Day 11 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibit

Yes, it's finally come to this.

There is a common malady that occurs to Piccolo Spoleto artists approximately 10-11 days into the show, brought on, in part, by high degrees of heat and humidty. This is known as "Second Week Piccolo Spoleto Art Show Syndrome" and is frequently exacerbated by negative economic conditions directly affecting the 100+ artists in Marion Square. The syndrome can occur anytime, anywhere during the second week, suddenly, with no warning, and tends to manifest in a variety of ways, such as the milk bottle marketing strategy pictured above. We happen to know the 2 fine artists pictured above, together with the fact that they are flying to Santa Fe, NM in July, renting a car and setting our for 8 days of plein air painting. It is our fervent hope that they will have recovered enough from the syndrome to effectively change planes, follow maps, directions in the desert (you get the drift)...In any event, the syndrome has brought them $2.00 so far, and they would be the first to tell you that, in their (syndrome-driven) opinion, the marketing strategy has already begun to pay off. In fact, some of the other artists in close proximity have been overheard planning their own strategies and launch dates on cardboard. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The syndrome was manifesting in other areas of the park as well:

She just couldn't take it anymore.

This is a serious case.
Is he locking people out? or locking himself in?

Not Syndrome Driven - Just a Good Party.
Kathy Clark, Janice Waring, Scott Penninger, Anna Penninger, Dwain Ray

However, even in the second week, the show goes on. The free art demonstrations are excellent, and Rick Reinert worked big today, toning his canvas red yesterday, and thrilling his audience (of which there were a goodly number) with an oil demonstration of a downtown nocturne street scene - great perspective, this guy really knows what he's doing! One interesting note about our demonstrations - sometimes the teaching will be in response to a question from the audience, but this year I've really noticed how generous our artists are with sharing their knowledge of art, theory and technique. Here we see Rick about mid-way through his demo:

Rick Reinert Demonstration