Wait Listed and Moving On

For the second year in a row, I've been placed on the waiting list for Artscape, Baltimore. I had said if I didn't get in this year, it would be the last year I'd apply. And right now, I'm sticking to that statement. As I've written in the past, it's both frustrating and annoying to know you can never predict what a jury will decide. When my work was accepted for inclusion in Artscape 2006, I was thrilled. I had a great show: people made positive comments about my work, I made some great sales and I even got my first wholesale order from a shop in Baltimore as a result of being at the show. So, last year, I thought I'd be able to repeat that experience...but no, I was placed on the waiting list, and never heard from the show management after that. Perhaps that's because I called and told them I could not wait until the week of the show to hear whether I'd be invited to participate, since it's a 7-hour drive for us. I requested they let me know with at least a 3-week notice. I thought that was a reasonable request. Either they didn't, or there weren't enough cancellations to get down to my position on the waiting list. Either way, I never heard from them again. This year, I'm not going to bother to call--I've accepted the fact that I won't do that show ever again. It's time to move on to other things.

Speaking of moving (like that segue?!), this weekend, I moved into my new studio space which was conceived, designed, and built by my darling husband. He did a fantastic job, and I'm thrilled to be spending the first of many creative days in my wonderful new space! I haven't decided where everything will go, and I'm still unpacking, but take a look. I love all the new counter space and the storage space under it! I love that my drawing table faces out to our backyard, so I can see the hummingbirds (still to come, the feeder went up on Saturday for the first time) and rabbits (one just hopped by!), I love that my computer has its own special space on the counter, away from clay, paint and sandpaper dust, and most of all, I love that Stan designed it and built it just for me. Thank you, honey!

Now, it's time for me to get busy...our first show of the season, Art and Soul of South End, in Charlotte, is this weekend.

Have a moving Monday.

Comments

Laurel said…
Hi Michelle! LOVE your new space and how very cool that your honey designed it just for you!

I was disappointed to read your post about the Baltimore show. It truly does make you wonder what it is that makes your work perfect one year and not the next. Sure trends change and directions change, but your work isn't "trendy" at all.

Enjoy getting settled and tell the Bunny hello for me!

Laurel
Michelle said…
Hi Laurel,
Thanks for stopping by!
Yes, it's one of the major mysteries of life as I know it: the vagaries of jury decisions! It would almost have been better to have never been accepted....
As I said, moving on is what I need to do, and I'm doing it.
Thanks for the compliments on the space--I do love it, can you tell?!
Jodi Ohl said…
Congratulations on your new space Michelle, it looks fabulous. I hope you get to spend many creative days in there!

How did your show go? I hope it went well. I have yet to ever enter a art show, I'm wondering if that is the right venue for me anyway from what you are saying. I did get invited to do an 'outsider art' show in SC this fall. It sounds enticing but a long way for me to travel for a 'first'.

Jodi
Jeanne Rhea said…
Great studio space. You should submit it to http://libzoid.net/blog/. She does a studio space every week in her blog. I just now saw your post as I somehow missed reading your blog this past month.