Baltimore Annapolis Solomons part 2

At the show we also met up with some of our friends, David and Polly Brooks who own Appalachian Spring Galleries in the DC area, Donna Milstein, Hanson Galleries in Houston, and H and Pat Childs who own G-Squared Gallery in Pennsylvania. It's always great to see them - we compare notes and share ideas.

We went to dinner with Donna at her favorite restaurant in Baltimore Tio Pepe. Donna says she's been eating there for 30 years. The Sangria is outstanding and the duck was fabulous.

I've always heard about Solomons but have never been there. It's kind of like Oriental, NC, you have to want to go there because it's not on the way to anywhere. So we decided to take a couple days off and go there on the way home.

On the way we stopped in Annapolis and had breakfast at Chick and Ruths Delly on Main Street. It's a pretty funky place. At 8:30 am during the week and 9:30 on the weekends everyone in the restaurant stands up and recites the pledge of allegiance!

Then we drove to Solomons. We went to Annmarie Garden - it was great. As we pulled up to the gate I saw that it was done by Peter King. I took a workshop with him a couple years ago.

When I got home from the workshop I made this sculpture for the front of our house. It's about 5 feet tall.

At the Annmarie Gardens was a  "fairies in the garden" show with a scavenger hunt type puzzle (similar to our Downtown New Bern "Dickens Detective" puzzle during Christmas).  Very clever and well done.

 

Wherever they had cut a branch off a tree someone had painted the wound. Neat!

Loved the sculptures as well and how they had them displayed in the woods. Every once in a while there was a cleared path through the woods with sculptures in the distance. This garden was my favorite part of the trip. And glad to report that their gift shop had about 95% made in the USA. Most of the artists whose work they carry are people we know!

We stayed at the Solomon's Victorian Inn and had a great view of the harbor.

We rode our bikes to the Calvert County Maritime Museum. which was fabulous and even got to take a ride around the Island on The William B. Tennison, a Chesapeake Bay bugeye for $7, what a deal.

Tomorrow we are heading home with a stop in Suffolk, VA to take photos of a house I have to do a tile of.  It was a nice trip.

New Work! New Artists! New Ideas!

We're just returned from shows in Philadelphia and Baltimore. We found some wonderful new work for the gallery - check our blog regularly to see what's come in.

We got home just in time to view the lunar eclipse! It was amazing. I kept thinking what must the ancient civilizations have thought when they saw this! Here is a photo I found on the NASA Website. It looked just like this from my porch in New Bern.

Another thing that happened at the show in Philadelphia - I was awarded the Martin Rishty Award from the Craft Retailers Association for Tomorrow! I am on the Board of this Organization, our mission is to promote American Craft, Craft Artists, and Galleries. Our group is made up of Gallery owners from across the country. I was totally suprised and honored by the Award.

My plans for this Blog, now that I'm back at it, is to post the new work that Michael and I are doing, post new work that is coming in to the gallery, tell you about shows we're having, talk about techniques and keep you up to date on what is going on in our Downtown.

- Jan Francoeur