Like trying to catch the wind

 Up here on the North Coast it is results week for some of the biggest shows. I've been doing this for about 15 years now and I have become a tad hardened to it all. Granted, if I don't get any of the half dozen big ones, my season is toast and so is my credit history, but what I have learned is that you survive. And I also learned that a yes or no from a show jury does not define you or your talent. I didn't always feel that way, it grew with me as my hide thickened. It is a lesson you have to learn for yourself. I don't think there is a Bruce Baker tape about it.

So, today I got a few calls from  fellow art carnies, wondering if I had heard from this show or that. We were supposed to be notified by now, they said. I'm gonna call, one said. I sent an email, another declared.

Seriously folks? Breathe. There is probably one woman slogging through a cyber tower of email addys right now, hoping she doesn't accept the rejected. 

I called, one person reported. The jury meets Saturday. That was good to know. And then *ping*, an email for me with good news on the other show. I dutifully called back to say "check your email" and then there was an hour of silence. Bummer.

Sure enough, there was a rejection for one of them. Not even a wait list. We will return your check ASAP. This is a talented woman with unusual work and she has been rejected by several of the good ones this year. I don't get it, and she just assumes she should burn her equipment and look for work with a regular pay check and, probably, an apron and baseball cap. She raged. She sounded so dispirited. She says she can't keep doing this, looking for affirmation from these shows. Oh wait a minute, friend of mine. These are people who are good at running events. They do not have the power or ability to judge your body of work on a grander scale. They have so many slots for your medium and it is very competitive and they have a certain vision for how they want their show to "look". This is not where you seek affirmation. 

I am not delusional. I know I get into some of these shows because I have little competition. So I don't know what else to say to these friends of mine who take these rejections to heart and soul. All I can share with them is that it took me a long time to figure out how to play this and in there, somehow, I got better. I found shows that suited me and my widgets. I applied to shows I always thought were above my level because I had nothing to lose and I got some of them! Go figure. I met people who became good friends, who literally changed my life. 

And I learned that this business of art shows, this business of hunkering down under a tent for a few days with your guts on display for folks chowing down kettle corn, this way of life that rolls from application to show to counting out the bills to another show and another accounting until your Summer is over and your kids are suddenly grown...this business is not for everyone. 

I know there will be a day (or 12) this Summer when I'll be in my tent, dusting my books and pretty collages to keep busy while the jeweler across the road is swatting away people with a broom and I will feel envy and wonder if I should change course at this late stage until I remember that I am doing what I want to do, the way I want to do it. That enough people like what I do that I can keep the lights on and gas in my car. That if this show bites there is another one coming up in a week or two and I may rich and be-ribboned there. You just never know.

Trying to be sympathetic to my crushed friends while doing a happy jig in my head, that's the hard part. It's like trying to ...well, you know.

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  • This is great, thanks Pat
  • Hi Pat.  Great contribution and things to remember.  I like your approach. 

  • Thanks, Pat.  This really put into words all of the feelings running through my head as the time for the jury results comes closer.  I love your philosophy.

  • Pat, during this season of receiving rejections amidst a few acceptances, your post is a healing balm.  Even though it's so easy to forget your wisdom when I receive a rejection, I agree with you and send you thanks!!  I constantly have to remind myself that the only things I really have control over are my own actions and reactions.

  • One of the tough issues I've had to deal with was getting into all sorts of shows when I started out. My first year of doing shows I applied for three local shows; broad Ripple, Talbot Street, and Fourth Stret in Bloomington. I got into all three in spite of having the most embarassing booth picture known to Mankind and half of the galaxy. Just think about a gazebo with wood lattice that chickens wouldn't roost in. I started taking serious art classes a couple of years later. My work grew in complexity and skill, and as it grew I got into fewer shows. Go figure. Eventually I've had to learn to make it simpler, and for heaven's sake don't make it somber or no one will want to hang it on their walls. I'm still learning how to play the game, and yes, it does get disheartening at times. All you can do is suck it up, and think to yourself, "Screw it! Those yahoos wouldn't know fine art from a poster of Daisy Duke."

  • Love the post! I couldn't agree more. After 12 years I have FINALLY gotten past the 'rejected' status bothering me so much. I also have found that many of the shows I have wanted to do over the years often jury in the same artists year after year, leaving only a teeny tiny number of new acceptances. This lessens the blow some too.

    By the way, you DON'T want to do jewelry, so many shows don't even consider you if your art is the 'j' word...

  • It's really hard not to take the rejections personally.  However, they are not personal.  They really aren't. I just need to keep reminding myself of this.....

  • Thanks Pat.  Maybe some of your friends need to get a copy of that letter that Nels composed.

    Of course, I am not making light of their plight.  It must be hard watching your friends going through tough times.  Tell them to not give up.

  • Great post.  Love your writing style.  Thanks for giving me another  insider perspective of artists.  

  • You've got it, Pat! Each of us has to hunker down, look at all the options, make choices and keep going. The alternative: "an apron and a baseball cap" -- okay for some. We have not chosen an easy predictable career. We have turned away from the regular paychecks because we want something more, so we don't blame others, we keep working, improving, turning over every stone and opportunity and learn every day. Thanks for this essay.

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