The Dollivers Get Culture and an Education

Trip to the local community college, my old stamping grounds, where I took almost all my studio art classes many years ago when they had a worldclass faculty, what an opportunity. I caught them at their peak, I hear. This is where I won my first prizes for student artwork, and purchase prizes as a serious artist, and where I've been juried into a number of regional shows over the years, too.

What drew my attention this morning, aside from Dollivers jonesing for a trip, why haven't we had a TRIP, we work so HARD around here, we need R and R, we are famous photo subjects, we should be mixing with our peers...was the regional photography show.

In line with my habit of trying to get out of my usual way of doing things, exhibit photography not being an ambition of mine, with the glorious exception of the years doing transfer imaging with co-conspirator Stefi, under the joint exhibit name of Unified Field, when we did get into juried photograph shows, made sales, even, which amused the heck out of us, photography being far from our minds at the time of working, where was I, oh yes, I went to this show even though I don't follow photography in galleries much.

Anyway, this was a pretty strong show, with a very good juror, Ricardo Barros, who wrote what I think is the best juror statement I've seen in ages, about what to aim for, why art should not be a contact winner-takes-all sport, why it's not enough to replicate what already exists (this does sell, a big temptation for the artist, since people want to own what they are already familiar with, rather than new work that makes them think twice) how you need to digest and then go forward from what's out there, making work in the present tense, and why he chose the pieces he did.

Also a careful explanation of how much time and trouble he took in the process. Very wise self defense. People can get very hot under the collar with jurors. I guess that's one reason you don't usually see them at the openings of the shows they juried.

So we wandered through the gallery, nostalgia for me,





but refrained from taking pix of the pix, out of courtesy, then had a walk around the campus







and in the rush of enthusiasm for pictures, shot a few nice cloud scenes, on the way back to the car,why not.