The other day when I had stopped by to visit with a group of wonderful Artists in my neighborhood who work out of their garage, I met two more lovely Artists who were walking by and stopped in to see what was happening. The garage doors were open and the Artists were living life, creating their designs, and we all started talking about all kinds of wonderful things together.
I gave my business card to the two Artists who had stopped by and told them about the gallery I'll be opening in a few very short weeks, and we shared Instagram information. When I saw them again a few days later, they told me how beautiful my Instagram posts are and complimented what they described as my artistic taste. As I've been putting together the new gallery, I've realized that though I've never considered myself a visual Artist, I am one, and my art is a combination of installation, design, curating and creating a space where people want to visit and can experience art in a way that is not only comfortable and engaging, but makes them want to take the work home with them so they can create their own version of what they experienced in the space.
This understanding of what my art is has only begun to jell in my mind over the past few years. I have always gone into spaces and seen what they could be and when I have the opportunity to live or work in a space people always love what I do with it. Many times I've had people tell me that something or other doesn't work or that it can't be done or that there's only one way to use such and such a thing, only to look with admiration and surprise when I do exactly the thing they never envisioned could be done. I've also had people tell me that something was useless, or junk, or not worth keeping or trying to fix, and then I put it on a table or drape it on a wall or floor and everyone wants it. But it was only a few years ago when I was on a Zoom call for a series of Artist talks and interviews that two Artist friends told me to look around my space and admit that I was an Artist. Since that time I've started to call myself one, but only provisionally, adding that I did collaborative projects which is true. Now that I'm designing and curating the space where the gallery is, it's been a daily recognition that yes I collaborate, but there are some things that I bring to the table, or in this case the room, that are uniquely my own way of seeing.
Ever since I was born again I've given God the credit for anything good that I do, whether it is something kind or helpful or something that I cook or create. This gallery space is no exception, and the experience has been one that feels miraculous daily, as I find ways to work within what is already a wonderful and lovely interior with beautiful detail and draw out something new from the already special and unique space and the set pieces that have been shared with me by a beautiful Designer. Things I've had that I've loved are finding new life in the gallery, and areas are being created to showcase the specific gifts of the Artists I have invited to show their work there. It all would seem like something serendipitous because I know that I did not plan any of it, but because I know that with God there are no accidents and only beautiful plans I know that all these years as I've collected objects and worked with Artists have led up to this time for everything to come together in one beautiful installation of life.
When I was speaking with an Artist about a piece I'd recently found, I jokingly told him I wanted to name it "Broken Rusted Crown" and put it on a table in the gallery. I don't know what it was originally, but I did put it on a table in the space, and when I did I saw that the stars on the crown matched the stars on a lamp I've had that I put there and the star shape on a shell that came from somewhere else. Is this art? If you'd asked me that question years ago I would have said no, it's just what I happen to like and it all somehow goes together, but now after hearing time and again that what I like is something that other people enjoy too, and gives them a space to begin to create an environment that they can call their own.
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