This Ramble's Feedback (at the bottom of this page)   Rambles Index

t's been too long, and the delay is getting absurd and absurder.

Rush With Mirror, 2005

I wrote that July a year ago, and I have no idea how many rambles there's been since then, if any (See Rambles Index link above.). I've tried to track down and eliminate my mentions of an exhibition as a quirk ... er ... perk of membership, since it obviously isn't anymore. But I'm not rambled out entirely.

Ever conscious of my other promise to members — to show their work — I recently stumbled upon the possibility of showing at VACD. I'm pausing as I type that. Long pause. I've had little good to say about that strange little organization (most of which is still — and updated — on the Visual Art Groups page).

The nicest thing I could say about the organization that nearly rhymes with vapid is that long-time DallasArtsRevue member and friend Elisabeth Schalij is the president of it, and because of that I wish it well.

When in correspondence with Elisabeth recently I learned that an organization only needs to pay $50 to join and thus be eligible to have a show there, I got a little excited.

Then they were set to have an opening, and I attended it mostly just to see the space — much as I have done in the past with potential exhibition spaces. See our story on Northwood University, for example.

This visit was complicated by the presence of massive amounts of food from Blue Mesa Grille in the conference room in back, which was better than the art and much appreciated, except there was no place to settle and enjoy it — only two couches in the foyer, and they were se ocupado.

Besides which said foyer was also full of dreadful dark robotty metal sculpture in expensive looking glass enclosures. I asked. They were not part of this show but by Mary Ann Thompson. The building is Thompson Fine Arts, so there's that to contend (visually) with also. It is, as they say, a permanent feature.

a mini panorama of the front gallery spaces
at VACD's space in Thompson Fine Arts

If you park in their parking lot, that stuff is the first thing you see when you enter the building.

The gallery space is dinky. I counted 23 flat pieces in there and the adjacent, arched off hallway (both above panoramically). Two pieces were tall, so maybe space for 25 medium-sized flat pieces. The TSA is showing there later this year, and I wonder where they're going to put any sculptures. With just a few people, it is crowded in there.

We agreed it was a sad little space.

The deal is DallasArtsRevue could join for $50 and show. That seemed pretty good back before I'd seen the space. Well, I'd seen it twice from the ante room window when I'd visited the gallery during its advertised open times, but it wasn't open, and they're all excited lately that they've got someone paid to be there and open the gallery now during their current open times, but I wanted to see it during an opening to see the space in action.

There were people there. Their own 24-car parking lot was full (although there were fewer than that number of people in the gallery or eating spaces) but we breezed into an adjacent covered lot just west — didn't see any prohibitory signs, and we looked. So there's parking for plenty of visitors very close, an early, good sign. But darned little space inside the front gallery for art.

The mostly office building is designed around the foyer, which opens from their shotgun parking lot along the east side. That's where Maryann's (I've spelled her name as many ways as I know, hoping one will be correct.) metal things are in their elegant glass boxes between the two couches.

So maybe that's really the front gallery, but the front gallery I'm talking about is the one that's closest to Maple Avenue, just inside a tiny ante space (that's its glass door open in the second photo above) from the part of the building that fronts onto Maple Avenue. Did I mention that I wasn't thrilled with the art that was there?

I was told that was by a disparate group of artists (not an organization, although VACD is supposedly an organization of organizations, supposedly the org of orgs) who all have gallery representation in other places, and I had to wonder why they'd want to show here. Colors were bright, but there were darned few chances taken in any of it, and I wondered whether a place that showed art with so few chances taken would fit into the oeuvre of a DallasArtsRevue show, and thought it would not.

Still, $50 is cheap. While I was still being excited about that possibility, I learned that in addition, each individual artist who actually shows there had to pay an additional $20 to become annual members of flaccid ... er ... VACD.

That seemed like a bait and switch trick, but $20 was nickels and dimes compared to what most vanity galleries would charge. Uh... Does anybody out there know of any vanity galleries???

J R Compton - Ribbons, 2005

Anyway, that's when I decided I had to check out the space. Before I put it to you, dear members. Which is one of the main subtexts of this essay. Knowing what you now know about it, Do you want to do it here?

I leave the final decision up to you, but if you'd ask me, I'd say we could probably find a better place, even though I have not been able to do that.

I should point out that I had been relying on the spoken good intentions of the Bath House Bunch for lo these many months (years actually) when they said we were in line to do a show, probably in '05 or '06, handily off-calendar from my own April 2004 one-person show of White Rock Lake photographs in their hallway.

Then, when they reported sometime last year that the members' show was not gonna happen — I forget when exactly — because it was such a blow after all those little conversations over the years since I submitted the proposal, all very positive, all saying yes, we're gonna make it happen, yes, but not this year, maybe next year, yes, yes, of course — I was in shock.

Still am. That negative report followed closely after I wrote a ... well, it wasn't even a negative review of their annual Outside the Lines show, in which I've often participated and might again. It just asked certain open-ended questions about the show. Then there was this story, which may have tread over some other lines.

Then, wham, bam! No thank-you, man! No show for your wild bunch here in the hallowed halls of ... Not with unfettered opinions and scary thoughts. No. Uh-huh.

I can't say definitively that that's what nixed our possibility of a DallasArtsRevue show there, but they followed in fairly rapid succession, and I have nothing else to hang their refusal upon. They've continued to be personally pleasant with me since...

Then, last October, I had a little show of DallasArtsRevue members here in my home during the White Rock Lake Artists Studio Tour. I wanted it to be a show and sale with lots of work by lots of members. And, in several ways, it was. But not that many members participated actively. It was a disappointing little show in too many ways I mostly had little or no control over.

Art Shirer - Spinner - at the DallasArtsRevue Membership Exhibition and
Art Hoo-ha during the 14h Annual White Rock Lake Artists Studio Tour

The tour organizers kept telling me they wanted DallasArtsRevue on their tour. And everybody else on the tour was trying to sell stuff (some of which is art), but we couldn't try to sell our stuff (all of which would be art), because the rules forbade that sort of thing by a group that didn't pay to be on the tour (although I did) and would be competing with the artists who were on the tour and who had paid to be on the tour. Unfairly, supposedly.

$20 each isn't that bad, I suppose. But we'd have to pay for a postcard at VACD, too. And we probably wouldn't get food from Blue Mesa.

And WRLAST wants me/us on the next White Rock tour, too.

I had grand fun at the last one, described in some detail here as well as here. But I don't like to do the same thing over and over unless it's successful, and I only sold one piece last year and none the year before that, and I don't think anybody else in our show sold anything, and it's not worth it if only one person (even if that person is me) sells anything.

And besides, by trying to skirt the rules, that show essentially sucked (the people who participated by attending and talking about art sure did not, but as a show, it did), since it had to be all informal and mixed in with my other art anyway (which was the only dodge I could come up with that would squeak through all the rules), and what we really need(ed) was/is a full-fledged, actual, genuine art exhibition, not some rule-skirtin' silliness anyway.

We could have a real show here during the next tour without actually being on the tour and thus not subject to their dumb rules. Or we could actually be on the tour and just screw the rules and have a decent exhibition here maybe extending out onto my front porch. Paint my front two rooms bisque and mount a righteous exhibition for two days. Salon style all over the walls.

Then I could come back in with my collection and live here again. I usually do not live in those spaces during the cold of winter or heat of summer, anyway.

I want DallasArtsRevue to have another show, but I don't want to have to put as many hours into it as I did the first one, unless those hours are all here at home. Tranquilla was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of work. I'm 61 now, and though that still seems young to me, I'm getting tired too easy and am getting even fussier about what I do with the energy I still have.

Making shows happen can be grand fun. Probably the most fun I ever had making shows happen was when I was Chair of Programming at Allen Street Gallery. There, I got other people to make show suggestions, gave them the space and as much help as I could muster. Taught them how to do a show then let them do it.

J R Compton - Yellow Pot, 2005

Nice thing about that sort of generation/regeneration is that people never stopped bringing in new ideas for shows, and we never ran out of people to help and learn. I'd still like to see my show idea that was the proposal for the Bath House all those years ago, but it may still be way too wild for most art spaces.

And I don't have any other space to offer but my living and dining rooms and porch. Allen Street had its own pretty good space (donated by my still friendly acquaintance David Gibson), but DallasArtsRevue has been careful not to acquire one of its own.

Like owners of a printing press, owners of art spaces have to keep them busy all the time, and that's often enough to wipe them out financially and sometimes mentally.

I have had my eyes on a few spaces scattered around town over the last decade or so. But no budget. Certainly no budget like I'd need to acquire one. I could easily afford one or two if I won the lottery. That should be easy enough...

A lottery-winner could afford somebody to keep the damned thing going; I sure wouldn't want to be stuck with it.

It's a good thing to do. Something somebody should. DARE was supposed to do that. That's why I joined that merry prank as the Founding Board Secretary. Then DARE became The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, and The MAC dropped the baton. The Swiss Avenue Contemporary isn't up to it, either. But if I had several million ducks I could probably find something better to do with my time.

J R Compton - Fresh-cut Fruit, 2005
from getting lost on an art visit to Fort Worth

Already can.

I don't write so much about the Bath House anymore. Not because their shows are suddenly less whatever. I just feel uneasy there.

An artist friend and I had been talking about that same time that having the same place on our exhibition lists over and over again kinda looked like we couldn't get shown anywhere else.

So, part of the reason I don't write Rambles every month like I promised (and used to) is that every time I do, I inevitably think about the possibilities of exhibiting DallasArtsRevue members. Then the guilt piles up and the energy wanes, and soon enough I'm thinking about something else. Anything else.

And the DARts Member shows concept slides a little further down the hill.

When I was attending the University of Dallas back in the 1960s, several of their buildings were literally sliding down the hill. Some as much as several inches a year. Tons of concrete had to be pumped into the foundations. I'm surprised others aren't down bumping into Texas Stadium by now.

Some of my best intentions are slowly sliding down some similar hills.

I was going to have annual meetings, too. The last regularly scheduled one of those was at Elisabeth Schalij's house in Duncanville. But only a spare few folk showed up.

Does any bona fide Member really want to have a meeting? What would we talk about? What would we want to decide? What would you like DallasArtsRevue to do that it isn't already doing and actually could?

J R Compton - Raising Dust, 2005

Or do you just want to have a show?

The show I see us having will be either a big deal like the proposal proposed to the Bath House in some Big Space. Or a little-ish show with each member who's in it — there's approaching zero possibility that every DARts member who wants to will be in this show. When we had the Tranquilla show there were about twenty of us total. Now there's more than twice that.

So it has to be some sort of competition or selection. Somebody gotta curate the thing. Of course, that's the fun part, the part I want in on. I'd want to share it with somebody from the exhibition space or some of DARts' other contributors or member(s). But jurors/curators can't show in it.

Any DallasArtsRevue exhibition would have to reflect the membership in that we have a broad spectrum of experience and skill. We are beginners and we are old hands. We are abstractionists and figurative, print-makers and painters and sculptors and installationists and ceramists and mosaic artists and everything else.

With each member who's in it showing at least three pieces. It can't be just the very best art by members, because of the difference of experience and quality. At Tranquilla everybody who wanted to be in the show was in the show. The last opportunity we had to show (and that opportunity is still available, if we figure out who all can or should or will show) too many people wanted to show, and I didn't know how to narrow it down.

If it's at VACD that means the most who could show would be eight artists. Sad to show fewer than 20% of the members and in such a dinky, crowded little space. Does maybe any member have a easier space possibility?

Tranquilla was group effort from picking the place to cleaning up after. Everybody participated and everybody (it seemed) had a good time. Even then we knew that each new show would be different, and that we'd move it around. What say all of you?

Your feedback to this Midnight Ramble —
You don't even have to sign your name.
Just email the editor.

I like it! for midnight people like us ... trying to defeat the day, finding excuses to stay awake!!!!

Fannie
 

JR, I don't know about VACD, but had you thought about contacting the Pigeon Stone Project people? Patrick Rhodes has had a couple of exhibits with them. One recently was in the Cont. Gin Lofts, the place in front of the studios. I can see why people are reluctant to show "us." We are a motley crew, a bit uneven, of course that is what they are missing!

Also, Melodee Ramirez (Northlake Professor) and I are having a show with Marie Park on Feb. 2. We will be there on the 4th all day too. After that, when you have time, (or maybe before it goes) we can get new work up in your site.

Thanks for all you do.
Nancy

Pigeon-Stone is a fabulous idea. Thanks. I've sent them an email asking about the possibility.-JRC

 

Hi, J.R. I appreciate your reviews. Whether it’s negative or positive, it’s honest. I agree with a lot of what you say about the VACD gallery. Since I took over, I believe a lot has been cleaned up.

The food that is provided is ridiculous and I have tried to cut that out altogether save maybe a little wine, water and snacks. The owner wants the gallery to be known for its food and drinks. I want people to come for the gallery. Yes, it’s a small one, but as long as we don’t crowd it, it is quite acceptable as a start. The group that is showing now is a loosely fitted group. As long as 2-3 pieces are sold in each show it’s encouraging for the artists involved.

The TSA will have a total of 8-10 pieces plus some photographs, etc. I am sure we can make it workable. We never have nor will we have 7,500 member artists. We aim for a larger, independent space, but that’s obviously not easy to find.

I became president and plan to clean up the mess. Don’t give up on us yet.

Elisabeth

J.R.,

Exhibiting is the responsibility of each member — not the responsibility of DallasArtsRevue. You capably provide lively coverage of the visual art scene in Dallas and beyond. And you "plug" member's pages whenever you are notified of their work being on exhibit.

Since membership has grown, you are unlikely to know the organizational and personality strengths (or weaknesses) of each person. Finding sufficient and compatible assistance would be problematic, risking excessive worries and work falling in your lap. The rest of the members would benefit from the work of a few.

Group exhibits are inherently uneven in quality and style. A group exhibit of forty or more artists would be unwieldy. Jurying to accommodate a small venue would jeopardize the good will of those whose work was rejected.

Chairing (or co-chairing) an exhibit "takes over your life" for the duration of the planning and exhibition period. I have been a leader and member of various art groups that began as discussion / critique groups and added group exhibits to their activities. My comments come from those experiences.

All the best,
Jeanne Sturdevant

JR,

How is everything. I read the ramble — I am o.k. to take part in any exhibit you can figure out. Sorry I am not able to help make decisions very well — way too much going on ....

Anyway, I did not want to NOT answer you about your ideas. Just count me in when you figure out what will work. We will be asking people to decide about their participation on the Art Tour sometime in the next 2 months ....

See you soon maybe out at White Rock somewhere.

Marty

top

DARts Index
Art Calendar