Blog 14: Closing Our First Open Door

Good Day PA interview photo at the TV Set in Harrisburg

Time to hit a rest stop on our journey to releasing my brother’s paintings.  We have wrapped up our first ever posthumous exhibit, “My Brothers Legacy” at Mulberry Art Studios.

The question most people ask is, “Did you sell any paintings?” While the answer is yes, more importantly we experienced our first opportunity to share my brother Lewis and his paintings with the public.  As we close this first door I take pause and recommit to my mission to see my brother Lewis recognized for life’s commitment to abstract art.  If I had accepted the numerous bids on Lewis’s paintings I could have sold many more. I appreciate that every person who bought a painting has agreed to loan it back to me if I would need it for a future exhibit.

The biggest surprise for me personally was that several visitors to the gallery pointed out that my brother painted several series of paintings with in the large body of work.  By that I mean my brother included a repetition of design that connected one painting to another, creating a collection.  This was noticed primarily in the smaller paintings from the 1970’s. I had never noticed that before. Someone else described several as companion pieces.

August was definitely an emotional month.  The art repeatedly brought Lewis to mind as I spent time at the gallery among the paintings.  I could picture Lew sometimes looking down in a pensive thinking position.  Other times I imagined his presence in the form of a deep from the belly Rudolph laugh. It was a truly joyful time celebrating his accomplishment in abstract art.

Ellen Sragow and Denise

I was grateful for the many persons who visited the exhibit during the receptions. In addition April Koppenhaver, owner curator of Mulberry Art Studios, gave many personal tours to her friends and art collectors who stopped in privately during weekday hours.

I especially appreciated the opportunity to meet Lewis’s former art dealer from the 1980’s, Ellen Sragow and her husband Alphonse , who traveled from New York City to walk through and spend time at the exhibit.  Plus director curator Avis Anderson from Lewis’s home state took the time to travel from Monmouth county New Jersey to see the exhibit first hand.  The possibility of taking a similar exhibit of Lewis’s paintings home to New Jersey is being discussed by her decision board currently. One of my remaining goals is to take my brothers paintings back home to New Jersey for exhibit. I am hopeful.

Other results from the exhibit:

• Two persons from PA who might offer additional exhibits visited the gallery
• Two Art Auction House owners have offered to sell a select few pieces when we are ready for that leg of the journey
• Kathleen Deets Price, Brandywine Valley Interiors,  has offered to represent the art in the West Chester PA area which is another type of open door.

For our family Labor Day was a labor of love as we again moved the art this time from Mulberry Art Studio back home.  Our family joked that their calling in life is to haul around Uncle Louie’s paintings.  Son in law Rick Wise was quick to point out when moving the art for his third time that he and Bruce are handling the paintings with a lot more care than they did the first time around!

Labor Day 2014: One last family photo in front of the loaded box truck.

I am a firm believer that when one door closes another one opens. As we close the door on our first ever exhibit of “A Brother’s Legacy” rest assured you will be the first to know when we find our next open door on this incredible journey.