Saturday, February 8, 2014

It Was A Fun Night

The Shield
Mann Art Gallery, Prince Albert

The Shallows, Georgian Bay
Mann Art Gallery, Prince Albert

Whew! My nerves survived the night! I really wanted to bail out, but I pushed through and made myself go. When my friend Bridget Aitken and her husband picked me up, she let me know that she had received one of the coveted phone calls earlier in the week to say that she would be getting an award! I perked right up and at that point I just knew it would be a great evening.

I was very nervous to see the layout of the galleries and to see where my paintings were placed based on the hierarchy I had been told about. As you can see above, one of my pieces was in the main gallery and one was in the secondary gallery. The main gallery was curated beautifully and it felt great to see "The Shield" hanging in that space. Unfortunately the secondary gallery was somewhat jammed- there was more work than there was space- and it was really hard for any of the pieces to be properly seen or appreciated.  In some ways I was not surprised that "The Shallows, Georgian Bay" was there. As much as I like the painting, it is an odd composition and has a very unique feel to it. Initially I was going to send a different painting, but then I settled on it because it was a bit more of a risk- and this is the year of risk and challenge! In the end I felt no disappointment- I actually felt proud that I put myself out there in an uncomfortable way. In some respect there did not necessarily seem to be a rhyme or reason to the galleries, although the third gallery space did seem to be a bit more of the "novice" work- however an award winning piece was hanging in that space, so who knows? It all messes with your head a bit!

One of the best moments from the night was when a young woman and her friend came over to see if I was Nicki! It turns out she is an artist and watches my blog/Facebook page! We had a wonderful chat and I was so happy to meet her. She seemed genuinely excited to meet me and was pumped that her painting was hanging right beside mine (to the right of The Shallows). The sky in her piece had the most ethereal glow to it- really lovely.

Another great thing about the night was simply hanging out and talking art with friends. Several artists I know had submitted work and made the drive from Saskatoon to Prince Albert for the opening. They were all veterans of this show and were the reason I knew about it in the first place. One of them, Cam Forrester, also won an award last night, so that added to the joie de vivre!

On the drive home I was able to reflect on the evening and I came to some conclusions about this new experience. Number One: take it all with a grain of salt. While it can be a valuable learning experience and important to have your work adjudicated, the decisions are made by educated opinion, but are not absolute truths. A different pair of adjudicators might have come up with an entirely different show and awarded prizes to completely different work. It's fascinating really. Number Two: there are some fantastic artists in this province. Number Three: taking risks can be stressful, but can also be rewarding. Number Four: it is great to see friends succeed and be there to support them in their accomplishments. At the same time, it is really great to be with friends as support if there are disappoints. Number Five: they do not put submitted paintings outside under rocks!

The show runs until March 22- check it out if you can.

6 comments:

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

! Right on Nicki!!

and woah - do not like that 'jam'. no kidding.

SO proud of you. : )

~Monika

Nicki said...

Thanks Monika!

Judy Adamson said...

Great to see that you're still going from strength to strength, Nicki! :)

Nicki said...

Thanks Judy! It is nice to hear from you! I haven't been popping around the blog world lately. I will have to stop in to see what you have been doing.

Marcela Strasdas said...

Congratulations Nicky!

Nicki said...

Thank you Marcela!