Last night, over seventy of us got together to share work and party against a stunning backdrop of neon art by Wayne and Evan. In fact, Evan deserves a special mention as the beautiful piece he displayed was his first work in neon. (Frankly, it never fails to amaze me how talented you folks are!). Anyway, because nine of our twelve slots last night were filled by writers, Wayne wore his extraordinary "writer's disguise," which Richard caught on camera (see left). A dark beret, a pair of shades and a special sideways stare. That's how every writer should look. Naturally.
Here are just a few images from last night's performances/displays: a hoop of red neon, a bogey like an oyster, an extraordinary tongue, a riot of poppies, a mystical thread, a Jesus lookalike, and beans planted beneath a full moon. We had the pleasure of music too: the haunting beauty of Francesca de Vries, and Elaine's vibrant opera. Also, Jerry, our fab comedian, brought the news that this economy is now so bad that the Obama administration have changed their slogan to "We'll give it our best shot."
We were bowled over by the standard of the work last night. Many thanks to our wondrous performers, Elaine Zhang, Tara Masih, Hyejung Kook, Sophie Powell, Francesca de Vries, KL Pereira, Matthew Sandel, Bill Sarill and his talented son, Michael Mack, Nick Linsky, Sue Williams (I'm thankin' myself here!), and Jerry Fireman. As always, our audience were so warm and encouraging-- what would we do without you all; you make us! We'd also like to thank Evan and Greg Smutny for helping set up, and Tara Masih who sold her exquisite farthing cards in aid of Art2Art. Art2Art is organised by Wayne Strattman, Jerry Fireman and myself, with help from Richard Williams and Greg Smutny. Thanks for being such a great team.
Oleg very kindly sent us a link to his YouTube video of the event. You can get to it here.
I must add that those of you who helped clear up are much appreciated, especially Rich and Evan who were kind enough to re-chain the chairs. (Holy smoke, that's one tricky puzzle).
And cheers to all who brought food and drink too. If you made the brownies, I love ya.
P.S. Please don't assume you're performing in November unless we have exchanged emails. That's very important. We need to have discussed it in writing or over the phone. I'll add that we are grateful that all performers last night stuck to the seven-minute rule. This really helped keep the wonderful momentum!
