The holiday show a week ago was not what I would label as an extraordinary success.
Unless you count meeting a few interesting people, getting to ask everyone who it looked like to them, and learning, hopefully for the last time, that I have yet to devise an ideal display. Both the arrangement of stock in general, usually with variation depending on the space provided, but also the elusive ‘rack’ that will allow for the shirt upon it to rise above mere laundry.
I did devise a plan that night for a custom rack display that might just be the grail I have been looking for. Construction has already begun, and the prototype with debut at the show at the studio one week from this Saturday.
I’m fifteen projects behind and have my first holiday-show-event this Thursday night and I took the time off to drive to Indiana today to pick up a home-made slab roller that I had won off of eBay a week ago.
I had toyed with the idea of trying to make one of my own for some time, but finally conceded that this one would be at least as well made as anything I might come up with. And the price was right, especially split between many ceramicists at the studio.
Sometime soon perhaps I will be making tiles? I’m not sure what projects I might take on that involve slabs, but I am feeling urges toward ceramic work more and more. Bowls? More handbuilding? The frogs that I keep mentioning obliquely but have yet to manifest?
I didn’t make it to the SOFA show over the weekend, but I did make it to an opening at DVA Gallery, so I guess I don’t feel too bad. It doesn’t hurt that the DVA show was huge and filled with equally huge awesomeness. And I had the distinct pleasure, nay, HONOR, of looking at an actual Katy Horan painting. Suffice to say it looked pretty awesome. Have I mentioned awesome?
It was no surprise that the painting looked far different from the prints I own, as well as looking at images online. A failure of summation of this difference might begin by saying that the painting looked ‘warm’. A failure of my bank account handing led to me not being able to lay down and make a purchase of it then and there. It would be an excellent dream to own an actual Horan.
Sigh.
After all the gushing though, please allow me to say that the opening showed me again how far I need to go to kick serious ass. I still do not understand how it is that I will get there. I do not understand if anyone will ever be able to look at what I do, on a tshirt, and have the same level of feelings I was having. I’d settle for love or disgust too. Just to feel something strongly.
I attended the annual Mookiejam benefit event last night, and wow. My face hurt from all the smiling. It was such a high level of feel-goodery that one would think that nothing might stop the wave pouring over everyone.
I was saddened to see my shirt that was part of the silent auction not really holding anyone’s attention, nor garnering any bids. And I was up until that point very pleased with it. Then I realized something about the medium. It’s a shirt. It’s on a hanger. To some of the less discerning eye, might it just be only so much laundry? This is a little disappointing, but gives me more impetus to try to improve display, whether it be in the studio, or out at events. Also, to remember if the shirt is by itself, and not part of a larger show of my work, that it needs to range in the ‘less subtle’ variety. Chalk it up to learning. Hopefully by the end of the evening the bids went in and up, for the cause more than for my ego.
And when the MC of the evening said something about the next performer doing beat box…I said, “really?” and was honestly only token apprehensive, but mostly interested and confident, as everyone there was a talent goldmine. And then Yuri brought it.
I can only recommend seeing this guy live. Holy holy. Just amazing. In a long free form segment he beat box from Sant’N'Peppa to Soft Cell to Iron Butterfly. Now that’s a medley. Hot damn.
October 17, 2007 at 5:07 pm · Filed under events, works
There is a Mookiejam on the horizon, on October 29th. It’s going to be a ’spookiejam’…heh. If the past few years are any benchmark, I can say that this should kick some ass.
Recently I embroidered a shirt to be worn in the Chicago Marathon, the one during a record heat wave, and I’m not even certain if it was worn. Here’s hoping it went well one way or the other, and that much monies was raised for this excellent organization.
This year I’m donating the new squid shirt to be auctioned off the night of the spookiejam, so if you like squids, or have seen this shirt and think it’s beesknees, you are going to dust off your Vader costume, and show up the night of.
Their site has all the details, and as always, call for reservations, space is limited. Lots of people are going to want to get in on this one…a good time for a good cause. Rock on. Spook on. See you there.
