I heard a faint knocking...

As artists, we dream of someone knocking on our lone studio door and screeching in joy at the treasures within. They will insist the work needs to be seen by a wider audience, and launch into a discussion of training, then reflect upon our personal/universal existence, and, then proclaim the work boundless in value.

But it rarely if ever happens.

But kinda....

I walked a couple doors down from my own studio and knocked on the stitching studio of Karla Caprali . There I joined in on a couple Miami Textile Association's embroidery workshops. #textileartists  They are held most every other Saturday. Karla is warm, smart and bakes a mean cake. In short order she has arrested some of my bad habits, taught me correct stitching and, introduced me to other smart and interesting women. One of MTA's regulars turns out to have gone to my high school in Virginia!!! (Now I am probably going to a local reunion this fall. Talking with my new friend made me laugh and recall details I had long forgotten. Small hints of who I am at the core of my being were raised!)

 Then... At school a young new teacher, TJ,  invited colleagues to stay after school and discuss pedagogy. Though I dragged myself there in somewhat of the cynical mind, I left an hour later full of inspiration and self-reflection. He brought me back  (after 22 years of this) to the core of why I teach and to thoughts of how I teach. Teachers Talking Teachin! It is an inspiration.

And...

Throwback to December 2016 when I answered a call by artist Kim Schoenstadt to be part of a group photo, Now Be Here #3,  at the Perez Museum. Schoenstadt had called for all the regions women artists and, despite torrential rains, 303 of us showed up! The only Florida institution that expresses an outright commitment to supporting local female-identifying artists was/is the Girls' Club, a private collection and alternative art space in Fort Lauderdale that helped whip up support for Now Be Here #3. 

The two ladies on either side of me in the line to register and enter have become sources of inspiration ever since.  Just last week one of those women, Meg Wallace of www.setfreeart.com  passed on information about a show at the Girls Club  that I have since entered. Three doggie paintings will now be for sale in their gallery space as part of a fundraiser to benefit Pets Broward, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving shelter pets. The show is May 26th.

The creative spark that helps my imagination needs to roam, play and join in discussion. It has been a full spring. Austin Kleon writes in his book Show Your Work,  that "you don't have to be a genius... be an amateur...get out of your league...defy perfection" and...the work will get shown!