Howdy Jewelry Fans!
Can you feel the excitement? The days have stretched themselves out like a lazy cat on an old sheet in the middle of an interstate move. Granted the move might only be one state, but boy is that cat tired. Ok. Maybe I’m just like the cat, and he’s my cat (or maybe I’m his human?) and I AM tired and in the middle of a move from San Diego back to Tucson (does anyone else seemingly vacation with their furniture?), but I am also so excited for the summer.
Summer is my birthday season. I’ve caught a whiff of sunscreen and am daydreaming of long, golden days filled with piña coladas, margaritas, poolside bars and endless stretches of white sand beaches. YESSSS! While I’m not a kid (technically) anymore (but happily adult) and I don’t get the summer off (sad face), I do have the opportunity to travel this great country and meet you, Jewelry Fans, in your home towns, all across this great country.
By now, I’m mid-stride and you can find my summer calendar here. I have so much new work to show you and so very much to tell you about in person. I hope you carve out some time in your own busy lives to meet up with me soon.
Due to my recent re-move (Tucson do-over, anyone?), I had to shift some plans and fly to a show, the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff, in St. Joseph, MI. I actually flew to Chicago and rented a car for the 100 mile journey around the bottom edge of Lake Michigan. Now that sounds marvelous, and in some ways it was, but it left me bereft of my booth. No tent. No cases. No huge wall banner. No space for extras. I had to distill my work and presentation down to two 6 foot tables and a tent rental.
Now.
Do you personally know any national exhibiting artists?? We are very much like hockey players. We have personally developed superstitions, rituals and rules that we follow. Everything is done in a particular order for a very particular reason; reasons that have been distilled over decades and decades of exhibitions. For me, constructing my Trimline 10x10 tent is a spiritual act of ritual consecration. Each click and corner raised is the rhythm of my song of hope, love and connection. It’s a struggle, a purification, a sanctification of my 10x10 patch of ARTISTIC practices and studies brought to the physical realm.
I often joke that I pee in the corners in the manner of all mammals to mark out my sacred ground.
BUT
What if I show up and a tent is waiting, open flaps and tables, a glowing white construct of contemporary commerce?
Who am I without the struggle?
Is my journey less than because my efforts have not been outwardly Herculean? Does my success mean less without the obligatory band aid (blood is always a required sacrifice when setting up a display)? Is my space less sacred if I own it not??
I’ve been thinking about this all week. I’ll probably turn this nugget over in my mind the next 6 months. Or longer. You all know me by now, Jewelry Fans. In the meantime, I decided the occasional shortening of the way works for me. I decided that owning the physical items in my selling space, or the physical items of the selling space for that matter, does not impact the spiritual effluence I bring to each show. I decided that I am the soul that defines, occupies and owns the space during the hours of our interactions on the road, Jewelry Fans. I decided that I, we, can let go of the struggle and still have meaningful connection and success.
After all, the physical is temporary, Jewelry Fans.
The Spirit Lives Forever.
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