Odense Reunion 2004 - Diary Saturday, June 26

I had a nice breakfast with mdf, opted for the sandals with socks and hobbled through the park to the gallery, because - as always - I missed the bus. My best friend Murphy calling again. After saying Hi to everybody I took off to get one more roll of film developed and some band aids for my diverse lacerations. I ran into Becky on the way and showed her the gifts.

We all loved this sculpture in Brandt's Passage

After sorting through some pics at the gallery I made gift of a coffee cup photo for everybody who was there on Monday as a memory of hanging the exhibition (check out my Monday entry for the pic).

I headed for Brandt's around 13:00 to see the Black Myopia Exhibition by Angèle Eloundi Essamba from Cameroun. After a first quick browse I ran into an interesting view.

OK, nct, cut it out, stop taking pics of construction trash and bust your shins back to the exhibition, will ya?

She takes sparely lit b/ws of black people. I really enjoyed the silence and lay down on a big upholstered seat, wrote a little in my notebook and decided to do some drawings.

Noirs 27. I actually managed to capture this one quite well :D

Déesse Goréenne. I failed to capture the beauty and dignity of the original, but I still kinda like the drawing

Here's what I wrote into the guest book:

Shapes & expressions
that get to you.

Trop peux d'heures de
silence & calme.

Bliss resting
blistered feet & soul.

I noticed that I had put my name tag into the laundry bag with yesterday's t-shirt, and the EV badge as well. So, I improvised a new name tag with the Brandt's entry sticker. My apologies again, Marion!

Wacko artist who put her name tag in the laundry. I stuck this on with double-sided photo tape

I returned to the gallery and met up with the other EV at 16:00. The three ladies were gone to get some silverware from the Domir Hotel because the party service forgot to deliver it and was already closed at that hour . So, we had no trouble smuggling our canvasses downstairs into the workroom . We put them on top of some tables and painted them in yellow, red and blue, then glued on photos from J, Pinon, Lia, Skipper and Patricia. G wrote a poem for the occasion (just five minutes on the steps and it was done ) and wrote it onto each canvas in three parts with a black pen. We did some embellishments with brush and knife. Always Smiling showed J's daughter how to do knife work, they both had loads of fun. We all did . Marion kept trying to get inside the workroom for a broom and they wouldn't let her (The staff was into our scheme and the hubbies helped watch the door ).

We had a great dinner in the downstairs room, catered by La Piazza. Olivia gave me a big print of one of her drawings. She managed to pick my favourite .

Becky and Marion announced next year's project which will be in Odense and her Sister City, Columbus, Ohio. It will be H.C. Andersen's 200th birthday, so they had the idea that only children can sign on, and if you can't provide any you team up with a local kid. The deputy mayor did a speech as well, the support from the city has been great. Marion had said to Becky that she deserved a medal when this was over, so Becky gave her a huge box of chocolates. Laura got one as weell, although she hadn't asked for one .

We decided our time had come and went to get our surprise gift. As the Captaine Boss I drew the lot of having to say a few words . The three ladies were very happy about our surprise, so it was a good idea . Each picked one after a little discussion who would have first pick; none wanted to take away from the others . We went outside to take some pics of the ladies with their gifts. We felt like paparrazzi at a press conference .

While we had coffee we all got a package with a catalog, a red t-shirt and an exhibition poster, and two Ephëmeris posters kindly provided by Brandt's Klædefabrik, one with Topanga 7 and one with Chris' Dogs on it. So, that was our surprise gift .

We went upstairs for a raffle: 3rd price a paperback Miyelo book, 2nd price a hard cover The Horse is Good book, and 1st price one night in the room at the Clarion where Viggo stayed last year. Cat Steward drew the big lot . Pia wanted to close the gallery at midnight, so we headed for the Domir for a poetry reading. Except for the people who went to check out the hotel room; I didn't see them again that night , but I've been told they dropped by later. My guess is, much later...

© nct /11.07.2004