Or How Getting Up Off My Duff and Putting My Work
Out There Paid Off.
It certainly pays to have a
studio mate who is “heads up” for you. My studio mate for the past 8 years or
so, Tyrell Collins, recently emailed me a link to the California Arts Council
website where they conveniently have a list, “Opportunities”. Under this, they list the
possible exhibitions, grants, residencies for all sorts of artists - visual
artists, writers, dancers, musicians – from galleries, museums, performance
halls all over the world. What a gold mine! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t been
aware of this before.
The exhibition she wanted me
to look into was one for my work in clay, which I have subsequently entered. I
won’t know about that until the end of July so I’m not going to jinx it by
mentioning more now. While going down the list of other upcoming exhibitions, I
found this sponsored by Art 4 All People and the Commonweal Institute for
Art and Healing Gallery in Bolinas, California - MUSE: The Art of
Transformation and Healing. They were looking for work that somehow speaks to
the healing properties of art. Besides entering the work, they asked for a
short statement about how art has healed us.
Art as healer? Hasn’t this
been the underlying (if not specific) theme throughout my creative life? And
yes, specifically in my series of 2 dimensional mixed media pieces,
Protector/Betrayer, created just after I was first diagnosed with breast cancer
in 1990. Three pieces of this series were finished just in time to be shown
along with 16 other mixed media works at the 1991- 92 German exhibition,
Aspekte der Gegenwartskunst in den USA. Since that time, I’ve only shown this
work in Open Studios. One sold during Open Studios several years ago. Two hang
prominently in our home and the last, I keep in the studio to remind me how
far I’ve come since that first diagnosis, and that I am truly a survivor. Here
is the series in the order in which they were created.
 |
| One Out of Nine - hanging at home |
 |
| 2800 Rads - currently in the studio |
 |
| Jewel Of Hope - hanging at home |
 |
| Myth of the Cure - sold |
I entered the first three to be juried. And this is the one chosen for the exhibition.
 |
| Jewel of Hope |
I deliver the piece to the
Commonweal Gallery tomorrow. The exhibition opens on Saturday, June 28 through
Sunday, September 28. The opening reception is on Saturday, July 12. For more
information about the goings on – workshops, music, performances, films –
please go to this website:
So I really do feel like I’m on
a roll here . . .
Or as my dad used to say, as only he would . . . “A
Kaiser roll.”
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