2nd Saturday Brookings Art Walk of 11 Feb 2006

When I arrived at the Manley Art Center a few minutes before 4 P.M., the members of the Pelican Bay Art Association were still busy preparing the hors d'oeuvres in the education gallery. In the main gallery, at 4 P.M. sharp, the Carl Rovainen Trio started the music. To my surprise artist Christina Olsen and philosopher Bill Hiltz had been drafted as guest vocalist. Not bad, although some improvement is possible with a few more rehearsals. The impressionistic landscapes of oil painter Jim McCarten were awesome. Too bad that none of the photos I took turned out. I had to leave before Jim showed up, because I didn't want to be late for the Limerick battle at CLOURS, which was supposed to start at 4:33.

It started at 4:45 - the Limericists are getting sloppy. Targets this time were the artists of COLOURS, their paintings and sculptures, and some of the art walkers. Elmo Williams showed up to read his poetry despite the fact that he just had an eye operation. With his dark glasses he looked like a mafioso.

Sculptress Nancy Tuttle won the battle with her resignation Limerick "so don't have a fit when I tell you I quit, 'cause if I don't carve, I will surely starve." There was some dancing to the music of the Wild River Ramblers, but only four dancers were on the floor at the high point. Brookings isn't quite ready for dancing at the Art Walk. But don't give up, ladies. The time will come.

At Words and Pictures the featured artists, Thomas Nicholas, had already started his story of how he wound up being a computer artist. He fielded technical questions from the audience and was full of praise for Joe Tonini, the printer who does his giclee work. It appears to me that the art walkers so far have responded positively to "artist talks." So I expect there will be more "artist talks" in the future. I missed the poetry reading, because I had keyboard duty at the library starting at 5:30.

Jerry Moffit was just packing up his keyboard to go to his paid gig, when I arrived. I was happy to see my new neighbor Gary with his fluegel horn already waiting for me. We had never played together before, but we had a ball and did quite alright. The audience applauded several times. They hardly ever applaud when I play alone, so it must be Gary that made the difference. At 6 sharp, just as the program said, Hayley Farr and Friends from the Pelican Players presented a 15 minute skit from their upcoming play "the Nerd." It was hilarious. When I left at 7 P.M., Frank Gustafson, one of the artists demonstrators, was still working on his oil painting. What a dedicated pro he is.

Horst

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