June is here. Where did May go? Whooosh! Another month flew by. Full of fun and interesting things to do, places to go, people to see.
The last Thursday in May is Senior Awareness Day in this county. It is celebrated each year with an annual event at Micke Grove park between Stockton and Lodi. It's a lovely old grove of Oak trees with a zoo, an historical museum grounds with many buildings and farm equipments, a Japanese Garden, a playground, and lots of lawns and picnic tables. It is an awesome place.
This year, I got a call from the woman who puts it on, and it seems that there were not a lot of artists represented there, and she asked if I would be able to participate. With nearly perfect weather this year, it seemed like a good place to be, so I said yes and then had to decide what art to take. And who could I get to help with the logistics, carrying , setting up, watching my stuff while I was looking around at other people's art. Trevor!!!! My grandson was laid off recently from his security job, so he was available and always happy to help me out. He was the answer to my prayers that day. This is an event that starts early. Why do they think older people are up with the birds? I like things that start at 10, but this one starts at 8 in the morning, which means set up starts at 7. That's pretty early for me, and even earlier for Trevor who is a night owl. But we managed by loading the car the day ahead, and only had to get ourselves together the next morning. Trevor unloaded the car at the art show section and I moved the car to the assigned parking lot. A shuttle car picked me up and my friend Jean who was in the parking lot too, and took us back to art show. There we set up our things, hung our works, and set up our tables. There were many empty spaces for more art. We could have hung twice as many paintings. The three dimensional art works took up only two tables, and things were spread out pretty far.
The day was perfect. I got to spend it with good art friends and we were all close enough to visit most of the day. Trevor fit right in, he likes people and can converse with most anyone. The streets were full of booths and tables with freebies and lots of information for seniors. There was a little parade, horses, decorated carts, a small band. And on stage there was a good band and a fantastic Patsy Cline type vocalist. We could smell the BBQ, and just relax and visit with old friends and make some new ones. A couple of people came by that I met the first year I showed there, who have remained in touch over the years.
There were three judges of the art this year. It was pretty obvious who they were, once they had their clipboards and started looking at everything and making notes. When I first started showing my work, this would make me pretty nervous, but after doing it more often, I am more confident and it does not bother me a bit. I am more amused by the process than intimidated.
One judge returned a couple times and sat and looked at every little detail of my cloth book entered as a three dimensional piece. I also took Alice Meets the Internet and set it on a corner so both sides could be viewed. It got a lot of attention and comments. Several people took pictures of it on their Iphones. I also entered the collage piece that was used for the Spring art Show, and the torn paper face I did a few months ago.
Finally the winners were announced. I took First Place in 3 dimension with the Alice piece, an honorable mention for the Fabric Book, and a Third Place for the torn paper face. Some of my friends got ribbons as well, and we are all happy for each other. One of Jean's students (a 90 ear old) got a ribbon for her watercolor. This is her first and she was so pleased, and Jean was so proud of her. Her picture is shown here.
At the end of the short day there (It's all over at 1 o'clock) we reverse the process and take things down and get the car and load it up again. Trevor was my lifesaver. He not only helped me, but some of the others as well.
I'll post pics soon.
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