Graffiti Gallery

Tonight was the Grand Opening of the Graffiti Gallery in Oil City, Pa. The show highlighted the work of Butch Quinn, a local artist who has work in the permanent collections of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. (among other museums.) Quinn was a local outsider artist whose work was created from just about anything he could find; rolling pins, logs, ironing boards, etc. Besides combining these findings into creative sculptures, he also worked in paint. His work is whimsical, colorful and just plain "fun".

Besides Quinn, work by other outsider artists were also on display. Bill Brady Jr, creates kinetic sculptures with welded metal. (Wish I had some extra money. I love his work.) Ten other artists also had work in the exhibit.

The gallery was a bustling place tonight (which my photos don't really show.) Looking from the outside in with the glow of the lights was very impressive. (Last year we had an auction to raise money to buy those lights.) Bill Brady's work is shown in the fourth picture and Heidi Heck's "Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk" is the bottom picture. (Loved that one too.)

It was a great opening...... so much fun ( great food and wine, if I say so myself since I took a couple of bottles of wine.) The turnout was fantastic. It was hard to believe for a few hours that we weren't in some big city at a major gallery opening.

Swan Daashuur who is in charge of the gallery (and Tom Huston) should be commended for the great job they did. This will be a hard act to follow.