Tag Archives: California

My Exhibitions

Coming this Summer

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"The Black Plague" exhibit at The Congregation Gallery
"The Black Plague" exhibit at The Congregation Gallery

I have two shows coming up, well, one is this weekend (!!) and the other will be next month. I was delighted to know that my work was selected for The Black Plague exhibit at The Congregation Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. There is a rather impressive line-up of artists including Chris Peters, Buddy Nestor, and Karl Persson.  The show opens this Saturday, July 24th at The Congregation Gallery from 9-12pm.

Next month’s show will be at the Alexandria Museum of Art. I submitted for their 23rd September Competition and just received the good news yesterday. The juror for this year’s event is Kelli Scott Kelley. Ms. Kelley is an accomplished artist (I’m a fan of hers, so I really wanted to enter this show!) and a professor at LSU, Louisiana State University. There will be an opening reception and juror’s talk on August 27th from 6:30-8:30pm. The exhibit will be up through October 2nd.

If you would like a full list of my current and upcoming events as well as new work, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. The newsletter is sent monthly and I can promise that your email will not be shared with anyone (so you won’t receive any spam!). You can sign up on the contact page of my website- www.amyguidry.com/contact.html or send me an email.

Art Help & Info

Vanity Galleries

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"Inner Peace?" by Amy Guidry; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

I had a blast from the past the other day…well, usually that is associated with a good thing, but in this case, it isn’t. I never did write about this in my blog before because it just slipped my mind. Better late than never. I received an email a couple of days ago from a gallery in Santa Monica (see link provided for more info). I thought it was strange because I suddenly found myself on their mailing list, yet I had contacted them years ago (not knowing any better…keep reading) and never received emails from them before. Odd that a gallery would want to reach out after all these years of no contact. Anyway, I contacted them back when I was first starting out my painting career because I found a call for artists. Turns out they only wanted to see me if I lived in California. Strange since galleries will take you on no matter where you live. So I was looking around on the internet and found out they are a vanity gallery. Blech.  Read more proof here: http://http://gyst-ink.com/blog/?p=177 And yes, I spoke with “Heidi,” too.

Vanity galleries, as you may very well know already, require a fee (and a large one at that) from artists in order to represent them. Basically you are paying your way in. Any gallery worth its salt does not have to survive by taking money from its artists. They survive on SALES of work. If they can’t do that, something is wrong. In addition to a yearly fee, many vanity galleries also require the artist to install the show themselves, pay for promotional materials and invitations, cover all shipping costs, and do a required amount of gallery-sitting. Which begs the question…And what does the gallery do for you? As in any bad relationship, you are left doing all the work while your partner is living it up at your expense, with no real love in return. It’s best to dump the loser (or gallery…we are still talking about art here) and wait it out until the “right one” comes along.

Questions? Comments? Know of any other losers we should all avoid? Let me know!

www.AmyGuidry.com

My Exhibitions

The Greatest Show on Earth

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"Get Your Popcorn! Peanuts! Cruelty!" by Amy Guidry; Copyright Amy Guidry 2008

Well here’s a sneak peek for all my blog fans (hopefully there are a lot of those…).  I was invited to participate in a show for A Bitchin’ Space in Sacramento, California.  The theme was right up my alley.  Maybe [Gale Hart] figured this out by viewing some of my social commentary pieces, but somehow they knew to ask me if I’d like to do a piece for “The Circus Show and Other Atrocities.”  I jumped at the chance since, as a vegan and quasi animal rescue organization (I’ve taken in a lot of homeless animals over the years…), I detest the circus and its treatment of animals.  Soooo, this leads to my latest creation- “Get Your Popcorn!  Peanuts!  Cruelty!”

I toiled over my sketchbook forever coming up with the perfect idea for this show.  I wanted to convey the circus’s cruelty without being gratuitous, either.  I kept thinking of the old animal cracker box I used to get as a kid, the one by Nabisco that came with a string on top of the box to reuse (?) as a Christmas ornament (?).  Then finally I decided to go with that theme, but Amy-ize it with my own sarcastic flavor.  Hence the animals with giant bites taken out of them, and the re-wording of the brand name and description.

So that’s it!  Your official sneak peek at my work.  It’s not even on my website yet (but it will be soon), so in the meantime, check out my other work- www.AmyGuidry.com.  My other social commentary pieces can also be seen in my Painting section of the website.

As for the greatest show on earth, well, obviously I’m not referring to the circus.  The show is “The Circus Show and Other Atrocities” and will open on September 13th at A Bitchin’ Space.  If you can’t make it then, my work and the other 99 artists’ works will still be on display until October 11th.  And yes, this show is the best on earth because it includes artists from the US, UK, and Canada.  You can find the gallery at 2114 19th Street in downtown Sacramento.  You can check out their website at www.abitchinspace.com.