If you Build It, They Will Come

View of the Big Tent across the Street From The Gallery at Redlands

It is actually a double tent combined into one cavernous whole

Artists toil in cells all over Manhattan. We have a monk’s devotion to our work–and, like monks, some of us will be visited by visions and others will toil out our days knowing glory only at a distance . . .

Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

In less than 48 hours, thirty-two artists will descend upon Palestine to set up their creations beneath this gigantic tent. The crew finished erecting the structure today, and already we’ve been measuring out the booth spots inside the cavernous space. Excitement is building. All over town we have volunteers working on a myriad of tasks, and my head spins just thinking about it.

In the midst of this flurry of activity, The Gallery at Redlands stayed quite busy with patrons coming in throughout the day. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve enjoyed such extended conversations as I have with this afternoon’s and evening’s visitations. I’m thrilled every time I find myself in the company of kindred spirits who love art, books, and the precious memories of our past experiences.

The weekend is going to be chilly but the art experience will be hot! Patrons attending the Friday night VIP event under the tent will receive in exchange for their $20 admission (available at the entrance) an evening of art splendor seasoned with live acoustical music, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and drinks from Stella Artois and Roadhouse Liquor. Patrons will have the first chance to make purchases from the artists’ booths.

Saturday from 9-4:00 will be the Festival proper, the streets lined with vendor booths, food trucks, children’s entertainment, live music on stage and a parade. Thousands of visitors will flood the streets downtown, and admission to the art tent throughout the day is free.

The Gallery at Redlands will be open, hosted by gallery artists Steve Miller, Kathy Lamb and Amanda Hukill. I will also tend the gallery as much as possible while also responding to needs under the tent. We want to make sure all the artists are tended. Gallery at Redlands artists under the tent include Deanna Pickett-Frye, Cecilia Bramhall and Orlando Guillen.

We’re also excited to host local artist William E. Young under the tent as well. He will be selling signed & numbered editions of his latest acrylic painting celebrating this annual festival. The painting will be unveiled at a special Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event tomorrow. More on that later.

Neita Fran Ward, a premier art agent from neighboring Tyler, will also welcome patrons to her booth under the tent Friday and Saturday. Sandi and I only became acquainted with Neita over this past year, and deeply appreciate her enduring friendship. The work she devotes to promoting the arts in East Texas has been extremely fruitful these recent years, and we’re looking forward to her perennial exhibits that enrich the University of Texas Tyler Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacology. Her Saturday morning show, “The Art Connection of East Texas, on KTBB 97.5 FM, has been a delight to local listeners, and last weekend I had the privilege of taking part in her show with William E. Young and Greg Gunnels, president of our Dogwood Arts Council.

If you are in our area, you won’t want to miss this weekend’s celebration. For the past couple of years, I’ve been captivated by this artistic fervor that has spread across East Texas. In my personal studies, I’ve been looking seriously at parallels between our East Texas experiences and those shared in sixth-century Byzantium and mid-twentieth-century New York City. I want to close this blog by sharing a comment received on this blog two years ago when we were celebrating this event under the tent and drawing our parallels with the New York City experience. I had devoted several blogs building up to the event and then discussing the festival itself. My life-long friend Wayne White from Missouri had made the trip and exhibited his photography with us. Following the festival, he and I had plans to return to Missouri by way of Oklahoma so we could fly-fish the stream at Beaver’s Bend State Park. Here is the communication we received:

Thank you for the moment-by-moment description of your show, the gallery and all the artists who make up your Twelve. It is true, I live in NYC. I have been to a lot of art exhibits, and have a BFA in sculpture, from back when no women were in the Sculpture Department. But I am still more interested in the artists than the hype. You gave me the artists, in such a way that I can imagine myself there. Now that I know the history of the gallery and some of the artists, I can follow along. Thanks again. And, when you are on the river in OK, and if you happen to see an osprey fishing (returning from their migration), that’s probably me, sending you a “hello” message.

That sculptor probably has no idea how much her message lifted me that day, and has remained with me. When I received it on my phone, I gathered The Twelve around me, read the message aloud, and they all broke out in spontaneous applause. No doubt this remains one of my most memorable experiences in this wonderful life of the arts.

Thanks for reading.

I make art in order to discover.

I journal when I feel alone.

I blog to remind myself I am not alone.

Advertisement

Kicking off a Busy Art Week

Quality “Executive Time” this morning

Hello art friends. The weekend was end-to-end action in Palestine, Texas, so I found no time to stop and blog. We have the 85th annual Dogwood Art & Music Festival arriving this Friday and Saturday, March 17-18. In a couple of days, an enormous tent will be erected by two crews that will cover the entire parking lot across the street from The Redland Hotel. Friday morning, thirty-two artists will arrive to set up for the VIP event that will run from 5-9:00. Tickets for the Friday night VIP event are $20 that provide the patron access to heavy hors d’oeuvres and an open bar hosted by Stella Artois and Roundhouse Liquor. There will also be live acoustic music, and patrons will have the first opportunity to purchase art from the artists who were carefully juried into this show, a host of paintings, photography, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, glass-making, fibers, and graphic design. Tickets may be purchased at the tent’s entrance. We’re expecting a blockbuster night with nearly twice the number of artists featured than last year.

Saturday’s festival will run 9-4:00. A parade will open the morning’s festivities, and the entire Palestine downtown will witness thousands filling the streets lined with merchandise booths, food vendors, live music, children’s entertainment, and of course, the Art Tent which will have free admission, as well as adding several booths of work created by local high school students.

This will be the fifth year of the massive Art Tent addition to this long-running festival. Local artist William E. Young, son of the famous Ancel E. Nunn, will be in our celebrity booth under the tent, offering for sale signed and numbered editions of his fifth and final installment of art commemorating this festival. Every year, William has created acrylic paintings of whimsical animal musicians busking in the streets in front of historic Palestine landmarks. I can’t wait to show you his latest contribution; it will be unveiled Thursday at a special event and must be kept under wraps until then. But below you can see the artist from last year under the tent, standing among his previous four editions:

Artist William E. Young

This year I have chosen not to occupy a booth under the Big Tent, but let my work remain in our Gallery at Redlands across the street, and instead be on hand to assist the artists with the loading in, registration and setting up. During the times I’ll be helping under the Tent, we have been fortunate to enlist the help of several of our gallery artists in keeping the Gallery at Redlands open and operational. They will be bringing in new work of their own to add to the already existing work in our gallery exhibit, and offering their pieces for sale. These artists include Steve Miller, Kathy Lamb and Amanda Hukill. You will truly enjoy visiting with them in the Gallery as well as meeting the VIP artists under the tent. Three other gallery artists from our group will have their work under the tent: Deanna Pickett-Frye, Cecilia Bramhall and Orlando Guillen. Sandi and I are proud that The Gallery at Redlands will be well-represented in this Festival.

The hour is getting late, the laundry is nearly done, and we have a multitude of chores bearing down on us before we return to Palestine. As chairperson of Hospitality, Sandi has been working overtime for several weeks now, and there appears to be no letting up in the remaining days before the celebration. I will be doing a demonstration and leading a watercolor workshop in Granbury Tuesday before heading to Palestine, anticipating that Sandi will get there ahead of me.

Maybe tomorrow I can share some of my current ideas about journaling. I’ve chosen to snap a few pictures of recent journal doodlings from my “executive time” bliss. When I go back to read old journals, I’ve found it easier to flip to the start of each day by having some kind of collage assembly embellish the page before I scribble out the stuff that’s on my mind.

Thanks for reading.

I make art in order to discover.

I journal when I feel alone.

I blog to remind myself I am not alone.

Gallery at Redlands Featured in Local Magazine

Enter The Twelve

We are The Twelve.

Ruminating, fashioning, presenting,

Offering creations, gifts to our brothers and sisters,

Pondering our world, we re-shape, we re-cut, we re-color, we re-invent,

Inviting prismatic light to reach diverse eyes.

We are The Twelve.

In quiet studios we dream, we feel, we cry.

We say Yes! to the impulse to create.

Our creator fashioned us in His image,

The Imago Dei, the faculty to create.

We are The Twelve.

Our paintings, pottery, photographs and sculpture weave a tapestry

Of collective lives, tightly woven fellowship of belief.

We are The Twelve.

Converging on The Gallery at Redlands, we join in chorus

To celebrate lives immersed in the arts,

Adhering to words of our patron Saint Matthew:

Art still has truth.

Take refuge there.

We are The Twelve.

David Tripp

Something is in the air. The Gallery at Redlands looks different, feels different this weekend. Three days ago, countylinemagazine.com published the long-anticipated article on our gallery. The arrival of the text and pictures flooded my heart with joy. I just knew things would be different now. Sure enough, when Sandi and I arrived on Thursday to re-build and re-arrange our space, people continued to drop by the gallery to look at the artistic creations of The Twelve, even though they had to pick their way around crates and portfolios of new work strewn about the room. Friday was no different (except visitors no longer needed to avoid debris all over the floor).

County Line Magazine is an online publication from East Texas, and our article now appears in the May-June issue: https://www.countylinemagazine.com/arts/gallery-expands-with-new-artwork-variety/article_dbd4edcc-a5e8-11eb-bf40-1fe10ec92e56.html

The Twelve wishes to extend our heart-felt thanks to author Lisa Tang for her dilligent work in interviewing a number of our artists as well as researching their websites and composing the article. Dozens of patrons the past two days have pored over the pages of the article that I printed and inserted into our gallery notebook along with all our artist bios. Lisa’s work stimulated conversation throughout the day, and a number of the gallery’s pieces found new homes!

Our hours at the gallery continue to expand. Now Cecilia Bramhall has the space open 11-2:00 on Tuesdays while Queen Street Grille across the lobby is serving lunch. Thursday I open the gallery at noon and remain there till the restaurant closes at 9 (but frequently keep it open if patrons are continuing to come in and browse). Same thing on Saturdays. Please stop by and visit us when you have the time.

Thanks for reading.

Honored by County Line Magazine

I’ve been honored by an East Texas publication that I have known and followed for nearly ten years now.  The January/February issue of County Line Magazine published the following:

In its 14th year now, County Line Magazine’s annual survey keeps uncovering more and more local gems in the Upper East Side of Texas. Nominations more than doubled this year showing that our region continues to grow as a Texas treasure with delicious food, wonderful attractions and beautiful backdrops, one-of-a-kind shops, exciting entertainment, and many talented individuals.

This year’s winners represent a great selection of the Best in the Upper East Side of Texas.

. . .

Best Artist

David Tripp. Former Arlington ISD teacher David Tripp now enjoys spending time painting nostalgic watercolor scenes from small Texas towns and countryside. His latest endeavor had him spending most weekends working at The Gallery at Redlands in Palestine on “The American Railroad Odyssey” train exhibit during the holidays. See some of his amazing work on his website recollections54.com.