Second Seating

Remembering Second Seating, One Year Later

2010-09-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Second Seating opened one year ago. September 24, 2009. Since it's nearly 1:00 a.m. on September 25, I've missed acknowledging the anniversary of the opening by an hour. Instead of posting on this blog at the very moment in time when Second Seating was crowded with people, I chose to spend the evening watching three episodes of Mad Man, Season 2 with Earl. Choices, choices. But, Second Seating has been on my mind of late. I guess that is what anniversaries are for. Remembering.

A year ago last Thursday evening, Second Seating opened with mariachis and speeches and was just about everything I hoped it would be. All three of my daughters were in town as were Queta and her mom and Lulu Bell.

Mixing and mingling in the crowd were the participating artists (except for Ted and Jose) and they brought their families and friends.

Funders and sponsors were there, officials, district board members, people who volunteered their time and expertise were on hand, so, so many good friends and and lots of interested folks who'd heard about the exhibition and simply 'showed up'.

So, all day Thursday and Friday as I worked on artist contracts for my new project and found myself in meeting after meeting, I wondered how to commemorate this particular anniversary. I thought about going to lunch with friends at Irma's and ordering the Second Seating Special. Would the staff at Irma's still remember what the lunch plate comprised?

I have reminisced about how beautiful it looked that first night and have thought about the many people who crowded the space. There was a certain electricity in the air, for me at least. For the run of the show, we scheduled a series of evening gatherings and field trips, hosting almost 2000 people who found their way to that metal building.

Some more things I remember? Moving Irma's canvas laundry bags over to the vintage linens table under the Clorox bottle chandelier, so those bursting laundry bags became part of the installation. I remember calling Carmella Rojas time and again to ask her to make just 'another three" and then just another 'four or five' filigreed Clorox bottles, so we'd have enough for that six foot tall chandelier.

The same music played day after day and I know some of the docents got really bored with the tapes, but I loved the songs and truly, I think I never tired of them because for me they spoke about the installation itself. I loved fiddling with the banquet table which was encrusted with bowls and jars and candles and fresh fruit and my sugar cathedrals and cazuelas filled with dried pinto beans and endless items I found at garage sales and The Guild Shop.

During the run of the exhibition, I even created a book on Blurb about this table called "Overheard at Second Seating" which was filled with word vignettes and images taken from the banquet table. I loved the light fixtures made with sections of Baker Hughes oil drilling pipes that sat on a a compressed ton of aluminum soda and beer cans.

I loved the thousands of oyster shells that I collected from Goode Seafood and then dried out behind the studio and which Alex washed and carted down to the space as we installed the show. I loved Gonzo 24/7's painted patterns on the chandelier that hung over a table encrusted with silver shell dishes and goblets and messages about the destruction of our wetlands and oyster beds (and this was before the BP oil spill).

I loved Mark Ellis' ingenuity in pulling this encrusted table visually closer to its chandelier by attaching dozens of pieces of the plastic that hold six-packs together. That was brilliant. And I loved the wall of plates because of the very scale of it, right there at the entrance.

As I write, I remember more and more. It was a terrific experience to work with so many talented people: the artists, the friends who sewed on that huge 10 x 14 foot patchwork tablecloth, the carpenters, electricians and lighting folks, the graphic designers, those that worked on the data base and invitation list, the show's docents and the several folks who kept the place swept and the wine poured. We got preparations for a party or a 'gathering' down to under half an hour.

There were so many evening 'gatherings.' I loved the gathering in partnership with Aerosol Warfare when Carolyn Casey made dozens of LED 'throwies' and as many as 100 people threw these tiny magnet lights on the wall of our metal building.

In retrospect, Second Seating was a labor of love from beginning to end. A series of creative acts by many, many people. Lots of time spent raising money. Lots of time spent 'asking.' 'Asking' became, perhaps, my most creative act.

Just thinking about Second Seating makes me long for another and yet another space where folks can gather and ponder and feel as if they are somewhere special, spaces that are light filled, a bit romantic, a lot nostalgic and certainly dream-making. Second Seating was all of that for me.

Thanks to every single person who made Second Seating a real place in time. Thanks to every person who crossed that threshold into a special space in time.

Perhaps at long last, after seeing these images again, I'll get to that last big task on my Second Seating 'still to do' list. That task is to finish the 'unfinished book' called "The Making of Second Seating." Begun in early 2010 with great enthusiasm, it bogged down because of problems moving 'selected photos' online to Blurb. My entire iPhoto collection of images was inadvertently moved onto Blurb and their 'Help' got back to me saying, "Once on, on forever." How easy it was for me to lose heart at the thought of beginning all over again, especially since I really like the parts of the book already laid out.

Then, of course, I got taken up with this new project called 'lead artist on the architectural team for the Houston Permitting Center and Green Building Resource Center" that feels almost full time.

However, I feel inspired seeing Second Seating images again. "The Making of Second Seating" just made it back on my list of things to do.

Life is so full.

Coffee Buffet Moves To METRO

2010-06-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

At last, METRO installed Jesse Sifuentes' Second Seating coffee buffet and batik in their building lobby on Main Street. We talked about a move last fall when folks from METRO saw Second Seating. Seemed like a good idea as Jesse is one of their transit stop artists for the Harrisburg line. Good for folks to become familiar with his work and motifs. Good for public relations reasons. And good that the work won't simply be stored away in his garage for the summer. I'll have to take myself to METRO and see how it looks in the new digs.

Photos below are of Jesse moving the coffee buffet into the Second Seating space last September and then beginning to pack up the piece at the end of Second Seating last November after Art Crawl.

Clorox Bottle Chandelier, Second Time Around

2010-05-07T10:11:00.001-07:00

Chandelier looks pretty good in this brand new house in the Heights. Hangs over the dining room table. Smaller than the one in Second Seating and has no mirrored twirling ball, yet it still works. That would be me up on the scaffolding adjusting table cloth knots so the thing is level.
Here's a photo of Carmella Rojas with her grandson with the original Clorox bottle chandelier at Second Seating. She carved so many of the Clorox bottles for the 'big one' at Second Seating. She had a very special talent for designing them with great swirls. She sure had her own signature.

MOM 2.0 Summit: Noticing in the Moment

2010-02-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

OK, just to let you know. More on MOM 2.0 Summit over on Rockbridge Times where it belongs.

Barilla's Share the Table Dinner

2010-02-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

OK. All the great things I still have to say about MOM 2.0 Summit will be said on that other blog of mine called Rockbridge Times. Click over to see Barilla's Share the Table Dinner pix and more. And more.

MOM 2.0 Summit: Reflections on Day One

2010-02-20T02:11:00.000-08:00

So, why am I writing about the MOM 2.0 Summit on Second Seating rather than on Rockbridge Times? Simple answer. I never got around to ordering those new Moo business cards, so all weekend long I'll be sharing Second Seating cards with other bloggers. That visual arts installation called Second Seating that permeated my 2009 is over and gone. New projects are looming and well yes, it really is time for a new business card.
I have to say that I am happy to be at the MOM 2.0 Summit. Friday's breakout sessions were informative and I met some really interesting women. And I sure was deluged with a series of moments exemplifying generational 'ah-as' and technology 'ah-as'. The whole day was like being surrounded by my daughters and their friends, all sleek with great hair cuts and wearing lots of terrific little dresses. No Chico's jackets that work because they cover so much.
The conference, in its second year at the Four Seasons in downtown Houston, brings together moms and marketers for 2 1/2 days of networking with a chance to mix and mingle with keynote bloggers like Douce as well as several dozen blogger panelists for the three-track breakout sessions. It works a little like BlogHer, but on a smaller scale and with a simpler focus.
Gwen Bell is a panelist. I met her at BlogHer in San Francisco a couple of summers ago and was floored by her 'web connectedness.' Katherine Center is a panelist, hometown Houston mom and author who went to school with friends of my daughters.
Gretchen Rubin, author and blogger of The Happiness Project, shared Friday morning's keynote with Heloise. Yes, that Heloise whom you can read about on Wikipedia. The lady who's been giving hints for over 30 years on spot cleaning and thousands of other topics we wished we knew more about. (That photo on the right was taken after Heloise removed a raspberry stain from this blogger's white pants. In the nick of time too. Just before her panel discussion.)Heloise's mom was the original Heloise way back in the day and after she died, this daughter carried on. She has quite a story and yet, I think it might have resonated more with women who actually lived those days when young women were urged to get a teaching degree so if 'they had to work, they'd have something to fall back on.'

Gretchen and Heloise's speaking styles were so generationally different. The 'turns of phrase,' their references, the context from which each spoke was a chasm apart and yet, both women did a similar thing. They each ran with a good idea and both reach huge audiences.
Gretchen Rubin speaks to the now and began The Happiness Project as a blogger, after serving as Sandra Day O'Connor's law clerk and writing two other books. They come with such different perspectives, grew up in such different times.
Heloise speaks from many, many decades of life and experience. She is of the Good Housekeeping era and is still a contributor to the magazine. Good Housekeeping was my mom's magazine for way more than sixty years. I am sure that the women at this conference read Real Simple.
Breakout sessions included topics such as creating a strategy plan for one's blog, using design as a core component of your brand, assessing usability and user perceptions of your website and then at the end of the afternoon, a session on clearing out mental clutter. This last topic was described thusly: "So many of us are rocking out on social media, but we are still struggling with managing a crazed schedule and creating a balanced life. News Flash: the world our Mother’s taught us how to be women in, is as ancient as the dinosaurs! Innovation is the name of the game when attempting to clear our schedules and our heads."
After sitting in on this session, I am not sure the program description is entirely on target. Dinosaurs? I am as crazed as my daughters, but without continuous texting or small child care. We'd all benefit from yoga three times a week and quiet moments each morning for setting our intentions for the day. However, the panelists for this session were great and so were the audience questions. Mental clutter is ubiquitous.

So, onward into the second and final day of the conference. We'll hear from Heather Armstrong over breakfast. Not a bad way to begin the morning.

Finally

2010-01-09T18:22:00.000-08:00

The flight back from Seattle seems eons ago. Just looked at this downloaded photo. How beautiful it was to be flying over the mountains at sunset. And seeing it all from an upgrade into first class. I declined a glass of wine when offered, which was probably a mistake, or not.
Finally, I am getting some work done, after days spent in bed or in efforts to rehabilitate myself. I am totally, totally tired out. Without energy. All week long.
However, I spent the better part of this day with Melissa, pouring over the blanks on the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) final report form which must be filled in and gotten to Neighborhood Centers by mid-week. Then, they can complete their portion and send on to HAA for review. Finally, NCI should receive a check for $5000, the remainder of the special opportunities grant for which they applied and were awarded on my behalf last September. HAA doles out these grant funds in two parts. In my case, that is OK, as I raised so much more money that I used to pay invoices as they arrived. I cannot imagine what artists must do about paying folks and vendors in a timely manner if they don't have ready cash at the time of delivery. Whatever, tonight and tomorrow, I'll write the narrative and then on Monday get some advice from HAA staff on allowable categories for funding and then work with Melissa once again on the expenses pages.
After we finish the HAA final report, I have a second final report to give Diverse Works for The Idea Fund grant. It's simpler, but still, it has both narrative and budget information.
I suspect few if any thank you letters for Second Seating will be drafted until these two reports are wrapped up.
I am still pondering items to put in gift baskets for folks who did so much for Second Seating. "The Making of Second Seating" - that would be the book - is only partially laid out at blurb.com, an on-going endeavor that will be finished even later this month. It's intended for funders and folks who might like a remembrance. And I think it will be a good item to put with new grant proposals, as they occur. At least, I think it will give panels and curators something concrete to peruse, for if I can make art, collaborate with others, raise funds, promote, give parties and generally create an all around successful project, funds should be granted. Enough.You probably suspect caffeine for this burst of words and you would be correct. Caffeine got me through the work of today and it's obviously still guiding my fingers on this keyboard. I finally unpacked my second suitcase this morning, though my dresser is loaded with stuff to put in a multitude of drawers, closets and other spaces.
It's still freezing outside and each day more plants shrivel and brown. I finally wrapped my little sea grape bush, the one which has been growing so nicely since early this spring. Its leaves are now frozen brown and stiff as paper. Hope the roots make it. Hibiscus is gone, as are all the potted plants. The croton plant, I've put in the screen porch. Trailing flowering vines are brown at the front of the house. Will those roots survive? Hope so. The evergreen wisteria is just that - green all over. Can't imagine that the Carolina jasmine will bloom in a few weeks as is it usual habit.
So, it's dark now and I need to check out the refrigerator for some supper and then, if I am still on a caffeine high, I'll get back to the HAA final report narrative. If not, I bundle into bed and read and wish I had some Netflix movies. I've sent them all back and the new choices from my queue are in transit. My bed is littered with books and newspapers. It's been a luxurious week, even though I've though I've felt absolutely flat, no pun intended. Talking about energy here.

The A List Covered Second Seating

2009-12-28T16:23:00.000-08:00

Odds and ends at year end. Did I ever put this link here on the blog? More television coverage. Click on this link: The A List.

Vanished, Gone, Over

2009-12-05T22:06:00.001-08:00

Well, it took more than a week, but Second Seating has vanished from 20 N Chenevert. The place, on the inside, is once again a stark grey metal building. Once again, it is all potential and ready for a new vision.
I had little idea of how much work it would be to move everything from the space, largely because I just hadn't thought it all through until the process was under way and I always underestimate the time it will take to accomplish tasks. The day after Thanksgiving, Bobby Schlitzberger arrived to haul off the 1000 pounds of compressed aluminum cans that made that wonderful table base for those sensational light fixtures made with salvaged oil drilling pipes. Irma moved her truck back into the space the afternoon after Bobby hoisted those 30,000+ cans onto his truck and drove off.We continued our efforts to dismantle Second Seating on Monday when Craig and Luis came to remove all the painted walls and cart them off to a warehouse where they'll rest until I find a new place and make a new space. They also took down Ted's painting that stretched over the ceiling and we rolled it up in plastic. We packed for two days, endlessly it seemed. There was just so much stuff in the installation that we'd put there over a month's time. I mean, it took Jeff and me over a day to Windex all the dishes and assorted bric a brac from the big banquet table and then wrap each item and pack away in boxes. Everything was layered with dust - no glass in the windows, so the Windex part of packing was essential. Pretty gritty in the space. Jeff and I shook the giant patchwork tablecloth out in the middle of the street during a red light and then folded it up. It weighs a ton and filled the back seat of the car. Offenhauser folks carefully wrapped and carted off that stunning table base they designed as a play on the chrome arches they fabricated for the Galleria's Post Oak Blvd.The place began to look worse and worse as things were boxed and made ready for moving. Looked like a random dump for awhile. I spent a lot of time with a pair of leather gloves on picking up what must have been several thousand oyster shells and tossing them in plastic crates. Victor Rodriguez and Victor, Jr. came and took down all the marvelous parrots.On Wednesday, the electricians cameto remove the track lights and conduits, plugs and wires. Another crew arrived with their ladders and down came all the big chandeliers. I'd untied the ropes of filigreed Clorox bottles and packed them away in big trash bags.We got a late start moving things out on Thursday. Irma's truck was in the front of the space so we carted everything that was left through the patio and on to Craig's trailer. Hey, and the port-a-can was picked up while we were loading the trailer. Everything happens at once. While we delivered a trailer load to Sonny's warehouse (thank you, thank you for the warehouse space), Jeff and Moises vacuumed the entire exhibition space. Sonny asked what I was going to do with all the oyster shells. I said I wasn't sure and he said, "Those shells are for road making." So he called his neighbor and asked if he'd like to fill the potholes in his parking area. The answer was yes and so the shells have already found a few home in a warehouse parking lot off Telephone Road. Not that I didn't save a few which are now covering a table on my screen porch.
Irma's building sure looks different than it did for most of this fall season. Second Seating is now totally gone. Just a memory. Amazing what color and light can do to transform a space and make folks want to return and linger.That may be the biggest lesson about all of this. It is possible to create a very special space that draws folks in again and again, just because it makes them feel good. Inspires me to do it all over again. And again.
After I write thank you letters, many, many, many thank you letters to all the people who made Second Seating possible.

This is the Message: Keep the Channel Open

2009-11-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

Sweet sister of mine. You found a Martha Graham quote for your blog that I've just pasted in my heart and dropped somewhere into my cranium. I read your blog post early this morning and thus begins my day:

..........from Martha Graham, dancer and choreographer (1894-1991)

“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open."

Terrific advice. Keeping the channel open sure brings joy into one's life. Way back in the 1960s when I lived in the city and worked at Bloomingdale's, I saw Martha Graham dance. She was probably about my age and we thought she was old. She was superb.

Had a discussion yesterday with a good friend about when in our lives we use our talents. When do we unleash them into the world? At 20? 40? 60 years of age? Not a day to waste.

The Next Thing

2009-11-26T08:37:00.001-08:00

Two days ago, as I was driving along Harrisburg feeling quite wonderful because of sunshine and clear blue weather, ideas for the 'next endeavor' began to dance through my head. Two ideas surfaced as worthy of pursuit, one right after the other, and I my thoughts are moving as if I were watching a tennis ball. Side to side, wanting both.

Today, however, I am focusing on one and thinking of words to describe it for a new grant application that is due in eight days. Yes, I'm going for it. Why not?

I cannot remember the moment when the idea for Second Seating came into being. I do know the date of the first concept paper for the project, but that specific 'a-ha' moment when I became a conduit for the idea itself has vanished from my memory. However, should either of these two new ideas become the 'next thing', I have documented that moment driving along Harrisburg (where METRO is at work on the new East End rail line) when the ideas first shot through my head. I'll remember when I smiled and said this is the moment.

Days ago, I shared an impromptu cup of tea with a friend and we talked about how she felt when I spoke at an evening gathering in the Second Seating space. Her response prompted my mind to take immediate leaps here, there and everywhere. Another friend reminded me about an offer I'd received two weeks ago for help in writing a grant for something incredible.

I've always known that Second Seating was a warm up exercise. It is the first of many more spaces. Sometime last week in the middle of the night, I had a flash forward vision of myself as a woman in her 70s creating and managing a new business that involves making spaces that perhaps, for a moment or forever, change the people who enter them. Because in these spaces, they 'see' differently or feel an unnameable emotion or are overcome by words painted on a wall or a flock of flying chairs or an urban garden as gathering space.There is so much more to come.

Therefore, I need to eat vegetables by the truck load, walk miles every day and do a little house cleaning before it all begins again. And it wouldn't hurt to make a list this weekend of where all the things still left at Second Seating will be stored, so when the carpenter and electricians come next week, we'll be organized and ready to clear that wonderful space and move on to the 'next.' There is plenty of work to be done to disassemble Second Seating. While writing the first grant application for what's going on in my head. It is ever thus.

I Can Feel It

2009-11-26T08:21:00.001-08:00

Gwen Bell is a person whose name keeps popping up. I first met Gwen Bell at BlogHer in 2008 in San Francisco. She appeared to me as an incredible virtual multi-tasker and I followed her blog and tweets until I dropped into that space where the focus was only on Second Seating. I considerit a fine example of synchronicity that Gretchen Rubin interviewed Gwen Bell for The Happiness Project and that I just happened to read that interview minutes ago.

Because in the last several days, I can feel myself seeing ahead to the next and the next endeavors, meaning 'What happens after Second Seating?' Well, a lot. We are happy when we do what we are meant to do. Gwen Bell does what she's meant to do and I did what I was meant to do with Second Seating.
I know that Second Seating was a warm up exercise. Yesterday, I shared an impromptu cup of tea with a friend and we talked about how she felt when I spoke at an evening gathering in the Second Seatingspace. Her response prompted my mind to take immediate leaps here, there and everywhere. Another friend reminded me about an offer I'd received ten days ago for help in writing a grant for an incredible new project.So, suddenly in the last 24 hours, I am truly engaged in what 'comes after Second Seating' and I am remembering that in the very first concept papers, Second Seating was a step on the way to many other endeavors.
Sometime in the middle of last night, I had a flash forward vision of myself as a woman in her 70s creating and managing a new business that involves making spaces that perhaps, for a moment or forever, change the people who enter them. Because in these spaces, they 'see' differently or feel an unnameable emotion or are overcome by words painted on a wall or a flock of flying chairs or an urban garden as gathering space.
There is so much more to come. Therefore, I need to eat vegetables by the truck load, walk miles every day and do a little house cleaning before it all begins again.
And wasn't it nice to hear about Gwen Bell this morning and know that it is time for me to read her book The Unconventional Guide to the Social Web amid all the other things that are gathering on the 'to do' list.

Art Crawl: Second Seating's On the Map

2009-11-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Second Seating will be open on one more day. That day is Art Crawl, Saturday, November 21. Check on line for more about what will be a pretty terrific event. See Flickr's geotag here.
And here are a few things I love about this show:
I love the way it the outside is part of the space, that the boundaries between the art and the patio garden fall away and Jesse's batik is like a curtain at a very big window.
I like these lamps made from oil drilling pipes. They are the first thing folks see when they walk through the front door. Second Seating opens right on to the street with trucks barrelling toward the freeway, street folks walking to and fro, customers coming and going from Irma's and about 40+ people coming to see us.
I love this table and the story of how it came to be. Sure looks like those arches on Post Oak Blvd, just as it's meant to look because the company that fabricates the arches also made this one-of-a-kind table. That would be The Offenhauser Company on Telephone Road.
This would be a plate on the Offenhauser table top photographed in very bright morning light.
Jose's coffee can chandelier simply floats and it's dazzling. Below, Mercedes bowl of hot soup is also dazzling and catches views in the face, just rushes off the fabric.
And this image is quite simply baroque. No, make that rococo. And I love it. Walk through the door into Second Seating and you'll get to see this chandelier too, which Gonzo247 painted. Beautifully.Please join us for the very, very last day of Second Seating on Saturday, November 21. It's Art Crawl.

CKC START Street & Urban Arts Comes to Second Seating

2009-11-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

What an evening! What a crowd! We counded over 90 people at Second Seating this evening to see the show and to take part in Carolyn Casey's LED throwie toss.

Irma's building is covered with tiny LED lights. We hope they'll stay charged for tomorrow evening's gathering too. Gonz0247 and Carolyn Casey have a great mailing list. Folks came, mixed and mingled with lots of other folks and we didn't close the doors until almost 9:30. Thanks to Carolyn and Gonzo247 for orchestrating a terrific gathering.

"Overheard" at Second Seating

2009-11-03T16:41:00.000-08:00

What happens on a rainy Monday afternoon when after we closed the big metal door on Second Seating? Well, it's book making time with Blurb.com. Just got our copy of "Overheard at Second Seating" today in the mail. You can take a look at this sensuous little book at Second Seating and you can order your copy for $40.
It's to love!
Here's a bit of the text. Just a bit.
“Heavens,” she sighed, “if I’d known this was to be so elaborate, so exquisite, so reminiscent of my dreams, perhaps I would have chosen the silver shoes or I’d have bared my shoulders or possibly, floated on air itself to reach this table.”

And just another bit of text:
He approached her at the buffet table, just as she lifted a Vietnamese summer roll to her mouth.
It drizzled with peanut sauce.
She held the summer roll suspended in air, “Thank god he arrived before I smiled at him with a noodle between my teeth.”
Then, holding the dripping summer roll, she did indeed smile – and was bewitching.

Beautiful at Night - Come to a Gathering This Week

2009-11-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

Second Seating is gorgeous at night. Absolutely conducive to wandering slowly just savoring the space or simply sitting in a chair sipping a glass of good wine. Just before we closed up last night after a Diverse Works board meeting, we lit the candles on the banquet table just to see.... Too cautious about accidental fire to keep candles lit when folks are in the space, but for just a few moments, the Second Seating looked more beautiful than usual. Victor Rodriguez stopped by and DW board members had a chance to meet and talk with him about that marvelous feral parrot flock.

Please join us Wednesday or Thursday evenings for this week's gatherings. On Wednesday between 6 and 8:00 p.m., CKC START Street & Urban Art will be showing us all how to make LED throwie lights that we'll toss on the side of the building at 7:00 p.m.. That's right. We're creating our very own milky way on the side of that metal building. A not-to-miss event. And a lot more folks will see Gonzo247's aerosol art table and chairs. Really beautiful.

Then on Thursday evening, we'll be back between 6 and 8:00 p.m. once again for wine and conversation and perhaps some of us will be in a shop-til-you-drop mode. The holidays are coming. Beautiful art awaits each person who sips that white and red Oregon wine we've been buying. And it's certainly OK to bring your own bottle. See you all.

Second Seating In Today's Houston Chronicle

2009-11-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

Halloween has come and gone. I left the front of the house dark last night and was in bed asleep before 8:00. That good night's sleep makes all the difference. I am ready for today, which is bright blue and clear.
And to top off this bright blue day? Lisa Gray's story on Second Seating appears in this morning's Houston Chronicle. And today is Sunday. What a good day for this story to run.
Thank you, Lisa Gray.

What's Not to Love at Second Seating?

2009-10-30T04:55:00.000-07:00

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.

10 More Days of Second Seating

2009-10-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

That's it. Folks have ten more days to spend some time at Second Seating. We have a gathering this Thursday evening from 6:00 - 8:00. Then we send out an e-blast with next week's schedule of special events. And each gathering is an opportunity to buy art from one of nine artists.

Today, Jeff, Jesse and I hosted students from TSU and other assorted visitors. Sun was out today after really vicious rains yesterday. We simply closed the door and left the place to itself. I doubt that we disappointed anyone. We expected no one to make there in that rush of water.

Here's a link to the Houston Press review of Second Seating. They ran the review for two weeks and for that I am happy. It's a fair assessment of the show and Kelly Klaasmeyer certainly recognized its baroque quality.

Second Seating Updates

2009-10-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

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.

New Paint on Wall of Plates

2009-10-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday, today, was a fine day at Second Seating. Plenty of visitors and lots of fun with Moises and Alexandra. Sold a few painted plates. And we actually repainted a portion of the Wall of Plates a bright turquoise blue. For several days I've been looking at that wall, which I like very much, but which needed ever more color to separate it from the background wall. More color it got today and I'm liking it.Here we are - Alexandra and I are comparing boots - with paint brush and cans still in hand. And we had Kim Som Vietnamese takeout for lunch too.

Finally, It's Fall in Houston

2009-10-17T07:44:00.000-07:00

Weather today is bright, blue, clear and breezy. And what does this have to do with Second Seating? Everything. Second Seating is open to the elements in that warehouse space of ours and as many of you know, it's been more than muggy. Walk through Second Seating and sweat.There is no air conditioning and when it's hot, it's very hot. Heck, there is no glass in the windows. When it rains, water runs over parts of the floor, seeping in from the parking lot on to the concrete slab.
It rained all last weekend and when there wasn't a downpour, it is misting. On Monday morning, we walked into the Second Seating space and found the four spun sugar cathedrals on the banquet table melting. Yes, melting away. Pretty awful. Just glistening with wet, liquid, caramelizing sugar.So, we've removed them from the banquet table and they're back home in a climate controlled air conditioned atmosphere. I am happy to say that the cathedrals are dry and solid again. Not as white as they used to be, but they've held together and I may bring them back to Second Seating.
Now with fall weather, a walk and a ponder through Second Seating should be a joyful, comfortable experience. Come visit us today. We're open from 11:00 - 5:00 and again next Monday - Friday, 9:30 - 4:00.
We're also planning several more evening 'gatherings', plus an LED 'throwies' party. Dates for all to be announced in a day or two.
Hey, and check out our listing on HAA's Arts Hound.

Second Seating Makes It On the Air Again

2009-10-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

More coverage of Second Seating. Many thanks to you, Alton LaDay for showcasing Second Seating on The A! List last week. We loved the visit.

Second Seating Artists

2009-10-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

A few words about some of the artists contributing to Second Seating. First of all, the installation wouldn't be what it is without the skills and talents of these seven artists. Second Seating has been a real collaboration. Each artist's work gives adds a dimension to the exhibition, gives it more depth. So happy that they all agreed to participate.
Jesse Sifuentes teaches over at TSU, has painted several East End murals, does ceramics and batik. You can see it all on display at Second Seating.
Gonzo247 is a talented aerosol art painter and the chandelier, table and chairs he painted are beyond gorgeous. And he certainly added a dimension to the Bayou, Bay, Beach chandelier. He teaches aerosol painting classes at Aerosol Warfare on Jefferson St. I'm signing up in 2010.
Victor Rodriguez has given us a flock of feral parrots, just like those that fly over the East End these days. Each parrot is beautifully crafted. I wish someone would buy them so they can fly in another space when Second Seating packs up and leaves in November. And what about a new home in a restaurant or bar? Those big birds are beautiful.
Catarina Williams is a student at HSPVA and I saw her work earlier this summer at the Jung Center and asked her to make a special piece for Second Seating. Her collage for Second Seating is intricate and quirky. I love it.
Mercedes Fernandez' paintings are true collaborations. She lived in the Heights for years, but recently moved back to Michoacan. She paints on blue agave cloth after she and women in the village where she lives cover the cloth with embroidered flowers and birds. Her paintings are pinned on our yellow wall and the little dolls and shoes and soldiers she affixes on the bottom of her painting cast strange shadows and move in the breezes that move through the space. Buy one of Mercedes' paintings and she shares the money with the women who work with her. The villages in Michoacan are hurting right now. Men have moved north for work and women are left to fend for themselves. Mercedes tells me that even Day of the Dead will not be the same this year as tourists are shunning the region in fear of drug problems. So the women who make the pottery and baskets have far fewer customers and a much harder time of it. Buying one of Mercedes paintings could indeed support a village.
Agnes Welsh Eyster hails from San Antonio, yet her artistic sensibilities work beautifully with things East End. She etches metal for stunningly elegant table tops, cuts metal cans into intricate pieces that become parts of chandeliers and wall pieces.
I written about Jose Solis before. His work is enchanting and takes unexpected turns. Who doesn't love his bottle and coffee can chandeliers? And his crockery totems stacked with carefully selected bowls and plates and vases are marvelous. What's not to like?
Ted Estrada created the huge painting hanging over the ceiling in the Second Seating space. The painting was first shown at a wedding anniversary party for his parents. Two hearts swimming along together on the river of life. Ted's landscape is sublime. You can see another of Ted's landscapes on the community mural on Harrisburg at Macario Garcia on the Firestone Tire building. Ted's Second Seating table is an ode to grandmothers and the wise old women of the families. They know the stories, the secrets, the power of narrative. His table reflects their afternoon 'gatherings'.
Then there is MMH who pulled these artists together and asked ever more dozens of people to give of their time and talents to make Second Seating real. I've got collages and tables and chandeliers in the installation too. Perhaps, it really is time to make a visit to Second Seating. We're having a 'gathering' in the space this evening. Join us between 6 and 8. The space gets ever more lovely at night. And it's a good thing to remember that everything in Second Seating is for sale. The plates, the batik, the totems, the tables, the lights can all be yours. The artists would love to put red dots on every single thing in the space.

More Photos

2009-10-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some more Laurie Perez photos from the opening reception of Second Seating. Every time I look through the images, I see more and more that need to go into that 'soon to be' Facebook album. How did the days get so busy that I haven't gotten that album on line yet? Here's Modelle Brudner. Second Seating wouldn't have happened without her. The opening reception wouldn't have happened without her. This woman lets nothing slip by. Melissa Welborn is another friend that kept Second Seating on track for months and then on track opening night. And where in heaven's name is a photo of Melissa, she who talked about DNA which led to the epiphany on the freeway when I knew I'd dedicate this exhibition to my mom? I am still searching for a photo of Melissa.
I love this photo of Victor Rodriguez and his family. Victor's parrots are absolutely wonderful and they sway high up toward the ceiling and look especially terrific in the morning when that morning sun from the east back lights them.Here's Yolanda Navarro Black. Wish we had another shot of her looking right at the camera. Just for the record - how long has it been since you've eaten some of her really, really good tacos at Villa Arcos on Navigation? If you've not tasted one lately, get thee to Villa Arcos.

June Woest came with her husband. June made the Clorox chandelier possible. Dozens of her students filegreed all those Clorox bottles last spring semester at Houston Community College Southeast. We spent three weeks on the project and that chandelier has perhaps become the signature of the show.Here's Maria Modelska. And those flowers on the reception table are from my good friend Virginia Avery. Sure wish she were among the folks here.HISD school board member and East Ender Manuel Rodriguez came with his family. He wrote some wonderful copy for the gallery guide about his brother Victor's parrots. Here's Sophya Tabarovskaya and Sally Lehr. And Kathryn McNiel expresses surprise at what? Chris and Judy Berno. I really need to get these pix on Facebook. When?

Second Seating Party Pix: Laurie Perez Does It Again

2009-10-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, I know these photos should go in an album on Facebook or flickr or somewhere besides this blog. But I have to show some of the photos that Laurie Perez took the evening that Second Seating opened. She is terrific and so is the crowd. What is not to love about these images?
Here's a contemplative Diane Barber, co-director of Diverse Works.
Jesse Sifuentes hears a few words from TSU colleague Sarah Trotty.MMH expounds to HAA's Jonathon Glus and Alton LaDay.Central Houston's Bob Eury and the Buffalo Bayou Partnership's Anne Olsen meet in front of the Wall of Plates.Central Houston Angie Bertinot is charmed by something Joe Cooper is saying. He tends to say things that are 'charming and funny right on.'
Virginia Hancock, amazing woman who uncovered a very old cemetery, bikes every day and helped with the sewing bees for that very huge patchwork we assembled for the Second Seating Celebration table. Virginia's in conversation with Harris County Flood Control's Raouf Farid.And what is Mercedes Fernandez telling Agnes Welsh Eyster? Something outrageous. Have no doubt. Just look at her face.Meeting and greeting good friends: MMH with Irina Langhans, Marie Mansour, Minnette Boesel from Mayor White's office and Terrylin Neale, executive director of the University of Houston Foundation. Catarina Williams with her grandfather. A really marvelous portrait. Alex bar tending with efficiency and ease. Jeff Brown on his left.Here are the three collaborators who made the Bayou, Bay, Beach tableau come together as envisioned. MMH, Mark Ellis and Gonzo247. Quite a trio.One of my favorite folks in the East End, Bob Townley is a valued supporter of the management district's and even better, I never took my car anywhere but his shop on Harrisburg. George Beatty and his daughter visit with Sait Yavuz, one of our excellent guides on the trip to Turkey last May.Councilmember Sue Lovell with artist, former school board member and liberal Democrat who stands up for all the right stuff Gertrude Barnstone. Two extraordinary Houstonians.The party swells. Terrific. Looks pretty too.MMH and Phyllis Segal. Say no more. She drove a van of five great women out to Marfa in September 2005 to see my installation in that incredible green adobe ballroom at the International Women's Center. What good days they were out there in very west Texas. And all of this while Hurricane Rita was heading for Houston and then not heading for Houston.Neighborhood Centers, Inc.'s Carlos Paz and Natalia Ferreyra, partners and collaborators of Second Seating. Let me count the ways.Houston Dynamo's Oliver Luck and MMH under the Dynamo chandelier which will be auctioned off at the Houston Dynamo Gala at House of Blues on October 27.Lorraine Wulfe, wonderful wife and partner to Ed Wulfe who says one must ask seven times before giving up on something. A very good lesson. Lorraine also tells me that Ed says, "If you don't ask, you don't get." Good advice.And this last photo? I'm loving it. Way to go Laurie.

First Monday of the Month

2009-10-05T20:20:00.001-07:00

Houston's chapter of The Transition Network gathered as we do the first Monday evening of every month for supper, conversation and this time, a look at Second Seating. TTN is a marvelous network of interesting women who have a lot to say and share about change. Many of us seem to be making good things happen when 'change' bounces into our lives either by retirement, divorce, death, illness, empty nests or new career opportunities. The change list is long. The organization itself is loose and welcoming.
Tonight I had the privilege of talking about what Second Seating means to me. For many of you who've followed the process on this blog for over a year now, it's old news. This installation has afforded me the opportunity to employ all of my skills and talents - to the fullest. I've had to raise the money to make the whole thing happen and find the wherewithal to ask what could possibly be hundreds of people to engage in the process.
'Making' Second Seating a reality has taken over a year and a seven day a week schedule. And you know what? I had fun doing it all. It's been a tremendous exercise in 'focusing'. It's provided me with an air of happiness in knowing that I brought a lifetime of knowledge to bear on this goal of collaborating with others to make an environment that just may enchant, entice, embrace anyone who enters.
The very best news is that every day someone walks into the space and says, "I want to have an event here. Can that happen?"
Yes, we can make that happen. In fact, that's kind of what it's all about. To those of you who've uttered those particular words?
You 'got' the whole idea of Second Seating. You want to be in the space itself. Thank you.

Jose Solis III: Totems and Chandeliers

2009-10-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

Jose Solis is imaginative and the pieces he created for Second Seating combine many disparate elements. His chandeliers and totems are fanciful and quirky. And quite irresistible.
I first saw Jose's work years ago in a studio he shared at the Gribble Stamp Company with Ted Estrada. They used to invite people over to see new work and that's when I found his idiosyncratic wall pieces made with cans and wire, marbles and paint.

I bought one of his wall pieces for the Greater East End District and its sun shape has become one of their secondary logos. At the time, the management district offices were on the second floor of the Laredo National Bank on Harrisburg. Entering my office one morning, I discovered several big metal boxes connected by wide metal conduit on the wall over my desk. The bank had installed a neon sign on the outside of its building and all of the signs 'workings' were exposed on the wall of my office and were not a very pretty sight.

However, I knew who to call to make this mess of electrical boxes into a work of art. Jose created a series of pieces made with juice and coffee cans, more marbles and bits of metal and when he installed the work on all those electrical boxes, we had something wonderful.
Jose makes art filled with sly humor and quirky references. His work for Second Seating is a must see. And each of his chandeliers and totems is certainly a 'must-buy-and-take-home'.

Tired? Most Assuredly.

2009-09-29T17:52:00.001-07:00

This is a photo my daughter Caroline took of me on Sunday evening after four days of family flying in and out for the opening of Second Seating and all of its attendant celebrations. It's Tuesday and I could still fall asleep on the floor given a moment or two. And I wouldn't have missed one minute of anything. Good days, all.

Welcome: International Quilt Festival

2009-09-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Quilt festival was born thirty years ago right here in Houston and today, it's the city largest annual convention, filling more hotel rooms and restaurant seats than oil and gas get-togethers. Imagine that! The vision of Karey Bresenhan and the power of quilters makes history year after year.Quilters and quilt lovers, welcome to Second Seating, the visual arts installation that is a fabulous mix of diverse dinner tables and quirky chandeliers all made from found objects, reclaimed materials and recycled packaging from Houston's East End industries.And Second Seating is right next door to Irma's Restaurant. Winner of a 2008 James Beard Foundation American Classics award, Irma is serving a 'Second Seating Lunch Plate Special' through November 7.

Second Seating 'Gatherings'

2009-09-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

Lots of visitors and the guest book filling up. And hey folks, the work of eight artists is beautiful and all for sale. Every plate, every cup and every chandelier, every painting and table is for sale. Agnes Welsh Eyster's chandeliers are encrusted with metal flowers and colorful strips of aluminum cans. Jose Solis assembled a terrific chandelier with blue wine bottles and wire. I'm loving it all.We've discovered that Second Seating is so beautiful at night that we're planning several evening 'gatherings.' Let me know if you want to be on the email invite list by leaving a comment below. Place is truly gorgeous after dark. Enjoy.
We're loving this 'take' on Post Oak Boulevard's stainless steel arches. We even have bedding plants at the base of each beam. Ode to John Breeding and all those flower beds along the boulevard.Detail of a blue agave from one of Mercedes Fernandez' paintings. You can find yourself falling under the spell of these paintings because they are simply so luscious.A detail from a wall hanging with fabrics damaged by Hurricane Ike flood waters. I love the piece.
Bayou, Bay, Beach table in the late afternoon when the western sun shines through the windows. Just like an underwater fantasy and I love all the shreds of plastic hanging from the bottom of the chandelier on to the table and candelabra. A very good idea, Mark, to hang all those shreds of plastic.
Love the shadows and light that play behind Aggie's Tapestry piece.
And who would love a pot of pinto beans with clay roses. A lady bought one of these roses today. Shall I wrap them in pinto beans when she picks up her rose on November 7 when the show closes?
Aggie's tables are divine. Now is the moment to buy one.

A Few More Photos From Opening Night

2009-09-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Lots of folks taking pictures when Second Seating opened on Thursday evening. Here are a few more just downloaded. I think I was introducing Councilmember Sue Lovell here in the first photo.And here's a photo of Diverse Works co-director Diane Barber whom I first met when she came to volunteer at FotoFest in 1990. Thanks to Diverse Works for becoming the first underwriter of Second Seating last January.
And then there's that Wall of Plates, each with a hand written message. You've got to love that strawberry pink!
Here's Phyllis and me. And then a good photo of Mary, Sonya and Queta at the supper we all shared out on the patio after the reception.
Here's a photo of Catarina Williams' grandfather and family.
And Joe Cooper, a man who has supported this project when it was just a five page document. He could see it, or perhaps he simply knew that I could gather the wherewithal and the whomevers to do it.

And here are the guys very late in the evening. That's Gonzo247 on the far left and then Moises, Jeff, Alex, Chad, Martin and Angel. And I couldn't bear not to be in the middle of the photo. It was a wonderful evening.

Second Seating's First Day

2009-09-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

The good news is that folks were coming to Second Seating all day long. Jeff Brown, our docent for the very first day estimated about 20 during the morning hours and many said they'd come because of the coverage on ABC Channel 13. And while I was there, a steady stream of people wandered through the exhibition. What's not to love?The girls and I got there just before noon. Caroline and her high school friend Mary T. Anderson went into Irma's for lunch. Caroline asked for the Second Seating Lunch Plate. Must have been the first request and there was some confusion, but I think that little signs on each table will help. The special consists of two of my favorite things from Irma's menu: a spinach enchilada and a chicken mole enchilada with a little salad, beans and rice. It's terrific.Sidebar: Below is a photo montage I made of Caroline and Mary T. for the SiliconStones installation at Houston Center For Photography in 1985. They were probably sophomores in high school when I shot this image on a stretch of beach at South Padre Island. And that means I've been loving the making of installations for 25 years. SiliconStones was the first.I must make a docent schedule for the run of Second Seating. I'm learning what duties docents will have: Windex the glass top table, feather dust the objects on the several others, straightened the wall pieces, water the bedding plants under the silver arches, keep the music playing. I need to buy a counter so we know just how may folks wander around the space each day. Aggie stopped by to wax her table tops. That may be another periodic job for docents.
Must email Ted and Jose and let them know they were really missed on Thursday evening.
It's going to be a big month and a fun month. Here are a couple more photos from opening night. Can't wait to see the hundreds of photos that Laurie will bring. That's Laurie's back and she's busy photographing.
I love seeing the folks in the photo below. Modelle's on the left holding roses that she bought for me and which were such a surprise. Modelle, I couldn't have made it through without you. Then there is Hedy from the Greater East End District who's been in on this grand project since its inception. John is there from The Clorox Company. Clorox is one of the first underwriters sho signed on for Second Seating and has been supportive in every way. Then, there's my high school friend Carl, my brother John, my long time friend Sheila and Spectrum Metal Recycling's Byron Capito and his wife. So, a composite of wonderful people. Multiply that by hundreds and you get a sense of the evening.
Right in front of us all is that gorgeous table that Offenhauser made as a scale replica of the Post Oak Blvd. arches which the company fabricated years ago. We added a flats of bedding plants below the table, because those boulevard arches are perennially surrounded by elaborate arrangements of seasonal flowering plants.

Second Seating Is Here

2009-09-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in days because my little camera broke and when the girls arrived they bought me a new one and then I couldn't figure out how to download. So the opening of Second Seating has come and lingers yet. It was pretty wonderful to see so many friends and business associates and colleagues and supporters. Truly wonderful.And how lucky was it to have ABC Channel 13 call on Tuesday and ask to do a story on Second Seating, broadcast live from the space for both the 4:00 and 6:00 news hours?

Everyone was in good spirits and it sure is wonderful to hug so many terrific folks and hear mariachis and see how many appreciated the space and the work of individual artists. More photos are coming. Laurie was very busy with her cameras this evening.

Saturday, A Very Good Day

2009-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

We got a lot done today. Finally got the wall of plates 'right' with lots of bright pink checkerboard pattern along the edges in tandem with Aggie's little strips of metal cans. Suddenly, I knew I had it. It's been days, but it happened this morning.Nathan arrived to see why the big can lights aren't working and then he went off to Home Depot to buy fluorescent lights for the tracks. There simply is not enough light and he has a job ahead of him. On Monday, he may have to buy all new light bulbs for everything and reinstall.
Mark and Moises brought ever more of that green corrugated metal from behind my studio and filled the space between the metal walls and rebar on the back wall near the Bayou, Bay, Beach table and it is remarkable how good it looks. Pulls the whole back of the space together.
Early this morning I finally, at long last, drilled holes in the sheets of Plexi and got them nailed to the collage frames and then carted them to the space. We've not hung them yet because we got busy on the table top for that Bayou, Bay, Beach tableau. We are adding more 'plastic' besides plastic bottles amongst the oyster shells. Whole thing will be brocade, fishing nets and plastic. I actually need some more silver scalloped shells. I thought I had enough, but I could use more. Amazing.
Irina brought us sandwiches from Whole Foods which was a lovely thing to do. Late in the afternoon, I finished two more columns for the Clorox chandelier so that's done now and level. Also like the table top, such as it is, for the bale of compressed cans and so Moises and I put all the oil drilling pipe lights on the table 'just to see.'
This evening I looked through all of my fabrics wishing I had a very formal white linen table runner with cut work to spread over the center of this 'found' sign that is the table top. Instead I have a collection of great fabrics, including some old red velvet draperies I bought in Galveston years ago with Irina which sheds, but may be the very thing for this crazy table. Hope it works.Ended the day at El Rey with Cuban tacos. Time to shower and get into bed. Haven't even taken the NYT out of its blue plastic wrapper in two days. Simply working.

Friday and Counting

2009-09-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

Slow start today. Not out of bed until nearly 9:00. What a surprise. Then spent time catching up with emails and putting something really nice in motion with the Houston Dynamos and their terrific chandelier. More on that later. So I didn't get to the Second Seating space until nearly 11:00 a.m. Met Moises and Mark there and we began on too many projects at once. An exercise in futility and disorganization.Finally hit our stride late afternoon after a clarifying trip to Bohemeo's over on Telephone Rd. for lattes, espresso and fish and veggie tacos. Well caffeinated and having taken many photos (They asked, "Are you always photographing what you eat and who you're with?" The answer is "Yes.") we returned to the space and began to hang stuff on the walls.We hung Aggie's things first and then my three photo montage pieces. Her work is beautiful. Folks are going to go crazy for it. The tables, the wall pieces. Can hardly wait for them to see it all. Jesse came by and took two of his batiks to get them ready for hanging.
We came back to the house for some of that green corrugated sheet metal Mike Garver let me have last year for my studio walls and screen porch. I still have some pieces left and we strapped them on the top of my car with bungees and drove them down to Chenevert. The guys inserted them piece by piece in between the rebar and all of a sudden the corner took on a whole new atmosphere. It became a 'space.'
They went back to the house for more and I stayed and painted on the Wall of Plates shelves. Added some of Aggie's colorful cut out metal from aluminum cans. We'll see how it looks in daylight tomorrow.Then we looked at how we'd hang things on the green wall. Mark and Moises took that fabric wall piece I made and instead of holding it out as a big square, one of them hung it by a corner and - wow, it looks great and we'll hang it that way. And there is plenty of space for my collages. The real trick is to get the Plexi on them - still not done. May go out to the studio in a few minutes and drill some holes and try to get at least one done...or go to bed and get up early in the morning. Nathan is coming at 10:00 to check on the big stage lights. They are not turning on yet. Hope it's not a big deal to find what the problem is.
So, all is well and there is still a ton of work to be done. More than a ton. What am I doing adding all these photos to this post? When I should be out putting Plexi on painted wood frames.

Wall of Plates In Progress, Among Other Things

2009-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

Eight Days From Now

2009-09-16T21:47:00.001-07:00

A week from tomorrow, dusk will come and then night and the Second Seating chandeliers will hover over our heads spreading magic and there'll be a bevy of twinkling LED throwies on the walls too. The Second Seating chandeliers are quite simply spelling binding at night. We were there working until nearly 10:00 p.m. and it's soul satisfying just to be near these magic sources of light.
What a day! Mark and Alex and I were busy until early afternoon bringing things into the space. Alex brought the last of the oyster shells. I wish we'd weighed them all or counted the tubs of shells he hosed and trucked down to the space. Mark and I are continually engaged in conversations about that banquet table which is really one big series of tableaus. He's very good at them and you already know, tableaus are my favorite thing. As we worked away at it all today, the table that appeared so crowded at my Harrisburg studio is not so crowded in this new space. There's stuff left, but not particularly wonderful stuff. And we need more. No, I will not go to Value Village or The Guild Shop one more time. I may dig into stuff I packed away a year ago for this occasion. We'll see. The thing is, everything on that particular table is salvaged from a thrift shop, a garage sale, a closet, Hurricane Ike, an oil refinery and the street. And it's beautiful. Perhaps the lesson here is that you can make a celebration out of anything if you're into tableaus and lights.This afternoon, Moises arrived and he and Mark and I worked on in the space until well after 9:00. Moises finished painting the shelves for the Wall of Plates that I'd been working on most of the day. We'll tack on some of Aggie's wonderful metal 'rick-rack' of sorts and get those plates up along with Jose Solis' vertical wall piece. It will really take shape tomorrow. We took a break to eat take-out from Kim Som on Irma's patio and I for one, really wished for very cold beer.
Got home near 10:00 and wrote a draft of a letter for all the underwriters with a special invite to the opening. Modelle will help me get those out tomorrow. I'm having that beer as I write and off load some wonderful photos of Second Seating.The chandeliers are magic at night. We need to have lots of private parties there in October. How I love installation spaces.

Chandelier Day - Que Bonita!

2009-09-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a wonderful day. Tony Mejia and his crew of three came today to install a dozen chandeliers. And install they did with very tall ladders and a roll of chain that Modelle bought for them. Tony and his crew were very efficient. I'd planned well and the electricians had done their work, so there were no major problems. It was all about moving things a foot to the left or on to the beam on the right.
Mark Ellis is working with me and we make a great team. He has a good eye and we see when things can be better if moved that 'inch to the left' or lower or higher. He tends to like lower and I end to like higher, but we work it out.
Victor Rodriguez arrived mid-afternoon with his parrot pinatas and son Victor. The parrots are fantastic. We were all getting on so well together that Tony and crew even stayed on a bit after they'd finished their work so that Victor could continue using one of their ladders. Everyone there was engaged and I think part of it all is because this is a fun and unusual project. I mean, who has chandeliers like these?
Just after 4:00, Irma's cooks and kitchen staff came in for a look before leaving for the day. They entered so slowly and carefully, as if they were coming into a strange new land. I'd say they were transfixed and I heard, "Que bonita" more than once. The warehouse has always been so grey and filled with odd bits of furniture. We are transforming the place day by day. And it's really fun.

Ten Days Out

2009-09-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

More good stuff delivered to Second Seating this morning. Aggie Eyster wowed us with her four pedestal tables with etched metal tops.Jesse moved his coffee buffet into the space. It's a wonderful piece with mosaics of dozens of coffee mugs. All of a sudden, the place is beginning to looked filled though there's still more to come. Gonzo247 brings his chandelier in the morning. Table and chairs to follow. Tomorrow, we will hang the chandeliers and then Mark and I can make sense of the table alignments. It's time crunch now and I still have to put Plexi over my collages. Went to four places to find it and that is a story for another day. I've got eight 25 x 25 inch sheets cuts now and perhaps tomorrow night I'll get going with them, drilling holes and affixing to the frames with copper plated weatherstripping nails. They are best looking little nails. This afternoon I met with Modelle and Melissa to make final arrangements for the opening reception. It is such a blessing to have good folks in charge. I think everything will be wonderful under their watchful eyes. Thank you, thank you to you both for lending your talents and skills.
Tonight, Mark came over and we talked about different ways we can display all the text I keep generating. I know, I know, I seem obsessed with text and yes, that text will turn into books at some future moment, but for now we are conjuring up different ways that folks can read and ponder.
In case you're wondering what some of this 'text' says, here are two samples:
"Heaven help us if this mound of shaking gelatin slides off the plate just as we enter the room, our eyes searching for a space on the table where we can set this molded salad. We are quite sure it will be a feast for the eyes and will engender nostalgia among the few."

"Days ago he asked me, "What are all these references to ‘text’?”
I said, “I have a lot to say. It is entirely possible that this exhibition will soon be overlaid with hundreds of labels and hang tags holding tens of thousands of words.”
He was dazed, “Have you considered writing a book? Instead? ” "

Late Saturday Night - Far Too Late To Be Thinking. Enough Thinking.

2009-09-12T21:56:00.000-07:00

Rained all day and may be raining still. Catarina spent the afternoon washing and scrubbing almost 50 Mexican Coke bottles with baking soda, soap and a good strong bottle brush. They'd been sitting outside for almost five years waiting for their moment which has now arrived with Second Seating. You know, or maybe you don't know, how easy it is to 'save' things, believing there will be a good use for them 'some day.'
In this case, those Mexican Coke bottles are being put to good use. They will be filled with roses from Fiesta and will sit on that table base of 1000 pounds of compacted aluminum beer and soda cans. And it'll all look just terrific. See photo of the bales of cans from which I chose 'the one'?
Now, if I can just decide on a the table top to lay across that bale of cans. I retrieved an abandoned sign on Telephone Road that may work. When Aggie gets here on Monday, she and I will have a 'show and tell' and decide what that bale of cans needs. The sign may or may not be a part of it.
Onward. Catarina and finished sewing on the Bayou, Bay, Beach chandelier and now must get it to Gonzo247 to add his aerosol watery oystery stuff on the fabric. This is going to be one sexy chandelier. I think.
Attempted to affix sheets of Plexi to my collages today, but the Plexi was apparently cut with a dull blade which made the edges rough and glittery so I returned them all and will begin anew on Monday with fresh cut sheets.
That means that tomorrow I'll write and print more gallery text, write more little narratives, more facts and figures. I realize I have all this stuff in my head and that my tables are not complete without some of those thoughts, so folks are going to have to plow through lots of words as they look at the tables. That is, if they choose to do so and if they can read in dim light. I'll print large and hope for some readers.
I did pick up the photo montages I had framed at Art Supply. They look good and I hope they sell.
Out this evening to the galleries on Colquit. Wonderful paintings at McMurtrey Gallery by Jean Carruthers Wetta and she is wonderful too. How did I not know about her work? On to Moody Gallery and I fell in love with the enormous paper cut of an elaborate chandelier. Now I am dreaming of big spaces for big art. Decided this evening that I need to clear out my house and do some long term loans of artwork so I can refresh, redo, reflavor the feel of my house.
And how about a 'Third Seating' just before the holidays as a way to sell big old black and white photos from yesteryear like images from China in 1979, from Silicon Stones shown in 1985 and collages from the 2005 show in Marfa and FotoFest 2004 and random series of work.
How long do you keep this stuff around? Here are some collages that came together one afternoon when I was procrastinating about Second Seating and so chose to loosen up a bit with random images.
So, "Third Seating" might be about emptying those shelves and sharing wine and conversation with friends. Where? In that space that is currently readying itself for Second Seating. I've put in walls and lights.
Where did all this flurry come from? This torrent of ideas for showing work that has nothing to do with Second Seating? Well, all these new thoughts were filtered through two glasses of a very nice red wine imbibed at a very lovely party this evening, so who knows what the true pulse of things will be in the big a.m.
It's after midnight and surely time for bed. What was I thinking to post these images of long ago? Keep the focus on the now MMH, and go to bed NOW.

Friday

2009-09-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

Mark emailed me some photos of the Second Seating kiosk at the Visitor Center at City Hall. Sure looks good. Just got an online listing on Glass Tire and someone told me there's a listing in Paper City. All good news.Reassembled the Clorox chandelier this afternoon. After we photographed it for press prints a few months ago, it grazed the ground too many times and was just filthy. We took it all apart and Modelle washed all the white tablecloths on which I'd strung the filigreed bottles. So today, I remade the piece and it's looking beautiful.

Ted Estrada and Jose Solis Deliver The Work

2009-09-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

They arrived this weekend. Jose and Ted brought their work and this afternoon they unpacked it all in the space and it's wonderful. No words needed. Plus Craig and Luis were there to build the shelving for the wall of plates. A lot going on. All good. This week I'll paint the shelves and reorganize and bring more plates.
Tomorrow Alex comes and we move stuff from the Harrisburg studio into the space. Will begin to see how all the tables will be spaced. Enough said. Here are photos.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

2009-09-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

This has been another Second Seating day. What 's new? It's now 7:00 p.m. and a few minutes ago, I poured myself a goblet of chilled white wine. Think I'm through for the day which began at 6:00 a.m.
Worked on the gallery guide and sent the first draft with all of its blank space to each of the artists so they can fill in titles and dimensions and prices. I need a short bio of each artist. You know, I am really excited about this group of artists. Each is so talented and their work for Second Seating is really going to surprise folks. When we meet tomorrow at the space, I'll gather some information from Jose and Ted and get it in draft form for them to take a look. And then I'll call everyone else and get theirs in draft form for review, rewrite, whatever.
Also got closer to the final draft of a very 'short story' about the East End and shot it off to Mary Vargo for read. There is nothing she doesn't know about the East End and she says she'll take a look.

Also tightened the several paragraphs I've been working on about Doris Bain Thompson. My mom is 92 and several weeks ago I experienced an epiphany. I have her genes after all and with Second Seating, I may well be doing what she did with her choirs in Aruba. We are both able to think something up from scratch and make it work. After I made this startling connection, I decided to dedicate Second Seating to my mother and though I called Seattle and told her, it will bear retelling again and again. My mom has increasing dementia and it has taken its bitter toll on her ability to retain information or to articulate her own thoughts. But back in her prime time? Well, that's another thing altogether. She had guts and vision.
Here's a photo of her taken last Christmas. She'd broken her arm and was in the hospital for awhile. But she's looking pretty good in this picture. I wish she could see this show. Makes me think I should find someone who can take a video of the opening. Now that, she and Dad would enjoy.
Break time after writing about Mom. I walked out to the oyster shell pile which is something I do often now. That oyster shell pile simply calls me these days.
I've just realized why. Granted, I need to check on them and turn them so they get clean with rain and sun for Second Seating. But every time, I go out there, I also select at least a dozen or two and bring them back into the kitchen sink to scrub and dry. My kitchen counter is covered with oyster shells. There may be 100 shells drying there and I plan to write gold words on each and bake them. Point is, I really like 'choosing' things and the oyster pile is as good as a resale shop. And today, I occurred to me that maybe folks at the opening might like to buy a shell with a word like 'love' or 'longing' or 'yes' or 'maybe' on it.
Sort of a little present to take home? Or give someone?
After the shelling expedition, I glued more collage pieces together and they are now weighted down with big books. The collages are just about done. On Tuesday, I'll buy sheets of plexi and begin drilling holes for the little brass carpet nails that I use to affix plexi to frame.
Took another break to read parts of the NYT, ate a couple of bowls of pecan praline ice cream with sliced bananas. Really. The last thing I need.
Mid-afternoon, I cut and sewed another vesty garment made from my stash of fabrics salvaged from Hurricane Ike. The first vest I made with some of these fabrics, I took to Turkey and to Seattle and I like it very much. Here's a photo of it taken in Discovery Park, where by the way there's been a real live cougar on the loose. Which they caught last night and will take to 'the wild.'
But the garment I put together this afternoon leaves a lot to be desired. It's not what I want to wear for the opening, though that was the intention when I began.
I began to search my closet and now my bed is piled with stuff. All fashion disasters. I need to wear a 'piece of work' basically. After I tried about 15 different approaches, I took a patchwork wall hanging I made for the show and wrapped it around my waist and then above my waist, Empire style.
It was the first thing that made sense. And looked like Second Seating. I wish I had a dress form my size so I could drape the thing. More and more I think about that draping class I took my junior year in college. It was as useful as an Algebra class. Or physics 101. One doesn't always realize how often we call upon the information we learn in basic classes. I may take the wall hanging to the alternation shop and hope they take mercy on me. Maybe they can drape it on me and put elastic through the top. Or I'll find harem pants - wish I'd bought them in Turkey when I saw them at that roadside stand by an ancient aqueduct. But it was either look at the aqueduct or shop. Actually, I think I did some of both, but not as much shopping as I might have liked.
So, late in the day, I made another trip out to the oyster shell pile. And then took a look at the clock and poured a glass of wine.
Tomorrow, I meet Ted and Jose in the space. We'll unpack their work and imagine where it will be installed. And the carpenter should be there with his helper and we'll build shelves for the Wall of Plates. Then I'll be busy with house paint and a 100 plates.
Talk soon again.

Three Weeks From Tonight

2009-09-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Bayou, Bay, Beach Is Pulling Together

2009-09-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

It's way late at night again and I've been hand stitching the stretchy covering of the Bayou, Bay, Beach chandelier that Gonzo247 will paint on in a few days. We've decided that what he paints should look sort of like water and oysters. Nebulous, flowing, rhythmic, soft. I haven't a clue why so many of the parts of Second Seating require hours of sewing time or gluing. And I never factor in the hours that it takes for these tasks. I've been at it all evening.
Well, almost all evening Before it got dark, I took the two blue, velvet covered chairs into the back garden with a can of gold spray paint and went after them. I'm hoping all this tableau works out. They will be set among hundreds of oyster shells with this voluminous fabric covered chandelier hanging from yards of chain.. By the way, I'm appliqueing some of that faded damaged velvet on the chandelier , just to pull the whole thing together. I love these funny chairs.
I'll be up at 5:30 again tomorrow morning so I can get to Fiesta at 6:00 for another bunch of broken down boxes. Then at 8:30 we begin the trek from Spectrum Metals Recycling to the space with 1000 baled pounds of compressed aluminum cans. I certainly hope I can direct the folks well enough to get the thing in the right position for the duration of the show. Once there, it won't move. At all. Unless it falls apart.
And then I realize that I have so much to do in the space itself. Like create a table top for this bale of cans. The time I spent driving in the car today, I used to think about this table top made of corrugated boxes. I wish I could channel Robert Rauschenberg for a day. Baring that, I hope I can give it just enough form, cover it with some brush strokes of paint, create a space on top for rows of Mexican Coke bottles that will be filled with roses. Should this plan all fall apart, I feel sure that another idea will foment. Better be quick.
We didn't get to the wall of plates shelving this evening. That's be tomorrow at 6:00 after I photograph Gonzo247 working again on his aerosol table and chairs. I meet Modelle in the afternoon and we'll review everything about this show to find the spots where we need to focus from now until September 24.
Enough sewing. Off to bed. Sure do like those funky chairs.

Half Ton of Aluminum Cans and Various Other Things

2009-09-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I chose a bale of compressed aluminum soda and beer cans at Spectrum Metal Recycling. They'll power wash the bale and on Thursday afternoon, Bobby Schlitzberger will cart if off to the Second Seating space where it will not move a fraction of an inch until the show is over.
Today I learned that it takes just six weeks to manufacture a can, fill it, sell it, recycle it and then remanufacture another can from the original metal. This process goes on forever. The same aluminum will be back somewhere on a shelf within sixty days. And someone will drink the Coke or Bud Light or whatever, throw the can out and all will begin again.
In the last twenty years Anheuser-Busch Recycling Subsidiary has recycled 8 billion pounds of cans from 48 states. There are 30-32 cans per pound. Do the math.
I set my alarm for 5:40 this morning so I could be at Fiesta at 6:00 a.m. to pick up a load of corrugated boxes to assemble a table top for this bale of cans. I am going to try fashioning a tabletop of layered boxes held together with staples and glue. It will either work - or not. Should have some paint on it too. I will get up early again on Thursday a.m. to retrieve more boxes. Then will set to work once the compressed bale of can is in place.
Also worked on the Bayou, Bay, Beach chandelier a bit this morning after the tirp to Fiesta. When I finished stretching and pinning the fabric over the frame, I'll hand sew it on and then call Gonzo247 who will come for it and so some aerosol oceany, oystery stuff on the fabric.
There is so much still to do. Actual artwork. More media stuff. Planning for the openngModelle and I will talk about all of this on Thursday. Melissa and I talked about money tonight and that always does me in and I get nervous. Because I know what I do with a project, any project. I'll do it right. And not think about the money.
If the wall needs repainting, or I decide to make shelving for the plates, or pay someone to hang track lights, or ask another person to develop a trove of music to play in the space, or think it's a good idea to hire mariachis for the opening reception, well, then all these things happen. And each costs money. But if all these things make the show terrific, I'd say it's money well spent.
So, the point here is that it's good that I have a friend keeping track of the money.
I am tired. I need to go to bed and not think about this anymore. Funny thing is, I hardly know how to read a magazine when I get into bed now. All is Second Seating. Totally absorbing.
By the way, I did get everything done on today's list. Seemed as if I was in the car all day long.

Lists and More Lists

2009-08-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

It's often instructive to look back over a day and see exactly how you 'moved the meter' toward a goal. Often the day is filled with many little shoves in the right direction. Another day there will be a terrific leap forward on one front and then, of course, I think I can sit back and relax. Yet another kind of day can be all about laying plans and setting a course, taking stock, regrouping.
Every single day I make a list and print it out. The list is then overlaid with penciled in items. Or I renumber the list and simply follow the numbered tasks. Lately, I've topped the list with goals for the week. Here are this week's goals:
1. Finish with the electrical contractor. He was in the space today and will be there again tomorrow. I've been lucky enough to borrow lights from HCCS and they'll be put in place by following my rained soaked mat board on which I drew the space to scale, but have covered it over with so many sets of numbers and circles etc. that any electrician looking at it should throw up his/her hands and ask for a real plan. This electrician had the sense to move right ahead after a few questions about my chalk marks on the concrete floor. I gave him my cell phone number and didn't hear from him all afternoon so I assume all is well?
2. A second goal is to get all the materials to Mark for the kiosk at the City Hall Visitors Center. I pick up the poster tomorrow sometime after 10:00.
3. I've got to spend time finding a good contact on the quilt festival staff. Who wouldn't want to eat lunch at Irma's and see Second Seating if they're teaching at festival for a week? Lunch hour is a good time for an arts destination.
4. I need to send out press packets to a couple of radio stations, the Houston Chronicle folks (what left of them) and local on-line arts websites.
5. I need to buy sheets of plexi for my collages. I can drill holes in them this weekend for little brass tacks that will hold the plexi to the frames. I want those pieces finished. I am still getting parts of collages mounted on mat board so I won't run into another gluing mess.
6. Finally, I need to finish all the text for this show and there's plenty of it.
So those are the week's goals. And here's what happened today after I took an early morning walk and saw pecans everywhere. The squirrels seem to take one bite and then toss the nut. You could hear them up in the trees and then a pecan would fall to the street. But I digress. Here's the day:
1. The painters returned to repaint the chartreuse wall and it's much better now.
1. I spoke with the electrical contractor early this morning and then was there to meet the electrician and his helper just before noon. While in the space I measured for Jesse's batiks, Aggie's metal pieces, my collages, montages and searched for space for Jose's wall pieces. We are literally running out of space. I'm going to have to be a stern editor for all eight of us. Amazing that suddenly there is so much work pouring in.
2. I called Bobby Schlitzberger to see when he can pick up that ton of compressed beer and soda cans and it looks like we'll do that on Thursday at 1:00.
3. I called Spectrum Metal Recycling to confirm that Thursday is a good day to borrow a bale of cans and it is. Except they'd like me to choose the bale tomorrow so they can power wash it and make it beautiful. How nice is that?
4. I met with Mark Lacey this afternoon and gave him a pile of CDs and we talked about making a sound track to play in the space. Snippets of songs will be interspersed with city sounds, trains, feral parrots, traffic, wind, rain, church bells, street music, whatever.
5. I went to Fiesta and met the assistant manager and asked if I could have lots of boxes. Yes, I can, but I have to pick them up on alternate mornings at 6:00 a.m. because they stock all night and then every other morning, they compress the boxes and they're gone.
6. We scheduled construction of the plate shelves for late Wednesday afternoon. I'll be glad to see them and wonder how I'll paint them. I called Jose and asked if he'd mind if we used his totem wall piece as a part of the plate wall. I think it will be wonderful as a fulcrum of sorts.
7. Before I left the house for the day, I sat at the kitchen table and paid bills and dropped them off at the post office. Done for a few more weeks.
8. At 5:00 today I proofed the posters for the kiosk and for the space. They'll be ready tomorrow. Then I went to Michael's to buy some sort of varnish to put on the plates to which I am affixing photo decals. Also bought a frame for the very nice Houston Woman Magazine Second Seating story which I will take to Irma's tomorrow. By the way, the stories and listings are beginning and that is good news.
9. Called a person who is willing to play docent in the space during October and will meet him on Monday for coffee. Still have a second person to call about this.
10. Tonight, I reprinted the Clorox table stories and glued them on the white labels I made last night. They'll be tied to the table linens stacked under the Clorox chandelier. Still need to get some facts and figures from the Clorox plant itself. Must send an email.
11. Tied on more than a dozen little painted labels to the wall hanging made from Hurricane Ike damaged fabrics. I think I am about done with that piece. Spoke with Mary B. and a friend. By the way, these two chairs are nearly finished. It was a heck of a job to applique that velvet on. I think I'll cover the rest of the backside of the chairs with gold spray paint and be done with it.
12. Now of course, I am really tired, been writing this post for over an hour, but am contemplating tomorrow's list that includes the following:
1. 6:00 a.m. Trip to Fiesta for corrugated boxes.
2 Take boxes to the space. Meet the electrician. See what he's done and where he's headed.
3. Receive extension ladder at 8:45 from Allison so the theater lighting guy can use when clamping the can lights to whatever he will be clamping them to.
4. Morning is self-improvement time. Pilates at 10:00. Must call the theater guy and tell him I won't be there until nearly 1:00.
5. Haircut at 11:30. This will be the haircut that sees me through the opening reception. One must plan these things and the timing is right.
6. Get to the space and talk about the lighting.
7. At 2:00, choose that compressed bale of beer and soda cans at Spectrum Recycling.
8. Pick up posters at A&E and pick up photos that have been mounted on board at Art Supply.
9. Check emails and wait for a tree man to come and deal with a fallen limp from the big tree in the ravine. He came this evening to look at the giant limb and give me a bid. That tree was really hurt during Hurricane Ike. I fear for it.
That's tomorrow. Just so you know what is taking up my days. A lot. Hey, I am still really happy about the City of Houston's special opportunity grant given through the Houston Arts Alliance. It's keeping me sane, meaning I am not worrying about raising ever more money. I am simply working to get this show assembled and lit.

More Wonderful Work

2009-08-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! Aggie Eyster just emailed me photos of things she's bringing for Second Seating. No words are necessary. Just feast your eyes.

The Work Is Rolling In

2009-08-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

Did I ever doubt that the eight artists participating in Second Seating would produce wonderful work? No, never. Did I ever wonder when I'd see work finished and ready for installation? Sometimes. But this weekend, I've been overwhelmed seeing their stuff and suddenly I am wondering how all of it will fit into the space. Will we have to edit, pare down so what finally makes the cut really works with everything else and creates the atmosphere that is Second Seating? An interesting question and a lovely dilemma.
Here's what I've been looking at in the last few days in addition to my own foray today into affixing photo decals to my stack of plates that need embellishment. I've put this decal stuff off for months because I had a bad start, but today I am into it and it seems to be working.
And here are some of the good things I've been seeing from other Second Seating artists.
Just look at Jesse Sifuentes' new batiks. This one is 8 1/2 ft x 9 ft. I think it will go along the back wall of the space with good lighting on it. He's got a lot more pressing to do to get the wax off. I don't envy him the hours in the steamy outdoors attending to this. The pattern is the same one he'll use on a METRO transit stop along Harrisburg. Jesse is one of the artists selected for the public art component of METRO's mass transit corridors.
Jesse has more batiks to press wax from - all with coffee production motifs. Look at this next one sideways because it's a vertical piece on a horizontal clothes line at the moment. He's even got a Model T Ford in the right foreground because the coffee plant on Harrisburg was a Ford car plant long ago. It's been a coffee plant for over 50 years. Used to belong to Kraft Foods Maxwell House but Maximus Coffee Group, LP bought the place several years ago and is still roasting coffee beans and produces most of the decaf imbibed by the entire country.
Here's Victor Rodriguez' biggest parrot pinata with almost 15 ft of wing span. Gorgeous bird and it will lead a flock into the space from the back entrance.
And Jose sent some photos - so happy to see them. He's used a bunch of those blue Riesling wine bottles Irma and I took him last January. Love those bottles and I think I'm going to love this piece and I see a light bulb in the middle of it.
Here's a wall piece. A sort of wonderfully strange totem. I love it.

My New Favorite Words

2009-08-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

What exactly are my new favorite words?

'Made possible in part by a grant from the City of Houston
through the Houston Arts Alliance.'

I'm loving those words. Now I can use them when I talk about Second Seating. Late this afternoon my cell phone rang when I was right in the middle of a nice long shower. For whatever reason, I emerged from the shower with wet hair and much dripping on the floor. And with wet hair and much dripping, I received a call with the news that the grant application submitted on my behalf by Neighborhood Centers, Inc. had just been approved for funding. On this very day.
I am really happy about this funding. And I am breathing deeply, one breath after another. I'm enjoying every one of these deep breaths. The estimates of expenses for production that I poured over weeks ago? Now, I can pay for them all. Not that Second Seating was ever in danger of not opening on September 24, exactly one month from this evening, by the way. But funds would have been tight and I'd have thought twice about postage for any extra invites that needed to be mailed. I might have fretted if the paint color I chose needed to be covered over with a better shade of green. The exhibition's signage will be classy now. The electrician's fee to make the place ready for a dozen incredible chandeliers doesn't seem as scary as it did earlier this morning.
This particular funding didn't come out of thin air. I had lots of folks championing Second Seating. Folks went out on a limb to support this endeavor. Not one person really knows what to expect. And yet, they do know some things. They know the tenacity and salesmanship I bring to bear on a project. They know I am both responsible and creative. They know I'll pull it off and surprise them. And the folks who supported this particular funding understand that Second Seating is about inclusion and collaboration, the most important things to know.
One never, ever, does anything alone. At least, not in my experience. People see that common goal, jump on it and play a part. Second Seating has eight participating artists and quite a mix they are, each one talented and contributing something unique to the whole. We're all telling our stories about community and the visual narratives are what makes Second Seating.
So, my thanks to each of you who supported this special opportunity funding and who believe that Second Seating is truly 'a one-time offbeat arts destination in downtown Houston' as the most recent press release states.Second Seating is just blocks from the George R. Brown Convention Center where, in October, 55,000 quilters will wend their way through miles of quilts. These visitors to Houston not only get to see Second Seating, should they choose to take a break from those miles of quilts, but they also get to eat a Second Seating Lunch Special at Irma's, winner of a 2008 James Beard American Classics Award.
This is a lot about marketing. Special opportunity? You bet. What a combination. And today, Houston Arts Alliance joined the list of underwriters of Second Seating. At last.

Here's the Space

2009-08-25T20:28:00.001-07:00

The space the Second Seating will call home is taking shape. The temporary walls are painted, though I know I'll change one color. The chartreuse isn't dark or dramatic enough, but the other two colors will be just fine.
Mark and I mapped out the tables and there is masking tape all over the floor where they'll be placed. Need to begin moving the big stuff in. Like the bale of crushed, compacted soda and beer cans that weighs almost a ton. Need to make arrangements for that. Jesse's table, Ted's table, my banquet buffet table. Probably before the electrician come next Tuesday as we can see where the lights need to shine.
On Thursday, I meet with the contractor/carpenter to make a decorative shelving for the Wall of 100 Plates. It'll be on that terra cotta wall and that swag of white ruffles will be gone. I got that huge bit of rufflework from the trash at the Guild Shop on Dunlavy months ago. We'll see where it ends up.
When we have finished free form designing the shelving for the plates, I'll bring my cans of house paint and see what happens next. The wall itself will be the piece of work.

Gonzo247 At Work

2009-08-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Gonzo247 began work late this afternoon on his table and chairs for Second Seating. I asked if I could photograph him and I stayed over an hour watching him give form to his design, working intuitively, quickly, using color after color. A wonderful palette.
He teaches aerosol art classes and I am going to sign up n 2010. I want to know how to do this. It's gorgeous work.

Here's where he stood back and looked at the table leg with the two chairs and said, "I like this. I like where it's going. I can work with this." Or some such thing.

I am loving this piece with these particular colors. It'll be smashing in the space itself.
I left Gonzo247 and will return another day when he puts on another coat of colors.

Making a Space

2009-08-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

Temporary walls are in for Second Seating and the painters came today. Two of the three colors I chose are OK, the third needs work. Probably a repaint. Forgot to photograph the newly painted walls, but here is the space as it was this morning. It is looking a whole lot different than it did a week ago.
Gonzo274 and Carolyn stopped by at Irma's this a.m. to show Modelle and me how throwies are made with little LED lights, batteries and magnets. I think I'll have Carolyn make a couple hundred for guests to throw around the front door as they enter and then when they leave in the darkness the whole place will be shot with little lights. Want to use some on the banquet table too in vases and compotes and perhaps on the chandelier with the feathered birds.
Got the estimate today for electrical work and I am dying over it. That will all happen in about ten days. Then we'll begin to bring in the work itself. On Monday, Mark and I will lay out the table spaces using masking tape. And shortly, I'll decide on another color for that mustard yellow wall.
Postcard invitation went to the printer today. ever onward.

Sleepless: Making Use of the Extra Awake Hours

2009-08-20T04:48:00.001-07:00

I've been 'up' since 1:30 a.m. Where is the sleep? However, I've been working away on Second Seating, getting more letters and emails out and text written for the Bayou, Bay, Beach table. Thanks to the Galveston Bay Estuary Program for lots of facts and figures that I am taking and writing commentary for.
This morning at 8:30 I'll be down at the space to talk to the painter who'll make the walls that were installed yesterday more than colorful. They'll be painted mustard, terracotta and chartreuse. Can hardly wait to see the transformation. The place was power washed two days ago and then came the day of assembling temporary walls. Here's the 'after' power washing and 'before' painted walls.

I've decided on a new way to display 'Wall of 100 Plates.' I am going to have the contractor build shallow shelves that look like those in African homes that are made of clay and painted with pattern. Will be using lumber instead of clay and I am thinking that this 20 foot wall will itself become an integral part of the piece.

Modelle comes at 10:00 a.m. and we'll meet with Carolyn who will tell us about 'throwies.' I've read about those wonderful little LED lights that graffiti artists throw on buildings at night. Thought for awhile that they'd be wonderful on the Second Seating ceiling blinking away the night of the opening. We'll talk about the cost and feasibility today.
Then I meet with Melissa for a green chicken enchilada lunch special from Brothers Tacos (the best green chicken enchiladas I've ever tasted) and we'll go over the 'books' Then perhaps a nap? That would be so fine by about 2:00 this afternoon.

Work To Be Done and Plenty of Time

2009-08-17T11:51:00.001-07:00

It's Monday and it's mid August. That means there is still 1/2 of this month in which to work on Second Seating. And there are several weeks in September before the opening party. I look at time the way you look at a cup half full instead of half empty because it allows me to stay 'in the zone' and get the work done.
Here's the day in photos. The early morning sun, by the way, was gorgeous and I couldn't resist photographing the coralita vine that has taken over the door leading out to my studio. I've not cut it back even though it's choking a climbing rose. It just too glorious and honey bees are buzzing all over it. Kitchen counters and table are overwhelmed with Second Seating 'stuff' even after Catarina and I lugged a car load of 'stuff' to the Harrisburg studio late last week. Obviously, we didn't make a dent.
Made another montage of wallet size images of the East End. I'm liking these new pieces.
There is more 'air' in and around them than the square collages I made with fabrics from Hurricane Ike. Maybe there is a metaphor there somewhere?
Am embellishing the Ike fabric wall hangings and am trying to figure out how to affix lots of little painted labels with images and text. Needs to be unselfconscious in the doing. Haven't made that happen yet.
At the moment, listening to CDs for music that I'd like to hear in Second Seating. That is my excuse for taking the time to write this post. I am also listening to music and making decisions about what I am hearing. Also working on a series of taped 'sounds' with Houston Institute For Culture that will 'be' in the Second Seating space: street traffic, trains, water sounds, snippets of music from cars, those sorts of East End sounds.
I've heard from Aggie Eyster and the etched metal table tops for those four pedestal tables are almost finished. Can hardly wait for photos. Here's a sample of her work and she says the new designs imprinted on these table tops are quite different. We have a surprise awaiting us. Also have images of Mercedes Fernandez paintings and embroidery.

And I got a confirmation this a.m. from Admiral Glass who'll supply the polished glass table top for that shiny metal arch table base that the Offenhauser Company is making. The table will reference those shiny metal arches that they fabricated years ago for Uptown and Post Oak Blvd. Message being, 'We make stuff here in Houston's East End and our reach is far and wide. Think roasted coffee, Clorox, Bud Light and oil pipes, for starters.'
And today, friends are working on Second Seating's behalf in many, many good ways. Thanks to all. In the end, everything is about collaboration. It's the way things get done and in my mind, that is the beauty of it.
Well, the music's over so I'll head back into the studio.

A Good Friday

2009-08-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

There's a new listing for Second Seating on the on-line Houston events calendar. And a really nice half page article on Second Seating in the new issue of Houston Woman Magazine. Thanks, Beverly Denver. So word is starting to get 'out there' about the installation. I send thanks for every bit of publicity this exhibition gets.
Actually, all of today was a very good day. I confirmed one more underwriter for Second Seating and found a source for stage lights and track lights for the installation. All of this by noon. I think I can stop fretting about raising money and just get on with making the work and getting the space ready.
By the way, I'll share all of those underwriters names soon. I thought I'd better wait until the postcard invites are at the printer and the names are in print. They are a very good group of businesses and organizations. Can hardly wait until they see the whole show.
This afternoon, I took this montage and a half dozen partially finished collages to Art Supply on Main Street for a little help in gluing parts together and setting illustration board into my hand painted frames. Catarina went with me and then we returned to load the car with painted plates, light fixtures and the sunflower needlepoint chair to cart over to the Harrisburg studio. My house is so full of Second Seating that I have no table space on which to eat and very little floor space. Too much stuff, everywhere.
On Harrisburg, we spread out all the plates I've painted or written on and baked. They total 75 and so I think I will write on 25 more so we can call the collection a 'Wall of 100 Plates.' I like the sound of that.
Went out to a new wine bar earlier this evening with two friends, very industrial, very nice wines. Feeling the effects of two chilled glasses of a sweet German wine, I then made my way to El Rey for Cuban tacos with green chili sauce. Perfect.
Tomorrow I think I'll work on text for Second Seating. There is a lot of it to be written and printed out and affixed to labels. Should be a good day. Is this blog becoming boring reading because everything seems to be going well? I can't help it. Today was a heck of a good day. And on Tuesday, we begin to clean and prepare the space itself next. Right on schedule so far.
By the way, I need to buy a mattress and a sheet of plywood for that wonderful old bed I bought months ago in Round Top for the screen porch. Perhaps in time for the girls' trip here in September? You can see it's just there absolutely empty. I've used the porch little this summer. I thought at first it was because I'm always working on this show. But I think it's also sunnier and hotter on the porch this summer because all those green shrubbery and so many of the limbs on the trees were tossed and broken during Hurricane Ike. The screen porch faces west and I don't think the sun beat in so late in the day before the hurricane. Maybe in another year or two, I'll have thick green, tall shrubbery again between me and the street?

Occupancy Permit, Among Other Things

2009-08-10T19:52:00.001-07:00

I think we're a go. I sat at Irma's this morning with my laptop, a cup of coffee and a terrific breakfast taco. Waiting for the city inspector to give final approval to the installation space. He arrived just after 9:30, looked at the number 20 on the front of the building, checked the new lock on the back exit door and pronounced the space, as my Dad would say, "worthy and well qualified."
So the next steps are to call the permitting department on Tuesday and see if the paperwork is complete. Then either Modelle or I will drive over to pick up our permit, buy a frame for it and affix it prominently in the Second Seating space.
Hey, this was a good day. I also called a friend who owns a moving company and asked him if he would cart those huge banquettes away and store them for the duration. That means the place will be empty at last and ready for a good power washing next week. This development pleases me beyond words.
Also found a $10 table at my favorite resale shop up on Harrisburg late this afternoon. I'll drape it with white table cloths and it will become the Clorox table under that divine Clorox bottle chandelier.
And 002Houston emailed today to ask if the date for the opening was still September 24. Hope that means a calendar listing in the magazine.
And I actually did some gluing on a montage made with dozens of wallet size images. It's taking shape and I'm liking it. It'll need a frame. Can't decide if I need one of my painted frames or if I should play it straight with a natural wood frame that looks as if it would be right at home in a downtown loft. I'd like to sell. A lot of work. All of those painted plates. Selling everything on view at Second Seating would be very nice for all eight artists. Wouldn't that be good fortune?

Oyster Valentines

2009-08-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

Remember all those oysters shells I collected throughout July for Second Seating's 'Bayou, Bay, Beach' dinner table? Yes, those oyster shells, the hundreds that are being cleaned and bleached by natural means out behind my garage. I keep going out to the oyster pile with a colander to look for the prettiest, the best shells. I bring a dozen or two back into my kitchen, scrub them in the sink with warm soapy water and set them all over the counter to dry.
A couple of days ago, I wrote words on a dozen shells. Just to see. I really liked the shells with their golden words. In fact, I wondered what it would be like to be served a platter of fresh oysters, discovering words in gold as one oyster after another filled my mouth with their briney sea taste.
Have raw oysters ever been served that way? Could one do this for a dinner party?
Tonight, I wrote with gold paint on all the dozens of oyster shells on my kitchen counter. Simple words. Mostly 'yes' and 'love' and a few 'perhaps' and 'kisses.'
The repetition of writing the word 'yes' was a positive thing. It ended up being a yes to life itself.
Yes, yes, yes. And a little love while we're at it.

A Look at Second Seating - Worth a Click

2009-08-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

Click on Second Seating, at this moment in time.
It'll take you to two dozen new photos of works in progress by participating artists. Lots of color, lots of excitment, lots more to do.
Here's an image of Jesse Sifuentes' coffee mug buffet table.

Another Story From the Banquet Table

2009-08-07T22:14:00.001-07:00

Do these remind you of hand blown goblets from Matamoras? Perhaps, years ago, if you were lucky, you watched such goblets hand blown beside a fiery furnace. No such luck nowadays. The goblets on this buffet table are imitation Mexican glassware.
The labels say ‘Made in China.’ The price? A fraction of those hand blown Mexican goblets. The cost to our neighbors across the Rio Grande? Incalculable.

Making Art, Making the Space Ready

2009-08-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Making art, scrubbing oyster shells. Art is spilling out in the form of painted plates and chairs, collages with photos, fabric, paper cuts and odd spoons.
Adding golden words on oyster shells. That would be why I am scrubbing more and more shells. Suddenly I can see a great pile of shells with golden words.

Also seeing, once again, just how much work is ahead. Still fund raising. Wish I could just stop making calls for funds. But in order to feel truly comfortable, I need more dollars.
Now is the moment to get the postcard invite designed, printed and mailed - in three weeks time. How did it come to this?
I see the city inspector on Monday for the final look through of the space. We've done everything the city asked and we should get an 90 day occupancy permit.
Then the space will be cleaned and the floor power washed, we'll put up a few wall/panels here and there and paint them mustard, terracotta and chartreuse. Then I'll call back the electrician to make ready for the chandeliers. Oh, I need to nail down some stage lights and talk what sort of music and sounds will play on a tape in the space.

Oh, and then there is everybody else's art. Victor Rodriguez' parrot chandeliers, Aggie Eyster's etched metal table tops, Jesse Sifunetes' coffee mug mosaic, Gonzo247's aerosol art table and chairs. It's all going to more than anyone anticipated when all is installed.
Hey, I've managed to secure beer and bottled water and munchies for the opening reception. Still working on a source for cases of Chardonnay.

Very Short Stories From the Banquet Table

2009-08-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Even though forewarned, we were bedazzled and knew that anything we ate from this table would linger in our memories, our taste buds forever favoring this repast over all others.
She is said to have remarked, “Let them eat cake,” but these are not her words. They were merely an attribution.

There is nothing so inviting as the sound of dinner plates being stacked, one after the other proclaiming a meal to come, a repast to remember, a feast of dreams.
He approached her at the buffet table, just as she lifted a Vietnamese summer roll to her mouth. It drizzled with peanut sauce.
She held the summer roll suspended in air, “Thank heaven he arrived before I smiled at him with noodles between my teeth.”
Then, holding the dripping summer roll, she did indeed smile broadly – and was bewitching.
“Heavens,” she sighed, “if I’d known this was to be so elaborate, so exquisite, so reminiscent of my dreams, perhaps I would have chosen the silver shoes or I’d have bared my shoulders or possibly, floated on air itself to reach this table.”

Mango juice ran down her arm and dripped from her elbow. The man in her life pursed his lips and tasted sweet juice scented with something ineffable. She smelled of life and mango.
The delights of this table carry over into dreams. We shift in bed and still asleep, taste the fruit, the spiral loaf, the savory meats, a bit of mousse and a parfait. The question is “Do we devour this exquisite food or is it all the other way around? Does the banquet seduce and we, drawn in with one exquisite bite, become the possessed?”

Oyster Shell Messages

2009-08-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

About four this afternoon, it occurred to me that I could write on oyster shells and then place them by the half dozen on the oyster plates I bought in Seattle last spring. Funny how ideas just spring from thin air. I keep going out to the oyster pile behind my studio and bringing handfuls of shells into the kitchen sink to scrub. I am loving them and know that I'll use them in many more ways than simply banked against the Bayou, Bay, Beach table at Second Seating. I am really loving them.
What if we actually found messages in oyster shells after we'd eaten the oyster?

A Little Progress

2009-08-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

Went into the studio this afternoon to work on two different projects. I cut some of that Hurricane Ike damaged velvet to patch on to one of two chairs that will sit on either side of the Bayou, Bay, Beach table. Actually it will rest among the thousands of oyster shells that are now drying and smelling up the area behind my studio.
Love the fabric because the dye ran when it was soaked with flood waters so it fades from light grey blue to dusty mauve. I'm finding it's perfect for covering the current herringbone upholstery on these chairs.
Also began to work on a montage of dozens of wallet sized East End images. Got out a big sheet of black and white checked paper that I've had forever. I think I'll use it for this montage. I've arranged the photos six or eight times so far, trying to find something compelling. I may add another paper like that intense Chinese red wrapping paper. Or may layer the images. I'll mix and match until it looks like something.Haven't gotten to painting labels for text yet. Maybe this evening? And though I made a ruffle for the fabric chandelier, I didn't pin and sew it in place. What is holding me up on that thing? Really needs to leave my dining room table.
Must say though, that one cup of Chinese black tea sure turned this day into one that's been productive. Probably should take a break, go to bed and watch Netflix tonight.

Looking Ahead

2009-08-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

Today is August 1 and a very good day for taking stock. I'm in a post meltdown state, which means I am back in the zone. The month of August stretches ahead, each of its thirty days as long as a month. Artists are at work and Modelle and I are making the exhibition space ready. At this point, it is taking a lot of coordination and money. Modelle is helping with the coordination and I am still raising money. Another grant application will be submitted toward the end of next week. I have an appointment on Tuesday afternoon with yet another potential underwriter and I still need to round up a couple of stragglers so that their names can appear on the postcard invite.
What I realized when I talked through my latest application verbiage and budget with a friend is that Second Seating is a production. I've always called it an installation, but now that Irma's is not the 'finished space' we'd anticipated eight months ago, a 'production' is required to make the most of that metal building. In other words, it needs to be transformed.
An installation is a setting into which we enter and move about. An installation requires place making, ambiance and lighting. Those items require money and sound like a production to me. So I'm on it during these days in August. And in between the production moments, I'll be making art and collaborating with the other participating artists so we deliver a coherent mass of work. It'll be quite a trip.
I've been drawing on glassware again and baking it in the oven. These beveled glass strips are from a salvaged chandelier.
Gonzo247 is spraying the structure on which they hang Chinese red. I've written and drawn on all twenty of the strips of glass. I'll reassemble and see if it sings, or not. If it doesn't, I'll add more color and more stuff. My kitchen table is covered with dishes that still need to be drawn and written on. I am hoping that Mercedes will work with me on these so we have a true bilingual wall of plates. I did bake a dozen with phrases in Spanish, but more is better.
Found three more of those red glass compotes at Value Village last Thursday. Scooped them up to go with the two from at The Guild Shop that I bought months ago.
I'll add metallic glass paint to the three new compotes and bake them. I am wondering just what I will put in these vintage vessels. What sort of fruit? Or should they hold vegetables? What kind? Or should they be piled with objects? What objects? Christmas tree balls? Rocks, stones, shells? Should each compote hold something different? Yet each related to the others? So many options, nuances, relationships. This is the kind of stuff that filters through my head all day long and I love it. There is always something interesting to think about.
So, this morning I've had steel cut oats with yogurt and fresh sliced peaches for breakfast, am contemplating a cup of black breakfast tea and then I will head to the studio to make a wide ruffle for the base of this fabric covered chandelier. It needs to be finished this weekend and carted off to hang in the Harrisburg studio with those chandeliers made with filigreed Clorox bottles, Houston Dynamo balls and Valero oil pipe fittings.
I think another good job for this weekend will be to begin the making of dozens of hang tags that will hold text and bits of images. Text draws folks in emotionally, offers additional layers of meaning. Text can make folks sad or make them laugh. Random phrases, words that conjure up feelings. I love text.
I love Second Seating. I thank heaven that Second Seating appeared in my mind and that I can see this vision of what can be. Today, I am thanking heaven that the project needs a lot of work and attention because it's fun to do this work so others can see this panorama of chandeliers and dinner table too. I love the work. Most of the time. This morning.

A Little of This, A Little of That

2009-07-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

A roofer came this morning to fix the damage done to Second Seating's roof during Hurricane Ike. Irma had a blue tarp over it, but it didn't do much for the leak. Today, they took care of it. I love the outside of this building and it will be such a surprise to see the installation. It is so going to work in that space.
Modelle and I are meeting tomorrow morning with a theater lighting person who'll advise on extra lighting we'll need for Second Seating. I know that with good lights playing on the tables and chandeliers, the whole place will become magic. This will be the first time I've worked with lights and I know that they will create the aura, the atmosphere. Will also meet with music and sound folks to create a tape that we can play, probably over and over, while Second Seating is open.
I went over to the Harrisburg studio mid-afternoon and stayed longer than I intended. Planned to be there just minutes in order to pick up one of the 'French' side chairs that I need to recover in some metallic faded, very messed up velvet from the cache of Hurricane Ike damaged fabrics.
I decided to set up the banquet table. The painted drop cloth and patchwork have been there on the floor for a week, so I gathered them up, pinned in a vertical and horizontal pleat on the drop cloth so it wouldn't be hanging all over the floor. Then put boxes on the table and covered the whole thing.
Added some of the stuff that will actually go on the table. I need to do something with the edges of the patchwork. In some places it looks unfinished. I may make some fabric knots or ruffles and tack on here and there.
Back at home, I decided to write and paint on the twenty pieces of beveled glass that make up a small chandelier. Gonzo247 is painting the base a bright sassy color. I wrote phrases and words on each piece of glass and drew floral sorts of things - all in metallic gold and pewter. They need to dry for 24 hours and then I'll bake and reassemble. I want to hang it in proximity to the big banquet chandelier that is covered with wrapped fabrics, ruffles and birds. I have got to finish that thing and get it off my dining room table. It needs a few more ruffles and two more light bulbs and then I'll take it over to Harrisburg and hang it up next to the Houston Dynamo soccer ball chandelier, the Clorox chandelier and the two smaller Valero chandeliers. The finished pieces are adding up, thank heaven.

Artists Meet

2009-07-29T05:38:00.000-07:00

Mercedes Fernandez is in town. That wonderful woman who is responsible for the enormous mural adjacent to the original Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant is participating in Second Seating with a series of paintings on table napkins. We'll suspend them against a golden yellow wall or maybe a chartreuse wall. Her embroidery is becoming ever more complex and multidimensional. Her roses beg to be picked right off the painting.
Last evening she and I visited Jesse Sifuentes. He is just about to put the coat of polyurethane on his coffee buffet. That piece just dances. It's filled with life and littered with sly staccato notes.
It good when Second Seating artists get together. Hope that we are all here for the opening and can spend time together. They are each so talented. I need to plan for a late supper somewhere for artists and family.

First of the Flock of Parrot Pinatas

2009-07-27T20:07:00.001-07:00

The first of the feral parrot flock is beautiful. Laurie photographed the bird last Friday night, so now we have images for Kelly and Sherri to use as they design the postcard invite. Moving right along.

Collage, Montage, Whatever

2009-07-25T16:12:00.001-07:00

I've not been out of the house today except for a morning walk. Back to work in the studio, after a unplanned cleanup of the place. It hasn't been fun to go into the studio lately because the floor was covered with fabrics from work on that chandelier with the red vase at its center. The counter space was piled high with photographs, books and just plain mess. When Catarina was here yesterday working on the database, I decided to straighten things up out there. Strange how a clean-up mode takes over, comes out of nowhere and for me, so infrequently. Finished the job this morning and so spent the afternoon mixing and matching photos and fabrics.
I always think nothing is going to come of the process. It's painful how long it takes me to assemble something that looks like 'something.' It was easy to make the cut out of the gelatin salad and tuck it in behind the smaller one gelatin salad that's been sitting for some time on that square piece of weathered tapestry. It works, but how on earth am I going to affix these gelatin salads to the tapestry fabric? Back the photos with mat board? Cut around them again. Adhere with Velcro? Glue? This is the part where I think that everything should be done with PhotoShop.
Went on to work on another potential piece. Mixed and matched forever. Then all of a sudden, the collage appeared and I think it's OK. So, collages are sitting on the floor assembled and waiting for judgment. It's time to decide just what steps I need to take with each one in order to, tape, glue, sew and otherwise secure it. As I said, this is the part I don't like because I mess up so many times. I am not good at gluing. I can ruin a whole piece very quickly, so I have to think all this through carefully and see what portions of each piece I can take to Art Supply for a dose of their vacuum press.
This new one with the bananas and a portrait of Caroline from long ago is going to take a lot of big stitch sewing and I'll probably use embroidery floss. By the way, it's always a surprise how random images like this shot of Caroline are just right for a piece.
Worked on and another collage appeared and it may be finished. Not totally sure.
So here are all of the pieces, just sitting there on the floor, fermenting or seasoning or whatever. I'll look at them again tomorrow and see what the next steps are. Probably don't need many more. Need to get back to those fabric wall hangings and see how I can mess them up a bit. They are way too tame.
Also finished the first draft of yet another grant application today and will have a friend review it on Monday to see if it's seaworthy. And I'll look forward, yet again to see if I am 'worthy and well qualified,' as my dad used to characterize graduates every year at commencement.
Back to the collages. They all look more than a bit baroque at the moment.
By the way, I am writing on more plates, platters and bowls and was given a light fixture with pieces of foot long rectangles of beveled glass. I've decided to write words on all the glass, bake them and paint the structure. Another baroque piece to add over the table with the patchwork cloth.
Roofer is coming to Irma's on Monday to repair Hurricane Ike damage. Good news. Still need a final bid on the sheet rock panels I want to have installed here and there along the walls of the space. Onward.

What a Good Day

2009-07-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Name the good things. Naming is a good thing. Naming makes it real. So here goes. First, Second Seating got another sponsor today. Sometimes - once in a while - it is so easy (note: it always means an infusion of heavy duty energy on my part, whether easy or hard) to make a case for supporting this exhibition, especially when the person on the other end of the line is responding and understands just how their business can make a contribution to the whole of it. So it was this morning. I heard, "I'll commit to this," and after the phone call, I burst into tears just as I did when the check from Diverse Works came in the mail. That check was the first one given to Seating Seating and I cried a lot that day. I notice that real tears come when I've been working very hard and someone puts a seal of approval on all the efforts. I am astounded when it happens. The tears are about affirmation.
By the way, that bit of aerosol art above is Gonzo247. He picked up his dinner table and four chairs the other day and I suspect they may look rather like this.
Early this afternoon Texas Journey AAA magazine called and they will put a Second Seating listing in their September issue. That's really good news. After that second jolt of 'wonderful', I went to pick up the first parrot pinata from Victor Rodriguez.
It's delicate and more intricate than I anticipated. So, the big really big pinata chandelier he's making next with its five to eight foot wing span will be remarkable . Victor and his brother Manuel and I will meet at Irma's next week so they can ascertain how this big parrot chandelier needs to be for the scale of the space. Think tremendous. And just so you know, there will be a flock following along as if they'd flown in from the back door to Irma's patio. We're doing this all in honor of the feral parrots that live and fly in Houston's East End.
After picking up the parrot, I spent time on the floor with the big calendar mapping out a timeline. Irma and I have two weeks to remove all the stuff from the exhibition space and fix the leaks in the roof. Then, I've have the space cleaned, meaning the floor will be power washed, the walls dusted, all ready for a few dry walls and the electric work.
All of this good stuff after a day which I spent going over projected expenses for the next two months. Numbers make me more than crazy. I have a hard time trusting them. Are they real? Do I have enough?
But today, this day is a good one. That metal building will be transformed. It's all in my head and I wish I could paint a picture so others are able to see what I see.

Post Meltdown - Back in Gear

2009-07-22T04:06:00.000-07:00

Today is better. Last weekend was not good. Meltdown is not fun at all. But yesterday, I began the return to an even keel. Even on four hours of sleep (and that's another story), things got done and I wasn't overcome with a nebulous blob of anxiety. I've been lucky for months. That space called 'in the zone' is a very nice place to be. I am working my way back there.
My yesterday went like this. Went to Pilates and discovered that every part of me ached, surely a symptom of the weekend meltdown.
Then at noon, I met Gonzo247 at my studio on Harrisburg and we got the table and four chairs loaded up and taken to his place where he'll turn them all into aerosol art. Then we drove to the chandelier shop and picked up that big chandelier structure that needs to be covered with yards of stretchy stretched out fabric so he can paint all over that too.
I heard from Jose Solis and he's got his studio in order and will give me dimensions and photos of the coffee can chandelier in a week's time. I am really happy about that. Over the weekend, I made a scale drawing of the exhibition space and laid out the dinner tables and chandeliers. It looks good and I need his chandelier dimensions so I know where to hang what he creates to best advantage.
Manuel Rodriguez and his brother were rushing to finish the first of the parrot pinata chandeliers by Tuesday and they put the crepe paper on too soon and the colors ran. They've had to redo the feather covering.
Still trying to contact Laurie Perez about a photo shoot for the parrot and perhaps the oil pipe lights so I can get stuff to Sherri for the postcard invitation design. I have the wording for the invitation and Diverse Works reviewed it. Sure hope I haven't left someone off the list of funders and supporters. I'll be refining that list until it goes to the printer in early August.
Have not heard from Modelle about her calls to the monthly magazines. I'd love to know if some - any at all - will include a Second Seating calendar listing. We sent packets in early May. That process is always tricky.
Catarina was here in the afternoon making database address corrections and then she counted all the plates I've written on so I know how many plate holders to buy. The number is close to 60. And this doesn't count Jesse's plates or the plates of any other of the artists. It'll be quite a 'plate wall.'
In an hour, I'll be at Irma's meeting with someone from a cleaning company to see what's involved in getting the space ready for installation. Like power washing the floor which may not ever have been washed. Then I meet with Marci at 9:30, again at Irma's, to talk about FaceBook and how Second Seating can take better advantage of its page. Then on to get a hair cut, to stop by the Apple Store and see why my Microsoft Office isn't working as it should, then on to Melissa's to look at expense spreadsheets, then to PetCo to buy a cat carrier. Where ever did my wooden cat carrier vanish? Marisol needs overdue annual shots. After that I need to pick up oyster shells again. This is an every-other-day event.
So, upcoming day is upon us. Time to get dressed and gather my papers and phone and sunglasses and pen.

Three Day Meltdown

2009-07-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've been in meltdown for almost three days now, so I'm making efforts to rid myself of this anxiety that is ramping up and clouding my thinking and my work. Went for long early morning walks both yesterday and today, saw a 5:00 p.m. movie last evening and made an appointment with the friend who is keeping up with Second Seating expenses and income.
Still in fund raising mode and I am making a list of everything for which I could possibly be spending money on to install Second Seating. We will tally the two columns and see exactly where this exhibition is headed.
I do have a pretty good feel for it, but I never trust numbers and tend to return to them again and again to remind myself that things are OK. There is enough. Or there will be enough. Work hard and trust in the universe. That combination has worked very well so far.
As part of my self-therapy today, I went to my website MM Hansen Communicates and watched the video of 'la folie innocente du coeur,' that 2005 Marfa installation. Of course, it's filled with portraits of my daughters and mother and the music is evocative and nostalgic. Both conducive to a good cry. Everything is going to be alright. It helps to see something I've already done.

Text and images for the Second Seating postcard invitation are due midweek so design work can begin, followed by proofing, adding in underwriters that haven't surfaced yet, printing and finally that trip to the bulk mail house. The text for the postcard is long and cumbersome because I want to list not only the underwriters, but the companies that have been generous with in-kind. Will all these names fit on a postcard? In addition, I am working on yet another funding application and am gathering support for doing so.
Tomorrow Gonzo247 picks up the table and chairs I bought late last year and we will pick up the chandelier structure that won't fit in the back of my car. He'll cover all with aerosol art and I've given him paint chips so his table will 'feel' like the show, in addition to being a knockout.
Will also pick up a parrot pinata tomorrow from Victor Rodriguez. A month ago, it came to me that we needed a parrot pinata chandelier for Second Seating because of the growing feral parrot population that flies and roosts in our neighborhoods.
It's almost 3:00 p.m. I need to call Irma and see what she's done about measuring those huge banquettes she's storing in the space. We are putting them on Craig's List. Hope they sell and, more importantly, are removed.
Looking onward to Wednesday. I'll meet with someone I know from a big cleaning company and he'll take a look at the space and tell me how much it will cost to power wash the concrete floor. Maybe he'll become an underwriter? Trust in the universe. Then I'll meet with Marci, a friend who will help me make better use of FaceBook for Second Seating. After that, I'm getting a haircut and then will be see Melissa, the friend who will look at numbers and spread sheets with some degree of calm.
My friend Sally asks me periodically when I'll be making 'the art.' I tell her now to ask me that question.

All Covered Over

2009-07-16T16:50:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, Catarina and I lifted the patchwork tablecloth and the painted drop cloth on to the big table and assessed the situation. Not working. Plus both the patchwork and the drop cloth are both just enormous.
We pinned a deep horizontal pleat and then a vertical pleat the length of the drop cloth so it isn't dragging on the floor and then we took it off the table for total repainting.
I'd brought two more cans of house paint I'd considered for my studio a year ago. Wicked shades of chartreuse. I spent almost two hours painting with both colors. The whole thing needs to dry. Looks a bit flat, but maybe some metallic spray paint will work at some point. I did put the patchwork back in the center of the new greens and it looks a whole lot better. So how many times will this thing be repainted? I'm not counting. Just considering colors and patterns.
Catarina sat at a table with two of the three fans faced in her direction. She worked on my laptop, correcting and adding to the invite database. ace was very hot. We drank a lot of water and stayed focused until 5:00 p.m.
Tomorrow is a mixed day. Won't get to the studio. It's time to make a new TO DO list and lay out my time for the next week. I am cancelling my trip to Chicago and the BlogHer conference. Made reservations in January, but a Thursday through Sunday without work on Second Seating makes no sense. I've been twice and hate to miss it, but my brain and heart are with this exhibition. I sure need those four days to 'move the meter.'

All of a Piece, What's Happening Now

2009-07-16T04:27:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it's good to go back to the start of something, to remember how it was near the beginning. The second post on this blog ties in with the very things I am working on now. It's been slow and steady progress from day one.
Those oysters that my daughter Jeanne and her husband Dan and my grandchildren Kelan and Lauren and my sister and brother-in-law Denny picked up along a stretch of beach in the Pacific Northwest have been grilled and eaten. I boxed up the empty shells and sent them to Houston. Now they sit on a tabletop with dozens of silver plated scallop shells for Seating Seating.
Every day I take a giant Rubbermaid tub to a seafood restaurant and trade it for one full of oyster shells. The smell in my car is awful and the pile of shells by the side of my studio is growing. when those shells have been eaten clean and bleached in this hellish Houston summer sun, they'll surround the table as will these chairs which will be covered in more of my Hurricane Ike flood salvaged fabrics.
It is all of a piece, what's happening now.

Cans of Paint and A Brush or Two

2009-07-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

Spent a really nice day in the Harrisburg studio. Hot? Yes, but the intense heat of an unairconditioned space was tolerable because I had three big fans blowing. And besides, I really got into the work, complete with dirty knees. The floor is something over there. That's not newspaper ink.

A couple of days ago, Catarina and I put the completed patchwork tablecloth back on the floor on top of the giant paint cloth. Ready to be painted. I'd come with cans of left over latex house paint from Trish and my own stash. I love house paint because for me, it brings a sort of freedom. There is so much of it and one color will cover another if you don't like the first or second go around.

I have no idea what the drop cloth will look like when it's 'finished.' And I will know when it is finished, only when it's 'finished'. I've been drawing on those plates and so I thought I'd begin on the drop cloth with similar squiggles and shapes and the rest would develop, once I started 'seeing.'
Started with a light Wedgewood sort of blue and then went around the four sides with two shades of coral, one more brownish than the other.
Lots of circles emerged. I guess because the brush made them so easily. Then I added two greens, but neither is strong enough and so the whole thing is beginning to look like a play on one of those 1950s tablecloths printed with checks and strawberries or maps of states visited on vacation.
If a few viewers make that connection, it may be OK. Perhaps, I'll bring in a poison green, add some black or black and white checks. Or more of that heavy brownish red. I won't know until I get after it again.But I am finding it interesting to paint away, watching something emerge and having no idea where it will lead. I will know when it's finished and it's not there yet.