Tuesday, July 25, 2006

An Exhibition in My Favorite Place



The Neighbor's Barn, 2005, Oil on Panel, 16x20






Still haven't had a chance to sit down and write about the concert the other night, hopefully I will have time to get to it tonight, before the whole evening gets fuzzy and starts to retreat to the part of my brain that I can't seem to access as well anymore.

I did get an acceptance letter on Monday from a competition that I recently entered and didn't mention in order to not jinx it. And it's one that I am pretty happy about because it's in Woodstock, my very favorite place. I submitted two of my street scene paintings and one of them, Green Columns was accepted. At first I was a bit bothered that they weren't both included, but I realize that the painting that wasn't accepted really doesn't translate well in a slide, it needs to be seen in person.

The show is the Woodstock School of Art Regional Exhibition 2006, and the juror is Jon deMartin, who coincidentally taught one of the figure drawing workshops that I took there last summer. I am actually a bit surprised that he juried my piece in-he is a very talented, and very traditional figurative artist (though he does other subject matter as well) and my work is definitely less so. But I am pleased when a juror can objectively look at art and appreciate it without projecting their own preferences when deciding whether to include it (especially when that means I get in-heh!). I often see juried shows that simply look like an extension of the art that the juror creates.

So it's all good and I get to enjoy a few day trips to Woodstock to deliver the piece and to attend the opening.

6 comments:

Schuivert said...

That's nice Tracy, congratulations!
I guess it always feels good to exhibit in a place you like.
Did you paint those two in order to enter them to the competition?

Tracy Helgeson said...

I did those pieces last spring, after I had finished landscapes for a show and wanted very badly to paint something different!

I actually really wanted to enter a few of my landscapes but I didn't have any available.

Stacey Peterson said...

Congrats on your acceptance into the show!! Even better that it's somewhere you'll enjoy spending some extra time!

I like your cityscapes - fun to see something different from you, yet with your same style.

amber said...

Congratulations Tracy I see why he chose the one he did, the composition is very original more so than the other. They are both wonderful but the first is awesome
I hate to say this ,but I find your art much more interesting than his He is a great realist artist, but you are more creative
You go beyond the obvious

Tracy Helgeson said...

Thanks, Stacers, I hope to do more of the cityscapes. I enjoy doing them but need more time to focus on them.

Amber, Thanks for the compliment about my work. I appreciate your comment about liking my work more than his-although I hesitate to agree. His work is beautiful and expressive (in real life), and he has a totally different process and intent than mine. Which is the beauty of art, I think, to have so many ways to express ourselves. and all are relevant.

william wray said...

congrats, I love the painting posted too.