The Garage website is officially live as of last night! We’re glad to finally be up and running. Know that we’re still working out some of the design kinks and trying to catch up on posting reviews and pictures from past shows and gatherings. We appreciate your patience!

We recently had a beautiful night of drinking tea and making collages and drawing in the Garage. It was such an intimate evening of making little things and laughing at old National Geographic’s under Patrick Costello’s amazing installation and prints.

Is this really our life? How do we have a public yet private gallery-garage space to make collages and drink tea in on a Tuesday night?

Adored local artist, Patrick Costello kicks off the first of the Garage’s regular month-long exhibitions with his enchanting exhibition, “Dirt Sprout.”

On Friday, September 5th, we celebrated the opening of Patrick’s show with a huge opening reception. Patrick’s installation and prints seem right at home in the Garage as they investigate growing and composting while falling in love with the harvest/people/dirt of summer. His exploration of a quiet hope of growth seems incredibly fitting for the Garage’s first art exhibition.

“Dirt Sprout” can be viewed during other events this month, randomly as you walk past, and by appointment.

At the end of August, the Garage announced a secret grand opening concert to kick-off a year of intimate, free shows. The official grand opening of the Garage was planned for the night of Patrick Costello’s opening…so we billed Ed and Olivia’s show as the Secret Grand Opening.

The night opened with an acoustic set one of Charlottesville’s newest bands, the Hill and Wood. Ed Donohue (NYC) and Olivia Mancini (DC) followed with an acoustic set of their own, playing songs by their respective bands Donny Hue and the Colors and Olivia and the Housemates. Charlottesville’s own Thomas Dean even joined Ed and Olivia on stage, playing a few songs on his tiny guitar.

The show didn’t end up being much of a secret…and was a great way to celebrate the Garage’s opening.

You can check out Ed and Olivia’s music online:
http://www.myspace.com/donnyhueandthecolors
http://www.myspace.com/oliviaandthehousemates

The day we put in the flooring was the day that changed everything.

It’s so funny how the decision to put in flooring happened. Sam and I had gone to Lowes to do some research…to investigate out our options in terms of flooring, lighting, hanging options, etc. We had no idea we would leave the store pushing a cart with eight boxes of red cherry laminate flooring (and the do-it-yourself supply kit to help us put it together ourselves!). We has spent some time talking with a young women who assured us that we couldn’t install anything that would look as nice in our price range. We believed her (like we often do) and bought everything she told us to buy.

We quickly realized that we had no idea what were doing. One of my roommates, Laurie, offered to ask her brother-in-law, Mike, if he could give us a lesson on putting in laminate floors. Mike agreed and said he’d meet us at the Garage on Friday night.

When Mike showed up that Friday night, not only did he come to offer us some wisdom and insight on the flooring process…he brought us three power saws that he said we would need. After a lesson on how to use the saws (which neither Sam nor I had ever used before), Mike showed us how to interlock and lay down the laminate boards. We did two rows together, feeling very grateful for Mike.

The next day after wandering through the local market, Sam and I returned to the Garage with a bag full of warm, homeade donuts for our friends. Folks soon began arriving, and we got to work. After two hours of not being able to fit together the next three pieces, we thought that the Garage was never going to happen and that we might not be friends for much longer. A miracle happened, and things started to fit. Amanda took charge of hammering everything in, I worked fit the pieces together, and Sam measured and cut end pieces for each row.

Before we knew it, the Garage was full of friends, assisting with various tasks and making steady progress. Somehow, we got the whole floor laid down in five hours!

The most incredible part of the day happened as we were putting in the very last row of boards that needed to lay right against the brick. We were prepared to take on the messy task of trimming the boards so make it fit into the remaining space. However, we sat there in shock as the last piecese snapped right in place, fitting exactly against the brick wall. We shouted and shook our hands and gave thanks. It’s one of my favorite Garage memories so far.