edward stewart @ the fresno philharmonic

what a weekend. as you may have read here before, i was the featured lobby artist at the philharmonic's performances. i had seen over on fresno famous that they were looking for artists to show. of course, i jumped at the opportunity, sent them an email, gave them the address for my art blog (artbyedwardstewart.blogspot.com) and they liked my stuff. so, i was in.

as i continue to show, i'm really learning a lot about what sort of questions to think about and ask. like, how's the lighting in the venue? can i adjust it? what will the crowds be like? how big is the space? what limitations do i have? fortunately, they did tell me at least how many pieces i needed bring, and that i needed to bring my own easels. even better, i know a guy that loves working with wood. so, that was taken care of.

saturday, mike, heather and adam all helped me take my work over to the saroyan theater, and heather and adam helped me get it set up. the crowds started to come in, aided by the fact that there was a little bar in the lower lobby. local musician patrick contreras was playing up above, so i think people enjoyed hearing some good music and looking @ my art. i know i appreciated talking to several people about my work.

funny thing about art, as well as music, not everyone appreciates the same things. for instance, i was talking with a woman that liked my work. but she really disliked the music. and, i'm sure it went the other way as well. heather actually overheard some people talking about how they didn't like abstract work. and honestly, a lot of the philharmonic crowd is older. they probably want nice watercolors that they can hang in their bathrooms. i don't mean that as insult, but more that different crowds will have different tastes.

sunday's show was a matinee, which meant different lighting concerns. i had to move some paintings around because there was a lot of sunlight shining down behind them, making them quite difficult to see. another aspect of today's show was that the bar, which had brought in quite a few viewers, was not open. so, foot traffic was down at first. but, patrick contreras set was moved down into the end of the lower lobby. so, once his music got going, there were quite a few people milling about, looking at the work. i was able to speak to a few people about pieces, and i had a good time.

finally, the weather was a bit of a concern this weekend. it's been raining, and i wasn't sure what i'd do if it was pouring while we were loading, transporting and unloading the paintings. it stayed dry during during the set up trip, so that was nice. of course, as soon as we pulled the truck up to load out, starts raining. fortunately, most of the pieces were going into the cab of mike's truck, but the 3 biggest ones and the easels were all headed for the truck bed. fortunately, george (sara's dad) gave mike some plastic sheeting that we used to cover the paintings for the ride home. they got a couple of drips on them, but otherwise everything made it home alright.

so, thanks to everyone who helped with the show, the people that came to it, and especially to the philharmonic for having me.