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”.

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.

The art251 blog celebrates its one year anniversary today. So, I’d like to thank the academy, my fellow directors… No, wait a second, that’s the wrong speech. Let’s start again. I’d like to thank all of our loyal customers and readers and of course family, friends and neighbors, and I’d like to thank the Wordpress community, without both of which my rantings would have no audience and no voice.

I’d also like to thank Google for helping push the art251 blog up the blogosphere arts rankings and my fellow gallerists and arts bloggers. Finally, I’d like thank readers in the following nations: Estonia, Bolivia, Syrian Arab Republic, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Aruba and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Collectively you represent 0.08 percent of our growing readership.

Now, our top blog readership spot goes to art251’s home town of Keller, so I’m greatly encouraged (however, I haven’t been able to find an official flag. Your suggestions are welcome).

Your friendly art251 hosts have been working hard over the last month or so to spread the word about art251 — our cool blue space, our exceptional artists and our great art. We’ve had 3 reporters in art251 recently, and even a magazine photographer who insisted on taking shots of us as aged rock stars might pose for the cover of their latest iTunes download. (While Kim is the photogenic type, I think I may have blown it.)

First, we got a good mention in a September 19 article in the Keller Citizen about Young Artists of Texas (YAT). We’re aiming to start featuring selected works from a different YAT artist each month, starting in October.

Second, came a syndicated September 26 article “Thank you for not smoking” about our art-o-mat machine by Jef Tingley for the Gay List Daily. We’re expecting a longer version of this to show up in THE Magazine’s November edition. By the way, THE Magazine is a great new monthly magazine for the arts in the DFW area.

Third, we’re delighted to see that we made the cover of our local paper on October 3. We’re featured in a lengthy article by Sarah Junek entitled, “Vendor sparks art concepts”.  The focus of Sarah’s story was our beautiful blue art-o-mat art vending machine, and it’s patron saint, Clark Whittington. In addition, some our artists got an honorable mention as well — Lori Love, Seppo Aarnos and Trish Biddle.

Over the coming months we’ll be focusing on publicizing our shows and artists. So, we’re hoping to get some more detailed coverage for all or some of our exceptional artists.

This is the first official picture of the art251 store front. Like the cool planters? No cool art251 sign yet above the door, though.

The space faces West, so combined with the fine large windows, we should get lots of good natural light. I would have preferred an East-facing venue, but the developer expressed some reluctance to demolish, re-orient and rebuild the entire complex just for us.

We’ve finally settled on the name for our space, after much deliberation and review.

art251
As in, “art, two-fifty-one”.

It’s simple, clean, and has an urban-ish feel. The name isn’t too upscale, nor it is too down-market, or chain-like. We believe the name “art251″ connotes art, though is mysterious enough to cause people to think; but not too mysterious that they’ll have no clue as to its contents.

For the mathematicians, 251 is the fifty-fourth prime number. More interestingly, 251 is the smallest number that can be written as the sum of 3 cubes in 2 ways (i.e., 2³ + 3³ + 6³ = 1³ + 5³ + 5³). And, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 251 years ago.

Also, it happens that “251″ is the street address of our new space. I’ll let you choose which of our stories is the most compellingly romantic. I’m not telling.

Yes! We launched our website today. You can find it here.

Initially, we’ve focused the website on giving artists more information about our business. So, over the coming weeks, you’ll get to see our personal and business philosophy, our art submission guidelines and artist consignment agreements.

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