People, Places & Things

 
 
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Evelyn Redcross, Foreue
Evelyn Redcross removed the cap off the 2 ounce bottle of room freshener and instructed me to stand back. “I spray over here and you let the scent come to you,” she said.  She pushed the pump only once but within seconds, the room was filled with the gentle fragrance of Lime. “Man that smells really, really good,” I said, as I savored the scent   Usually, my senses do not take kindly to sweet smells, in particular artificial aromas like room fresheners and perfumes. But this was really soft and reminded me of pleasing to that palette feeling you get from drinking a glass of lemonade. Corny, I know, but true. “You don’t need to use much just one squirt should be enough,” she said. “Some room fresheners, you have to keep squirting, you know?” Yeah, I know. I had stopped using air fresheners years ago and opted for boiling spices and herbs on the stove but this sray, I could stand. 

The Lime-Wood room freshener is just one items being sold under the moniker of Foreue natural skin products, which are vegan-friendly and not tested on animals. Hand and body lotions, soaps and facial astringents round out most of the product line.  I hadn’t planned on purchasing anything that day; better managing my discretionary dollars had been at the forefront of my mind for a minute.  But Redcross infectious smile, coupled with my sudden thirst for a glass of lemonade, convinced me that I could splurge - maybe just a little. 
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October Gallery
Ironically, I arrived at the Foreue table only after touring an amazing art collection at the October Gallery, which specializes in the artwork by mostly African American artist. Nestled on the tree-lined residential block of Green Street (6353 Greene Street), the secondary space for the October Gallery is a bit deceiving – particularly if you are expecting a store-front, retail shop with big glass windows rather than an actual house (I actually drove pass the gallery twice before I noticed the sandwich board sign on the sidewalk). However, the home-like feel serves as a wonderful way to showcase how certain pieces might look on your own walls or propped up on your mantle.  In the kitchen, a woman boiled corn on the stove in preparation for the ArtNik, which was happening later on in the afternoon, while nearby a stirring picture by Amachi Omenihu inconspicuously hanged on the wall.  In the converted dining room, Mercer Redcross, proprietor of the Gallery, perfomed his managerial duties of paper work, while the black women figurines by Annie Lee frolicked behind him.

“Are you a collector,” asked Mercer, as I walked through and admired the pieces.  I nodded accordingly.  I told him how I began collecting earlier this year, after being hip to the amazing artistry that goes into protest posters.  Mercer and I engage in a discussion about how many artist present both social and political themes in their pieces without it necessarily being overly overt.  He shifted through a bunch of prints, which had been sprawled across a table and shows me prints from Laura Cooper’s White Mask series.  Sometimes an artist draws inspiration from the political and social climates that exist during the time in which they lived, he told me. I thought about it for a second, it made sense.

I didn’t purchase any artwork that day as my rigid budget wouldn’t permit it.  However, I left the gallery with my newly purchase bottle of room freshener in my eco-friendly paper bag and a new frame of mind. Like the bottle of freshener, it is the subtle messages in an art piece that once discovered and appreciated, could be just a powerful as if the message was sitting your face.
 


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