Recent art show shenanigans

I just had a really fun art show experience and I'd love to take you on that journey with me. In my last post, I talked about an art show that I essentially forgot I had applied to until I got a text message the day before the deadline. This is the story of that art show.

This show was held at a brewery downtown. I HATE driving downtown. All the one-way streets, the confusion with the METRORail, the traffic... no thanks. But I've gotten better at it, so I bundled up all my stuff and waited in the ADHD loop of "if I do anything else besides this, I'm going to forget" until it was time to head out. I bravely navigated the streets of downtown Houston like someone who's extremely lactose intolerant walking into an artisan cheese shop with no intent to leave empty-handed.

Upon arrival, my nerves kicked into HIGH gear. Imposter syndrome showed up in full dress. I took a deep breath, told her to politely fuck off, and started my trek into the brewery.

Inside, it was a relief to sense that not many of the people there knew what was going on either. A reminder that we're all just doing our best is always great. I gathered my provided hanging supplies and walked over to a section of panels where there weren't many other people so I could work through my anxiety without "extra peopling."

I already had a solid plan for how I was going to hang my pieces and the story they should tell. Thankfully, I had enough room to do it, but unfortunately, my kids had lost my masking tape the day before, so I didn't exactly have the tools I needed. Armed with only my purse's designated art supplies, some packing tape, a painted death whistle box, some screws, and a screwdriver, I embarked on the task of actually telling my story and making my art look like I wasn't flying by the seat of my leg prisons.

I was mostly successful in getting it hung exactly as I'd envisioned. I took a deep breath and left to be with my family until it was time to come back and collect my work.

I got a lovely surprise and got to come back a little early with my partner while the kids were asleep in bed, so we got a mini-date out of it. We walked around and talked to other artists and ogled the other work. I even had a few beers since I didn't have to drive anymore!

I did get to talk to a few people about my art and saw several more taking information sheets from my painted death whistle box, which was wonderful.

In the end, I didn't sell anything, but I did get to see my work appreciated. I had a cool little mini-date. I learned some things. And I got to see the downtown skyline looking awesome in the overcast weather. One of my favorite garden metaphors (I'm also a plant nerd) is that even when you cannot harvest fruit, your garden is always successful because, at the very least, you are harvesting wisdom. I harvested a wonderful bounty of wisdom and I'm grateful I put myself out there