Friday, August 19, 2011

Facing the Public...



as many know, we do our Face the Public event during the month of October. For this annual show, we have artists from the gallery come in during the month and they paint a small section on one panel. When all artists are done painting their square the completed piece represents a famous painting.

After it is finished, the painting is displayed in the gallery and is offered for sale. When or if the painting sells, we are able to help "artists in need" throughout the year from the proceeds. These artists that donate their time have helped with funeral costs and have assisted fellow artists who have gone through chemotherapy. We have helped those that have had surgeries while others who have had to deal with overwhelming medical costs.

This year one of our artists, Tracy MacEwan had a serious stroke and has been in critical care for quite some time. Tracy always has been in our Face the Public exhibits and would be one of the first artists to say "yes" when asked to come and paint for a day.
We always loved having him here with us...his cheerful demeanor, compassion for the arts, and love for life brought clients in when he would paint for the day, everyone loved seeing Tracy. I know he would be happy to know that we were able to contribute to his paypal account from our Face the Public sales.

This year means much more to us than ever when planning this upcoming show. We all have Tracy in our thoughts and talk about him each day...as you can tell, he's one of our favorite artists from the gallery.

So where am I going with this crazy conversation? Well.....yesterday was a wonderful day. Out of the blue, one of our clients was looking for a particular piece to "fit a space" and in discussing what would work best we pulled out "Cape Cod Morning" by Edward Hopper (painted by 12 different artists 2 years ago). The client gasped and said..."This is it". She was thrilled to have a section that had been painted by each of her favorite artists and loved knowing that her purchase was going to our "artist in need fund".
What a happy day for us all. Get well soon Tracy, we love you.

1 comment:

Ruth Armitage said...

How neat that this painting can both help Tracy & adorn someone's walls! That's multi-tasking at its finest :) Congratulations on your success Mary Lou!

About Mary Lou Zeek

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We represent Northwest artists working in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, works on paper, ceramics, jewelry and mixed media. Our second gallery features exhibitions on a monthly basis, as well as selected group shows and special exhibitions. To arrange an appointment, please call 503-581-3229 or email; mzeek@comcast.net During our years of operating, we have successfully encouraged the broadening and blossoming of the Salem art scene. We are dedicated to serving our clients as well as our artists. The relationships that we cultivate with our clients and our artists have been and will continue to be long and rewarding. We encourage you to take the time to be acquainted with us and take the time to appreciate the art we enjoy so much.