New York PS 122 Gallery

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Hello Everyone--

I just want to give you all an update from New York City--the Coaster Project got a great response at both the exhibition site, PS 122 Gallery, as well as during the distribution. The distribution was at The Half King bar and restaurant, which is in the heart of Chelsea, near all the big galleries.

The gallery shots I'm sending were at the beginning of the opening, but by the end, the place was entirely packed. It was a "people-spilling-out-onto-the-sidewalk" kind of event. The other artists showing at the same time were really supportive of the project and were explaining it to many of their friends, so we got a little extra publicity. (One of the photographers showing at the same time got a blurb about his show in the Village Voice, so that helped us, too.) People at the opening really spent a lot of time looking at the coasters--I've got to say I was really impressed that it seems most people really looked at each one carefully.

(By the way, the green cones hanging from the ceiling were part of a sound installation.)

As for the distribution night, the bar was also jam-packed, and the staff there was really looking out for our best interest. (The head waitress wanted to hold onto some of the coasters to give them out to "important art people" from the galleries in upcoming weeks, but I thought that went against the spirit of our project. So they were all distributed that night to the appreciative masses...)

One of my close friends works for an educational international organization that works with Fullbright scholars, and she scheduled their "social night" to be at the Half King for our coaster distribution. So aside from the many regulars, there were also about 30 international students from all over the world who really loved the project, and were very happy to receive coasters. Hopefully some of you will hear from them! (I pushed the e-mailing aspect...)

And just a bit of distribution-site trivia: the guys who own The Half King are screenwriters who wrote "The Perfect Storm." The bar gets a good film/art kind of crowd...

I also want to mention that the exhibition that Vince Garguilo set up at the Parsons Gallery looked really great, and his distribution night at Galapagos was a lot of fun, too. Everyone was definitely clamoring over their favorite coasters. (We were allowed to choose which one we wanted there.)

Thank you all for the hard work everyone has put into this project--I've been so grateful to be a part of this incredible endeavor, and I sure hope we can all work together again!

Best to you all, Kim Sillen Gledhill