Thursday, November 25, 2010

New Works: at the Herb Young Community Center

Herbert C. Young Community Center
101 Wilkenson Ave.  Cary, NC

NOVEMBER 23 - JANUARY 24

Exhibition hours
Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday 1 - 6 p.m.


Let's talk about goals for a minute. I make short term and long term goals for my creative/business life each year. They are part of my business plan and keep me focused on spending my limited studio time wisely. In case you are thinking I'm a super-organized amazing person - I don't ever make personal goals farther out than a day or two because I never meet them and it's depressing. Instead I say "today I will go to the gym. (or not yell at my children.)" and that seems to work.

So I keep it simple. This year I wanted to: 
1-turn my blog into something worth reading and find some readers. (Hello all you lovely readers!) 
2-have a solo show with work that looks cohesive.


I think I made both goals. Hooray! I have learned, however, that one must be pretty specific about goals. I did not say "I want a solo show in a nice gallery." I am very happy with the community center and the show will be up during at least two very heavily attended town events. But - the town has other much nicer venues. They have concerts or events here every once in a while but mostly basketball games and exercise classes. The thing I am very happy about is that now I have a larger body of work that is fairly cohesive and can be used to apply to future shows.




The main lobby is crowned by a large and lovely glass pyramid, letting natural light flood the whole area. For a community center, it's quite a lovely space. I'm pretty sure they'll have a big Christmas tree in the center of the room during most of December. It was fun to challenge myself to work within a holiday palette - without creating holiday themed works.



The back hall does not have a gallery hanging system. They have three hanging hooks on each side and are adamant about not putting any more nails in the wall so it often looks a little odd. I had intended to put two big quilts in the hallway, one on each side. They hung down far too low though so my flying ladies line the hallway. The town's art director really likes Malachi's promise so I hung that in the spot they were going to reside in. 



The artists reception for the show is Saturday, December 4th from 3-5pm. There are a number of big events in the building that morning so I think I'll go mingle and meet people for a while then. I'll bring hand work during the actual reception hours to keep me busy as I have the feeling the place will clear out a bit. Stop by and say hello any time!

16 comments:

Raylee said...

congratulations!

Sandy said...

You are an amazing woman. I don't know how you get it all done. Congratulations on the show. I love the quilts.

Jane LaFazio said...

big giant huge congratulations! well done!!! hey, is that the family ties grouping? can we have a closer shot, please???
xoxo

Lyric said...

http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com/2010/11/family-ties.html

Is this good enough? I'll have to wait until Monday to get a better installation shot of Family Ties as it's hung right now.

It feels soooooo good to have it up.
Have a lovely weekend!

Anonymous said...

The show and all your quilts look great, and it seems like a very nice location for the show. I love to be able to sit and just take-in the whole feeling- and the chairs look very comfy.
I have to admit that when I first saw the first few family ties quilts I didn't get it, but once I saw the collection building I understood! And I love them all now.
Congratulations on the show...

HollyM said...

You may have kept it simple but it sure looks like quite an achievement to me. The center looks quite lovely with your work mounted.

Madelyn said...

I didn't get a chance to tell you that my in-laws loved your show and said you were amazingly talented. I especially loved the Autumn Leaves. You are amazing!

Catherine Parkinson said...

It looks wonderful Lyric. well done on reaching those goals.

Susan Schrott said...

Lyric
Your solo exhibition looks exquisite. I hope you are very proud of this exhibition AND the venue. Community centers attract large numbers of people and how wonderful that you are bring YOUR ART into the lives of so many who will now have the opportunity to see fiber art perhaps for the very first time. You did a beautiful and professional job hanging your exhibition and your artwork looks gorgeous.

Susie Monday said...

I love your goals structure! And the pieces in the ehbit are striking -- really love the big leaf grid piece.

Frieda Anderson said...

I of course love the leaf series. They look fabulous all hanging together. Nice job.

Wen said...

This looks like a terrific show- lots of sizes to choose from and lovely lay out. Much success!

Cassie Shella said...

Congratulations! Your post was inspiring - it's nice to see someone else has goals as simple as "not yelling at the kids":) Your work looks gorgeous - if I were in the area I would come and see it. Have a Blessed week and a great reception.

Leslie Tucker Jenison said...

The work looks great! Congratulations, Lyric!

Anonymous said...

I love the quilts. Especially the fall leaves quilts. I like a series of quilts in the same vein (no pun intended), and I want to try to incorporate that into my own work. I'm glad you got this opportunity to hang so many of your quilts.
Annie

colorific said...

Congrats! Wish i were there to see it.