Campbell River Day 1 (Jan. 20)

Yes, I’m posting this artventure postmusemously.

Apologies for the unannounced absence.  My plans to post on the 19th letting y’all know that I was off to Campbell River to set up Slim Shady and wouldn’t be Musing for several days were completely kiboshed by technical difficulties.

The online quirks were all sorted out in the morning but the laptop was already packed and I was out the door at 5:00am, trundling off to the Greyhound depot a mere few blocks from my studio.

The six hour trip was surprisingly comfortable –  most likely due to the ferry ride and transfer that broke up the monotany of sitting in one place for that length of time.  The idea was to sleep for most of the journey.

Which, of course, I didn’t.

The bus route travels the old island highway, right off the waters edge and the scenery scrolling by outside was just too stunning not to look.

The idea with artventures is to post with images before, during, and after the event.  But when I walked through the gallery doors shortly after 11:30 (the bus depot in Campbell River is only a block away from the gallery), I had two eager volunteers, Richard and Gary, ready to help unpack and install.  Which was amazing.  The minor downside was that I wasn’t really sure how the work should be choreographed in the space.  I was completely distracted by delegation, which, ‘cuz I always try to do everything all by my little self, was difficult for me 😉  Hence, no before photos.

Consensus suggested that we should begin by tackling the major wall pieces and proceed from there.   First up, Favourite Ways With Pheasant (Monday through Sunday):

Next up, Tourist Attraction:

As the afternoon slipped away, plinths were shuffled about, work was placed tentatively, and I wrestled with where the remaining wall and hanging work would be best presented.

When 5:00 o’clock rolled around, I was done in – physically and mentally.   Manon, the curator, had graciously offered to let me stay with her during set-up.  Her husband picked us up at the gallery and drove us “home” to a ready-to-eat stew that he’d prepped earlier in the day.  So nice (sigh).

I excused myself shortly after dinner and crawled upstairs to the guestroom.  It had been a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g day and tomorrow was gonna be, too.