SWEET & SOUR: The Art of Holiday Art
EXHIBITS MENTIONED IN THIS POST:
Bluegrass Kitchen ‘Pillow Talk’ Show; Clay Center’s ‘Let There Be Light’ and ‘They Are Still With Us’ and C Gallery in Hurricane
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Sweet (singing): “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas — everywhere you go!”
Sour: Oh, the holiday onslaught is here.! I’m already worn out. Twelve holiday gallery openings, four holiday museum shows, five traffic jams at Southridge, six weeks of turkey leftovers in the fridge and about 500 Christmas tree and 1,000 ornament viewings this week. This season is off to its usual surreal start.”
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Sweet: “I know, I told you last week I dreamt that Gov. Manchin announced that the next W.Va. Foreign Trade Mission would be to the North Pole. And that the WVU Mountaineers were going to play against Santa’s Reindeers for the title game.”
Sour: “No comment.”
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Sweet: “Really? I can’t believe it. Aren’t you going to say here that snide response you said last week to me about W.Va. Friends of Coal and their new Chinese Friends of Coal and Global Warming cutting down on their fur coat -wearing in the Green Room of the North Pole Coal Bowl football game?”
Sour: “No, that was last week. Whoops, I mean, no comment.”
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Sweet: “You must be back in your Friend of Coal mode.”
Sour: “Of course, ’tis the season to sell art. Coal, it keeps the lights on — LOTS of Xmas lights. Christmas should be sponsored by the John Amos Power Plant. AEP must make a killing this season. Plus, there is no such thing as global warming. I read it today in the Vent line of the Gazette-Mail.”
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Sweet: “Are you talking about the venter who said The Bible (in Genesis) said there would be no global warming? You are basing your moral opinions now from the Vent line?”
Sour: “Yes. Global warming is a liberal leftist conspiracy. Apparently, it says that right in the Bible.”
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Sweet: “I don’t think the ‘Christians for the Mountains’ would agree with you.”
Sour: “Coal is the answer.”
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Sweet: “What is the question?”
Sour: “Oh, shut up — let’s get to the reviews.”
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Sweet: “Oh all right, what are the ‘5 best Xmas -themed art events/exhibits you’ve seen so far?”
Sour: “Art powered by coal — or not?”
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Sweet: “Very funny.”
Sour: “All five of my fave xmas-themed art things are in the Bluegrass Kitchen’s Pillow Talk show. The pillows are remarkable. The voodoo ornaments are remarkable. The little monster dolls are remarkable. That’s why I’m remarking on them.”
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Sweet: “You must be in your ‘Friend of Coal meets Scrooge meets Grinch mode.’”
Sour: “Exactly. Well, what did you see that you liked in this already exhaustingly festive season?”
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Sweet: “I liked the things at the Bluegrass Kitchen’s show also. From Betty McMullen to Vasilia Scouras to Keith Allen to Jamie Miller to Charley Hamilton and on. The stuff is quirky and great. The Breast Pillow is great. And very affordable. Keeley Steele always takes such great risks and presents such interesting theme shows in her spaces. Remember the Nude show? That was good.”
Sour: “Yes, I agree, she deserves a Sweet and Sour DIY art medal of achievement. What else?”
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Sweet: “The best Christmas tree and wreath decorations I’ve seen this season have to be the ones created by the C Gallery in Hurricane. Wow! That shop gets an A+ on the design-o-meter. Plus you can get gourmet food there. Although I don’t completely get the upside-down Xmas tree trend.”
Sour: “I don’t completely get it either. Maybe upside down Xmas trees are a hit in the McMansions down in Putnam County. If so, gallery C will do a brisk business.”
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Sweet: “My other fave trees so far this year are the Hula Tree at Young’s Florist, the Feather Tree at Food Among the Flowers, The Trees at Eggplant and Winter Floral.”
Sour: “I know some people pay top dollar for other people to decorate their Xmas trees. More power to the designers, hope they have nice sales this season. Let me exhort everybody here to BUY presents made or designed by W.Va. people! We need the money and you need the presents. Plus don’t you have enough cheap foreign-made crap already?? Buy Blenko. Buy Fiestaware, Buy W.Va. art and craft! Please!”
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Sweet: “Have you seen the ‘Let There Be Light’ show and Mark Moore’s and his students’ holiday installation “They are Still With Us” at The Clay Center?”
Sour: “Yes, have you? If so, were you “dazzled” as they say you will be in the Clay Center PR material? I saw Mark and his students furiously painting those red doors at his gallery a few art walks ago. It was quite a scene. Like a surreal Santa’s workshop in Devil Red. The students were sawing, drilling and painting like madcap elves.”
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Sweet: “I was fairly “dazzled.” What did you think of the end product of Mark’s workshop?”
Sour: “It was pretty good. A+ for idea and teamwork, B on execution.”
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Sweet: “I give it an A-. Great idea, good execution. Thanks for trying something new. I loved Sharon Harms’ light installation. A+ on the design-o-meter.”
Sour: “I give the Sangius installation light thing an A+. They should buy it for the Vault.“
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Sweet: “One of the best things is the design on the Title Wall. Kudos to whoever did it. A+ on the design-o-meter.”
Sour: “I thought it looked a little too Japanese lantern………but maybe that was because I was worn out with all the trauma in the show. Themes included death, blood, fires, floods, hurricanes — a real holiday lifter upper. By the time I got to the Mark Soppeland’s “Grotto,” I was worn out. The whole show didn’t work together for me — seemed like Xmas meets a Thailand tsunami. Well, now that I think about it, that WAS the prevailing theme a couple of holidays ago.”
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Sweet: “Evidently you are just completely scrooged out. I like it that the artists put in pieces that acknowledge difficult aspects of life and promote healing through it in their works. Thinking of “They are Still With Us” and L Dow Benedict’s piece in particular. I liked most of Soppeland’s light pieces. Especially his titles! They added so much to the pieces’ meanings. My fave is the hilarious ‘Obsessions with Other People’s Successes.’”
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Sour: “So do you display the label at home if you buy the piece?”
Sweet: “You should.”
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Sour: “Bah humbug. Which one was ‘Obsessions with Other People’s Successes’?”
Sweet: “It was the one that looked like a flashing UFO thing with pieces of old trophies on it. You’d know if you read the titles.”
Sour: “Oh, yeah, I did think that one was funny. And I liked the gloves on the “Really Big Angel. ” Dare I say they were even scary?”
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Sweet: “I liked that piece. I worked for me. And it was nice to see some of the old Permanent Collection stuff out. Some I hadn’t seen since the Sunrise Days.”
Sour: “Yeah, and you know I actually really enjoyed seeing some of the old crappy stuff out again among a few jewels. Sort of like seeing old high school classmates you can stand for a day or so.”
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Sweet: “Now, don’t wax too sentimental on us here, Scrooge.”
Sour: “Bah, humbug.”
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Sweet: “Anything else?”
Sour: “Yes, it is sort of odd how many young women are showing work this season with S & M themes in among the trees and wreaths and such.”
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Sweet: “Sounds right up your alley……..”
Sour: “Yes, but we’ll get to that next week. Let’s get some rest! We’ve got another whole month of Xmas madness yet.”
