All this year Boise has been celebrating her Sesquicentennial, and all Boiseans, even very small children who still call Pasta Putanesca, bisketti, can pronounce the word that means Boise is 150 years young. Woot woot!
In honor of this Happy Birthday the Treasure Valley Artists’ Alliance applied for and received a grant to curate an exhibition of artwork by local artists about Boise, and produce a catalog to accompany the exhibit. We called it Local Color – Boise 150.
Each artist whose work was selected also wrote a few sentences about Boise as portrayed in their artwork, and that statement is on the page with their art in the catalog. This is my painting titled “Le Boi-cycle”…
and Mike’s titled “Boise Blue Doors”…
Mike and I wrote the grant. Jacqueline Crist selected the art for the exhibit. I arranged and hung the exhibit with assistance from Sue Latta, and my mom, Shirley McCarter, both of whom are also featured in the catalog. Debra Smith edited the artists’ writing, and Will Spearman and I designed and curated the catalog itself.
It was a huge learning experience, in fact we’re still learning from it. We had an event at Rediscovered Books last night along with three other writers/editors who produced books for the Sesquicentennial. Debra Smith who is not only the catalog’s editor, but a dear friend did the presentation for Local Color.
Thank you Deb! I’m one of those people who would rather share a mochalottachocolatte with God (and you know what that would mean) than engage in public speaking.
By the way, we still have copies of the Local Color catalog available for sale: $19.95/copy plus standard shipping in the US and Canada. Contact me if you’re interested, and Mike and I will both sign your copy. Woot woot!