above - Five Guys Burgers, Rehoboth Delaware
The Spread, we know your B'more art is great, so we're here to check out the food, drink and atmosphere at your next reception. We took a break but we're now back. We checked out openings way back in February/March at The Shine Collective in Hampden (Baltimore) and Gallery G at the Rotunda (Baltimore) and the Towson Arts Collective (Towson, Maryland) in June...
First Stop, The Shine Collective - The gang got here a little after 8:00PM and can honestly report, there was NO Spread! True, it was listed in the Baltimore Citypaper under "Art Openings" but I think it was another case of Art/Artist abuse. Get traffic in your clothing shop by having an art opening but f*ck the artist and visitors. The Art was good but was hidden behind or above or below the clothes, one had to be in there looking for the art to find it. Not only NO Spread but that Cool Chesire Cat, M.S. Wiggs needing litter box time was told there were NO BATHROOMS either, WTF! As a little test, we sent a couple of delicious Felines looking to freshen up and YES, these beauties were turned away, NO BATHROOMS! The Shine Collective, an UNCOOL, UNFRIENDLY and UNART place, skip it next time, plenty of other places to spend your dollars where they greet you with a smile AND hello... that's not that hard is it? Rating 1.27 out of 10
Next up, Gallery G at the Rotunda - All we can say about this space in Baltimore, it's professional! We got there late on a Saturday night for an Opening and it was packed. Live music, some readings and plenty of art in almost every price range. Also, they just opened up a new Cafe with wireless, pretty cool! This is not the first opening we've attended at Gallery G, so being at the top of their game is a given and this night was no exception. Great finger foods and both red and white wines; we are a bit disappointed no beer was to be found but Gallery G is tops when it comes to desserts. The selection consisted of simple sweets to cookies to a variety of pies and a YUMMY selection cheese cakes, just outrageously good! Our only "real" complaint, why not have the Cafe open, so we can have a nice cup of coffee to go along with the desserts... Rating 6.50 out of 10
June 19, 2008, the Towson Arts Collective - we ventured out to the Suburbs of Baltimore for the first time and landed at the Towson Arts Collective Photography Exhibit Opening in Towson Maryland. The photo exhibit was real good; even a handful of Black and Whites were processed and printed the old fashioned way, NICE! It's located in a lower level, well lighted, very large space but the lack of windows does make one feel a bit claustrophobic. Some side notes, we love tattoos and there were no tattoos to speak of, plus, remember that line out of "As Good As it Gets", Cuba Gooding Jr. said: "I grew up in hell homeboy. My grandmother had more attitude.", may apply to this particular show or group of artist, some great photos but all relatively safe. The spread at the Opening was probably the BEST one we've had. They had white and red wines as well as sodas for drinks, the food consisted of cookies and cakes, turkey or beef wraps but what knocked me off my feet was the Greek salad complete with pepperoncini, wow, wow, wow! What they did lack was presentation, spread out on 2 large tables, the food was offerred in the orginal packaging it came with, a lot of black pastic, not very inviting, very Big Box like. But all in all, this trip to the suburbs was enjoyable. Rating: 4.5 out of 10
It just goes to show, we can all be different and have a blast!
It's all in fun,
the Spread, ChazL and JoshuaJ
Look for us at your next Art Thing
The Spread - Volume 1
The Spread - Volume 2
