Tommie's show went really well. She made a lot of sales and was pleased to have much less to carry home than she arrived with. I renewed my acquaintance with a couple of local artists and had a funny experience. One of them told me twice which of the participating artists was the one who had organized the show. I couldn't figure out any reason that she would tell me this (twice) except that she was asking me to thank the organizer so I did. The organizer seemed surprised when I thanked her (it's probably a thankless job). When I told Terry this, he said that he thought she was probably pointing out the organizer because she thought maybe I would like to sell woven things at a booth next year. O! that's why! I completely misunderstood that one!
The show was pretty crowded and in the back room of the greenhouse. They have a winter farmer's market on alternate weekends there which I thought was a tremendously good use of the space and a nice thing to do for the community. There were several jewelers, a weaver (her stuff was really nice), a potter, a knitter, a painter, a felter, a milliner, two furniture makers, a maker of these really fun garden sculptures, and several others. And, the star, of course, Tommie. There was also food, but you had to pay for it. The crowd was very different from the crowd at Mobilia and several zeroes were missing from the prices. At the Mobilia opening, Terry and I could only identify one for sure customer, but at this event, lots of people (including me) were buying. It is interesting to think about how the show would have been different today if there had been a tray or two of delicious tiny cold pizza slices and maybe free cider and a "we're friends of the artist" vibe at the beginning (I'm imagining it opening with an opening type even). I don't know if it would have made more or less money, but the greasy fingers would have been a problem. I wonder if the "friends" vibe at the beginning would make the people who weren't friends feel less welcome or less happy to be there (if they didn't like the friends). Interesting to think about.
After the show, I had lunch at Loco Coco's Tacos with Terry. I had the grilled shrimp lime salad. I think I could eat only that for the rest of my life, happily. Wow, it was good! Then I went to Portsmouth and for fun went into N.W.Barrett Gallery. After having recently been in Mobilia, it was interesting to see that they had jewelry with similar themes, but way scaled down. Whereas at Mobilia, they would have a ring that looked sort of like a geode that was huge, say 2 inches by 1 inch for the jewel, at Barrett, they would have a ring that was reminiscent of a geode, but in a smaller, more practical size. It is interesting to see the fashion themes (?) motifs (?) handed down and re-interpretted in various scales and with varying numbers of zeroes. If I were in Berkeley, I would walk down Telegraph Ave next and expect to see the whole thing re-interpretted at yet another price point. The other interesting thing was that not a single salesperson at Barrett said "boo!" (or "hello") to me. They were right that I was not in the mood right then to buy anything, but are they that good that they can tell? I guess so. I heard them chatting with other people in the store so it wasn't that they were completely non-communicative. After that I *did* buy some Christmas presents at other stores for people who read the blog so no more details!
The rest of the day was spent weaving and generally hanging out. We took care of Kita today who is Tommie's wheaten terrier. It is incredible how much personality terriers can pack into thirty pounds.
Hey, I've started reading a book Tommie bought me called "Unaccountable" which is about how, well, unaccountable health care systems are. The guy who wrote it says that at every talk he gives he asks doctors to raise their hands if they know a doctor who is such a menace that he or she shouldn't be practicing. I am either very naive, clueless or lucky because while certainly there are doctors who are better at thing X or Y and there are doctors that I steer my patients away from, there are no doctors I can think of who I would describe as "a menace." Anyway, he says that every hand in the room always goes up. I wonder if he is exaggerating or if there is peer pressure to raise your hand if everyone else is or if I am just naive, clueless or lucky. Thoughts?
For me, I will wish for good doctor skills and to never be a menace. For you, proficiency at what you love is a good wish, too.
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