Community

A day that begins and ends in community offers welcome protection from numbing cold.

The morning meant clearing, painting, dusting, sweeping, and swabbing the cooperative gallery at Shenanigans. Seven of us -- two sculptors, two potters, two fiber artists, and I -- spent the morning preparing the gallery for a new year. When we return Monday with new work and complete the refurbishment, perhaps folks will find a bit of peaceful contemplation in a year that promises sober economic and war news and welcome political change.

The evening meant potluck at the community center with friends and neighbors. Supper was an edible surprise ball: instead of unwrapping crepe paper to reveal trinkets, I moved along tables laden with homemade dishes (unlabeled as the couple ahead of me lamented since they're vegetarians), taking a smidgen of this and a smidgen of that. The surprising tastes were as delightful as the animal murals and Christmas lights and happy chatter.

Good books have promising beginnings lingering endings. This day made good reading.

The Cooperative Gallery at Shenanigans

Behind the restaurant at Shenanigans is a cooperative gallery featuring work by about twenty artists and craftspeople, of whom I am one. Those represented bear the responsibility for setting up shows and cleaning, repairing, and repainting the space. It's fairly popular among folks who eat in Shenanigans, especially on a weekend like this one (Family Weekend). I just did my duty and swept and straightened the shelves. Several visitors asked me some questions about the work and made complimentary comments about the work.

I still feel self-conscious about showing my handmade books in the gallery. Some of them are clever -- Sewanee Serenade and Sunday Fat Cats, for instance, which sell well. On the whole, however, I don't think my work is of the same high quality as that of several other artists (Jeanie Stephenson, Christi Teasley, Sanford McGee, Merissa Tobler, Larry Carden, and Claire Reishman). Happily, however, I sell enough to support my hobby, and that has been my goal all along.