SOFA was SO FINE . . .

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

SOFA was SO FINE . . .

SOFA WEST: SANTA FE was a bang-up success, with over 10,000 attending and an opening night preview jammed with enthusiastic art aficionados moving from booth to booth and loving every minute of it! Champagne and prickly pear margaritas, plus a delicious spread of Santa Fe style hors d'ouevres added to the celebration. As Mark Lyman, Director/Founder of SOFA said, “This delightful, unexpected turnout started on Opening Night, when by 7:30 pm, the hall was filled to capacity. And Thursday, Friday, and though the weekend, from opening to close, we saw a constant flow of visitors from all around the region, the East and West coasts and everything in-between. We had to expand our ticket sales areas to handle the volume of visitors.”

In addition to the main venue at the Santa Fe Convention Center there were studio and home tours, artist demonstrations, and a lecture series, and a whole host of parties and gallery openings around town. All exceptionally well attended. Repeatedly I heard comments about the amazing quality and scope of the exhibitions. Lyman is already saying they’ll be back next year and there is no doubt that this is one show that gives collectors and all art lovers a place to see the best of the best, to see a range of jaw-dropping creativity not only from the United States, but also from Europe, South America, the Middle East, and Asia. I’ll be presenting images here of a few of the offerings over the next several posts. For more details in addition to other links I’ll provide, go to http://www.sofaexpo.com.

(top left: Lino TagliapietraTatoosh, 200937.5 x 12 x 9"glass, photo: Russell JohnsonHolsten Galleries, Stockbridge, MA)