Last night I had the rare privilege of attending a belated Astoria Art Walk Tour — one gallery only, musically enhanced, and attended by a very select group of folks — Tucker, Carol, two young women from Astoria and me! The event was held at the Paul Polson Gallery and Studio at 100 10th Street in Astoria. It was a sort of “make-up event” because the regular Art Walk scheduled for a week ago was iced out. Our friends, Double J and the Boys were playing and they invited us Oysterville groupies to “come on over.”
Somehow or other we had the place almost to ourselves! Though there was no ice, it was rainy enough to make the oncoming (HUGE, BRIGHT, BLINDING) headlights hell on wheels and thank goodness Tucker was driving. He dropped Carol and me off and while he went hunting for a parking place, a darling little dog scampered down the lobby stairs barking a greeting specificallu to Carol. “Are you Gidget?” Carpl asked as the dog tugged insistently at her trouser cuff and then went boundin up the stairs to see if Carol was coming. She wasn’t so down Gidget came and repeated her instructions, until finally Paul Polson, himself, came down to see what all the excitement was.
Gidget, who I met a bit later, is Judy and Charlie’s new dog and had been introduced to Carol a few days ago. She was the most exuberant “greeter” ever (not to me of course, since we hadn’t been properly introduced.) As soon as Tucker arrived, up we went and there we found the musicians playing some old country western favorites with an audience of two… now five! From our point of view,it was perfect! Surrounded by fabulous art and great music and all for us — almost!
At break-time., Judy introduced us to Paul (though we had done that for ourselves to translate for Gidget). Judy and Paul have been friends since the 60s. She also told us a bit more about his work. In addition to the large oils on display in his gallery, Paul makes those huge oversized balloon structures like those used in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I especially liked the picture of the gigantic pig he did for Cirque du Soleil — available for viewing at the gallery only in picture form and in newspaper articles
But the best part? “Would you like to see my studio?” he asked. And up we went! Carol and I just looked and looked but Tucker had questions about what paints he used for certain colors and other technical stuff that only another trained artist would know to ask. As usual, I was so impressed by all the facets of our world that others know that I haven’t a single clue about! It was a very special evening, indeed!