Many retailers and the media have taken to naming the Friday after Thanksgiving, “Black Friday”. Not us. art251 is not a monotonous monochrome (even though I’m a black and white photographer).

Let me explain.

We have subtle azure skies (Trish Biddle), canary yellow and fig greens (Aditi Samarth), eye-popping orange and cool turquoise (Jonathon Kimbrell), soft ochres and umbers (Fil Booth), sunflower yellows and blues (Sean Fitzgerald), burnished gold (Dana Blanchard), lush greens and crimsons (Faith Jessup), fifty shades of grey (Drew Liedtke), rich slate and earth tones (Chad Beene), fiery copper (James Johnson), pale greens and metallic blues (Brian Davis), iridescent emerald and aquamarine (Scott Young), amber and lava (Bobbie Nix), pearl and purples (Jean Storm), maple, ash and cherry hues (Mark Hyde), fuscia, violet and rose (David Gappa), bold indigo, violet, and carnation (Melissa Ayr), deep-space blue (Marnie Vollenhals), purple, lime and soda-pop yellow (Lori Love), soft browns and greens (Vesna Komarica), steely grey (Seppo Aarnos), bronze and chrome (Kelly Berry), warm scarlet, ruby and royal blue (Sara Moe), ocean green (Kim Norris), sunset tangerine (Michael Longhofer), polished brass and pewter (Jay Garrison), terracotta and cream (Mirtha Aertker), bright poppy red (Ann Hardy), gesso greys and silvers (Melinda Brown). And last, we even have rich velvety black (Richard Gaca).

Welcome to my spectrum, on this “Black Friday”.

“You’re fired!”, exclaims bad boy of British art scene, Damien Hirst, to his “employees”. Yes, even Mr.Hirst is suffering from the bursting of the high-end art bubble, brought upon by the recent implosion of the world’s financial system. So, after raking in around $200 million from sales in September, he is now laying off a large proportion of his staff. Now, these employees are not his backoffice staff or his publicists. No, they’re the workers who paint most of his “original” pieces — think, butterflies, colored dots, pills. If you’d like to read more about this, check out the November 22 article from the Guardian.

This brings me back to the title of this article. It turns out that the bursting art bubble may not necessarily be that bad after all. Three reasons. First, art that had reached stratospherically high prices, mostly due to financial speculation, is now suddenly much more affordable. Second, as people revisit their portfolios and their investment strategies, many are realizing that art makes a lasting and wonderful emotional and spiritual investment, moreso than a financial one. Third, a crisis always brings opportunity and innovation, and weeds out mediocrity. So, this is a great time to find great art from exceptional emerging and established artists who will still be producing art — not just because it sells, but because they have an emotional and spiritual need to do so. Much great art comes about in this way.

For the month of November Society Life magazine published its annual Top Gifts For Her and Him. So we we were delighted when the editorial staff invited us to include one of our beautiful artworks in the guide. Now gift givers this season will find art high on the list of possible gifts “for her”, alongside more traditional items such as an evening of wining and dining, a spa massage, a favorite gadget, and of course diamonds!

Society Life magazine isn’t online, so I’ll quote the printed article, complete with a picture of Faith Jessup’s beautiful work:

Gift of Art — Lizard with Peonies

“Denton based artist Faith Scott Jessup is a realist painter, but her interest lies in creating a world of impossibilities. In her fluid paintings she often juxtaposes animals with everyday objects, imagining them as actors on a darkened stage with a single source of light. Lizard with Peonies is an oil on canvas, gallery wrapped, 48 inches high by 36 inches wide. This painting and others are available at art251 located at 251 Town Center Lane #2109 in the Keller Arthouse.”

By the way, the original is gorgeous. So, while the image of “Lizard with Peonies” looks good online and in print, the full scale original is fluid and luminous and lush and subtle and romantic and…

Well, perhaps you should just come and see it for yourself, and then buy it “for her”.

Yes, we’re on the road again. This time we’re taking a selection of our great art to Colleyville, our neighboring community to the south-east for a weekend “Taste and See” event. We’re showcasing works — mostly smaller pieces — by Trish Biddle, Chad Beene, Ann Hardy, Aditi Samarth, James Johnson, Scott Young, Michael Longhofer, Fil Booth, Marnie Vollenhals, Donna Antosh and yours truly.

We’re not just looking at this two day event as a way to generate sales, but to promote art251 to the wider community. After all, we’re the only commercial art gallery in the area, and we believe it’s important for all our neighbors to know.

If you’re near Colleyville, we’d love to see you. The event is at: Good Shepherd Parish Hall, 1000 Tinker Road, Colleyville and runs on Saturday, November 15, 4-9pm and Sunday, November 16, 10am-2pm.

The first of our monthly art251 art seminars is set for later today, November 11. The Heritage Homeowners Association (HOA) in Keller has graciously opened the doors of its clubhouse to your friendly art251 owners for some serious debunking.

This evening’s topic is entitled “Mythbusters — Art Buying 101″, where we’ll be tackling some common myths and misconceptions about art and buying art, such as “Art is expensive”, and “Buying Requires a Vast Knowledge of Art”.

I haven’t done much research to learn whether many other art galleries do this type of community outreach. I suspect a few do and many don’t. So, while we’re not necessarily blazing a new trail, we’re doing our small part to bring art in all its glory to (more of) the suburbs.

Our seminar series spans five presentations, each one hour long. We’re not high on formality, and we do like audience participation. So this should be fun. Oh, and did I mention we bring lots of great art with us and we do it for free! So, if you’re not part of the Heritage HOA, and would like us to venture to your community give us a call at 817.898.1444 or contact us online by clicking here.

What better time than Election Day, a time that signifies change, renewal, optimism and hope, to release our bright new art251 website. And, in honor of this historic event (meaning the election) we’re showcasing two sophisticated ladies sipping their martinis at the art251 Martini Bar — both looking gorgeous, one in red, one in blue. The work is by Trish Biddle, one of art251’s signature artists.