Jacksonville Art Jubilee

Over many months, some when the whole show was called off because of political mincings of the small-town-sort, our newly formed group, "Art Presence" has seen the reality of our Fall show. Back when it was still chilly last year some of us local artists put together 2 proposed art shows, one Spring, one Fall. The Autumn one was even going to have a poster competition for artists to enter - when - because of the business partner we'd paired up with was at odds with another faction and we cancelled everything.

But us artists decided to muster once again, this time with only us artists at the helm. We wrote up a mission statement and did a survey throughout town, inquiring if businesses would support and feel art could help our small town to thrive. We won an overwhelming positive response, which was written up in the paper. Then, we sent letters to ALL political, business and city groups telling them ALL, that "Art Presence" would partner with any willing or interested and that we had NO political affiliation.

One group offered to couple with us in the "Jacksonville Art Jubilee" to be held September 19th and we were back on course. Our partner took care of the parts they are good at (wine sampling, music, tickets, publicity, location for music & wine venues) and us artists coordinated what we are good at (recruiting professional quality artists, locating artists around town and gathering bios, along with images for promotion).

So, early that Saturday, the hum of our little town was audible with everyone setting up in preparations for our 12noon-6pm show. We were blessed with beautiful weather sandwiched between rainy/cold before the event and 100degree temps the following week! Our 25 artists were set up and showcased their work on lovely lawns.

The sketch I put into my Journal for that day is my location on the McCulley House Inn (http://mccullyhouseinn.com/) grounds. Three other artists, Cheryl Garcia, Leah Mebane, Roger Robinson and myself displayed on the picturesque bed & breakfast located right at the corner where the main street business district begins. Cheryl's work nested under the shade tree just across from the band that entertained the public all day.

At the end of the day we had various reports, many compliments of the energy and activity in our charming town (did I mention the "Bicycle Oregon" [http://www.oregonbicycleride.org/obr_maps.html] came through town that very day?) some with sales (the wonderful metal artist, Cheryl Garcia [http://www.greatmetalwork.com/ArtistStatement.aspx] sold 2 pieces and I sold an original and many notecards), some with little traffic (in the less central locations around town), and low poster sales. Overall, it felt like a success, but there will be plenty of reviewing to improve next year's jubilee. We will do a survey/critique of the event for all of our artists and, of course, meeting discussions.