Studio Tour paranoia, Hygienic Penis art and country life.

[Jon L. Travis]

Over the last several years in small communites all over New Hampshire, artists' studio tours have become all the rage. Usually timed to coincide with the holiday gift buying season, these tours give towns a chance to show off their artists and their artists a chance to show off their wares. The idea is the group of artists pool some resources, print up some maps, do a little P.R. hang a numbered sign on their home or studio on the day of the tour and Viola! A fleet of Massachussets license plates invades our little country village for a weekend, dropping loads of their hard-earned Masshole cash into the wallets of those that need it the very most.
The tour in my town of Deerfield, New Hampshire over the last few years has featured some great potters, several fine furniture makers, landscape painters, dollmakers, shoemakers and the guy that makes Ian Andersons flutes.
After several years of threatening to do so, this year I finally remembered the sign up date, got off my ass and applied for a spot on the tour. A few days passed and I received a call from one of the organizers.

"Hi, Mr. Travis this is Ms._________ from DAT, (the Deerfield Arts Tour), Ahhh I'm calling to let you know that we met tonight and discussed your application."
"Oh cool, sorry I didn't get a chance to send you some photos of my work first, I can do that ASAP".
"Ah yes well, ah actually we had a few questions about your work."
"O.K. cool what do you want to know?"
"Well ah yes well we looked on your Facebook page and you had a few, ahh photos of some work, and ahh one ahh caught my eye, ahh it was in a window gallery and ahh was very ahh ...hem..ah colorful and boxlike and ahh...ahemm... large..."
"OH you mean the one with the mutant zombie penises on it?"

"(Choking sound)...Ah yes, ah I believe that may be the one."
"Oh that's not my work"
(Audible sigh of relief on other end of phone line)
"No that's a piece I really admired from this years Hygienic art show in New London, Ct."
"OH ..."
"Of course, I wish I could have afforded to buy it, then I would be proudly displaying it in my home, it's really nice work."
(dead silence on other end of phone)
"Hello?"
"Yes Mr. Travis ahh I'm still here...ahh perhaps you could bring by some of your work to one of our members studios so we could take a look at it. Ahh..."
"The actual work? Not Photos?"
"Yes"

Well to make a long story shorter, I did. My wife and I loaded up some of my nicer art schooly type things along with a collection of beautiful flameworked glass beads that she makes and dropped them off at the aforementioned studio one wet spring Saturday morning.

I expected them to want Cathy's work, so I was quite surprised when they called and said they would like both of us.
Perhaps it was lucky that I didn't have this piece to include in the sampler I sent.

More on this story as it develops.
BTW
The picture at the end of the post is of a piece I did for Hygienic 21. I wasn't able to get back to CT. to get it so it has been wandering free ever since, if anyone knows anything about its current whereabouts I'd be interested. Just to know if it had a good home.