanks to that show at the Gmeiner in 1995. The Gmeiner would soon provide an even greater boost in my growth.

Exiles: A Prayer For Light (1995)

My mom was diagnosed with metastatic cancer around that same time. She went through a hard and ugly battle with it that ended with her death in November of 1995. Her battle inspired a group of personal work that I called the Exiles. They were primarily the faces of the afflicted and the estranged, each showing the effects of illness or grief. They were, as I said, personal expressions of my own grief for my mom.  One piece from that group that felt important to me, A Prayer for Light, is shown here on the left.

By mid 1996 I had completed a large number of these Exiles paintings. I didn’t feel as though I could put them up for sale at that time. The feelings were still deep and raw for me. But I felt that they need to be seen. But where? I was, after all, still a part-time artist with a pretty short track record.

The Gmeiner came to mind. It had a wonderful exhibition space, clean and open. Perfect for my work. And I had a tenuous connection in that they at least knew my work. That was not much but it was something. I decided to approach them. What was the worst that could happen?  They might reject me. I fully expected that.

But I also knew that things didn’t happen unless you made them happen. I had to at least ask for what I wanted.

I had written business plans for my own business a few years before so I used that as template for my proposal, describing in detail why they should offer me a spot in their exhibition rotation. I made an appointment with their director with my plan along with photos and examples of the work that would make up the exhibit. Much to my surprise, she loved the proposal.

In January of 1997, over 29 years ago, the Gmeiner Art Center hosted my first solo show.

My seed was breaking the surface and reaching ever upward. It felt like a huge deal to me. It still does. I have done over 70 solo shows over the decades, but that first solo show in Wellsboro may well be the most important for me in so many ways up to this point.

The Gmeiner holds a special place in my heart. And now, over 29 years later, I get to show my work there again. Next month, beginning on July 18, the Gmeiner Art Center in a collaboration with the West End Gallery will host Big Gems It is a take off on the West End’s very popular annual show, Little Gems, but here will combine the larger and much smaller works of artists from the West End Gallery. I will be the featured artist in the Atrium Gallery there.

There is an opening reception on Saturday, July 18th, from 2-4 PM that will also feature Brian Keeler giving a demo of his wonderful work. That is not to be missed.

I am truly thrilled to be going back to the Gmeiner and am looking forward to this show. I feel a deep sense of gratitude to them for the nourishment they provided when I was but a seedling. Without that first award and first show, I don’t know in what manner I might have grown, if at all.

Thank you, Gmeiner Art Center!