Mail call
Howdy!
About once a month (ok, maybe once a week if I'm good) I get around to opening the mail. A significant chunk of it is invitations to vernissages. Now, my general attitude is that vernies are and should be good parties, but they aren't the place to see Art. So for the most part, I'm not disappointed if I open an envelope and discover that the vernie was last week.
I do my best to see all the exhibitions to which I am invited. But, as you can see from the list below, there are a whack of places in this town where you can see art, trying to do all of them, while managing the gallery here, is not like falling out of bed, more like swimming upstream.
That all being said, my preferred means of being invited to a vernie (ie, more than a 50% possibility that I will go) is in person. The second is by mail, with a stamp. And the best way to guarantee that I won't likely show up is by email. You get too much email, I get too much email, if you're really serious about getting me out of here, don't be emailing me, please.
Then the next most important thing is the where and the when. If the vernie is in Ahuntsic, it is extremely unlikely that I will be making it (on the other hand, offering me a lift there, or arranging a carpool would increase those chances exponentially). If it is across the street, then it makes it way easier to go.
And you can't forget the timing, either. Saturday afternoons, while fine for most people with 9 to 5 jobs, are not great for me, I have a gallery to run, a fair number of our citizens wander in through the doors on Saturdays. Doing a 5 a 7, again, seems to work for the 9 to 5 crowd, but normally I don't get out of here until about 8 pm or so. In a nutshell, when thinking about the vernie, think about the type of crowd you want to get (I realize that I don't make a crowd, and in certain cases would even detract from the crowd there) and make sure that you're making it easy for them to be there.
All of this (392 words) as an introduction to the most recent invitation that I have received in the mail. It seems that I have been invited to the Shirley Katz exhibit "Les Demoiselles" at Espace Trois of the Saidye Bronfman Center. The vernissage was on the 10th of February, so it is obvious I'm not going to be there. The invite itself, is fairly standard. It has what I assume is a reproduction of one of the paintings in the exhibit, it has a whole whack of necessary information (hours, hours of the vernissage, address, phone, website, and metro stop) in a clear and easy to read manner. However, it only uses one side of paper (obviously an indication of lack of funding) which to me, means that even more information (such as the title of the piece, medium, size, date, etc.) could have been included. If they had decided to use that blank side for the address, then it would have been acceptable, but they decided to stick it into an envelope! The reason for this, is probably because they wanted to include the press release (I don't know if everybody gets the press release, but I think it is likely). Now, I'm not a big fan of getting press releases, it means that there is more paper that I have to deal with, I end up feeling guilty if I don't read it, and as I write press releases myself, I am very wary of the stuff that is written in them.
Now from previous experience, I like the shows at Espace Trois, it is a haul to get to, but I particularly like the idea that they are supporting an exhibiting local artists. This particular one, only piques my interest, because I recently had an exhibit of portraits, and it seems that Ms. Katz has done something similar. If I make it up there, I'll let you know, ok?
About once a month (ok, maybe once a week if I'm good) I get around to opening the mail. A significant chunk of it is invitations to vernissages. Now, my general attitude is that vernies are and should be good parties, but they aren't the place to see Art. So for the most part, I'm not disappointed if I open an envelope and discover that the vernie was last week.
I do my best to see all the exhibitions to which I am invited. But, as you can see from the list below, there are a whack of places in this town where you can see art, trying to do all of them, while managing the gallery here, is not like falling out of bed, more like swimming upstream.
That all being said, my preferred means of being invited to a vernie (ie, more than a 50% possibility that I will go) is in person. The second is by mail, with a stamp. And the best way to guarantee that I won't likely show up is by email. You get too much email, I get too much email, if you're really serious about getting me out of here, don't be emailing me, please.
Then the next most important thing is the where and the when. If the vernie is in Ahuntsic, it is extremely unlikely that I will be making it (on the other hand, offering me a lift there, or arranging a carpool would increase those chances exponentially). If it is across the street, then it makes it way easier to go.
And you can't forget the timing, either. Saturday afternoons, while fine for most people with 9 to 5 jobs, are not great for me, I have a gallery to run, a fair number of our citizens wander in through the doors on Saturdays. Doing a 5 a 7, again, seems to work for the 9 to 5 crowd, but normally I don't get out of here until about 8 pm or so. In a nutshell, when thinking about the vernie, think about the type of crowd you want to get (I realize that I don't make a crowd, and in certain cases would even detract from the crowd there) and make sure that you're making it easy for them to be there.
All of this (392 words) as an introduction to the most recent invitation that I have received in the mail. It seems that I have been invited to the Shirley Katz exhibit "Les Demoiselles" at Espace Trois of the Saidye Bronfman Center. The vernissage was on the 10th of February, so it is obvious I'm not going to be there. The invite itself, is fairly standard. It has what I assume is a reproduction of one of the paintings in the exhibit, it has a whole whack of necessary information (hours, hours of the vernissage, address, phone, website, and metro stop) in a clear and easy to read manner. However, it only uses one side of paper (obviously an indication of lack of funding) which to me, means that even more information (such as the title of the piece, medium, size, date, etc.) could have been included. If they had decided to use that blank side for the address, then it would have been acceptable, but they decided to stick it into an envelope! The reason for this, is probably because they wanted to include the press release (I don't know if everybody gets the press release, but I think it is likely). Now, I'm not a big fan of getting press releases, it means that there is more paper that I have to deal with, I end up feeling guilty if I don't read it, and as I write press releases myself, I am very wary of the stuff that is written in them.
Now from previous experience, I like the shows at Espace Trois, it is a haul to get to, but I particularly like the idea that they are supporting an exhibiting local artists. This particular one, only piques my interest, because I recently had an exhibit of portraits, and it seems that Ms. Katz has done something similar. If I make it up there, I'll let you know, ok?
posted by Zeke's, the Montreal Art Gallery on 17.2.04
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