You go early to First Friday and you have trouble getting in. So instead of telling you about Union 237 which wasn’t open when I stopped by at 5:30, (they open at 6) I’ll tell you about the jumble to stuff I ran into on the street and in a few emporia that were open. Libby and I split up the reportorial duties and we crossed paths at Nexus so you may get some double redundancy here and in her post, but nevermind, just consider it part of the ongoing conversation.
First off, Nexus had a yard sale clogging the artery on 2nd St. The boxes and tables full of stuff out front of the gallery made me understand why the British call these things “jumble” sales. (top image)
Out of the chaos, however, Stella did pull one nice 50 cent object — a coffee mug. Happiness is finding a bargain and she was happy. The sale was a fundraiser and while I didn’t see a lot of cash transactions, I hope they did well.
Meanwhile next door there’s a new pooch accessory shop and being a viable commercial enterprise they were of course open. “2 Dog Studio” is the name. Proprietors Deborah and Robert Simmons told me they’d moved their operation from Atlanta recently and before that they were in Dallas. The store’s been open since June and they sell items like dog pillows manufactured locally to their specs. Lots of stuff, definitely not a jumble. In fact the shop’s stacks of pillows had a sculptural aesthetic I loved. (left)The Simmonses said they hoped to make their shop a complete lifestyle shop in the future. Whether that means pillows for people as well as pillows for Fido I’m not sure but it sounded like an integrated plan.
We saw echoes of dog love later when we ran in to Vox Populi for the new members show. Samantha Simpson, artist, artblog pal, and new Voxer, had a wall painting that was full of animal love.
Simpson has an affinity for animals which appear as human stand-ins in her works. She was dressed to coincide with that theme, in black leather clogs that had stitched images of a cat and a dog on the tops. (right) While not quite ruby red slippers they had a not in Kansas anymore ambiance that went beautifully with her dreamy, watery, fairy tale painting.
Meanwhile, back outside on 2nd St., Mark Price and his sister, Hilary Price, were there selling Brother Price’s prints and drawing and Sister Price’s bags and wallets. Their stuff by the way looks better and better. Brother Price’s prints and drawings seems to be blossoming into a full-blown, beautiful, stylized forlorn aesthetic. (and there they are,left, looking forlorn)
Before exiting Old City for Space 1026 and Vox, we dropped in to Dane Decor to see Jeff Schaller paint a moderne design sofa. (right)
The painted couch, once finished, will be auctioned off, proceeds going to help fund a needy person’s house makeover in a show called “Extreme Home” a spin-off of “Trading Spaces.”
