It’s not too late. Our local paper, the Keller Citizen, is running a Best of the Best. Voting ends midnight on Sunday, August 23. So, you still have time to point and click with a couple of fingers (no other muscles required).

And, you could be a winner too! Two ballots will be drawn from entries submitted online, and the winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to one of the Best Of The Best nominees.

To vote, click here.

There’s only one catch, Unfortunately our local media didn’t add a category for Best Art Gallery. Shame on you Keller Citizen. So, here’s what you can do, After filling out your contact details you can vote for art251 in either of the following categories, or just write us in on the last page.

- Number 15. Best Gift Shop

- Number 53. Best Jewelry Store

The Best of the Best winners will be announced in a special section of The Keller Citizen on September 23.

It’s been a full year since we first opened our doors to art lovers, on August 19, 2008. We really appreciate all the wonderful support from the community. We’ve generated lots of great buzz in the suburbs, met many enthusiastic art lovers, discovered much great art and many exceptional artists.

So, while we wouldn’t (yet) qualify for a comprehensive retrospective on CNN, here’s a visual tour of some of our most memorable milestones over the last 12 months.

We lifted the veil on our cool sign in August 2008.

We installed our cool custom fixtures in August 2008.

We took delivery of our beautiful blue art-o-mat machine in August 2008.

We previewed some of our newly minted gallery walls in August 2008.

We crashed the annual Ft.Worth Gallery night on Saturday September 6, 2008.

We hosted a “Sip and Sew” event with Sara Moe, our local fiber artist, on September 25, 2008.

We had Clark Whittington, National Bureau Chief for Artists in Cellophane, and brains behind the cult Art-o-mat, art vending machine, in the house in September 2008.

We greeted the Fab Four in October 2008.

We took our art buying seminar on the road to local homeowners associations in November 2008.

We opened our first show, Contemporary Elements, featuring the work of James Johnson (forged metal), Scott Young (glass) and Bobbie Nix (couture jewelry) in December 2008.

?We kicked-off our first annual winter sale in January 2009.

We promoted our first show with Keller City Public Arts Board, featuring photography by Mike Gerra (art251) and Matt Tillbury (Young Artists of Texas Gallery) in February 2009.

?We featured Bryan Wetz’s bold original floral paintings in our March 2009 show.

We started measuring the local “art health index” (AHI) in March 2009. The AHI is a quantitative measure of the following: smiles on the faces of our customers; periods of quiet contemplation looking at new art; sighs of satisfaction from the artist whose work we are featuring for the first time; simultaneous conversations about art; art teachers within the space; average time visitors spend looking at artwork; ratio of small shoe size (kids) to large shoe size (adults); and of course, empty wine glasses and Italian soda bottles from our (in)famous opening receptions.

We featured on Home and Lifestyle TV in March 2009.

We opened art251 Trinity River at the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas, with our friend and partner T Hanson in April 2009. Need directions? Click here.

We exhibited Faith Scott Jessup’s dramatic original Texas landscapes in May 2009.

?We hosted the official book release party for Allison Bottke’s novel “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” in June 2009.

We displayed gorgeously stylish art from nationally recognized, local artist Trish Biddle in our July 2009 show, The Art of Style.

We were voted Best Art Gallery in Tarrant County and placed third in the entire Dallas-Ft.Worth area in a poll of over 60,000 WFAA subscribers, in July 2009.

We were featured in D Magazine’s annual Best of Big D 2009 for “Best Cheap Art”, courtesy of our beautiful blue art-o-mat machine, in August 2009.

So begins year two. We’re ready for another full year of creative adventures and more great art, in the suburbs. Phew!

If you’re in New York, you’re in luck. If not, I recommend you fly to La Guardia, then jump in a cab and drive to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). Buy a ticket, leave the ancient Asian and European artifacts for another day. Climb the beautiful marble staircase, and head straight to the Francis Bacon retrospective.

You will not be disappointed, even if you do not like Francis Bacon’s work. Until the exhibit I had only seen a small fraction of Bacon’s output and was, at best, somewhat disturbed by it. Interestingly, The Met bills the exhibit as “a reevaluation of the artist’s work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992″. Regardless of whose interpretation you feel most inclined to accept, it’s clear that Bacon was very artistically erudite, drawing upon numerous classical references. Further, his personal experiences, especially becoming a young adult in war torn Britain of the 1940s, had tremendous impact on his vision of humanity (or lack thereof). I suspect also that a number of his significant works reflected his tongue-very-much-in-cheek attitude at the art establishment, British society and the church.

So, enough said. Check out the exhibit if you possibly can. It features over 60 of Bacon’s original works and lots more accompanying material. The exhibit, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective end on August 16, 2009. So, be quick, you only have a week to go, and The Met is the only U.S. location for this vast exhibit of Bacon’s work.

Image above: Painting by Francis Bacon, 1946, courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.?

Thanks to you, our art loving customers, supporters and friends we’ve gained another accolade. Recently, art251 was voted best art gallery in Tarrant County, and 3rd overall in the entire Dallas-Ft.Worth area.

Now, we’re featured in D Magazine’s annual Best of Big D 2009 (that’s Dallas for our non-Texas based readers). And, we’re not even based in Dallas!

art251 is sited for it’s “Best Cheap Art”, courtesy of our beautiful blue art-o-mat machine.

Here’s what D Mag had to say:

“The best part about the Art-o-mat, a retrofitted cigarette machine that sells small pieces of art for $4 to $7 a pop, is that the machine itself is a work of art. Not necessarily in the sense you might immediately think of. The vending machine itself is just a vending machine, same as any other, really. The Art-o-mat, located at the art251 gallery in Keller, is more conceptual in nature, speaking to, among other things, the idea of art as a commodity. More than that, though, it?s practical, leveling the playing field and sparking the interest of those who think they can?t collect art because it?s too expensive. And that is much better for you than a pack of cigarettes. 251 Town Center Ln., Ste. 2109, Keller. 817-898-1444. www.art251.com.”