Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Good-bye Horses...

"Who leaves a whole frozen chicken in a parking lot?!?"
It's a question we'll never have an answer for Jordan...  I picture some crazy old black lady though.  Probably because of the voice you'd use when you'd say it...

I turned 38 in February.  Since then I've been thinking about on of the ships I sail on.  And I've decided to bring one of them to port and call it a day.  As Mike and I take down art from the awesome show "The Crew", and sit here looking at art for the next show coming in I think it's time to write about this here, and prep to shoot and Elmwood short here later tonite...  I'm ending my residency at Paris In Plantsville soon.  When that next show,  "Who Is Jordan Deschene?", opens...


I've been a resident at PiP since September 2010.  At a traditional gallery a residency goes like this:  You go into the gallery and get to make use of studio space, for free, while being there to help with the day to day operations of the space, and build up as body of work over a specific amount of time.  Then have a show there to showcase that work, then move on to whatever is next.  If I was doing this residency by the rules then by all accounts this should have ended in March of 2012 when Elmwood Productions had our tenth anniversary celebrations and exhibit there.  But at PiP we kinda make our own rules.  It's been kinda the punk rock gallery since it started.  Right after the show went up we made changes, and I took over as the General Manager, so I had to stick around, hahaha...
And I loved it.  But being the manager is just a volunteer thing too, so it's time for that to be wrapped up too.  I'm glad I'm going out with a bang too.  "The Crew" show featured in April has been a huge success!

It has been a place to bring in the new, the odd, the different, and experimental all while still having a desire to share the classic, the traditional, the old, the obvious, and the expected.  And as the focus of the gallery changes to more traditional art, and away from the adventures in art I feel it's time to call it a day, and keep my adventures going...  The shows I helped bring in there and be part of have been amazing.  It's been quite an adventure.
And like any adventure at some point it comes to an end.  It's time for me to make room for some one new in that studio space.
I love Paris In Plantsville, and love what it has brought to my life and my art.  Which is why I'm going.  Elmwood Productions is home.  It's my love above all else creatively .  And I need to focus on that.  And the puppets and movies we make.

The screenings Elmwood has done there have been the most attended events in PiP's history, and we hope to do more there.  So you'll be stuck seeing my face there still.  I'm always gonna support PiP.  You'll still see me at events, and when the Gallery Cafe opens I'll probably be there sipping my coffee and sketching away in a sketchbook.

So - Thank you Joe for inviting me to do that first screening there...  Thank you Sean, Jordan, Steve, Andre, Andy, and Joe for inviting me to be a resident...  Thank you to Josh, Christian, and Eric for joining me there as it went on...  Thank you to Mike and Nick for all the help there...  Thank you to Rae, Jackie, Steve, Dana, Missy, and Clinton for the support there...  Thank you to Ari One and Ari Two for keeping me entertained...  And thank you to the Elmwood gang for being part of the adventure at Paris too...


...  and Bill Robinson and Jordan Deschene, 
without Paris In Plantsville I may have never had you two in my crazy life - 
Rest in Peace, I think of you both often...




 




2 comments:

Jody Garland-Finland said...

To know what ones purpose in life is, is difficult enough but to know when to say "when" and follow through with it and leave behind what you have considered home.... to take that proverbially fork in the road is going to be the best part of your journey...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!...Much love and prosperity on your new journey.
Jody Finland~ gifts of a lesser goddess~ Sorry about the last comment...my son in law left his account open and that the one it used.....LMAO!!!

Jon From Elmwood said...

That's awesome... Thanks!
Taking a left at the fork in the road...