Easter Art Show

In this part of Sweden, artists open their homes or galleries to the public every Easter, and people drive around and look at art. When we first moved here, we spent a phenomenal amount of time creating a gallery specifically for this occasion in one of our barns. This building was originally a machine hall, but in later years it was used for ducks, doves, and horses. By the time we got it, all but one of the windows was broken and boarded up, and the interior was filled with years worth of mostly horse shit. We tore down the horse boxes, used shovels to scrape shit off the walls and floors, pressure washed the walls and floors, and whitewashed or painted the walls white. It took an average of 7 coats, more where it had been painted black or brown. We redid the electrics (bare copper wire wasn't our thing) and installed halogen track lighting. Eventually the place looked really good.

The first year, I think it was 2000, I shared the gallery with a good friend from Holland who did mostly sculpture with natural materials. I showed mostly local nature photos and some greeting cards where I'd glued on a photo. We hardly sold anything, but it looked really good, and we enjoyed a lot of positive feedback from the few people who found their way to us.

The next year, my friend was pregnant, so I used my only contact in the art industry who paired me up with a couple of "real" artists from Malmö who were looking for a place to show their stuff. One did brightly colored abstract oil paintings, the other did small sculptures of torsos. They were both complete jerks who resented being exiled to the middle of nowhere. The best thing about these shows for me is talking to the guests. They made a point of ignoring people to the extent that they didn't even say hi. I was also so far beneath them that I wasn't worth speaking too. Needless to say, I didn't have much fun that year, and I didn't sell much either.

The following years, I was pregnant and then busy with a small child, then in California at this time of year. In 2007 I started doing the Easter shows again. I shared the gallery with a photographer who was at least really good company. I showed pictures with a desert theme, the naked landscape. The year after that, he was busy having just started his own framing business, so I shared with my friend from Holland again. Instead of art, she moved in stuff from her new interior decorating shop. I showed pictures with a local theme. The gallery looked fantastic, but we had this major snow storm, so pretty much nobody came.

This year I'm sharing the gallery with a photographer who specializes in a couple of techniques from the very early days of photography, and makes one-of-a-kind very arty pieces. I'm showing more modern stuff, often in collage form, printed on canvas for very dramatic effect and saturated colors. Some of the pictures are from Hong Kong and Guilin, others from Montreal. Yesterday the weather was fantastic, and it's predicted to be sunny for the entire long weekend. We had over 50 guests, many of whom are people that I know, which made it extra nice. Unfortunately, they didn't buy much, just a few cards and a few of my daughter's creations with melted plastic beads. We've got three more days of this, so I hope we continue to have a lot of visitors, and that they're in the art buying mood.