Skipping a Beat

Originally posted at offcenter.biz in February, 2010. I still haven't appeared...

For the longest time, I've wanted to be on Oregon ArtBeat.
 
It's a public television program, produced out of Portland, that profiles visual and performing artists from around the state. Not just painters and sculptors, either. More than a few of my potter friends have been featured over the years, including a couple of Eugenians, Ken Standhardt and Faith Rahill. Being on ArtBeat is a sort of imprimatur, a seal of approval from Oregon Public Broadcasting.

It doesn't hurt career-wise, either. Both Ken and Faith reported a lot more interest in their work, and a number of new customers, after their ArtBeat appearances.

So it should have been a dream come true last January when I got a phone call from a listener on my public radio show, saying she'd seen me on Oregon ArtBeat the previous night.

Except I hadn't been interviewed. What the heck?

I watched the rebroadcast Sunday night, and she was right, there I was. For about 10 seconds. The crew had been in Eugene to record a feature about local painter Sarkis Antikajian, shot some footage of his retrospective exhibit, and decided to economize on the travel budget by shooting a feature on the Maude Kerns Art Center, where Sarkis' show was held. A feature that included footage of Club Mud.

So there's Don Prey, inspecting a bisque firing. There's Laura, teaching a kids' class. And there I am, way back in the back room, dipping and painting pots. There's a nice 3-second close-up of my hands painting chrome green onto a hummingbird bowl, and about 4 seconds more, speeded up, drawing a dragonfly on a salad bowl. Then cut to the education director explaining why the studio cat couldn't be the ghost of Maude Kerns. (It's a boy cat.)

Sigh.