July 18, 2009

I have neglected you, Dear Blog, because I've been in the clutches of dental angst. I think that the most courage I have ever mustered to meet the greatest challenges I've ever faced has centered around my teeth: Stop, What You Are Doing Hurts and The Thought of What You're Doing Is Making Me Sick; and, How Am I Ever Going To Pay For This?

I spent yesterday gallery sitting, and two thoughts come to mind about our work and preferences: first, as exhibiting artists, we tend to improve. We need to encourage each other because, if we don't, that growth and improvement will never happen. It is good to remember that, despite general opinion, Michaelangelo wasn't born knowing how to sculpt and paint. He had to learn like everybody else. Would we have the Pieta today if his early mentors had said, "This piece is terrible. Go back outside and pick grapes!"

The other thing about galleries (an eclectic one, like ours) is that one is constantly exposed to a variety of media, styles, and genres. Every time I've said, "Oh, I just don't like that period or type," I'll encounter something in that very period or type that absolutely thrills me. I've learned not to say such things before I've seen a lot of it, if then.

Our gallery is planning an auction, both silent and live. I'll submit something for the silent part, but I don't know if I have the courage to put something up for out loud bidding. I was flattered enough when the Board Chairperson asked me to help organize and hang the show.

More later, always....

PW