I had an interesting experience yesterday. My “main” art organization, Pittsburgh Society of Artists, had a weekend event called ARTday. The idea was to go back to our “hippie” origins in the the 1960’s and the very first show the organization had. It was in the parking lot of a bank on a Saturday, and everyone brought their art, stayed around all day taking to customers, and they sold it all and went home! Luckily we weren’t in a parking lot Sunday as it poured rain.
We organized a sort of “pop-up” event. People brought two pieces of art on Saturday and hung it themselves. We had an opening that night, with balloons out front. Then Sunday afternoon we returned and had organized art demonstrations. There was an enamel artist, a pencil portraitist, a wheel thrower and a “ink tape and magic” artist. One of our musical members played his guitar and sang, and many brought food to share. We all got to get to know each other much better, and members of the public who dropped in felt part of the event. We ended up selling 3-4 pieces (unfortunately we didn’t sell out!).
I didn’t sell my pieces, but felt gratified and inspired by some of the comments I got. This piece in particular, called Pittsburgh: Go With the Flow, attracted comment. I think I’ll make it again, a little different this time. I want to stay with the same idea: Pittsburgh as layers. Below the ground the iron ore and coal that first spurred industry here, the rivers, the houses on the hillside, the hills themselves, and the sky. I’ll go without the border this time.