When I first opened YES Gallery on August 23, 2022, I was careful not to have any breakable or damageable items in places where they could be easily touched or broken. The artwork of course is damageable, but everything was hanging unless it wasn't framed, and if that was the case I put it under glass or in a case or somewhere out of hands reach. The sculptures in the space at that time were all welded iron, steel and metal, and they also were arranged carefully so that people couldn't knock them over or bump into them and damage them or anything else around them.
The one thing I didn't think put away was a small vintage china plate that was in the washroom, and I didn't imagine that anyone would knock it over or break it. Of course there's always something unexpected that happens and I heard a loud crash at one point towards the end of the evening, and one of the visitors had broken it. It would have been a not so pleasant thing to happen on its own, but the plate does not belong to me. It belongs to the woman who has had a vintage store in the space for many years, and the next day when I went online to look it up to see if I could replace it I couldn't find the pattern at all. She understood that it was an accident and was very gracious about it, but I felt awful, and I kept the pieces hoping that maybe I'd be able to find it or repair it.
As the one year anniversary approached, I thought to look for the plate again, and when I still couldn't locate the pattern, I tried to put it back together. When I had finished, there were some very small pieces that were missing, and a poem began to take form in my head. I wrote it down, and used some recycled paper to add it to the places where the cracks were fixed but still obviously there, and left some areas unadorned where the spaces were. The finished piece I gave to the original owner as an anniversary gift, and though it's not in the gallery, a line from the poem is the title of the upcoming new show.
We Try
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