A few weeks ago, I got paid to go to New York. All I had to do was ride in a truck, help move a painting up there, and pick up a lot of drawings to bring back for an exhibit in the gallery. No sweat, right? Well. Maybe a little sweat. In the spirit of the drawing show we picked up, I've done some sketches about the experience of making a long haul art move. Four days on the road left me with a tight neck muscle, some huge blisters, and a bruised arm from where a crate fell on me. (Don't worry mom. The art was ok.) However, all the art arrived safely, it looks great, and it only took two days to recover from the trip fatigue and my New York Chinatown binge eating. I met some great people and saw some good art. Enjoy the first batch of drawings.
How many people does it take to carry a 300 lb. 8' x 10' painting down a flight of stairs? The answer is 4. Due to construction, and some new front doors on the building, this became Plan A.
Whatever it takes for the sake of the art sometimes actually means, "Three people on a bench seat for 12 hours. Nobody order beans at the Cracker Barrel, OK?"
One of the big issues with driving a truck to New York is driving the truck in New York. It's not that it's just a pain to navigate something larger, but there are entire streets and parkways that you are not allowed to drive on. Not to mention, the ever-nagging worry of, "Will we fit under that......" Street truck parking, even if it is illegal, is golden if you are trying to make deliveries. I had a caterer try to sweet talk me into moving ours around the block so he could take our space to get closer to the building to make his delivery. He told me he thinks it's hot when women drive big trucks. That may have been true, but I wasn't about to aimlessly cruise down Central Park West just so he could get some cream puffs into an elevator.
Stay tuned....
