
Sadly I didn’t sell any of my paintings at Stone (exhibition ends today). I did get some feedback from a customer who said it was a shame they didn’t display them on another wall. They were in the corridor on the way to the toilets and she said she would not have seen them if she hadn’t gone to the loo! I guess it just shows that whatever you do if your work is not visible enough it won’t get any interest.
I’ve been thinking about this lately since the local museum has let it be known they won’t do art shows any more. Maybe in a corridor where the light is bad. There are two empty rooms for changing exhibitions with great lights for showing paintings. If I were them I’d say, “Wow. For one whole month a year I don’t have to worry about what goes into this room and I don’t even have to put the stuff up/out! And then, people will come to the museum to see it and look at all the other things!” But they don’t see it that way. I’m thinking a lot about what it means to be an artist vs. how a lot of people perceive artists. Basically, the ordinary artist (like me) is a small business. A lot of people in the area where I live have the opinion that artists are irresponsible manic/depressive flakes who don’t know how to do real work. I dunno.
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When I was young and job hunting I was up against another woman. I had an interview but didn’t get the job ‘because you are an artist and will always be able to earn money!’ the employers were middle class and didn’t understand real life!
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I hear a lot of stuff like that — I think there is an underlying resentment and maybe envy (?) People don’t really understand how much it costs to do a painting — monetarily! Or how much work it is — physical work, or how scary it can be — you’re standing in from of an $85 canvas with paint that costs about $20/tube and “What if I fail???” And then — like me — you end up with a lot of nice paintings in boxes in the garage because of Covid and venues vanishing and it just being hard to sell paintings anyway. I’m really disgusted by the local museum. I talked to one of the members of the board when I did my poetry reading and he was a real d(*& about it. And the new museum director wants to keep her job (of course) and that’s where the idea of art work in the corridor came from . OH well….
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Museums should have artwork! But maybe the insurance is too high. Anyway its very insular? Not creative at all… Maybe they know how many blue Ben’s make five, but it’s artistic value…
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We carry our own insurance so they don’t have to worry about that. They see themselves as a historical museum, a historical museum of a very tiny place with history that goes back 150 years. Whooopdeedoo… No art show, but they have a quilt show. Between that and the Covid I’ve been pretty upset but in both situations, I’ve done what I can, so…
The last three years have been way too informative. 🙂
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Yes, I have my own insurance, I forgot! Hope you feel better soon and can escape to the refuge xxx
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Me too. Thank you, Chris ❤️
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❤️💕
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