Kim Simmonds, Jim Ceravolo and a summertime trip to the Hamptons…life ain’t bad
One of Savoy Brown band member Kim Simmonds’ many iterations of his guitar. In addition to his musicianship, Mr. Simmonds created the artwork for the band’s album covers.
When I start to think about how this article should start and where it goes, I believe it to be an interesting journey, and one that I feel has only begun. We’ll back it up to my father’s teenage days growing up in Chatham, Ontario, Canada and going to the Grande Ballroom music venue in the 1960s. There were a lot of impressive acts that went through that concert hall and one of them, that stays in my father’s soul and keeps him inspired is when English blues band Savoy Brown came to town. The mix of the music, from light to heavy back to energetic and moving, the personality of the band members, and the art that covered the album covers…this is some of the nostalgic juice that feeds a creative such as my father. Kim Simmonds, the guitarist of Savoy Brown, painted some of the album work.
One day earlier this year when my dad was again harking back to those concert days, I took to the Savoy Brown website and found Mr. Simmonds’ gallery online. The next step was to find out that there was a gallery in Long Island carrying his works.
So I got in touch. And started talking with Artist and Gallerist Jim Ceravolo (ARDT Gallery). Jim himself is a guitarist and so we struck up easy conversations over the phone to talk about art and music. After a few failed attempts to go up for a visit, I finally managed to stop into Long Island to go pick up the painting that I had purchased as a surprise for my dad’s birthday. Heading out to the Hamptons to take in the beautiful beach and the waves on an early morning walk was the kind of intoxication I was craving. After a breakfast, the next stop was to see Jim and his wife Candy, and their warm hospitality exceeded my expectations, and stepping into the gallery felt like entering a treasure trove of original works by renowned artists. I often had to remind myself to close my mouth in awe. Jim’s large-scale portraits were mesmerizing, and the synergy between him and Candy was palpable. In truth it was hard to hold just a normal conversation in such a setting, especially when talking about my little pet portraits. It felt good to be humbled like that, just like standing on that beach, looking out into the distant horizon across the ocean. But Jim and Candy were so gracious with me, they were very encouraging, in a very genuine way. It’s a visit I’ll never forget, and it’s a visit that is hard to put into words with how much it moved my soul and has in turn juiced my vision. As Jim and Candy told me about how they broke into their art fields, the messages were “you never know where things can lead to” and that you just have to go for the opportunity, have the guts to take a risk.
Funny how this all started with my dad going to the Grande Ballroom in the 1960s and the impact that the subsequent connection has had directly on me now in the current day. Artistic generosity comes in so many forms…the act of expressing yourself and putting your expression on display, to sharing your stories one on one, to teaching an artistic path, and to just being good humans to one another, showing your heart and daring to love each other enough to let each other in, that is tremendous. This generosity can take you out of the daily grind mentality, can give you the opportunity to slow things down and contemplate our thoughts and feelings and creativity in how we accomplish our work, our goals, our lives every day. With so much information and demands coming at us every day, it was an absolute gift to take this dive into an experience that fortified my soul with authentic personality.