The Learning Experience

December 4th was the 17th Ave Studios Winter Show. This was my first showing experience in this artists collective. I was eager to see what was entailed and how this group operates when working together. I have been a part of different artist collectives for several years. With that said, my experience has been, when putting together a show,  the group of artists work together to create a cohesive look and feel in the space. This would be my first time to experience a group show where everyone receives their own 6ft space and creates whatever they want. So I went with the 'less is more' approach, small pieces for small prices. I was the first artist that had all my work up the night before in the community space. It looked great in the space, in the empty space. That morning and a few hours before the event was open to the public was when the other work came in like a storm. The show opened at 11am and people from Santa Cruz, were, crusin' about looking around seeing friends and eating cookies. After about two hours, I had never felt so invisible in my life. I was ready to go but I stayed the whole time realizing that, in this case that it is not 'less is more' is was 'bigger is better'. In August I had the best selling show with the robots at Cruzio and this was the exact opposite.  Once I realized people were purchasing $25.00 prints and jewelry, that maybe this wasn't the show for me. If I wasn't making any sales, I at least wanted to make an impact with my work, which also didn't seem to happen. The feeling of being invisible was not on my radar and was a new feeling to me, however the feeling of wanting to consume Vodka Crans at a fast rate was pumping through my Irish body. I wanted to have my life size robots come into the show and whisk me away on a boat and feed me plumbs laced with laughter.

I stayed sober another day and chalked it up to experience.