See Saw

Saying goodbye to Pine Street Art Works

Next week Pine Street Art Works will be closing. After five years. I will be opening another small shop, with a much tighter focus, so I'm excited about that. But meanwhile here's a small photo review of most of the shows I've curated since 2005.

My kids used to like to sit in the window and pretend to be mannequins. Liza Cowan Photo 2005

 

same window without kids. David Klein, Beanie For Peace. Liza Cowan photo 2005

 

David Klein, Beanie For Peace. Liza Cowan, FAKE! photo by Liza Cowan 2005

 

postcards for Flashbags and Charlie Hunter Show. 2006

 

Keith Wagner, pods, in show window. Hunter/Wagner show 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

paintings by Charlie Hunter, sculpture by Keith Wagner. 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

Show postcards for Cara Barer and David Putnam. Liza Cowan design. 2006

 

Cara Barer show. 2006. Photo by Liza Cowan

 

Cara Barer, Butterfly. Mannequin by Ralph Pucci. Photo by Liza Cowan circa 2009.

 

David Putnam show. Photo Liza Cowan. 2006

 

Bread and Puppet Theater, benefit performance at PSAW, photo Liza Cowan 2006.

 

Show card for Artifact, Liza Cowan design. Show card for SP Goodman, SP Goodman design. 2006

Show window for SP Goodman. 2006

 

Show cards for Paper Play, Alison Bechdel and Phranc The Cardboard Cobbler. Liza Cowan design 2006

20th Century Works on Paper Show, and general use postcard. William Steig poster 1944. Ralph Pucci/Maira Kalman mannequin. Card design by Liza Cowan.

Show cards, John Anderson, Denis Versweyveld. Liza Cowan design 2007.

John Anderson setting up his show. Liza Cowan photo 2007.

 

Denis Versweyveld show in Olive Room. Photo by Liza Cowan 2007

 

Paint by Number Show. Paint by number painting,  image based on Norman Rockwell painting. Design by Liza Cowan 2007

Paint by Number Show. Mark, the postal carrier, enjoys the work. Liza Cowan photo 2007.

Show cards for Nakki Goranin's American Photobooth and Connie Imboden. Design by Liza Cowan, 2007 and 2008.

 

showcard Amadou Sow. Design Liza Cowan 2007

Painting by Mr. Masterpiece. Show 2008

 

Show card Richard Gombar. Design Liza Cowan 2008

 

Heinrich Harrer photographs, Seven Years In Tibet. Curated by Leslie DiRusso. Card design Liza Cowan. 2008

 

Studio Glow lamps and sculpture in the show window. Photo Liza Cowan 2008

 

Tim Matson. Pilobolous photographs show. 2009

 

showcard for Bloom show. Liza Cowan design. 2009

Show Card David Powell. David Powell design 2009

 

Showcard Aline Smithson. Liza Cowan design 2009.

Aline Smithson photos at Pine Street Art Works. Photo Liza Cowan 2009

 

Showcard TMNK- The Me Nobody Knows, design Liza Cowan 2009

 

TMNK hanging his show. Liza Cowan photo 2009

 

Winter Holiday show window. Liza Cowan photo 2009

Showcard Carol Golemboski. Design Liza Cowan 2010

 

Front showroom, Carol Golemboski Show. Photo Liza Cowan 2010

 

OK, well that's the brief tour.

I'm moving, reinventing, reincarnating, all of those things. Opening Sept 10th at S.P.A.C.E Gallery 266 Pine Street in Burlington.

As soon as I'm settled, Seesaw will continue as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I KNOW WHAT GIRLS LIKE, APPARENTLY

I swear to the stars above that when I started Pine Street Art Works three years ago I thought it would be a gender neutral retail operation. I've never been particularly girly. I dig abstract thought and tough decisive action. I hate processing my emotions. I loathe and abhor the word "journaling." My preferred artists are the Modernists, I like old tools and worn out industrial equipment. I only wear jeans and sensible shoes. Not that I call myself butch, but I'm no femme either. I've always thought of myself as androgynous. Hah! Apparently not, at least in retailing.

Truck At Sunset. Copyright Liza Cowan, 2002.

This is me, yesterday. I made this self portrait  for MoveOn.Org for their top priorities campaign. I mean, come on. Am I a girly girl? PS: My picture didn't make it into their final selection of images, which just goes to show that a great grassroots organizing movement doesn't always know how to pick the best images. 

Update (later the same day as I posted this on the blog): I just got this sweet note from Justin at MoveOn.Org "Hi Liza, Saw your blog post courtesy of google blog alerts. Thanks for your photo. Not sure how it got overlooked, but I added it to the photo set that's showing on the page that we put up today dedicated to the 'green economy' goal. Thanks for adding your creativity to the process.
Hope your winter is more snow than mud.
Best, Justin"

MoveOn.Org is just sooo excellent! OK, back to the original post....

By actual count, 50% of the artists I've shown have been male, 50% have been female.

Then comes my love of all things ephemera. You know, the Jell-o booklets, the needle packs, trade cards, and that kind of thing.

There are men who love ephemera and old illustrations.  You can follow the links to some great ones. But they aren't shopping here.

So what happens when men come shopping here, or women looking to buy things for men? Once in a while a man walks in and buys art, sometimes they buy a book or an old print. Certainly they buy presents for the women in their lives. Flashbags are a huge hit as presents for women.  But the rest of my inventory? Apparently it's too girly. 

So my question to you is: what should I stock that would appeal to guys? Because despite my best intentions and what I thought was my gender neutral approach to art and life I've still got the feminine eye. Who'da thunk?

 

Steven P Goodman, Lake at the Intervale. Copyright SP Goodman.