I promise not to wear a dress of tacks

I used to be terrified of  my own art receptions.  I’m sure at some of my first ones, I stood around looking like the angry artist, trying to scare people off before they could get close enough to actually speak to me.  It was for my MFA opening at Albany University that I came up with the idea of making a dress with carpet tacks sticking out of it.  I didn’t actually make the dress till 5 years later when I exhibited it in a show in which I spent the reception sitting  on a barn beam 15 feet above the gallery unraveling a crocheted blanket onto the crowd below me.

I’m thrilled and relieved to say I now actually enjoy my opening receptions.  I love to meet new people  and get feedback on my work.   I especially like when my work evokes a reaction.  And I like to know that I can handle the silences that to me, always feel like rejection.  It feels good to know I have become a person who  is dedicated and determined to do my work no matter what others think.   I cherish the support from friends and family who come even though they may have already seen my work.  And I like believing that I may be touching people who I will never meet and I will never know my work made a difference.

So please join me at the Orange Cat Cafe on Elm Street in Glens Falls NY tomorrow night  from 5-8 pm.  You can pick up a map of all the other businesses in town that will be exhibiting artists works at Red Fox Books and the Shirt Factory.  I’m going to sneak out at around 6pm to check out the Lion Dance at Art in the Public Eye’s new Vantage Gallery (it’s just across the parking lot).  And don’t forget to have one of the chocolate cherry cookies from the Orange Cat Cafe’s bakery.