On the Road Again!

The Vintage Sunglass Babes

This picture of Carol Gardner and myself from the 2008 Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition finds its way into my blog at least once a year.  We found early on that we collected vintage - especially vintage sunglasses.  In fact, our Santa Fe Art Trip Blog was built around this picture.  We both get so busy with life, work and making art - Carol is an art teacher and I do corporate paralegal work - that sometimes we need to a day trip now and then just to catch up with each other.  

Today was one of our art day trips - not to paint but for Carol to jury the Seacoast Artist Guild Spring Art Exhibition in Murrell's Inlet, SC.  I got to go along for the ride and it was really enlightening, after she finished jurying, to pick her brain concerning how she approached the jurying and to get her perspective on the pieces she chose for each award.  There were over 200 pieces and the art was physically divided into 2 categories - Professional and Non-Professional - each category had awards for First, Second, Third and 2 Honorable Mentions, with one top award for Best in Show.  It was a good show, and I was fascinated with watching Carol approach the process from the "other side" - as judge instead of exhibiting artist.  I was especially impressed with Carol's objectivity - instead of responding to pieces that might personally appeal to her, she made a conscious effort to view the pieces on strength, composition, handling of light and color, etc.  It was a great trip - Carol even bought me breakfast and lunch, but she didn't have to bribe me to go - even with having to set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning!