Tribe Report April 24, 2006

Martin de Vore

Art is in the Air

Print

Well, it was an active weekend in the art community. Gallery openings, open houses and art crawls were the order of the day for many. Artists were out viewing each other's work, catching up on news and gossip and just having a good time.The weather was good, the public turned out and the art was great. All in all, a nice third week of April!

A Brief Editorial

The events of the past weekend illustrated once again the strengthening of the natural ties between The Heights artists and those of the Inner Corridor. Together, our groups have the potential to wield formidable clout in the critical, financial and exhibition arenas of the Houston art scene. We are already well on our way to forming a "super tribe" that would extend from The Heights to Westheimer. Let's keep supporting each other and working together to ensure that comes to pass. We will all benefit from such an alliance.

Overlord Mitch's Bacchanalian Frenzy

Mitch had a mental lapse this week and scheduled his semi-regular event for a Thursday night instead of its normal Wednesday incarnation. And, this week's gathering was moved to a different location -- the 6th Street Bar & Grill instead of Onion Creek. Did this impact the crowds? Who knows. Did it prevent those of us who attended from having a good time? Not in the least. In fact, it WAS a good time. About 20 tribesters attended throughout the evening. On hand (those who I remembered actually talking to at some point) were Mitch, Carolyn, Amy, John, Carrie, Erica, Chris, Phyllis, Eric and several others who enjoyed priming themselves for the weekend's activities. Maranda, who was supposed to be there, precipitated an exchange of cell phone calls between herself and Mitch when she informed him via cell phone, that she would be 'boycotting" the night's events. The resulting exchange highly entertained Mitch and kept him in a good enough mood to keep our server Victoria constantly busy and his tribe members' glasses full. As I said, a good time was had by all. One point.... Mitch...you ARE the Overlord, of course, but I still vote for Wednesday nights. Just my five quatloos' worth.

Invisible Children at The Studio Gallery

Friday night after work found me doing laundry and thinking about what I would do to celebrate the weekend. I opted to take Marie Weichman up on her invitation to attend a outdoor screening of Invisible Children at The Studio Gallery at 9:30. Presented by The Studio Gallery, Susan Mayoli and Anthony Palasota, the film Invisible Children reveals a gritty, disturbing look at children being forced to choose becoming soldiers in a bloody civil war or dying if they refuse. To learn more about the film, and the efforts to do something about the horrors it portrays, visit the Web site at http://www.invisiblechildren.com/ Beverages for the evening were provided compliments of Pearland Liquor's Teresa Hoang and Michael Vu. The absolutely yummy food was served up by the talented Anthony Palasota. The screening was held outdoors at The Studio Gallery courtyard and a nice crowd was on hand to watch the film. When not tending to the firepit, I was able to visit with tribe members Marie, Max, Mitch, Wayne, Keith, Sam, and Matt.

Saturday Means "Art Day"

Saturday began with a trek to Kingwood, where I had to put in a few hours at work. As soon as I finished, I jumped into my ever-so-reliable Nissan truck and hit the road to The Heights. My first stop was at M2 Gallery on 19th Street to visit Max and Michael since I hadn't been to M2 in awhile. As always, there is some fantastic art on display. I am particularly enthralled by Aimi Dunn's work. Aimi rocks! Right before I left, I was sitting outside on the bench in front of M2 and Xsemaj from Gallery 19 stopped by to show Max and I four pieces that he was about to have made into giclee prints. Some more nice work from Xsemaj!

From M2, I proceeded to Winter Street to begin the tour of Inner Corridor art locations. It was as far as I got. I spent the rest of the day at Winter Street until it closed at 8 p.m. First, I made my way to the studio of John Mercado, Richard Varela, Jerrie Glidden and Randolph Lisle. John was at a show in San Antonio but Jerrie did show me one of John's "one-of-a-kind" pastels that he is so well known for in our immediate tribe. John, I think it was your best pastel yet! Richard has some very nice pastel landscapes on view that I was partial to, as did Jerrie and Randolph. Jerrie's bird pastels are something to see as well. While indulging my growing appetite with pizza and Coke so generously provided by my fellow tribe members, I had an interesting discussion with Jerrie and Richard on the glass versus plexiglass issue for shipping pastels to competitions. I also had a nice chat with Randolph about Girault pastels and the effects and anomalies of utilizing different brands of pastel on the same work.

Next up was a visit to the lair of Solomon Kane and Amy Ferrari. I can't think of a studio that can perk you up so quickly. All of those dazzling colors just make you feel better as soon as you start looking around the studio. I had a nice long visit with Solomon (Jeff) and watched Amy turn fishing lures into earrings. While immersing myself in that world of color, Mike and Norma dropped in to check out the Kane-Ferrari tabernacle as did Ocean Pleasant. Ocean was most recently Fox Morning News Artist of the Week and her art will be featured in an upcoming show, "Inspiration," at Sippora Gallery on May 13 along with art from Carolyn Coates-Cohen, Maranda Pleasant, Dan Price, and Jim Leen.

Then, I headed upstairs to go visit Van McFarland. On the way, I encountered the aforementioned Maranda Pleasant, my Valkyriesque roomate, and her entourage. After exchanging a quick hello, I located Van and enjoyed a visit to his studio where he shared some of his production techniques and we discussed upcoming shows and the marketing of works of different canvas sizes.

After my discussion with Van, I wandered around some more and soon came to Alex Wilhite's studio. Alex had some really nice cloudscapes on view and gave me a look at his custom color and blending medium preparation. That was too cool. Thanks Alex!

As I was moving toward another studio, I ran into Post-Diversionist artist Michael-Ann Belin and Mitch Cohen, Overlord of the Tribes. We formed a pod and went back for a second visit to Jerrie, Randolph, Richard and John's studio. They were also amazed by John Mercado's unbelievable pastel. I'll say it again, "Wow!"

Eventually, our visit to Winter Street drew to a close. But that was not the end of our day. Michael-Ann, Mitch and I then headed to Berryhill on 11th Street in The Heights to consume sustenance before continuing our artistic odyssey of the evening. Following our repast, our next target was 19th Street.

Upon arrival at our tribal homeland, we proceeded to Earth Gallery to see Phillip and Mandy and to view the work of Shelley Shanks, Robert Dampier and Annie Peng. While there, we also encountered Gallery 19's David Weaver and Heidi Powell-Prera. It was a very nice show indeed. Robert's assemblage pieces were great, Shelley's art was visually captivating and Annie's water sculptures were elegant and soothing. Annie also had some paintings on view which were quite nice.

We closed out Saturday at M2, where a private party was going on. Basically, we crashed it. We didn't know it was a private party until we were already in it. The guest of honor was legendary Inkspots guitarist Huey Long who will be 102 in a few days. M2 Gallery will be having another party to celebrate Huey's phenomenal life on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The public is invited and there are rumors that the famous M2 punch will be on hand in abundance.

Question and Answer Time

1. Where have you been lately? Dealing with life.
2. Have you done any new artwork yourself? Wait and see.
3. What's it like living with Maranda? Self interest dictates a tactful reply.
4. Who is your favorite artist in our tribes? Too many to name.
5. What is your favorite gallery? Whichever one I am in at the time.
6. How have you lost so much weight? By not eating.
7. Why do you call Mitch Cohen...Overlord Mitch? Because he told me he will have me executed if I don't.
8. Why didn't you answer my e-mail? Either I didn't want to or you sent it to an address that is no longer valid.
9. Will the Tribe Report become a weekly event again? That's the plan.

On My Agenda

I admit I have been somewhat scarce the last two months and there are quite a few of you I have missed seeing. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I can catch up with: Lacey, Alexis, Christian, Maia, Nathaniel, Celeste, Dune, Laura, Sandy, Elaine, Aimi, Eric, Gus, Michelle, Masoud, Duke, Sergio, Lillibeth, Julie, Susan, Simone, Terrence, Mary, Jill, Charity, Tim, Sunjay and Thermy. And, of course, anyone else I just forgot!

Coda

Remember, I am not Miss Cleo so if you have a show or event coming up that you want me to mention you have to send it to me at my NEW e-mail address that I currently check from work or the library or friends' houses. So, e-mail me at: mldevore@gmail.com

That's it for now.

Until then, keep creating art, viewing art, buying art and supporting your fellow artists of all tribes.

Martin L. de Vore is an artist and journalist now living in Houston. Mr. de Vore is a member of the Artists At Large and Post-Diversionist tribes and is learning once again that there can be no light without darkness, no love without hate, no joy without pain, and no life without risk.

The Tribe Report Archives