Three Weeks From Tonight

It's just after 10:00 p.m. and I expect that in three weeks time, we'll all still be at Irma's with a margarita in hand and the opening reception of Second Seating will be over. Folks will have seen Gonzo247's incredible table and chairs (see the detail above), they'll have been amazed at all the work they didn't expect, the throwies will have been tossed at dusk, the mariachis will have sung, speeches made, if there are any, and the parking lot emptied of guests.
Except those of us who are still there. The artists, best friends and family. That number will include my three daughters from the Pacific Northwest and Lulu Bell, my youngest grandchild. I am excited and we still have three more weeks in which to work. I am seeing time as long, extended, 'still have,' instead of fretting that we 'only have' three weeks. Three weeks is a quite a lot of time and things are moving forward with each day.
Invitations will are not back from the printer and won't be until the day after Labor Day so folks won't get them until 5 or so days after that. But I am trusting in the universe on this one. It'll work as it should.Here's today. The alarm woke me at 5:30 and it was hard to get out of bed and head for Fiesta once again for more boxes. Didn't get there until after 6:00 a.m. and this time the boxes weren't broken down so I made two trips from Fiesta to home. It was nearly daylight when I finished. Truck drivers were unloading new boxes filled with cereal and soap and their motors are left running, so it's noisy. Inside it's bright and everyone is wide awake. The supervisor helped me down the ramp with a dollie loaded with boxes. I think I have enough corrugated boxes now to assemble a table top, that is unless I totally screw up trying to channel Rauschenberg.
At 8:30 I met Bobby Schlitzberger at Spectrum Metals and he and his grandson got the 1000 pound bale of compressed cans on their truck which has a small crane on the back for manuvering heavy loads.
Bobby can move anything safely and with humor. He tells his staff that the granite they usually move is 15 million years old and it's been waiting a long time to fall on someone, so there's a lot of care taken in transporting and laying things gently on the ground. The bale of cans is now in place. Thank you, Spectrum Metals Recycling for loaning this tremendous hulk of cans and thank you, Schlitzberger & Daughters Monument Co. for getting it on site. Once again, I am reminded, as if I ever forget, that Second Seating wouldn't be happening without the help and generosity of dozens of people each making individual 'yes' decisions. After the bale was in place I went to the studio on Harrisburg and emptied the car of boxes and newspapers. Alex and I are going to pack things on Friday a.m. and move all the tables and a couple of chandeliers into the space. We may even get to the oyster shells which have been in a natural cleaning process for over a month now behind my house. We'll need a wheelbarrow and a shovel. The more stuff that makes it way into the gallery space, the better.
The shelving for Wall of Plates has been rescheduled once again. Now we'll assemble it on Labor Day and I'll paint it all next week. I'll be spending the better part of my days there from now on. This is not a show where you move things in and arrange them on walls. There are parts of this exhibition that will be created in the moment.
Electricians have ordered a few connectors for the track lights and so they'll be back next week to finish up. All in all, the space looks as if something is going to happen there.
This afternoon, Modelle and I went over the details for the opening reception, making note of all the loose ends that need to be gathered up and put on the 'done' list. There are dozens of things that need to move over to the 'done' column.
At 5:00 I went to see how Gonzo247 is doing with his table and chairs. They just get better and better. See this series of photos.I've spent the evening listening to bits of opera arias while sewing on the Bayou, Bay, Beach chandelier. Lots of hand sewing. Why didn't I see this coming? It's been another good day, even though the arias brought on a touch of evening melancholy.