For the summer I, personally, was unable to return to the 717 with nothing but employment at the Cocoa Perk to my name. So, I got an internship. Funny thing about internships in the Central Pennsylvania area; they really do not exist for Illustration majors. And so, especially in Harrisburg, my only chance for the desire three credits that come with onehundredandtwenty hours of work is to intern at one of the (unbeknown to me) many galleries in Harrisburg. Late in the game I googled 'galleries+harrisburg' and found that there is more than just the Art Association of Harrisburg, the Susquehanna Art Museum, and the Whitaker Center. There are also a slew of lovely little galleries across the city, splattered about midtown and downtown, and each have their personalized representation as to what it is to show and deal artwork.
I was fortunate enough to obtain an internship with the Mantis Collective a space not new to Harrisburg, but new to Third Street as of this past February. Mantis exhibits fine art of the contemporary genre, featuring lots of artsy abstracts and thought provoking pieces that always have great titles. Really. A more eloquent description of the Gallery's nature is found by way of the link, but, this is my blog, so I can give you my version of the low down, which really is, the Mantis is a beautiful space. In a, uh, colorful neighborhood, and features art by some current juggernauts in the contemporary art world.
Why am I telling this, you might ask? Well, last night, for some internship hours, I worked the opening of Mantis's newest show, 'Memory Not Mine' by Andrew Guth (who also is co-owner of the space). Not only did I work it, it was also my first art opening, ever. And, let me tell you, those who think art and stuff is not a big deal and stuff, it was a very intense evening! It was filled with wine, copious amounts of wine, which allowed me to catch up on some stellar wine opening skills, with fancy and mainly older art people who were very impressive in how naturally blaisse they were, with lots and lots of sales. Think mon-ay, as in, 'get mon-ay, get paid'. Out of Guth's thirty pieces, he sold twenty one of them, TWENTY ONE! This fact makes me seriously consider getting into painting. There's an obvious market for painting.
Although, personally, I wouldn't really place Guth's work into the painting spectrum. Yes, he did use brushes, and paint, but the handling of the materials, which also spanned into beeswax, graphite, charcoal, ephemera, and collage aspects of layered text pages, provokes a whimsy solidly grounded in haphazard mark making that evokes a certain un-edited-ness that comes with abstract work.
The crowd really was into it, obviously. So, I spent the night amidst louder voices over top loud electronica, retrieving specially etched wine glasses for Mantis members, and constantly screwing through some wine cork while knocking down people's hopes of owning their own Guth piece by placing little red stickers next to sold pieces. At one point a couple asked to purchase piece number twenty-seven. I said surely and took them to the back to wait in line for the checkout. Ridiculous enough, the woman right before them had purchased the piece. I was mortified as I had to turn to the couple (who own their own gallery in Harrisburg) and apologize profusely for the mishap. The look of incredulity was one I could hardly define, was it mock shock or was she really disappointed? And let me tell you, some people were becoming expressively upset when they learned the piece they wanted was bought by another, or worse, that all three of the pieces they were considering were snatched by the same buyer.
I was fortunate enough to obtain an internship with the Mantis Collective a space not new to Harrisburg, but new to Third Street as of this past February. Mantis exhibits fine art of the contemporary genre, featuring lots of artsy abstracts and thought provoking pieces that always have great titles. Really. A more eloquent description of the Gallery's nature is found by way of the link, but, this is my blog, so I can give you my version of the low down, which really is, the Mantis is a beautiful space. In a, uh, colorful neighborhood, and features art by some current juggernauts in the contemporary art world.
Why am I telling this, you might ask? Well, last night, for some internship hours, I worked the opening of Mantis's newest show, 'Memory Not Mine' by Andrew Guth (who also is co-owner of the space). Not only did I work it, it was also my first art opening, ever. And, let me tell you, those who think art and stuff is not a big deal and stuff, it was a very intense evening! It was filled with wine, copious amounts of wine, which allowed me to catch up on some stellar wine opening skills, with fancy and mainly older art people who were very impressive in how naturally blaisse they were, with lots and lots of sales. Think mon-ay, as in, 'get mon-ay, get paid'. Out of Guth's thirty pieces, he sold twenty one of them, TWENTY ONE! This fact makes me seriously consider getting into painting. There's an obvious market for painting.Although, personally, I wouldn't really place Guth's work into the painting spectrum. Yes, he did use brushes, and paint, but the handling of the materials, which also spanned into beeswax, graphite, charcoal, ephemera, and collage aspects of layered text pages, provokes a whimsy solidly grounded in haphazard mark making that evokes a certain un-edited-ness that comes with abstract work.
The crowd really was into it, obviously. So, I spent the night amidst louder voices over top loud electronica, retrieving specially etched wine glasses for Mantis members, and constantly screwing through some wine cork while knocking down people's hopes of owning their own Guth piece by placing little red stickers next to sold pieces. At one point a couple asked to purchase piece number twenty-seven. I said surely and took them to the back to wait in line for the checkout. Ridiculous enough, the woman right before them had purchased the piece. I was mortified as I had to turn to the couple (who own their own gallery in Harrisburg) and apologize profusely for the mishap. The look of incredulity was one I could hardly define, was it mock shock or was she really disappointed? And let me tell you, some people were becoming expressively upset when they learned the piece they wanted was bought by another, or worse, that all three of the pieces they were considering were snatched by the same buyer.
All in all, a glorious experience. I cannot wait for next month's opening (one that I will be assisting in curating. oh, you know).An now, I am again at the gallery; a five hour shift consumed with three viewers (as of 5:47), this rambling blog post, and my new found love (as of 3:15 this afternoon), GLASS ETCHING!
No comments:
Post a Comment