The day of the opening was clear and sunny. My weather fears had been snow, rain or wind, or all of the above, all of which weather phenomenon have been known to happen in Oracle in April. Scratch one big worry off the list.
There was a last minute scramble to get food items together. There my big worry went two ways. What if I made too much food and nobody came and I had to haul it all home? Or on the other hand, what if I made too little and people came and had nothing to munch on and thought I was stingy?
And drinks. Bottles of wine, water, soft drinks, beer. Cups to put these in. Ice to keep things chilled. Actually there’s an outside refrigerator. One of my first jobs early Sunday morning ended up being to help clean out the refrigerator on the patio outside the gallery. Ah, the job description for the artist is never ending. There was a mild panic when the re-plugged in unit didn’t work, but the intrepid Jim figured it out and soon the appliance was humming away.
I hadn’t even given a thought to flowers. Luckily it’s iris season in Oracle. And the most beautiful lavender iris’s had magically appeared amongst more mundane white and purple ones, for the first time this year. So I cut iris’s and put them in one of my Mom’s vases. It was like having a little piece of her at the opening.
What to wear? I ended up making a rare appearance in a dress. I have a few but seldom have occasion to wear them. I’m usually in paint encrusted studio clothes. It was nice to have something special to wear.
The biggest worry was whether anyone would show up at all. Or almost worse, if a handful of friends came and then felt obligated to hang around for three hours feeling sorry for me.
On the flip side, I had fantasies of a huge crowd, some dignitaries like gallery owners or heck even a museum curator. And best of all, a complete sell out of my work.
The reality was way better than my worst fears and landed somewhere below my biggest fantasies. There was a good, substantial crowd. It meant so much to me that so many people, friends and strangers alike, would take the time out of their busy lives to come to see my work. Although the reality is that I had more than a few people ask me beforehand if I was making my “famous” cookies and guacamole for the opening. When I said yes, they said they’d be there. Maybe they took a look at the work between munching on the food.
Below are some photographs Jim took of people at the opening and at the installation.
Thank you to all the friends and new friends who came to the opening. The exhibit is up through April 28th. The Rancho Linda Vista Gallery has an interesting policy. It is always open. You can just go there, flip on the lights and take your time viewing the work. And if you’d like, contact me via email (barbara@barbaracowlin.com) and I’d be happy to meet you there!