Teaching and a new Clutch.
Art Students League and Classic Car Club Manhattan
First of firsts.
“New Clutch” group art show at Classic Car Club Manhattan. THIS FRIDAY Nov 10th! Please use the link to RSVP. It's a private club after all!
Molly's opening is the next day Nov. 11th 6-8 at 4 Bond St. “The Chair series.”
I will be shooting out another stack mid week to push my show!
I taught a workshop at Art Students League last week. That's my excuse for not getting this letter out on time last Friday. I know, lame. I have been in a state of stress ever since I signed the paperwork. There's a performative aspect to teaching although that isn't the main thing. I have a desire to try stand-up comedy, mostly just to say I did it. I think doing it once will satiate my desire and then I can just use it as one of my many adventures I can tell at parties. Teaching is a different thing. Both my parents were teachers and I always noticed how good my dad was at explaining things to me and my friends. I guess it might be genetic? People seemed to genuinely gain some knowledge after me yammering away for three days. The time went by pretty quickly except on the last day I think I dismissed the class a little early because I had the wrong end time in my head. Plus everyone gave me an applause break after the critique that turned out to be the end. It was a perfect ending and no one mentioned we ended too early. The applause really threw me off!
I realized my stress about teaching was related to trying to be in a play in high school. I played a catholic priest trapped in an American embassy in a communist country of atheists. It was written by Woody Allen called “Don't Drink the Water”. I was on stage crew because I thought that was cool. Pull the curtain, fix the lights, and watch other people be nervous about their performance. No pressure by comparison. I don't know why I tried out for the part. I was in a lot of the scenes and was sort of a main character albeit the comic relief. I couldn't remember most of my lines until it was time to say them. And then there was the prop failures! I managed to improv us back on track and it was terrifying and ultimately the most thrilling thing I did in high school. That's the problem with performing anything, you have to remember lines! I can't remember names two seconds after somebody introduces themselves, how do you remember a whole specific sentence that another person is suppose to respond to with the lines they memorized??? I guess that's why they invented improv? I had a lesson plan, points I wanted to make, and little knowledge nuggets to drop in here and there, and my mind went blank... I think about 1979? I got in to the classroom at the Art Students League, people filtered in as I finished setting up my laptop to put images up on a big flat screen for people to draw on. I gave a thirty second introduction and we were off! I remembered things as needed.
No paywall this week since I want all the information about my show at the car club to be seen. The car club is actually your normal private club. The car part is the huge garage (or more of a nice show room) that is attached to a really cool bar and lounge area. It's separate enough that you might not notice the cars, but it's nicely integrated when the dividers are open. There's also a patio in the back that sits on the Hudson River looking towards New Jersey. It's dog friendly since the owners have dogs and when the weather is nice, Sunday brunch is also a mini dog show as members bring their pets and kids in. There will be a cash bar and food available at the opening although I find it a bit pricey.
As a reminder/warning, I will be bothering you all probably Wednesday and then Friday to get the word out about the show. Please bare with me.