Bean Gilsdorf and Dan Gilsdorf today at Angles Gate

I've neglected to properly self-promote here this week. Not only is there a good article on the San Pedro art scene in today's Times, but there's a blockbuster exhibition opening today at Angels Gate. at 2 PM today, we're having the opening reception for Bean Gilsdorf and Dan Gilsdorf a duo show by the husband and wife team of artists from Portland, Oregon.

First, a long aside:

I cannot begin to say how drop dead proud I am to be hosting their show. A few years ago, when I first came to the Center, I was hanging a fair amount of shows that I wasn't proud of - big, sloppy group shows with kitschy titles. There was great art in those shows, but the room was too crowded to see it, or we just didn't have the time to do things right. People would come up to me and whisper in my ear "The show is terrible but you really hung it well" or "thanks for making my piece look good", as all I could do was do the best that I could presenting and designing the shows I was given. There were some that were winners, sure, and I was proud to install them, but there was an air of amateuness that hung over us. At the time, there was little to nothing I could do to change things, and it was and it was tremendously frustrating.

Today it's a different Center. I have the authority and organizational support to do things properly (thank you Nathan!), a real budget, a properly implemented schedule, etc... We made a lot of improvements in our internal infrastructure in 2006, and I feel that the Center has finally fully recovered from all of the poor management that went on in the 1990's.

This show, is the finest looking show I have ever seen installed at the Center. Gallery A, for all of its bumpy walls and other warts, has never looked better. Even if you can't make it today, you should make your way up to the Center at some point in the next month or so - I really see this show as taking things to the next level. All of the accomplishments we made in the 2006 season are coming to maturation and I've never been prouder to host an exhibition.

- aside ended

Here's the deal about the show. Bean Gisldorf is a quilter, who's quilts are made from large pieces of printed and painted fabric. She prints from three dimensional objects using a brayer covered with ink. The bad boy of her work in this show is a thirty six foot long printed quilt of a Plymouth Valiant. Dan Gilsdorf is a kinetic sculptor - all of his work is mechanical in some way. He uses machines to make shadow projections of oil derricks and passing telephone poles. Ink bubbles through tubes, an endless train goes nowhere, a wire brush slowly wears down a plaster face and Chuck and Harriet Hum their Way Across America. It's really beautiful work.

The opening is from 2-4 today, and will be followed at 4 PM by an artist talk mediated by yours truly. Directions to the Center are here, if you haven't been before, or you just need a refresher. We're also having an exhibition of art made by homeless children as part of a partnership between our Harbor Youth Arts Initiative and the Harbor Interfaith Services Kids Club. See you there.