Keeping Promises : The "Exhibit"

Early this year, I made a promise to myself that I'll find a way to just make all the fantasies happen. In my case there are two main fantasies that I frequently indulge in: one is hosting my own creative exhibit to "launch" myself as an artist, and the other is publishing my first book to "launch" myself as a writer.

As 2017 began I thought I would be going back to dayjob employment. I went through a series of "talks" with a potential employer. It was a brain decision, to get employed again. And I will admit now that I dreaded it with all my heart. But my reasons were clear : to earn funding for my creative projects in a shorter time than it would take working as a freelancer.  But my conditions for dayjob work were also clear. Hence it turned out my values were different from the company's, and my skills and talent were of the variety of creativity that were maybe somewhat too unpredictable and wild and unstructured. I had pretty good ideas and even a vision, gained from insights earned having stepped back from the fray of day-to-day corporate work. Possibly breakthrough. But if a company is not ready or willing to experiment or take that kind of risk, then I fear that I am almost unemployable, hahaha. I understand about the bottomline but I also understand about investment. I guess it depends on which side a company's values tip towards. I had the opportunity before to create something from scratch, because the company was in desperate times, and so gave me a lot of room to get creative, and that chance made my historic corporate career, and helped save the company in the process. 

I digress. But my point is, the dayjob thing didn't pan out. Instead I worked on two big freelance projects that momentarily murdered my spirit with sheer stress and exhaustion. Right now I am in the okay zone but will need to come up with fund-raising projects soon.

It's August. And way back in January I was fantasizing that I'll have my creative exhibit sometime in September or October. Or even November. I thought I'd have funds to set it all up. But as the months trickled by I thought I had to recalibrate my plans and expectations. 

The "launch" part is almost a formality as most family and friends already know that I'm doing this art thing far more seriously than originally assumed. What I hope the exhibit to do is to deepen the appreciation for my art, especially when seen for real versus digital screen. And of course, to encourage actual purchases. Also hoping that guests will take photos/videos and post online and help increase awareness.

One from my creative tribe said, "Necessity is the mother of invention." So I will take that to heart and run with it.

When I was recovering from the dayjob projects sometime in April, I had already thought of fixing the garage to become a studio & gallery of sorts. I've had to shelf it because the fixing needed funds -- such as fresh paint for the walls, a few pieces of furniture to work on and to hold displays, as well as lamps for appropriate lighting. I am revisiting that idea again because I would guess that renting a space will still come out more expensive. Or maybe someone somewhere has a better garage or has a spare large room for which I could barter use with a painting or two.

In any case, I've started to make a list of what I'll need:

• A space for the event -- with enough walls and/or fixtures/furniture to display my paintings and other art products, plus maybe a side table for refreshments, and can hold a number of people in relative comfort (maybe a dozen at most at a time?) 
• Location of space must be accessible to many, so preferably not too far north or too far south (or too far in any direction for that matter)
• Space must be available for a full weekend - I'm thinking maximum of Friday early evening until Sunday early evening. Although I may just do a Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon thing as well.
• Space must have bathroom access.
• Space must have nearby parking spaces.
• Airconditioning is ideal but not a hard requirement especially if setting is in a garage or garden.
• Wifi access is ideal.
• A simple menu of small foods and drinks that relates to the theme of the exhibit.
• A simple system to take care of purchases and transactions (e.g. Do buyers carry off their paintings on the spot? Do I accept check payments? Do I need someone assigned specifically to take care of purchases? Etc.)
• Some nice potted plants and fresh flowers to help set the theme.
• Lamps for lighting.
• Some small tables and seats for guests.  (Plus table covers and theme centerpiece.)
• Tokens for guests.

I don't plan for it to be fancy or party-like. There won't be a program or anything, but more like a nice quiet gathering in an Impossible Garden, free-flowing and introvert-friendly.

I plan to make what I can, and use existing resources such as table covers and making my own flower arrangements. Behind the scenes and as part of preparations, I need to:

• Find funding for food and set-up expenses
• Fix pricing
• Make display cards for each original piece : title, dimensions, captions, etc.
• Frame what can be framed - likely temporary framings for most with simple white boards
• Packaging for purchases 
• Printing and production of art products
• Design invitations (digital and paper)
• Look into options and budgets for the menu 
• Prepare tokens and connection cards
• Decide on a date and send out invitations at least a month (?) ahead

Patrons from my Patreon will be advised in advance on which pieces will be put up for display and purchase. They have first pick and may reserve pieces while pieces will still be put on exhibit. (For patrons outside the country, pieces will be limited to those that can be shipped with reasonable fees and safety.)

The lists above are not final. Likely something will pop up in the middle of the night as I wrestle with insomnia. Let me know if there's anything else I should take into account. Suggestions, tips, clues, recommendations for resources are welcome.  ^_^

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