Behind the Scenes Hanging an Exhibition

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The paintings for the next installment of my national traveling exhibition Unbroken Thread were delivered today to the Hungerford Gallery at the College of Southern Maryland in La Plata, MD. The show was organized originally by the University of Maryland University College in Adelphi, MD, next door to College Park and will be traveling around the country until 2011. Here's the work being spotted for placement on the Gallery's walls. Above is the oil Equinox.



This is Larry Chappelear a faculty member in the College's Art Department who is in charge of the crew that does the actual hanging. Larry is a fine painter himself and started teaching at the College of Southern Maryland in 1973, the same year I began teaching at Maryland Institute College of Art. He is standing in front of the large oil The Song of All Days.




Finally here are two large oils, The Birches of Maine on the left and Ascension on the right. In the center is a page taken from my sketchbook where I did some preliminary working drawings with notes about possible color choices in ball point pen. Eva J. Allen, Ph.D., the art historian who curated the traveling show, saw the working drawings and insisted we include one in the exhibit. At first I was skeptical, but after seeing how much interest viewers have in how I go about refining my ideas before I make the paintings, I see she was right.

It is remarkable how different the work has looked in the three previous venues the show has gone to. At the University of Maryland University College last year my favorite piece was the oil Equinox. At the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore last spring my favorite was The Song of All Days. This last summer at the Cape Cod Museum of Art my eye went first to The Birches of Maine. Can't wait to see what strikes me this time around. I'll post images of the opening reception and the work fully installed later this month.

If anyone is in the area, their is a public reception and artist's talk on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at noon.
It would be great to see you there.


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