She’s Living My Dream… Damn It!

It was my second effort at retirement. Or was it the third? No, the second. I was going to spend my retirement as an art dealer and collector, traveling around the world and having a wonderful life. And I almost did it. I found someone to partner with – someone with similar tastes in art and (although I didn’t know it at the time) a similar idea for the perfect retirement. We started a business: Ford Fine Art. We started a second one: The Galeria at Rancho Santana. We created an amazing book. But while all this was happening, I couldn’t convince myself to quit my daytime gig. So I’m still working too many hours a day at my regular biz, and Suzanne is having all the fun – traveling around the world, meeting interesting artists and dealers and collectors, etc. And I sit in my office in Delray Beach reading emails from her that make me jealous. Here’s one that she sent recently from Managua…

Sometimes opportunities just fall onto my lap. Maybe because I ask for it or maybe just karma.

Recently, I’ve been concentrating on getting our book better distributed… and yesterday, I met someone who spontaneously offered me a venue for doing just that. Johann and I met with the head of the Institute of Culture, Luis Morales Alonso. He is an artist himself and, I think, he wants us to represent his work. He is very knowledgeable about the artists of this country and other Central American nations. He told us of an exhibition at the prestigious National Theatre of important artists of Nicaragua to open next month. He invited us to have our book in the bookstore and also to have an event to present the book before the exhibit ends. We decided on December. I told him that I attended the Praxis 50th anniversary celebration in 2013 and was very impressed with the exhibition and asked if he attended. He smiled because he had created the event.

Gabriella Lopez, Johann Bonilla, Suzanne, Luis Morales Alonso

We had lunch at the French Cultural Center with the director, Franck Poupard. It is a very active center open to the public with classes, music, and performing art venues, visual art exhibits, and more. The small theatre is well designed and the courtyard inviting. Johann collaborates with the center to provide artists and musicians for their programs and events. It is obvious that Franck enjoys the successes of his workplace amid a zone of businesses and restaurants.

Suzanne, Franck Poupard

The art show of emerging artists at the Spanish Cultural Center was mostly student art but several interesting artists did have work in it. A father and son, one a sculptor and the other a painter, had several interesting works. An artist, Abner Morales Coleman, from the Caribbean side, had stunning, sensitive oil paintings on very textured tunu bark.

Abner Morales Coleman, “Piel Tunu” (“Tunu Skin”), 2021

oil on tunu bark paper, 19”x 21”

Meeting our graphic artist, Gabriella Lopez, completed the magical moments. She was patient with my requests and competent with her craft. We brainstormed the layout and text for a catalog that we will send out quarterly.

Suzanne