Photographing 2021

January 02, 2021

January 2, 2021

Opening for

Charmae Bartlett

Cara Finch

Oh, a new year, new thoughts, new projects, new friends, and a new routine. Today was the first Saturday so it was the first Saturday Salon at The Lava Center. We opened with a new show with 2 local artists. Opening a show in Covid is tricky. We want people to come but not too many people. The idea is to attract a slow steady stream of people to come see the art and participate in the Salon. The weather last night was horrendous so we knew we would not have a ton of people, but we opened anyway and had 12 come through in 3 hours. It's a start. And we are very conscious of how important it is to maintain a venue. The community needs to come see art and talk to the artists, but we have to do it safely. We are being very intentional. Come and see the show on a Saturday afternoon January or February

Part of Cara's wall

Part of Charmae's wall

Charmae in front of her work

Cara answering questions

The visual art shows are only a part of The Lava Center. The mission is to be a community performing arts center and to give local performers a place to rehearse and to have small performances. The idea was to have local groups rehearse in this really lovely space. In the early days there were a few readings and local poets came together for an open mic. Since Covid they've kept an on line presence, but have not been able to do the rehearsal or performance on site that they'd hoped. We have tried to keep the visual arts alive on the walls and have had vendors selling their wares in a safe social distancing environment.

I love working with this group. We've had to be creative while we maintain a community base. November and December housed our Community Art Show with 13 local artists. We will do it again next winter. Meanwhile for 2 months at a time there will be art hanging on the walls and Saturday Salons with sellers, musicians, artists demonstrations and workshops. Keep an eye out on the Lava Center website and Facebook page.

The days are getting longer again. When we left the gallery the sunset was just beginning. And it really did feel like a fresh beginning to me. I am excited by the possibility of 2021. I'm excited for the expansion of my photo documenting. I'm really hoping that those people who found following my photos fun and helpful will follow me to this new format. I am also hoping this will lead to a website that will allow people to buy the photos they'd like hanging on their walls. Leave comments, please, to keep encouraging me. It means so much.