Open Studio’s – a dreadful and disheartening event in which people wander into my 15’ x 25’ studio chocker block filled with art and ask “What do you pay for this space?”. I open my door about once every four years because it takes that long for my brain to forget this truly awful experience. This is the scene, lookie-loo’s come in, make a b-line for the food and wine, eat and drink, feel obligated to speak to me and then ask about my rent. Thinking I was clever this time around I made pre-emptive moves and did not offer real food but had a plate of store bought cookies, from the dollar store no less, and I hide the wine – still didn’t work.
Other artists open their studios and it is a building event. Two of my closest friends were down the hall and making a party out of it - buy art for the holidays. They go for the fun factor and are truly not bothered by who drinks their wine. They have better attitudes than I do.
I was sort of hanging in there and sort of trying to be good sport, sort of… I was drinking and pouring the hot cider but my mood was darkening…two hours and fifty minutes, sparse attendance, and barely a comment on my art … I was done. With my eye on the time my game plan was to shut it down at 5pm on the nose, exactly as the invitation stated, “2-5pm”, 5:00 was in sight – but with ten minutes to go I got sucker punched – not with a real-estate inquiry but with a comment on my art. Normally this would be a hallelujah moment and perhaps I was too burned out to appreciate it fully but in all honesty this one did me in. It happened when a mother/daughter team entered my studio, they are friends of my friends down the hall. They eyed my space without asking for the numbers, then they looked at my art – 2 paintings in particular - and the mother declares, “Oh, it is the airport runway, I can see the planes!” I want to be clear, I paint water, I have painted water for years, once in a blue moon I will paint my garden and some plants, but really I am all about water. My paintings are titled, “Water”, “Sea” “Currents”, “Ocean”, there is no pavement involved. Yes they are abstract, but they scream organic, natural, landscapes. The daughter, seeing the look of horror on my face said, “Hey mom, they are titled Sea I and II”. The mother was not swayed, she saw JetBlue taking off.
Normally I don’t get tweaked by what people see in my art, usually it’s interesting and fun to hear different reactions and perspectives, but I didn’t have it in me to let the planes go – fly away – my sensitivity chip was tightly wound. I will work on my attitude and get it together for sure four years from now – but at 4:55 I shut it down and drank the wine.
Other artists open their studios and it is a building event. Two of my closest friends were down the hall and making a party out of it - buy art for the holidays. They go for the fun factor and are truly not bothered by who drinks their wine. They have better attitudes than I do.
I was sort of hanging in there and sort of trying to be good sport, sort of… I was drinking and pouring the hot cider but my mood was darkening…two hours and fifty minutes, sparse attendance, and barely a comment on my art … I was done. With my eye on the time my game plan was to shut it down at 5pm on the nose, exactly as the invitation stated, “2-5pm”, 5:00 was in sight – but with ten minutes to go I got sucker punched – not with a real-estate inquiry but with a comment on my art. Normally this would be a hallelujah moment and perhaps I was too burned out to appreciate it fully but in all honesty this one did me in. It happened when a mother/daughter team entered my studio, they are friends of my friends down the hall. They eyed my space without asking for the numbers, then they looked at my art – 2 paintings in particular - and the mother declares, “Oh, it is the airport runway, I can see the planes!” I want to be clear, I paint water, I have painted water for years, once in a blue moon I will paint my garden and some plants, but really I am all about water. My paintings are titled, “Water”, “Sea” “Currents”, “Ocean”, there is no pavement involved. Yes they are abstract, but they scream organic, natural, landscapes. The daughter, seeing the look of horror on my face said, “Hey mom, they are titled Sea I and II”. The mother was not swayed, she saw JetBlue taking off.
Normally I don’t get tweaked by what people see in my art, usually it’s interesting and fun to hear different reactions and perspectives, but I didn’t have it in me to let the planes go – fly away – my sensitivity chip was tightly wound. I will work on my attitude and get it together for sure four years from now – but at 4:55 I shut it down and drank the wine.
