I met Emily at her house and helped carry her work, packed gently in boxes and bags into her car. We were bringing it to the Pownal Library in Vermont to hang her exhibit, “Magic, Nature and Books.”
Emily had been scheduled to have the show at the Library long before she became the Director. A job that seems to have been made for her.
I love to curate and hang art shows.
I was an art handler years ago at the Hillwood Art Museum on Long Island. That’s where I learned to work well with other women. It was all women on the staff at the small museum and we figured things out together.
It’s also when I noticed that whenever a man was involved, he would try to take over.
I know it’s a generalization, but that was my experience. I was working with some good people who knew the importance of collaboration, of letting each of us do what we did best.
I was quick to offer my help when Emily told me she was hanging her show. I already knew we’d work well together because we’re friends and have been dancing together for the past seven years.
Artists can be difficult to work with especially when they’re hanging their own shows. But Emily and I got right to it. She had an idea where each piece would go, and when it didn’t work she had no trouble changing her mind about it.
We hummed along, alternating between hanging the pieces and stepping back to see if they were straight. There wasn’t a bit of tension as we discussed our ideas and thoughts about where the pieces looked best.
Of course it helped that Emily is a wonderfully talented artist.
One piece of work lead naturally to the other, overlapping here and there in style, subject, texture and color. It was as if you could see the progression from one piece to another and how they circled back again.
The show ranges from hand made art books to framed collage to sculpture, and is a cohesive body of work.
Another reason it was such a pleasure to hang.
When we were done, we went back to Emily house for tea, cake and good conversation.
I find that working together brings a whole other dimension to a friendship. When I work well with someone, as Emily and I do, it feels like a kind of dance to me. The give and take, the shared purpose, the feeling of satisfaction in working well together and accomplishing some thing meaningful.
It’s one of the few things I miss about working alone.
Emily’s exhibit, Magic, Nature, and Books will be in the Pownal Library through August. Click here for more information.
