Upcountry Fine Art Artist Swap and Sidewalk Sale

Pamela Neswald of Upcountry Fine Art always comes up with some creative ideas. This time, it was the Artist Swap and Sidewalk Sale, which was timed on the same day as her annual 40% store wide sale. On September 15th, artists occupied the covered parking area, an old plantation structure, next to her store. 

Artist Sidewalk Sale, rendered in a comic book filter.

Not just art. Tarot reading anyone?

The ingenious John Wilson with his Art of Trash creations. 

Digging through boxes.

Scene rendered in one of Photoshop's drawing filters. 

This scene rendered with the smudge stick filter I think.
Probably should have kept notes.
Pamela is all the way in the back. 

There were all sorts of intriguing things from storage rooms, studios, under the house, and other nooks and crannies. Some artists had booths or tables with original art only, others had art supplies for sale, and still others had a mishmash of original art, studio seconds, supplies, and some art books, but other totally random but interesting books. I got to meet some new faces and get reacquainted with other people.

The experience was like rummaging through an old but not musty attic or basement, looking at interesting finds, sort of like reading "The Merchant of Marvels and the Peddler of Dreams," a book of imaginative whimsies like "a thimble to stitch with and a thimble to unstitch with" and a "robe spun from shooting stars with a Milky Way veil."  While I didn't really need anything, and actually ought to go through my own supplies and have a booth next time, I still ended up with a few brushes, a brand-new SD card, and some books.

One of the highlights was hearing Jack Hamilton's art advice when he was talking to artist Billy Welker, "When you buy a tube of this color or that color paint, you also need to buy a tube of courage. Because you need it in order to paint."  He had a very animated style of talking, which I wanted to record but the video camera died very unexpectedly. If you have a Flip Camera, you need to upload the videos out of it every day - you never know when it will go.  

The sale was so successful that people were clamoring for Pamela Neswald to host it again, and she is planning to in December, if someone steps up to the plate and helps coordinate the event. Also, she took about two weeks off after the sale, with the store open only for appointments or limited hours on Tuesday and Thursday.