Galveston should be world famous for their art walk. It happens every six weeks. It still amazes me when I meet new people who live on the island who have never heard of or never participate.
Tonight, Brenda 2 and I introduced my next door neighbor Maryse to Art Walk.
Technically the hours are from 6-9 pm but we went around three in order to find a place to park. We met up with friends at MOD--only the best coffee house around bar none. We sat and plotted our route for the afternoon/evening. The cool thing about arriving early is that as we make our rounds, the artists have time to visit with us.
For those of you not bored yet, I plan to introdece you to the artists and art we met. I am doing this with an ulterior motive. Even if you never come to our place (which would be a real shame) perhaps you will take a new look at your local artists, galleries, and student shows.
My friend Maryse and I began the afternoon by visiting with Shaun and his girlfriend. He sneaked up from behind with a big hug. His mom walked up next with Marty. Maryse commented
about her hair being such a bright red. I could not remember her name at the moment and was
relieved to know I had already introduced them. Maryse continued her discussion about the
bright bright red hair. When we finally decided to hit our first gallery, Maryse said
something about Sheila. That's when I realized why she was so shocked by the orange red hair.
She had confused Chris (at last I remembered her name) with my other friend Sheila who has
auburn red hair. I am sure Chris was rather confused by Maryse. I am sure the French accent
didn't help much.
Our first stop was at Galveston Art League--my favorite gallery because it is run by volunteers, prices start at $20, and most of the artists are local. As we walked in and for the entire time we were there, there was a middle aged handsome artist who had diahrea of the mouth--non stop about his talents and creativity and ability to write and on and on. All of this white noise was directed at the poor volunteer--an elderly lady probably in her 80's. He left about the same time we did. I think we were all glad. The art, as always, was fabulous!! Maryse enjoyed the coastal paintings while I love the objective abstracts (for the nonartist, this means you know it is a tree but it looks like no tree God or Mother Nature would ever make). My favorite were the rocks about the size of a fist painted with all kinds of fun faces.
Back to Mod to await Brenda 2. She came and we headed into Tim Hamrock's furniture/interior design store. He allows artists to hang in his space and my two favorite were by Bud Clayton. He does non-objective abstract on canvases about 4'x 4' or larger. It is like looking at the clouds--you see something new every time you look at his work. (He is on facebook so check it out.) He also has handpainted Christmas ornaments with the tiniest details. Oh so fab!!
Clyde was the third place on our agenda. If you read my blog on Galveston Friends and Acquaintances, you might remember he plays the bagpipes. He also owns The Witchery which some people object to--the devil and witchcraft stuff--but I like the uniqueness of it. He has alot of incense. He has lots of crystals. He has paintings from an artist named Beth. Her work looks almost renaissance with the sepia tones, jewel colors, and long dresses on the women. There was a palm reader and Brenda 2 signed up.
Maryse and I headed to the Grand Opera House to see the art displayed there. A local artist had a grand piano casing with glass on top --conference table size. I did not get his name. He also had a number of metal sculptures, metal bed, and metal table and chairs. He uses welding, gears, rebarb, car parts--any thing metal.
Gabe was also showing some of his work which is hard to describe. I think his sister is a photographer and takes black and white photos that look as if they are of people in third world countries. He incorporates these oversized photos into his paintings on reclaimed wood. It is all rough and half-finished in appearance and really wonderful. Gabe is another one of my favorite artists on the island--a young kid who enjoys surfing as much as he enjoys creating art. Gabe also hangs on the wall of a boarded up McCary's building across the street from MOD. He creates spray paintings for the crowds strolling by. He has music on his boom box booming.
After the Opera House, we headed to McCary's wall. There is a lady there who flattens wine bottles then writes messages on them. Not my favorite. Around the corner--same wall--is Shane's artwork. He is a painter and quite talented. His artwork sells. I should know because I bought a print for $20. His work is hard to describe--reminds me of a quilt, has architecture, grays and blues--wonderful. There was a young high school student selling the pottery he makes in his high school art class--and he has quite a bit of talent!! The pots were less than $50~~a real bargain!!
Next door to MOD is Renee' Wiley's gallery/studio. She is the most famous artist on the island. Her work is great, bold, island themed, and some of the most expensive. Brenda 2 bought a small painting --maybe 18" by 24" of the now gone Balinese Room for around a $1000. I don't know what she negotiated but that is the tag on the other painting of the Balinese Room. Maryse really responded to the art in this gallery. Renee' also features wood carvings done by a Texas City artist from the trees that died after and because of IKE. He is also wonderfully talented. If you go on line for Galveston, you can find photos of all the tree art in people's yards--mostly on the East End--a dog, the Tin Man, etc.
Brenda 2 finally rejoined us after finding out that she will live a long happy life from the palm reader. We headed to Jennifer Peck's gallery. She was serving great Mexican pastries. Her work is simple like folkart and has a coastal theme but very reasonable priced.
Next door to Jennifer is a new lofts for sale building. They featured several artists whom I do not know. However, on the first level, a young man had beautiful paintings of fish. The water and outlines of the fish were very realistic. The inside of the fish were abstract reminding me of spinning circles we made as kids with a spirograph. The colors were jewel toned and brights--quite beautiful.
No comments:
Post a Comment