Well, so the jury's been out on a number of pieces.
Firstly the St John Art Sale - glad that part of me treated it as a piece of social experiment: how do art sales go if people are losing their pensions, worry about their homes and jobs, etc... So, while I remembered a good sale last year, I was kind of cautious when we went to pick up the paintings.
And indeed, not one of them had sold; being curious, I began to quiz people a bit about the sale, but I didn't get very far - 'oh, not too bad considering...'; 'ach, ok... we sold quite a few pieces'. Watching the pages of the entries as she was flicking through them to find mine, none of the 5-6 pages I saw had any sales recorded against them - last year they had sold about 25% of the paintings and weren't too ecstatic about that.
So, the fluffy pieces are on loan to a different friend this time...
Secondly, I got mail - I've been waiting really on two pieces of mail - one job related, one art stuff; I did get two pieces of mail, both art stuff.
One was a rejection letter from the Royal Glasgow Institute for the two collages I submitted earlier the month for their Annual Exhibition. In many ways I'm not too sad about it. It was one of the weirder experiences handing the pieces in. There was little info on the website, so we went - and rightly I had suspected that no info was communicated because the ones in the know already knew procedures, hanging mechanisms, conventions, abbreviations and much more. I didn't. So while I was battling with my nerves and tried hard to fill in forms without any mistake... 'Degree? Does my PhD count?' 'Nope: art degrees'; 'Which of the letters W O P A S etc stands for mixed media?', M. was observing.
So afterwards, as my adrenaline was returning to normal levels, she commented extensively: did you notice this, that, the other? I hadn 't clocked anything, but just felt that I was part of some art event that - if it would be something to do with academia - I would go to great lengths to avoid being part of it. So: a pretty alright outcome. And: I love my two collages! Pah!
But: the second art letter was unexpected. And it was handwritten on the outside... from the Pastel Journal.
Remember my struggles to find a painting that consisted of 80% pastel back in September? It is going to be printed in the April 2009 Pastel Journal. - As an Honourable Mention in the Abstract/Non-objective category, they chose Three Three One as one of 100 pastels to feature in the magazine. They claim they get about 4000 submissions. That is pretty cool. I like it. What a good thing to do. And did I say: they will print one of my paintings! A painting in print! Now I need to figure out how to get a good transparency done of it.
Three Three One (Detail)
Pastel and Acrylics on Board, 47x32cm
So, I happily pick up my rejects on 3/4 November.
6 comments:
Congratulations on the magazine entry. How horrible about the Glasgow exhibition - not about the rejection, though that's a shame, but about the cliquiness of the whole set up. Not good. Would a letter to them explaining the lack of information be of any help? However, my previous experious of such institutions doensn't support the idea that they'd be open to suggestions to make them more accessible.
Congratulations on the magazine, yea! and a reminder that one just has to keep trying despite the rejections. Hum, those rejections are tiring though.
The Pastel Journal selection is top drawer! Congratulations, and well, well deserved!
Gesa, I couldn't be happier for you. Well done.
Commiserations,
and congratulations!
Grin :) Thanks everybody!
Ach, Steph - I kind of think non-engagement may be politic of the day, otherwise I'm probably just a frustrated/rejected non-artist ;)
Jafabrit: exactly, but in many way academic is perfect for setting one up to deal with rejection: of research projects, journal papers, job applications. Strange similarity... wants to be explored further, methinks.
Thanks again! Still grinning like cat with cream that I did indeed post off that submission...
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