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LAA Spring Art Show 2011, Saturday and Sunday!

Yes, Saturday is Day #1 of the Spring Art Show at The Barn at 3131 Pacific Avenue in Livermore, California. This year’s show features almost 300 works from over 100 artists!

It has been a heckuva week so far! :-) Monday, crews of some of the Livermore Art Association’s most dependable people showed up to paint the interior walls of The Barn, as well as to construct the “backbone” of the art show – a system of supporting “flats” upon which to hang the art.

Much of my work began even earlier, with the entry of artist and artwork information into a Filemaker data base. The data base itself is used to create the “labels” for artwork as well as the contents of the 2011 program, which was printed yesterday.

On Tuesday, other teams received the artworks from artists and carried the art to other teams involved with hanging the art (or displaying 3D art on tables and pedestals). Folks who had items for sale in the salesroom displayed those as well. Judging, by peer artists this year for the first time, occurred on Tuesday night and Wednesday. The Livermore Commission for the Arts picked Special Award winners on Thursday. These artworks will be displayed in City Hall for one month following the show. Of course, all of the judging involves use of numbers instead of names, and ultimately the labels with names, titles, and prices have to be displayed AFTER artworks are judged. Labels were removed from where they had been placed on the backs or artworks during receiving, and then displayed prominently near the piece. This work occurred today and tonight.

This year, the largest group of artworks was in Photography, with 69 pieces, followed by Acrylics, with 58 pieces. Of course, since artists are also humans, there were all of the problems that resulted from human error, which ranged from data base entry errors (mine! :-) ) to works hung in the wrong section, to artists changing their works, to artists changing their prices.

I usually don’t mind, so long as folks are cheerful about it. I dealt with enough OCPD whining when I was in high tech. :-) (“The primary symptoms of OCPD are a preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, and schedules; being very rigid and inflexible in their beliefs; showing perfectionism that interferes with completing a task; excessive focus on being productive with their time; being very conscientious; having inflexible morality, ethics, or values; hoarding items that may no longer have value; and a reluctance to trust a work assignment or task to someone else for fear that their standards will not be met.“) Likewise, I have a hard time responding kindly to folks who like to criticize and complain, while never volunteering their services to do any of the constructive work. (I see fewer of these folks now than I did in high tech! :-) )

So today, I got to spend a little time touring the show, a lot of time folding and stuffing the contents of the program into the program cover, and a lot of time pulling out labels and affixing them near artwork.

Tomorrow, the fun begins in earnest! I will likely spend a lot of time talking to visitors and making sure that the show runs smoothly. Our artists have worked hard on their art, and there are many wonderful bargains to be had.

A lot of customers don’t know that galleries often take 50-60% of the selling price of art, leaving artists with the remaining 40-50%. Prices increase accordingly. When art is purchased through an event like the Spring Art Show, much more of the proceeds goes directly to the artists.

So the prices are MUCH lower…!

Come and shop, and save money by buying at the Spring Art Show instead of shopping at a gallery!

I notice that I am starting to do “sleep keyboarding” again (a bad habit acquired during sleep deprivation while working for high tech companies), so I’ll end this by hoping to see local folks Saturday and Sunday, at The Barn in Livermore, CA, from 10 AM until 5 PM. See the art; shop the salesroom, and watch artists demo their work. Don’t forget the reception Saturday night from 7-9 PM, with food and wine and music by RM Jazz.

See you there!

-Bill at

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