Bird Dog Arts is open!
The hunt is on!
By David Gordon
Bird Dog Arts opened. I would like to say, “finally”, but the time went by so fast that “finally” was not a word I would use to describe my feelings on July 1, 2021, when 150 people arrived. The work that went into our first night of business was so constant, that I never sat around pining away for opening night. I did not have time to wish it here. In fact, I would have welcomed another week. “Finally” was more frightening than relief. It came at us like a runaway train. It was going to happen, and it did with more love, support, surprise and enthusiasm than I could have ever imagined.
Bird Dog Arts opened. “Now what?” went through my mind, goes through my mind, is my mind. We have a mission. It was the driving force that got us to opening day. Before July 1, it was implemented through construction, agreements, and artist recruitment. Now the mission must be carried out through public awareness, branding, posts and sales. That requires time. Time is something I like to control and with the build-it phase, I had a great deal of control. With this new type of time, I do not, and it is not something that is to be controlled or tamed.
Bird Dog Arts is open, a concept that will stay constant unlike the past tense of opened. There is a huge difference between the two. Open means, accessible, passage, ready, welcome. It means Bird Dog Arts welcomes guests to share in our creative bounty. We hunted work. We have made that hunt available through the opening of doors and the commitment of keeping them open for as long as it takes for consumers, especially those that have never been invited or had an opportunity to take part in the art of collecting. With that, it takes artists who have never been invited to be collected. It required Bird Dog Arts to be open to new artists, new works, new definitions of art and those that create it.
Bird Dog Arts is open. Open to actions and reactions, open to an entire world of visitors who have their own ideas of what it means to be creative, to be an artist, an art appreciator, an art consumer. We will meet them with open minds, open ears, and open hearts. Bird Dog Arts opened, but now we are open.