Farrington Smith Gallery

This weekend, we’ll be participating in the Marigny & Bywater Open Studios…stop by and visit us!

We’ll also be at the Bywater Art Market on Saturday. Yeah, we can do all this because there’s three of us over here at Farrington Smith Gallery! Looks like there will be live music this month in addition to a huge number of vendors…please support local artists!

Finally, our Photo Show is still up…you can come see the fabulous photography by Louviere + Vanessa, Jennifer Shaw and Jean Laughton. Check out the review D. Eric Bookhardt wrote about the show in the Gambit last week. It was great to participate in Photo Nola’s month of photography…thanks to all of those involved for including us!

-Amy

Hope you can join us for our opening reception this Friday, December 8th from 6 p.m. ’til 9 p.m.

- Amy

December is a month of photography in New Orleans. Lots of places will be participating, including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Contemporary Arts Center and us! A schedule can be seen here.

We are lucky to be showing work by Louviere + Vanessa, Jennifer Shaw and Jean Laughton. All have beautiful websites, so instead of posting a lot now about each, I encourage you to visit their spaces. Later, I’ll try to make individual posts for all three.

The opening reception will be here on Friday, December 8 from 6 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Our event mistakenly got listed in the Gambit as happening this Friday, so we will be here during those hours just in case, but the official opening isn’t until next week, so that is the best day to come by! Hope to see you then!

- Amy

The origin of these enigmatic and functional objects exists somewhere between Sculpture and Design in a realm I like to refer to as post-industrial primitive.

As Sculpture, my Art conveys the intensity of personal expression by synthesizing the history of Found Objects, the familiarity of Common Materials, and the directness of Assemblage…yet by acknowledging the intuitive and formal qualities of Furniture, my work gains meaning within the context of an individual’s physical interaction with it Day In and Day Out.

-Abe

1. …wishfulthinking…; Abe Geasland; mixed media and found objects

2. Electrolyte #43 (MALcontent); Abe Geasland; mixed media and found objects

3. …handshakedrugs…; Abe Geasland; mixed media and found objects

We are so pleased with how the night went. We want to thank everyone who came out…but especially the Wah Wah Ponies for their great live music, Madeleine for taking pictures of the event, and Noel and Gina Wright for letting us show the commisioned piece that Adam had just completed and brought over to their house only a few weeks ago. Also, of course, all the artists who participated!

Here are some folks in front of Gina Phillip’s drawings and Skylar Fein’s Presidential Silhouettes. If you missed the reception, don’t forget we’re open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. ’til 5 p.m.

-Amy

ETA: How could I forget Skylar for designing the postcard for the event? Thank you!

We got a lot of positive responses to our group show during the Marigny Bywater Open Studios, so we’re extra excited about the artists’ reception this Saturday night.

Try to join us for art, wine, and even a little live music!

-Amy

We’ve refined the plan for our first group show.

Adam will be participating in the Marigny Bywater Open Studios event on Oct. 7th and 8th, so you will be able to preview the show and check out his studio on those days between noon and 5:00 p.m.

Adam is fond of modifing his own tools and using found parts.

This does something…and I think he found it.

I know he put this together…but really, he’s the one around here who knows all this, so you should come by and find out from him what all this stuff does and where it came from. I’ve only had one welding lesson, so what do I know about it? Come to the Open Studio.

And then on Saturday Oct. 14th from 6-9 p.m., you’re invited to the artists reception for our All Star Group Show. There will be drink and probably food…I’ve even heard that Gina Phillips will play her guitar out back in our tiny yard. And art! There will definately be lots of art.

I’ll be sending an email about it to those of you on our mailing list, and making a more official post soon. If you want to be on our mailing list, email us at farringtonsmithgallery@gmail.com.

-Amy

I suppose he’s our mascot.

Here he is in front of the desk that Adam and Scott made. So, Bywater Art Market was fun…we’ll do it again before the holidays, but not sure when. I’ll definately post sooner about it the next time we participate.

We may host the next New Orleans Geek Dinner, wherein bloggers and other computer-types mingle and pot-luck-it…I need to contact Alan G. to see what’s up with that. I’ve been a little shy, honestly, about mixing with other local bloggers because ours is about art and theirs tend to be more current-events oriented, but I’m gonna go ahead and jump in.

Adam has some pieces including Steamboat Sally and On The Delta in a group show opening in Brooklyn soon. It’s called Surge: New Orleans On High Ground, and is at the Brooklyn Lyceum in cooperation with New Orleans’ 3 Ring Circus Productions. Hope people up there enjoy getting a little NOLA flava.

Lastly, Adam is curating a group show to open in conjunction with Art for Art’s Sake on October 7. Our festivities will be during the day, when Adam also participates in the Marigny and Bywater Open Studio event. It just so happens that our mammas will be visiting together then, as well, so it’ll be a very busy and fun weekend for us! More information about the first Farrington Smith Gallery group show to come!

-Amy

It’s pretty late on Friday, but I wanted to post that Adam will be at the art market tomorrow! It’s the first time he’s ever done it, so we’re excited.

He’ll be bringing some smaller paintings and sculptures, plus these prints he makes…he cuts an animal or symbol out of metal, then prints it on a handpainted background on wood. Sometimes he uses the metal piece more like a stencil, and usually he adds glitter. I, personally, am a total sucker for anything sparkly, so I have a red glitter chicken on a pink background hung on our kitchen wall.

Each print is unique, but here’s a couple so you can get an idea of what they’re like:

These look great in multiples hung next to each other. It’s fun to see which ones people pick out…I suppose that’s true for all art.

Hope to see you at the Bywater Art Market. The gallery will still be open from 10-5, so stop by here as well if you’re in the ‘hood!

-Amy

I usually keep our entries connected to art, even if that approach leaves me without much to write during the times I’m consumed by current events in New Orleans.

Today I’m going to veer from that policy, but I promise it won’t be a habit.

You may or may not know that I’m a labor and delivery nurse and that I worked at Memorial Medical Center during the hurricane. It was horrible beyond words to be at the hospital, and it was more horrible when I was evacuated and dumped at the Convention Center. Luckily, I left on foot with a group relative strangers and was picked up by a group of complete strangers and taken to safety.

It should come as no surprise that I have been heartbroken and angered by Louisiana’s Attorney General Charles Foti’s actions leading to the arrests of Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry. It made me glad that a friend emailed me this message from the Louisiana State Nurses Association:

“Following the allegations which have been made against two New Orleans nurses, Cheri Landry and Lori Budo and physician Anna Pou, the Board of Directors of the Louisiana State Nurses Association wishes to express the Association’s concern and support for these dedicated health care professionals.

They chose to remain in New Orleans and care for their patients under extreme circumstances following Hurricane Katrina. It is incomprehensible for those who were not there and did not experience the horrendous and extraordinary conditions, to understand what those heroic healthcare providers endured. The lack of electricity, food, water, sanitation and oppressive heat and humidity created an atrocious environment in which to provide care for their extremely sick and frail patients. Cheri Landry, Lori Budo and Anna Pou are true heros and deserve our support, respect and thanks for a job well done under catastrophic conditions never before faced in the city of New Orleans, state of Louisiana, or our nation.”

While doctors have insurance, most nurses do not. I imagine that on top of their awful experience during the hurricane and after, as well as the current ordeal playing out in the public spotlight, my collegues Lori and Anna are struggling to put together funds to finance their legal defense.

A fund for this cause has been established for them, and if you have been saddened or outraged as I have, please contribute if you can. I don’t know either of them personally, I just think it’s a worthy cause.

You can go to any Chase Bank and make a deposit for the “Memorial Nurses Support Fund” or if you know me, or stop by the gallery, I will be happy to pool contributions and deposit them.

-Amy

Tomorrow- and every Saturday from now on- we will be open from 10-5.

I don’t think we’ll have our new street numbers up by the morning, but it’s 2514 St. Claude Ave. and easy to find. Here’s what you’re looking for:

Note Scott’s dog Rufus looking longingly out the door at us! Aww.

The gallery is just before you hit Franklin St. Ave. We hope to see ya tomorrow or soon. Oh, and if you can’t come on a Saturday, give us a call to make an appointment.

-Amy

Well, the Dirt Drive has ended.

The Dirt Drive was Adam’s conceptual art project that called for donations of dirt from all over the country to be sent here and symbolically added to our levees to bolster them. He started this project soon after we returned to New Orleans in October, and I gotta say candidly that I’m a little sad it’s over.

I think the Dirt Drive is still very timely and relevant: our levees aren’t up to par, it’s hurricane season, information about the Corps of Engineers continues to be brought to light, etc. But I understand that Adam feels done with it; that’s how it goes sometimes. And there is more pressing work to be done getting our gallery ready…although it’s looking very fine and taking shape beyond what I imagined.

So, here’s a picture from the site of Adam sprinkling dirt on the levees:

It’s in the final post which you can find in the “reviews and pictures” section of the Dirt Drive site.

So long, Dirt Drive.

-Amy

PS If you have a comment about the Dirt Drive, we’d love it if you posted it here!

Friday was the Mayor’s Arts Awards Luncheon with the Arts Council of New Orleans, and Adam was asked to do the centerpieces this year. This is one of his steel vases, but they have variations of shape and colors of glitter.

His artist’s statement about them reads: “Rust is just a crustier form of glitter, which I think is evident in this series of vases. It is metaphoric of New Orleans as a whole, with its showy duality and swampy utopianism.”

I think it was neat he was asked to do this project this year in particular; every annual thing these days is not just another event, but the first since the flooding. It all feels at least somewhat monumental; every continuing tradition is a statement about the resiliency and the strength of this city’s culture and people.

We had fun talking to children’s book author/illustrator and TV/movie producer William Joyce before the ceremonies. He has a sad but funny story about his hurricane and Mardi Gras-themed New Yorker cover drawing getting bumped after Dick Cheney shot his friend…here’s a link that tells that story in more detail. Now he’s going to sell prints of the cover-that-wasn’t, and the profits will benefit Louisiana artists and arts organizations. The email address to inquire about buying a print is katrinarita@nadersgallery.com.

So that is all very cool, but we really liked Mr. Joyce because he’s into odd antique toys and kinetics and things like that.

Overall, we’re both glad to have participated in this event. Adam donated 100% of the centerpiece sales to the Arts Council, and we got to get to know some of the staff as well as some interesting guests. Can’t argue with that, although we do wish the mayor had showed up.

-Amy

ETA: The link wasn’t working, but should be fixed now.

Over the weekend at a bookstore, I picked up the June 2006 issue of Sculpture magazine. Flipping through it, I was excited to see an artwork that I had loved when I saw it in person way back in 1991 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

It’s called Deep Station, and it is scaled-down elements of a subway station. You can walk all around it, and every stairway or track goes off somewhere out of sight. There are sounds of the subway playing. As a Midwestern girl who had an infatuation with New York City before I even visited the place, it held an automatic fascination for me. It also had a magical quality, sort of like a dollhouse or a train set, but more giant! An odd medium size. There was a not-sad loneliness that drew me in. I was mesmerized and never forgot it.

And then while Adam is looking through the magazine, he says, “Hey, one of my favorite instructors from college has a giant article in here!”

I tell him why I bought it, and it turns out his instructor is the artist who made Deep Station. Her name is Donna Dennis, and this is a link to her website, where you can see that and other works.

New Orleans is a like small town, so I’m used to discovering all kinds of links among the people I know. But it was strange to find this thread between my husband and me, this little connection over ten years before we met. He was studying art in his home state of New York back in 1991. I was a Missourian close to college graduation, visiting a friend’s family in Indianapolis and going to the museum.

I love that this little connection between our pasts is a great work of art.

-Amy

Adam and I both love the bits of history you find in and on buildings when you’re lucky. I never noticed this baseball guy on our door frame until it was time to change things.

I’m sorry for the poor photo quality, but he’s gone now and I can’t retake it. Adam and Scott are downstairs painting and installing different doors as I type, and the gallery should be reopened in our new location within a few weeks.

I’m sad to see the baseball man go, but isn’t a fresh coat of paint just like a miracle sometimes?

-Amy

It seems as if Adam is finding kittens here, there, and everywhere these days.

About 3 months ago, he was exploring an abandoned, flooded house. Not the typical kind that’s got broken windows, peeling paint, and a messed up roof that you see all over the place here in New Orleans, but one of those special ones that just looks like a mound covered in vines. I think these occur mainly in rural areas of the South, but this city has more than a few.

So he heard a mewing coming from inside the wall, one thing led to another, and he ended up carrying this black fuzz ball of a kitten home to me in the breast pocket of his shirt. I bottle fed the kitten for a few weeks, and now he’s a bona fide member of our family along with my other three cats.

His name is Wally- get it? He’s the black one on the right.

The one on the left is another find of Adam’s.

A couple weeks ago, on the last Saturday we had the gallery open on Royal Street, Adam found a mixed breed Siamese kitten on the sidewalk of the French Quarter. We were definitely at our limit cat-wise, but with the SPCA and other rescue organizations so depleted of resources around here, I decided to take responsibility for finding this no-name kitten a home.

I asked around to all our friends and sent out a mass email to all our local contacts, but no one wanted to adopt. Luckily, once the ad I placed in The Times-Picayune was published, I was inundated with calls. And luckily again, the first woman to come look at the kitten was a true cat lover. She and her family lost their house and all their belongings in the hurricane, as well as her 16-year-old cat, which was boarded in a facility that flooded.

So little no-name kitty went with her, and we got to make a small contribution to this family’s rebuilding. It feels good.

-Amy