5/26 Gallery Walk

Last Saturday was the first exhibition opening of the 2007 summer season! The evening could not have been more successful: the weather was beautiful as several hundred people wandered through our gallery spaces enjoying the camaraderie and the art!

Every exhibition opening has its own “feel”. This particular evening had great energy from the moment the first viewers entered the gallery. The audience was sophisticated, the mood was enthusiastic and the greater percentage of attendees spent time with the art as well as with each other!

Solo exhibitions by Dan Rizzie (North Gallery Space) and Sally Anderson (South Gallery) and Roni Stretch (West Space) proved a wonderful combination with which to open our season! The response to all the installations was overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Dan’s works on paper received rave comments as his distinctive floral iconography set an optimistic tone. Sally’s multi-layered Mylar, acrylic and wax paintings drew viewers up-close, for an examination of her technique and then pushed them back for an appreciation of their visual impact. The Dichromatic paintings by Roni captivated viewers’ attention and held their interest for minutes at a time. What a perfect start to the summer!

- B. (Barbi) Anne Reed

Considering Our Footprints

In years past, it was the depth of footprints in snow that concerned us. Although we still like to make marks in that pristine blanket, other footprints have become more significant…i.e. our global footprint.

Knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions brings us at ANNE REED GALLERY to a landmark change: you will no longer be receiving our carefully executed cards announcing new exhibitions.

In a cursory look, we became aware of the following:

ARG announcement cards consumed annually over 49 square miles of paper (that does NOT count the envelopes, which added another 96 plus square miles!) Each card traveled (that means carbon emissions!) an average of two thousand miles to arrive at its intended addressee!

Let’s backtrack for a moment. Consider the emissions from the humongous trucks that drove to retrieve the trees and haul their load to the paper mills. (We’ve stopped before considering the emissions released while building wilderness roads!)

Now factor in pulp and paper mills, considered among the worst polluters. Add the fact that, the newly made, beautiful glossy paper we used for our announcements, had to be transported (more emissions!) to the press, hundreds of miles away. The domino effect is wide-ranging and we have barely delved beyond the tip of the iceberg in our analysis.

Now consider the trail didn’t end when our card reached its destination. Even our most devoted collectors, at times, discarded our cards. The end for the card would be nearing but not the globing warming potential (GPW). Disposal sites that allow burning or land fills that rely on decaying create additional greenhouse gases.

In view of the above, we at ANNE REED GALLERY have made the commitment to send e-announcements. We hope you’ll look forward to receiving them and respect our decision in sending them.

Speaking of electronic communication, remember to check out our newly launched website which includes this blog that promises to keep you updated on what’s happening here in the gallery and with our artists, as well as what’s new in the global art world!

Join us in helping to stop global warming!

- B. (Barbi) Anne Reed

Staff Changes

For five and a half years, L’Anne Gilman enthusiastically served as Anne Reed Gallery’s director. As of this spring, L’Anne has been putting her energies toward her own gallery, ending her faithful service to our gallery and gallery artists. We wish her much success in this new venture which has been a long term dream. Changes often turn out to be best for all involved and although it is with sadness that we say goodbye to L’Anne and to other staff who have left, we at Anne Reed Gallery are taking this opportunity to restructure. We are in the process of looking for a very strong and experienced director to take the gallery to new
levels. In the meantime, I am back at the helm, examining and re-examining our needs and the direction the gallery will move. As a result, exciting things are already beginning
to happen.

Jennie Buehler has come on board as the new registrar. Jennie has brought with her an incredible sense of organization, a personality that is calm, and a mind that is quick. She has absorbed with ease immense amounts of information and is already invaluable.

In addition, Jessica Polichetti is back on board...unfortunately not for as long as we’d like, but long enough to make lasting changes for us. Jessica started out as an intern with us six years ago. Since then she graduated with degrees in Japanese and Fine Art from the University of Montana and has spent two years studying in Japan. Although she is headed back to Japan, she is revamping our website, allowing us the opportunity to start new projects such as this blog. Jessica is on the cutting edge of the electronic world and is bringing us not only up to speed, but allowing us to move ahead of the curve.

Which brings me to another big change: we are no longer going to be sending postcard announcements of new shows. We learned that our exhibition announcements used over forty-nine square miles of paper each year on top of creating countless ounces of carbon emissions by having to travel an approximate distance of two thousands miles per card. It seemed that the only way we could have a clear conscience is by switching to e-announcements and we plan to send what will be our "historical first" at the end of this month. Hopefully other galleries will chose this means of communicating, exponentially allowing us all to feel pride in attempting to reverse this planet's current path.

- B. (Barbi) Anne Reed