I was invited to show many of my large portrait paintings in a duo show with artist Sarah Diamond at the de Menil Gallery at Groton School this fall. The show is wrapping up this week, so I visited it again and took stock of the experience.

overall, it felt like some combination of:

this

and this.

preparing in summertime

The invitation came in the spring and pieces were selected from my portfolio by the curator in May. I made and gathered the work in the context of summertime with Paul (5) and Freddie (nearly 3). We traveled to Nebraska for the 4th of July and had other trips too, Paul broke his arm, and we all discovered that Freddie was very fond of swimming and not so fond of potty training.

Summer was awesome. Summer was chaos.

I painted in a flurry in July and August.

getting to the gallery

In August I also gathered up 4 pieces from my Boston-metro patrons, who generously shared them for the show. When the day came, it felt sort of crazy to load 11 big pieces into a U-haul and zig-zag across three highways to the gallery in Groton.

And at last I saw the space and experienced Sarah Diamond’s work.

and then suddenly it was real

Curator Gordon Chase arranged and hung the art. Director Blake Fitch promoted the show and hosted a reception. Several of my painting subjects and my friends and family came to the reception. Whit heroically wrangled our boys and I had a glorious chat with Sarah Diamond about painting.

I am still laughing at the contrast I felt between laboring over canvases and mingling over hors d’oeuvres at the reception.

Seeing all that work, spanning 12 years of painting, in one place and in conversation with another artist’s work, was a thrill and an honor.

as it wraps up

I revisited the gallery this past Friday, and I was able to take the show in quietly.

I also had the privilege of meeting with the senior portfolio class. I looked at their work and we went back and forth, discussing how and why we make art.

I’m still overwhelmed by the whole thing, honestly. It is strange to make a public display, and a career, of visualizations of personal experiences and vulnerable, creative experiments. But in re-reading Curator Gordon Chase’s statement, especially at a time when political and social polarization feels palpable, I felt satisfied. I think sharing creativity can be an avenue for finding some unity in human experience.