Pearl

Went to an opening at Edelman Gallery in the River North neighborhood of Chicago this past friday. A very talented friend of my aunt's--Julie Meridian--was showing and it was much fun to see her and to see her work hanging in such a great gallery.

Before going, I killed some time at Pearl Art Supply. I thought I might buy a few supplies--a bone folder, paper clay, a few other things--but none of it was in stock. I worked at Pearl a million years ago and it was a huge undertaking, keeping an art supply store of that size stocked and running. But it really looks like Pearl has fallen on bad times--a third of the staff, half the stock. It was hard to see.

And weird, too, that the decoration I made in the Paper Department when Pearl first expanded into the next door space is still there--painted paper "tiles" adhered to the wall. They're about 15 years old now. . . but impressive color fastness of the watercolor paint I was given to use.