Larry at Upstream People Gallery EDITED 12/14

"Sisters of the World" c by Jean Bourque

graphite and watercolor painting

It was about 11 years ago, when I was about to have my first art show in NYC. I was very nervous as any emerging artist not from the city, would be. My little sister, flew in and met me there. She calmed my nerves and she was as excited for me as I was. Although we have lived in different states most of our lives, we have been amazingly close and I call us sisters of the world. We often travel to see each other!

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Here we are on Broadway at a beautiful NYC gallery and I am looking at the art feeling amazed and inspired. My smile must have been huge, for I was ecstatic. Anyway, one of the artists that was showing there, was named Larry Bradshaw, an art professor from Nebraska. He was real down to earth and we became friends and spoke a lot during the short visit in NY. His art work was a wall of many paintings all brought together to form one huge piece of work. I was very interested in the idea of putting different artworks together.

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I had been studying Feng Shui and wanted to make a BaGua Wall. The Feng Shui BaGua Wall would consist of nine paintings, based on the 9 areas of life, covered in the ancient art of interior decorating with Feng Shui. It would be layered with intentions of what one would hope to be, have or do. Meeting Larry allowed me the opportunity to see how that could work. It took a while to complete all nine paintings in the series and it was a stunning display, which I showed in Vista Lights 1998 at Noonah' s in Columbia, SC. I am open to the idea of doing BaGua walls for other people, based on their intentions, in the 9 areas.

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When Larry and I met, not everyone had email and internet service yet. Even fewer artists had websites, in fact many galleries weren't even online, at that time. I did have my Jean Bourque website, which has been updated and doesn't look anything like it did BACK then. Larry had an email and of course the University where he worked, had a website. We exchanged contact info and websites. We stayed in touch and when Larry opened the Period Gallery IN oMAHA, Nebraska, I was his first featured artist. I was surprised he choose me. He has taught art at the University for 34 years and must know many artists.

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The Period Gallery has changed hands and Larry is no longer affiliated with that gallery. However, Larry has since started another gallery, Upstream People Gallery. I know artists often get invited to submit for juried shows and online galleries and are not sure who is legit and who isn't. I can tell you this Gallery is a legit gallery ran by Larry Bradshaw. So, even though, Upstream People Gallery is not in the south, I am happy to list Art Opportunities and Call for Artists to the public here on my blog! This is my editorial, endorsement. Thank you, Larry.

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You just never know when you meet someone where that may lead you...

yours truly,

Jean Bourque