At the Exchange Gallery, we believe that we open up the door to the “art world” to everyone and say “Welcome in.” For the eighth year of our “Cash & Carry” show, we gave away eight-inch-square panels – more than 400 of them. As always, not all of them came back, but the show had more than 360 pieces in it by more than 150 artists, some of whom have had work in every “Cash & Carry”, some of whom showed here for the very first time. About half of 2021’s artists attend Bloomsburg and Mifflinburg High Schools and Central Columbia Middle School. Other exhibitors included Bloomsburg University art and theater professors and other full-time artists; at the other end of the age and experience scale, a number of preschool and elementary-school children had their work in the show right alongside everyone else’s.

We do not, in general, measure art with numbers, but some numbers do give an idea of the show’s broad appeal to patrons as well as artists: A total of 167 pieces sold this year – more than ever before, and a larger proportion of the whole show than ever before. And we got to write thank-you letters to the 93 artists whose work sold – for many of them, including many of those students, the first time that anyone has ever bought their artwork. Again, we do not measure success by money, but we know the confidence that comes with selling one’s artwork. Welcome to the art world.