Mary Lou's "Inside-Out" Show

Mary Lou has done it again! Mary Lou of the Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem just concluded the sixth annual 100 Artists show, this year a benefit for Friends of Pimpollo.

100 artists received a book in the mail and were asked to art it up and return it to the gallery (they had three months to alter their book). The show went up the first of February and people could bid on pieces throughout the month. Beginning bids were $50 and maximim bids were $300. The show closed on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. I hadn't visited the show earlier because, well, I knew I would love what I saw, but I couldn't resist any more so on Friday afternoon, Howard and I visited the gallery and placed bids on three pieces. While there on Friday afternoon, I snapped photos of the pieces.

These are the three pieces we were initially bidding on when we stopped into the gallery in the afternoon. The first was the one Howard wanted, the second was one we both wanted (it was done by an artist in Italy!), and the third was my personal choice.

When we returned to the gallery on Friday evening (to watch over our chosen pieces), it became apparent that the book done by the Italian artist was meant for someone else (it sold for $200) and so we quit bidding on it. However, we were able to bid on a piece we hadn't really seen when we visited the gallery earlier. The outside was rather plain, but when we picked up the altered book and looked through it, we were amazed at the detail and the language. The artist is a psychotherapist in Seattle, Amanda Sargent and the title of her piece is Taking It From the Beginning. She used the following media in creating her piece: Book, wax, photographs, pencils, shellac, and tar! Amazing . . . we placed a bid and got to take it home with us!

Howard won the book he wanted by Eugene artist Mark Clarke. Here are a couple of views of Howard's book (just a cover, actually):



The book I wanted (and got!) was created by Tory Brokenshire of Copper Crow Studio. She is from Salem and I've never even heard of her before this. Hello, Tory, I'm in Salem, too!!