Atlantic Works Gallery sitting………..

For the first time in weeks I had a reprieve of six hours from sitting in the house (which is one way of getting a lot of work done) because the fellow across the street and then my faithful shoveler from next door worked on the driveway so that I could actually back out and get in again without too much crunching noise as the car hit the ice banks..

and I was scheduled to gallery sit at Atlantic Works from 2-6. After a bit of a problem getting in the first door, success getting in the second and the happy sight of Rachel and her husband almost finished with photographing hfer work, I was there for my four hours…armed with drawing paper, stuff to sort and my computer.

Fortunately, after about an hour, a woman who has a studio down the hall came in and she told me how to turn up the heat…down the hall…"Crank it up," she said and I did…that helped a great deal…"Turn it down before you leave."

The gallery has a view of the harbor (or maybe it's Chelsea Creek?) and shore on two sides and buildings on the third….one of which was half covered with white plastic and reminded me that I used to take photographs whenever I saw this white wrapping covering any building, hoping to eventually print an homage to Cristo….  I can't tell you how many images I took for this never-happened project.

 Two of the drawings that Audrina, who I went to the supermarket with to buy food for the opening…too much food for an evening that was so cold….had fallen off, but I pressed them back and took this photograph which in no way represents the cool white of the paper and the tones of her drawings.

But the shadows her nails and the shelf make are apparent. I wasn't taking 'real' photographs as Rachel and her husband had been doing…with lights and tripod, but amusing myself with my point-and-shoot, not the beloved one that wore itself out with hard, long service, but the replacement which has no heart.


On one of my pacings, I found a pack of cards that were made by Stephanie Arnett (sp?) and her husband as part of a road-trip to Marfa…they take a curious stance on Judd's bastion, photos they took with extensive details printed on the back about most, all, many of the small businesses in town..I really enjoyed reading about all of them, including hours they were open, numbers to phone, details of the food served…a nice part of what I vaguely understand is a long alternative Biennial Project that a group of the gallery members, including Anna and Bo, have been working on.  I forget the real title of the project…I imagine there's a website about it…and I'll try to find out the address..

 By this time, I'd finished most of what I could do, eaten two cookies from the closet and some of the food I brought to tide me over and started to take photographs of segments of the work…this is part of a drawing by Chas…two others are below in their original form, though the color is off...

 This show the gallery…or part of it, Walter and Rachel's work….Chas is in the tiny room in the back corners and Audina and I aren't visible...

 My drawings, 4 of 6, with the illegible writing.

 This pleasant fellow came in wearing moon boots which he said are very old, twenty years maybe, uncomfortable, patched with gaffer's tape, but absolutely waterproof as none of his other boots are.

The snow on Saturday was about 30" with another foot or so expected over today and tomorrow.

He stopped by to see the Pyromania show, on his way back from somewhere..he drops in every five or six months so it was my good fortune that the gallery was on his route…even though it was not
the show he wanted.




These are segments of Rachel's work…she is very seriously investigating and working with sculpture though she was deeply and successfully involved with theatre in Israel before she and her husband moved here. I wish I'd known about the experimental theatre she started in Somerville..what I was most interested, in listening to a little bit of her history, is how long she and her company worked on each presentation, six months if I remember correctly, developing a sense of community and slowly enriching the production. Interesting.

These hardly do justice to her work….especially to the figure that plays off Degas' ballet dancer in the MFA, but I hope she doesn't mine my including them.

When Walter installing my work up, Rachel asked if I was going to keep the shadows or put pins in the lower edges of the drawings.

She also drew my attention to the illegibility of the writing and suggested that I do a little booklet so that the viewer can read a typed version of what I've written. I think that's a good idea…and would probably do something like that if I show them again. She considers the audience in a way I never do.

These are some of the shadows of my drawings. The other ones that show the pins weren't in focus.

Walter's sculpture, above and here…with details of his work.

And isn't this gorgeous? The light in here is lovely in the day, with a curious pattern of shadows that move across the side wall…I was hoping to photograph them, but no sun.

I left a little after five, having been told by the woman with the studio down the hall who came in to look at the show, that it didn't make sense to stay until six on such a cold night, with or without snow.