Yesterday members of the New Mexico Women in the Arts came to Las Vegas, NM for an artist studio tour. About 11 people drove up from Santa Fe for the day and saw four artists: Kimberly Reed-Deemer, Ellen Koment, Julie Sola, and me.
Thankfully the weather more than cooperated--we had a warm and sunny day with minimal wind, perfect!
I was the last stop on the tour, just after lunch, and welcomed them with homemade treats and fresh squeezed lemonade in our dining room (pictured above).
Once in the studio I showed them how I work--the sight-sized method, my black mirror, etc and they all liked my paintings. But when I told them the stories behind my paintings, well the energy in the room shifted from what could be described as "polite listening" to keen interest.
I felt them lean forward.
After hearing about the background, the symbology, the context of my paintings they looked more carefully at the images and went into quiet thought. Then some talked about how the meaning of my painting lined up with their own life experiences--which absolutely made my day.
Frequent readers know that I love all acts of self expression that are non-harmful to others, but I especially love images that convey emotion, feeling, and a story.
I like art that makes you think, feel, and creates a desire to discuss it with others.
In a perfect world my paintings could evoke emotional responses without me standing there to provide context, but we don't live in a perfect world. On my website I share the story behind each painting but I am aware that time is precious and in our modern world taking time to read is a luxury.
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Anyway, I'm considering filming myself talking about each painting and providing links to that video on my website and on each painting via a QR code. That way a viewer at a gallery could scan the QR code and watch me give a short talk about the intention behind the painting.
It seems like a good idea but also one that will take a fair amount of time to implement so don't look for it to launch anytime too soon! 😉
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