The Cheese Never Had A Chance

Artists welcome every excuse to have a party, and December is a busy month for open studios, art receptions, and holiday gallery events. Merlin gleefully volunteers to greet art appreciators to the studio, and oversee the snacks. He’s particularly attentive to art reception cheese and invites visitors to participate in the long running performance art piece, Toss the Cheese to Merlin. The cheese never has a chance.

This week is the thirteenth annual Art Works Downtown Holiday Open Studios. Forty artists open their studios to the public with good cheer and great art. Merlin’s back-up chauffeur entertains in the AWD Gallery all weekend with original compositions on keyboards. Sporting his Santa Paws hat, Merlin plays gracious host, pointing the way to the Christmas cookies and herding kids around the card making tables. Guest snacks appear throughout the art spaces. Merlin stalks the art cheese. He’s trained a few artists to perform cheese tricks. Anne Wolfe serves Merlin cheese on a silver platter in her painting studio. Painter of masks and myths, she creates fantastical goddess/ alien /spirit art.

On the lower level, Jason Sheldrick assembles, disassembles, and illustrates found materials. Jason's trick is Cheese Chunk Kiss, an improvised cheese performance variation. Painter and illustrator Ann Langston creates delightful images from her travels, and invites Merlin to her dinner parties.

Janelle Schneider is a mixed media digital artist of astonishing internal landscapes, and an official follower of Merlin’s Road Trip blog. Merlin is looking forward to her Marin Arts Council exhibit reception at the Marin Community Foundation later this month. The AWD Marin Jewelers Guild always has elegant, tasteful displays and tasty snacks.

After checking on the music in the Gallery, Merlin returns to greet visitors to the Pavlinac Photography studio, his home base when he’s not on the road. Settled amongst phenomenal photos of places of presence, Merlin plots his next road trip to trot fresh labyrinths and sniff pristine destinations. The journey continues, fueled by art, dreams, and cheese.