Charlene Marsh Studio and Gallery

Today I got a call from Bob Reiner, the founder of the Shawnee Summer Theatre in Bloomfield, Indiana now going into it's 55th season.  Yep, the founder of a 55 year old organization.  So I paid attention.  He wanted to know if I would be willing to exhibit my paintings in the theater during a two week period where they would be putting on two different plays.  This is a theater that hires professionals to put on a new play every week for the duration of the summer(except for one play that runs for two weeks).  Luminaries such as John Belushi, Ken Kercheval, Leo Bermester, and Marie Masters have all performed in the theater.  

My summer schedule gets pretty hectic with traveling to the art shows, keeping up with the gardens, and, of course, the painting, especially the plein air painting, and I could have easily bowed out saying I was way too busy - because I am.  I will need to select the artwork, pack the paintings, load in the van,  deliver to Bloomfield, and then hang the work.  And do it all in reverse at the close of the show.   I really don't expect to make any sales and there are certainly no awards to be won.  

But I just felt like someone with this kind of vision, drive, and ambition to open this theater in a rural setting and keep it thriving for 55 years was someone pretty special.  And this must be a pretty special theater.  I have heard about it through the years as soon as I landed in Bloomington as a student at Indiana University but, must admit, I have never ventured out to one of their plays.  Bob said there is a very loyal following of people that attend the performances, many coming from Bloomington.  

So I agreed to exhibit my paintings in the theatre during the run of the two plays, "Shawnee Theatre World Famous Melodrama" and "Death of a Salesman", July 17-27, 2014 and hope to take in a performance while I am at it.  Bob had wanted me to exhibit during the kick off shows in June but my schedule is already impossibly hectic and I just couldn't take on one more project in that time period.  

In fact, I was excited to be notified this morning that I have been invited to exhibit in the 59th Annual Boardwalk Art Show in Virginia Beach, Virginia June 12-15, 2014!  I have never done the show before but the reviews indicate it should be a good show for selling paintings.  Reproductions are NOT allowed - originals only - which I really like because I don't do reproductions.  I find "originals only" shows attract people intersted in buying oil paintings NOT merely cheap prints spit out of the computer.  The show runs along the boardwalk with the beach as the backdrop so I am really looking forward to hanging out at the beach on the ocean this summer.  I haven't been to the ocean for awhile!