Brooklyn Museum Staff Exhibition
Last night was the opening reception for the Brooklyn Museum Staff Exhibition! Our Lady of Subways has finally made her debut! I realize I've been delinquent posting the updates of my painting in-progress, but I did continue to photograph it in stages. (I will hopefully post those soon so you can see the rest of the stages.) I kind of stopped because I wanted to wait for the opening, so that there could be some element of surprise for people who want to come and see the work in person.
Anyhow -- everything was completed IN TIME. It was not a problem getting the paint to dry -- I did point a fan at the painting for one week to accelerate the drying prior to bringing it to the Museum. My Dad came to my apartment and helped me put the shelf onto the painting, and to attach the hanging hardware on the back. I wrapped the piece as best I could to bring it to the Museum, and I just walked and carried it with no trouble.
Within a week, our fabulous staff volunteers hung the show in the designated gallery. It was so exciting to watch some of the process. I ended up having more "accessories" for my piece than I had originally thought. Aside from the objects that I decided to place on the shelf (candles, dry rose petals, and a rosary), I made the decision to designate an area on the floor directly below the painting to have a shrine-like arrangement of faux flowers, votive candles, and Metrocards. This is the area where I am welcoming visitors to leave an object behind at the shrine.
It was especially exciting to see my painting with a REAL Museum label beside it with my name, title, year, media, and department!
Susan came to the reception last night, which was really special. I was excited she was able to be there -- ESPECIALLY since she was my model! She brought some objects to leave at the shrine.
Not to toot my own horn, but I was really thrilled with how my painting looked once it was all set up with the objects. I think it looked really awesome! Once the objects were there, it really tied the whole thing together. The shelf-objects look cool, and the rosary sort of hangs off the shelf, pointing down toward the floor-objects below, tying them together. It was great to see it all come together, because there was no real way to create this effect in my apartment without the work actually hanging on the wall.
I got some INCREDIBLE feedback about the piece -- one of my colleagues called it "my favorite piece in the show," which he said he felt before my name was on the wall (so he didn't know whose piece it was)! There was an older gentleman who had a really strong reaction to it because he was both a devout Catholic and was a retired train conductor! He LOVED it! He even advised me of a Brooklyn gallery/art collective to look into.
The reception was nice, with snacks and beer and wine in the Museum's lobby pavilion. So many people were there!
After the reception, Susan took me out to dinner at Gen (yum, sushi!) to celebrate. Then we came home... and in my room was this huge bouquet of flowers, also from Susan! Hee!
One thing I am unsure about is, I've been asked several times, "How much?" All along, when working on the piece, I was working on it for myself, and with full intentions to keep it, since what I really want to do is to build up a body of work that will allow me to have a small solo show somewhere. (Secret dream!) So, I have no price associated with it, and I am really unsure about selling, but ultimately I guess that is the goal of an artist -- to sell work. So, to sell or not to sell!? And, how much? You spend hours, days, weeks, months working on something, and it becomes like a friend to you. I guess I feel like it is selling a piece of my soul or something!
+ + + + +
New York City (and surrounding area) friends: you are all cordially invited to come to the exhibition... it runs from June 1-July 1, on days/times that the Museum is open. (Check it out at http://www.brooklynmuseum.org). The catch is, you'll have to get in touch with me first, because this exhibit is not open to the general public; visitors to the Staff Exhibition must be accompanied by a staff member! I will be glad to bring you to see it!
Anyhow -- everything was completed IN TIME. It was not a problem getting the paint to dry -- I did point a fan at the painting for one week to accelerate the drying prior to bringing it to the Museum. My Dad came to my apartment and helped me put the shelf onto the painting, and to attach the hanging hardware on the back. I wrapped the piece as best I could to bring it to the Museum, and I just walked and carried it with no trouble.
Within a week, our fabulous staff volunteers hung the show in the designated gallery. It was so exciting to watch some of the process. I ended up having more "accessories" for my piece than I had originally thought. Aside from the objects that I decided to place on the shelf (candles, dry rose petals, and a rosary), I made the decision to designate an area on the floor directly below the painting to have a shrine-like arrangement of faux flowers, votive candles, and Metrocards. This is the area where I am welcoming visitors to leave an object behind at the shrine.
It was especially exciting to see my painting with a REAL Museum label beside it with my name, title, year, media, and department!
Susan came to the reception last night, which was really special. I was excited she was able to be there -- ESPECIALLY since she was my model! She brought some objects to leave at the shrine.
Not to toot my own horn, but I was really thrilled with how my painting looked once it was all set up with the objects. I think it looked really awesome! Once the objects were there, it really tied the whole thing together. The shelf-objects look cool, and the rosary sort of hangs off the shelf, pointing down toward the floor-objects below, tying them together. It was great to see it all come together, because there was no real way to create this effect in my apartment without the work actually hanging on the wall.
I got some INCREDIBLE feedback about the piece -- one of my colleagues called it "my favorite piece in the show," which he said he felt before my name was on the wall (so he didn't know whose piece it was)! There was an older gentleman who had a really strong reaction to it because he was both a devout Catholic and was a retired train conductor! He LOVED it! He even advised me of a Brooklyn gallery/art collective to look into.
The reception was nice, with snacks and beer and wine in the Museum's lobby pavilion. So many people were there!
After the reception, Susan took me out to dinner at Gen (yum, sushi!) to celebrate. Then we came home... and in my room was this huge bouquet of flowers, also from Susan! Hee!
One thing I am unsure about is, I've been asked several times, "How much?" All along, when working on the piece, I was working on it for myself, and with full intentions to keep it, since what I really want to do is to build up a body of work that will allow me to have a small solo show somewhere. (Secret dream!) So, I have no price associated with it, and I am really unsure about selling, but ultimately I guess that is the goal of an artist -- to sell work. So, to sell or not to sell!? And, how much? You spend hours, days, weeks, months working on something, and it becomes like a friend to you. I guess I feel like it is selling a piece of my soul or something!
+ + + + +
New York City (and surrounding area) friends: you are all cordially invited to come to the exhibition... it runs from June 1-July 1, on days/times that the Museum is open. (Check it out at http://www.brooklynmuseum.org). The catch is, you'll have to get in touch with me first, because this exhibit is not open to the general public; visitors to the Staff Exhibition must be accompanied by a staff member! I will be glad to bring you to see it!