i want you to want me

WOO-HOO! It's official: I am one of the artists in the group show for the GRAND OPENING of The Gallery at 11 Pleasant! Thank you, Janet Glatz, for the opportunity, for your interest, and for your belief in my work! 

Here's the story: I follow Janet on both Twitter and Facebook, and I'd been seeing her posts about opening a new and different gallery in Brunswick for a while. Janet said she is modeling The Gallery at 11 Pleasant after galleries in Europe: all artists are juried in, but there is no commission taken by the gallery; accepted artists can choose from a variety of space/price options and "rent" their area for a three-week period. Janet posted a "call for artists" on her page, and when I didn't contact her right away (I was swamped with other obligations at the time), she posted the call on my page. I looked at the application and noticed that attendance during Second Friday Art Walk was mandatory. "Shoot," I thought. I was already obligated as a pop-up artist down the street at Saint Paul's: the brochure had already gone to print, the space had been set aside for me, and I knew how much work had been put in to obtaining and planning the pop-up artist location. Plus, I know what it's like when you are a pop-up artist and other artists in the show don't attend when you are expecting them to do so, and I didn't want to do that to my fellow pop-ups. "Oh, well…maybe I can get into a show there after the art walk season is over," I thought. I called Janet to explain my situation, and she was amazing…she said, "Well, since we've had this discussion, I will make an exception for you." WOW! I was knocked out. I thanked her and told her that I would review the price options and get back to her.

I was looking at the calendar, and I thought that September would be a good month to have my work at The Gallery at 11 Pleasant: I am scheduled to be an "adopt-an-artist" for the month of September, so instead of having my work at Saint Paul's, I will be at Cool As A Moose. This means my display will be considerably smaller, so from an inventory standpoint, I will have more work to choose from, and I will feel like I'm not spreading myself too thin. Because of this, I didn't send my paperwork back to Janet right away (three months' notice is required for all display requests, with the exception of the opening show in May). This past Friday morning, I received an email from Janet asking if I was planning on being a part of the grand opening show in May because space was filling up. Before running out to get my taxes done (which is a long story I won't bore you with), I sent her back a quick email explaining my thinking regarding September, and figured that would be that. Well, late that afternoon, I checked my email again, and there was a message from Janet, saying that she understood my choice but that she had been looking forward to having my paintings in the grand opening show. What a wonderful compliment! I was totally knocked out, and I emailed her back as soon as I could, saying, "Well, when you put it that way, I really want to be a part of it if you still have room!" She replied in the affirmative, and we agreed to meet the next day to sign all the papers and so I could put down a deposit.

I had a work appointment on Saturday afternoon, so I met with Janet at the gallery on Saturday morning before I had to head out of town. I am happy to say that the space is absolutely beautiful, and I have a really good feeling about having my work on display there. After we chatted and signed all the papers (I put a deposit down for both May and September), I thanked Janet for the vote of confidence. I said, "You know, as an artist, you feel like you're scratching and clawing and desperately trying to get people to pay attention to your work, so when someone says, 'hey, we want you,' it feels really good." She smiled and said she hadn't been reaching out to too many people in that manner. Well, that put a major spring in my step! I gave her a hug and went on my way…with a very big smile on my face.