ART SHOW

Two of my guy's photos were selected to hang at North Georgia University (Oconee County) in their gallery last month. An old favorite of mine, Pier Village:

And a new one, Bees:

The show was juried, and this large painting (you can barely see it behind the people) won, which allows the artist to hang her work for the next month, I believe.

However, amidst all the collages and cat pix and seascapes and cartoons and exotic locales, this one painting caught my eye. It's by someone named Melody Croft and is called Connections.

I just loved it and kept coming back to admire it. How many times has this scene been played out in restaurants? In the mirror, you can see other diners, but this couple is isolated. From the diners and from each other. The man looks only at his phone while the expression on the woman's face says it all.

Lovely campus and a nice exhibition hall. And the lemon bars at the reception were wonderful!

ART GALLERY

The county next to us has an art association my guy recently joined. They were having an exhibit of members' works so he was able to get a photo in. The building is a schoolhouse built in 1902, recycled as an art gallery. Here's the outside:

Members displayed all kinds of art, from paintings to photography to jewelry to pottery to books. Some were quite amazing.

These are a couple pix of the inside. First, a small gallery:

Next, the large gallery:

And here is my guy's photograph:

Great place but they definitely need a better hanging system. They have to drive nails to hang every show!

ARTS IN OUR NEW HOME

This is Lyndon House Art Center that we visited a few weeks back. Photography, painting, pottery, and other arts are taught and practiced here. My guy signed up for the photography group as he's anxious to find some friends to go out shooting with.

This is the view as we approached from the sidewalk on the street where it sits.

And this garden photo is taken from the side as we walk around to the left:

And going on around, here's the entrance to the actual art part:

The original house has a history but I won't go into it here. Suffice it to say that a lot of artifacts from the owners and some period furniture make it well worth touring. The artists' addition was thoughtfully planned and the entire structure is very impressive.

PS - My guy joined the association and we've already been to our first photography group meeting. I think he's going to like it here!

GALLERY SHOW

The Goodyear Cottage on Jekyll Island, one of the historic summer cottages belonging to millionnaires around the end of the nineteenth century, is used as an art gallery. My guy's photograph was chosen for inclusion in a painting, photograph, and weaving exhibit running this month through the first part of December. It's a lovely old house:

Here is my guy's photograph of sunset on the Jekyll River:

And here is a lady taking a picture with one of the weavers by her fabric:

And here is a-- Hmmm. A yarn tree, maybe? Whatever it was, it was colorful!

Finally, we have the volunteers who are helping with the exhibit opening. Look at all those bottles of wine! Oh. Wait. Looks like she's pointing out something. Maybe trying to divert my attention towards the food tables? Oh, come on!  I really don't drink that much!

If you're down at Jekyll this month or early next month, be sure and visit the Goodyear Cottage . Lots of lovely things there!

HOSPITALS AND ART

Seems hospitals are latching on to a new sideline. With their miles of halls, they have ample room to display art and many are doing it.

Our own hospital has a local art gallery organizing their exhibits. Each month, the pictures get swapped out. This month, photography is featured. Many of them are friends of my guy--though despite my urging, he didn't enter any of his photographs!--so we went by to check it out.

The theme is Sidney Lanier, a well-known poet born in Macon and proudly claimed by Georgia. In case you've not heard of him, he wrote The Marshes of Glynn, The Song of the Chattahoochee, and other lovely poems. He was also a musician and an author. Georgia has named schools, buildings, bridges, counties, and lots of other things for him, including Lake Lanier near Atlanta.

Like many poets, poor Sidney suffered a hard life. He wanted to study music but his parents didn't allow it (probably wanted him to be able to support himself!), so he wrote, taught, and did other things to keep up his wife and children. He traveled quite a bit, too, trying to find a cure for his tuberculosis contracted when he served in the Confederacy. Alas, the disease got him at the young age of thirty-nine.

But he left us a nice legacy. Here are some pix of the view of the hospital exhibit, beginning with the name (Horton Gallery is what this portion of the walls devoted to art is called). The picture to the side shows Sidney's flute, I believe:

This sign tells who Sidney was and gives other information:

And here is part of the wall with its photographs:

And around the corner is the end of the wall:

You might be able to see a few. They include Sidney's instruments, a song he wrote, pictures of the scenery that suggested his poems, his childhood home, bridges named for him and more.

A nice way to while away an hour!

PHOTO SHOW AT ART GALLERY

My guy had some pix in the gallery show of black and white photographs. They had a reception Saturday night so we took a few pictures while we were there.

This guy looks entranced with the shrimp boat photograph. Wonder if it was his!

This is a shot of some of the attendees. You can't see it very well, but my guy's photo of a dragonfly is on the top left of the wall facing us.

These are, I believe some of the organizers.

As a side note: One of the organizers was coming in as someone was walking out with six photographs he'd bought. The organizer had to plead with him to leave the pictures up at least till Monday. The buyer wanted them right away!

But sales is what they're after, so it was a good night!

PRETTYING UP THE PLACE

Riding around yesterday, we went by the water department. Don't know who had the idea of painting the water tanks and buildings, but the view certainly added enjoyment to our ride.

Note the big humpback whale in one of the pix!

Gotta admit, the county does a bang-up job in keeping things looking good!

OPENING AT GALLERY

So the local art association put up a new show in their gallery. The main part is devoted to magazine covers (done by artists) for the local Chamber of Commerce. The free magazine is called Paisley and is available in local shops and businesses.

However, a portion of the gallery was given over to art association member photographers of whom, ahem, my guy is one. Here's a couple of his photos. Overlook the people. It's a typical opening: people are meeting, eating, drinking, and gabbing.

This one was placed over the piano so you can barely see it. It's of the Pier Village kiosks decked out in their holiday lights and glamorized by Photoshop or one of those programs I know nothing about.

Two are in here but you can only see one; the big one of the shrimp boat is his. People are clustered in front of the other one, alas. It was also a shrimp boat but it was docked.

Anyway, it was a good opening. Nice crowd, good food, lots of drinks, much conviviality!

MORNING WALK

The local art association sponsored an arts/crafts fair in Postell Park today. We got there right before the vendors opened. The old oaks and the neat tents made for pretty pictures.

This is when we were approaching, looking at it from between the trees.

This was the first section in front of the casino.

This is the back view of booths facing the sidewalk.

And this is the last section backing up to the local bar and tea shop.

Gorgeous day to be out! A shame I didn't have enough money to buy anything.