Yes, there are many other things happening in my life besides
Second Seating, but you wouldn't know it. Since the opening on September 24,
Second Seating has turned into yet another kind of job. My experience of
Second Seating is now about caring for a gallery/retail store. Regular hours to keep six days each week, folks coming and going, sales to be made, tours to be given, docents on hand, a series of quite wonderful 'gatherings' on selected evenings each week. Every morning, we look for fruit flies and exchange new mangos and pears for those beginning to rot. We turn on the music which by now, is getting very, very familiar. I may never feel the same way about these particular CDs ever again.
We carry out the garbage and when it rains, we worry when water flows into the space from the parking lot, finding it way here and there between the concrete slab and the exterior wall. And until a few days ago it was also tremendously muggy and quite warm in the space. Now, the temperatures day and evenings are just about perfect.
Second Seating doesn't go away on Sunday. Today, I updated the database with all the new email addresses we've collected in our guest book. They'll be ready for an eblast we'll send within a week.
I knew all of this would happen, but before September 24, we were so busy installing the exhibition, planning for the reception and counting the money raised, that I didn't focus on keeping 'the store open' and what exactly that would entail. Plenty as it turns out. None of it bad, just constant.
Last Thursday, we hit a record for visitors. Jeff Brown,
Second Seating's docent extraordinaire, counted 70. Two tours and about 40 other folks who just walked in. Here's Jesse talking about coffee, his murals, batiks and ceramics to the St. Luke's Methodist Church seniors group.
At our gathering last Wednesday evening, another 40 people showed up, some with wine in hand. Here's Irma Galvan with Joe Cooper who brought friends for a return visit. Jennifer Flores came back and visited with Jesse Sifuentes.
My brother stopped by and so did Kathie Easterly. Kathie wrote an article in the latest issue of
Change Magazine (free at places like Kroger and Randall's or on-line) called
"One Woman's Renaissance". That would be about me. Kathie got the story exactly right. Should you want to know about MMH, it's a great and accurate read.
My sister Kate was in town from Seattle for three days . We had a terrific time and had to have a sibling photo in the
Second Seating space. Hey, we also made it out to Harwin Drive for a shopping spree and ate Vietnamese, Turkish, Mexican and homecooked Indonesian while she was here.
Kate and I also had the
Second Seating Lunch Plate Special which is a combination of my two favorite dishes at Irma's: a fresh spinach enchilada and a one chicken mole enchilada . Note the
Second Seating Lunch Special signage on the table. It's called cross marketing.
And here's number one docent Jeff Brown, unmatched by any standards. He's in this photo with long time friend Kimble Gaebler, Director of Sales for Warehouse Live over on St. Emanual, a place we should all know more about.
Mary Vargo visited with Cheryl Beckett at the gathering. We just all had a lot of fun that evening and someone bought the blue wine bottle chandelier too.
We really must sell in earnest now with eblasts, more gatherings and suggestions for early holiday shopping. This group of artists made work to sell and I'm thinking a few more signs to that effect throughout the space is in order. Think about owning one of Mercedes Fernadez paintings with its elaborate emboridery, its story of the women she works with in Michoacan.
Many visitors are truly surprised when I tell them things are for sale.
Second Seating is a charming store as well as an intriguing space to experience.
Actually, it is a terrific space in which to spend time. Evocative, funky, nostalgic, informative, fanciful and downright wonderful. Great to wander about with a glass of wine, a cold beer. I wouldn't mind having a barista during the day either. That would be fun.
OK, I began this post in order to talk about all the other things that are happening in my life simultaneously with
Second Seating, but as you can immediately see, my mind continues to be centered on one track.
Next gathering is on Thursday, October 29. See you then.
Images of Second Seating - a few things you may have missed the first time around. The Clorox bottle chandelier with its table of vintage linens surrounded by bags of laundry was hard to overlook, but we find it's always best to wander through this space a second time. Enjoy. Return. Peruse the painting you may have passed by, yet now find irresistible. Find the chandelier you cannot live without. Light your way forward. Fly with feral parrots. Allow yourself enchantment. It's all here at Second Seating. We love it and it'll be on view one more week. See gallery hours and special gathering events in the column to the right.
Jose Solis created this delicate coffee can chandelier. Victor Rodriguez crafted a flock of feral parrots that fly over our space just as they fly throughout Houston's East End.
Gonzo247 used cans of aerosol paint to cover this exquisite table and four chairs with his 'Exotic Fruit Salad' motif. Imagine eating dinner at the table. Hold your breath and dive in.
All the comforts of home when seated on this chair, one of a pair that'll light any room. And you thought they were simply part of the decor. No, they're 'haveable.' These two chairs rest on either side of the 'Bayou, Bay, Beach' table and chandelier which does not mince words about what 'we, the people' do with plastic, never thinking of harm to our waterways and sea creatures. Read the text on this elaborate table and weep and never improperly throw away a Styrofoam cup again. Ever.
Ted Estrada's ode to grandmothers draws quiet attention and reflection. One remembers the days, the past, the times, the warmth of a family table.
Ah, pinto beans. We could not live without beans, cooked many ways and very often.
Jesse Sifuentes giant ceramic coffee cup yearns for a new home. Take it with you, along with roasted coffee beans from Maximus Coffee.
Catarina Williams created a fantasy collage, a plethora of foods we love set in an enchanted place.
Mercedes Fernandez paints with passion and love about the village in which she lives. She works with women in her village in Mexico with women whose men have gone 'north' and never returned. Nor do they send money home, so the women are embroidering, weaving and when Mercedes sells a painting, half the proceeds go to the women in her village.
Oil drilling pipes transformed into lighting fixtures. Heavy, durable, gorgeous. Wired in duos and trios with transparent wire. We love them on a buffet table or on the floor and then there's the patio.... Lights work anywhere.
Another view of the Gonzo247's painted chair back against Mercedes paintings. Funny how they all work together in this special space.
And here's a bit of weirdness. A tableau on the banquet table. Looks like unrequited love, don't you think? Or maybe, a simply invitation to love. It is what it is. And so close to that vintage meat grinder.
A chandelier abandoned, repainted and then reworked with provocative little phrases in gold on each piece of beveled glass. It'll all light up your night.
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