It was a brave bold plan. And could have gone smoother.
From February until July 13th I was madly making art. Giving my fingers calluses, and a crick in the neck. I put in over three hundred hours of concentrated labor. When I finished and looked up, I realized I had nothing prepared beyond that. I didn’t take into account how I was going to display my art and poems together, how I was going to let people know I had something to say.
My sister helped me with postcards, done.
Rob fleetsheets@aol.com helped me get my poems printed over images of my nieces and nephew wearing my embroidered second hand clothes, done and done. I told all my friends and family, done. I decided I would do a live reading at the opening. And while I’m at it, I’ll do it in Spanish too so my friends in Argentina can follow along. Done and done. And why not just live stream it on Instagram. Done. Reach out to people I’ve never met but admire on instagram and invite them to my virtual opening. Done.
It was a flurry of ideas, and at the time they all seemed doable. And they were. I just don’t know if I did them very well. I looked back at my live reading and cringed a bit. You could hardly hear me, I cried and I didn’t show my visual art very well. Thankfully, I only have to look at the videos once. Done.
Of course it wasn’t as bad as I am making it out, and I had lots of help. Women from wcaco.org helped me set up and read my poems. My gallery mates, friends and family encouraged me along the way. I don't know how I would have pulled it off without them.
It wasn't as I imagined in my mind's eye, but it was good. I will take the lessons with me for next time. Perhaps a noisy art opening isn’t the best time or place to do a live stream, for one. And perhaps it was too much all at once. More than almost anything else, however, I learned that I am brave enough to have a next time.
If you are in the Denver area, you have until the 30th of July to see":
"What if She...the abscence of the divine feminine."
in person at edge.org .
Open Fridays 6-9pm and Saturday/Sundays 12-5pm.
