"What's in a Story" exhibit at Haley House Bakery Cafe

Last week I installed my exhibit "What's in a Story" at Haley House

Bakery Cafe:  haleyhouse.org/bakery_cafe  It feels great to be 

showingat local venue for a change,  especially one which is so 

supportive of building community. Their website says it all, "We 

believe in Food with Purpose and the Power of Community."  

Have fun exploring their website and facebook page. Haley 

House's story is inspiring.It started as a soup kitchen and today

includes the soup kitchen, an in-community housing program, a 

farm, one-the-job training,classes, the cafe and more.  The cafe

has become a busy venue for all sorts of  events including music, 

art, poetry, readings with regular open mics.  The folks that 

gather and work there demonstrate the wonderful diversity and 

creative energy in our neighborhood.

Celia Grant organizes the gallery in the cafe.  When she asked

if I'd be interested in showing, I jumped at the chance. The

challenge was to present 3-D work in a space  where two 

dimensional work is usually displayed. But hey, I've  never

been one to avoid a  creative challenge...Windows were

adapted for flying books, storytellers and large journals.

and shadow boxes and posters were hung on the walls. 

There is a large screen which comes down in the middle of the 

back wall  so nothing could project out very far in the center.

We set up small shelves (made by my hubby for my recent

NYC show) to the right and left and put posters between.

The creatures and figures thought they looked good against

the brick walls.

 

An overhead support was perfect for Snarval,the large dragon.

 

The opening was last Friday eve announced via the flier

above, plus various social media networks, emails, and 

ad in the Bay State Banner. My thanks to to Bing Broderick

and Celia for PR and helping brainstorm setup, Sandie 

Fenton and my hubby for photos of the opening and to 

everyone who came. 40-50 people showed up, young, old 

and in  between from  many different connections.  Also

thanks to all the folks at Haley House Bakery Cafe who have

been talking about my work to customers since the opening.

Snarval was noticed: 

 There were lots of stories shared, questions and good 

Haley House sweet potato pizza.

 

 

I discussed techniques distributed a few stories, talked with
friends including kids I have worked with and met new folks.
A "Can you name a dragon that is not in Wendy's Great
Book of Dragon Names challenge" resulted in two more
names to ad to my book which had 451 dragon names.

 

Haley House cafe is a place where going beyond comfortable

boundaries is supported, so I stepped up and read from "Sophia's 

Quest" the mythic folk tale I have been working on for a long time. 

I'm hoping to get it into a finished form by the end of the summer. 

The story was  inspired by the cupola of a run down Victorian 

house in the  neighborhood. I kept looking up at the cupola 

wondering what  was up  there. A nest ? perhaps the nest of a 

phoenix? I didn't know if  my creatures would show up  in the 

tale, but of course they did as well as a library of flying books.

 People asked what next ? Good question. Next post I'll show
some of the posters I had in the show..and soon will  begin
to give a peek at some of Sophia's travels.

Meanwhile, if you're in the Boston area, drop over to Haley House
Bakery Cafe at 12 Dade Street, Roxbury for conversation, good
food and to contemplate "what's in a story".  

Adventure on!  Wendy