Vegas: Day 2 - ACRE, O, Bellagio, & Richard MacDonald

We spent a few more hours walking the ACRE show this morning and visiting with gracious artists. Walking shows to determine investment worthiness is imperative to one's business. Our observations cement our 'walk before each show' mantra due to an unlucky mix of a young show and bad economy, it's going to be awhile before this West Coast show gains momentum.

Unfortunately, we saw artists huddled in mass because there were very few buyers walking the show. It was 11am before one artist had her first visitor: us. I did my best to alert them that we were visiting artists and to ignore us the moment a buyer walked in; that happened very few times.

I have to say, the Bellagio is probably my favorite place to hang. It's got the water show at the fountains, the botanical garden: a sanctuary of fantastical displays & sculptures amidst a haven of flowers and butterfly garden; the lobby shrouded in Chihuly glass, and currently, an exhibition homage to Cirque by Richard MacDonald that precedes Cirque du Soleil's theatre.


We scored tix to Cirque's "O" and enjoyed a rather inexpensive dinner at Noodles. O was good and now I find myself in the afflicted condition to compare all Cirque shows. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the obsession with all the brides and the show didn't have that seamless transition from one act to another as Quidam. It was enjoyable, but the critics exclaim that if you see only one Cirque show in Vegas, it should be O -I disagree. Thus far, I think it should be KA or if you're an open minded adult: Zumanity. Now that's a cool show. Swimming in champagne glasses is absolutely amazing. Quidam is my all time favorite.

Preceding the theater, is Richard MacDonald's current installation. Because O finished at 3:30am Raleigh time, I couldn't get photos of his fabulous sculptures. Forgive me, you'll have to head to the artist Web site to get a better glimpse. The photography of his work is better than what I could have captured: low lighting, didn't have my Canon, and an obnoxious cattle call of people pushing to get out. I couldn't wait to get to bed.

Bellagio Botanical Garden

Quiet Thought for the Day: I realized today that Vegas is to me what IHop is to Lewis Black: No matter how bad I think I look, I can always find someone who is dressed worse. You can find the IHOP audio snippet here (Alert: Foul Language).

ACRE, Carnevino, & KA

The first day we walked ACRE for a few hours to get the feel of the venue.

The accepted artists into ACRE were incredibly talented. Although fabulous, we did see quite a bit of 'sameness' within select categories: metal, jewelry, fiber, wood, which can be good and bad. Additionally, we met some new friends who hailed from the West side of the states and were incredibly generous with their information; I happen to believe that separates East Coast and West Coast artists.

I've always been eager to share my thoughts with friends and colleagues about how I see their work progressing -many times it's in a direction that never occurred to them. Lately, I've decided to just hold my tongue with the suggestions, since folks on this side aren't quite as eager to hear my thoughts as I am to solicit them -perhaps I'm just a closet Californian. It was refreshing to have folks coming out into the aisles to touch my Bacchus book asking me if I had considered alternate ways of designing it or asking about potential partnerships -nice! Their generosity took me by surprise every time.

Keeping an open mind is important for a creative. No matter how ideas come to you, taking or receiving a fresh approach to one's challenge is always educational. I may never agree with their ideas, but I know the path of creativity is to volley potential nuggets back and forth until the best idea is generated.

Took the monorail (every city should have one!) from the Hilton to Harrahs. Walked over to the Venetian, past 3 guys slapping tickets on their hands to gain attention to the passerbys -an act itself.

After sauntering thru the Venetian Piazzo & Canal, we picked up our reserved tickets to Cirque's KA. Man I love a good Cirque show.


Dinner at Carnevino, a Mario Batali restaurant was no disappointment. Andrew enjoyed the NYStrip with an excellent rub and I managed to score some Pacific Halibut.

Both excellent venues for an evening in Vegas.

And still... no desire to gamble.