Lights Out!

Lights out in the gallery

For the past two months I’ve been talking about having my artwork on display in the Fiesta Arts Gallery in Indio, California. The space was given to the Coachella Valley Arts Alliance as a gallery to be used as they wished. The space is an empty store with incredible lighting. It’s a 2,400 square foot rectangle painted white.

My work fills the gallery and looks wonderful! It’s all coming down tomorrow: five weeks early.

The gallery has been sold and the new owners are not supportive of the arts. I suspect “philanthropy” is not in their vocabulary. The new owners shut off the electricity to the four spaces a week ago without notice. The CVAA has been evicted The four spaces had been loaned by the prior owners.

I understand the new mall owners are businessmen and the space produces revenue for the owners by being leased. The CVAA has always understood the space was on temporary loan. But one does not expect hostility.

Tomorrow I take my artwork down and pack it up. In the dark. There are no lights.

And I had a great time with my exhibition during the month of October!

I’m most disappointed about this turn of events for the CVAA. The city of Indio is incredibly supportive of the arts and is doing great work in bringing artists, art and performance to the Coachella Valley. It's too bad businesses are not, or at least THIS businessman is not.

I’ll need to remember to bring a flashlight and camera flash tomorrow to pack up my artwork. ‘Tis sad.

Please take time to visit my website at www.JerryLHanson.com. Take a look at my artwork. It is all back home now. Contact me if you want to buy one of my works or if you have any questions about a specific piece. My contact information is on my website or you can leave a comment on this blog site for me to contact you (include your contact info!). You can e-mail me at JeryL@JerryLHanson.com or you can telephone me on my studio phone 760-992-3157. You can call me. I won’t mind; I’m hanging out at the gallery with nothing to do. That’s totally untrue. I’m weaving while minding the store.

Thank you for listening,

Jerry L. Hanson