Tuesday, July 15 was also pretty productive. I was up at 6:00am again without an alarm. Still thinking and problem solving in my sleep. I ran through town and got jumped by this gang of miscreant street cats! I barely escaped with my life and after a shower, I decided to get breakfast at a new place called Biscuit Belly. It was really good. I had a regular coffee there and then followed up with a good coffee from Café de Fleur, which was also new to me. (I'm not throwing shade on the Biscuit Belly coffee, it was just a drip coffee and to me, "good coffee" is expresso with something added.) The second coffee (and the third because I couldn’t resist getting a “cafecito”, a shot of espresso with brown sugar) was probably not the best idea because I was buzzing with caffeine and anxiety by the time I got to the gallery. This was the first day that the installation was open to the public so people were going to be coming in all day and watching me draw. I enjoy this part because I do like talking to people about my work but as the hours crept by, I felt like my attention was being pulled in so many different directions. I was meeting people, taking photos with people, giving advice on the hanging of the curated exhibit and trying not to fall off the ladder, all while trying to keep my mind focused on the narratives unfolding on the walls and worrying about composition. The thing that’s hard to communicate about an installation like this is the amount of pressure involved in people watching you work in real time. I draw alone in my studio with no distractions 98% of the time. Drawing in front of people and being afraid of messing up is a lot of pressure. Luckily, people were very nice and they said really kind things as they walked through. Summer camps for kids were taking place in the downstairs classrooms and the kids would walk through the gallery on their way to go outside. I would hear "wow!", "cool!" and things like that while hanging off the ladder. This one kid got himself separated from the rest of the line and he intentionally walked over to me and asked, "Is this your art?" I said yes and he responded, "Wow, it's really good!". Honesty from a kid...that's really the most pure form of art criticism.
Linda and Katherine were around to help get the Vault exhibit installed while I drew. I got to meet Abbey, a local muralist and several local art teachers who helped hang the curated exhibit. One of the highlights of Tuesday was finally getting to see Jana, Forest, Oscar and Dan and talking to them. It was so exciting to get to get caught up on all the new, cool things happening around PWAC and how Jana is making these things happen. I got hugs and high fives and got some good feedback about how things were going.
I know you're probably sick of hearing about my broken pinky, but I have to put this here for posterity. When Walter accidentally broke the last inch of my pinky, I opted to do almost nothing about it because it would have cost thousands of dollars to fix it and...it's a pinky. How often do you really need to be able to straighten out that last knuckle? Well, if you're drawing on the walls and that pinky is on your dominant hand, you find out pretty quickly how important that pinky and its last knuckle really is. To keep my hand steady, I rely on dragging my pinky along the wall. Usually by the end of an installation, the pinky nail is worn down to the sensitive area from the friction. I thought that with the pain subsided, I would be fine, but I did not foresee the trouble I'd have with circles. To make small circles (larger than a nose ring on a bacteria), I plant my pinky and move my arm around. WIth the new crooked pinky, there was a huge learning curve to figure out as I worked, so that will explain some of my early, wonky circles. Now you don't need to point them out to me.
Pinky adjacent story: I did manage to fall-ish off the ladder. Coming down to reposition the ladder, my shoe got caught on the step and I went over the edge. I reflexively grabbed the ladder and managed my fall so I'd end up on my feet instead of my head. It made some noise and garnered the attention of the two people in the gallery. I was fine and I scurried back up the ladder to keep drawing realizing only a few seconds later that I had grabbed onto the ladder with my injured pinky and now it was throbbing once again. The best part of this story is that the time lapse didn't capture my fall! Let's just hope Jana doesn't go back through the security footage for that day.
Tuesday was filled with so many conversations, interactions and decisions. By the end of the day, I was exhausted physically and mentally. This day was a lot to balance with all the interpersonal stuff. I still did more late night Post-It note drawing before falling asleep. It's odd to be so physically and mentally exhausted and still not be able to fall asleep quickly.
Wednesday was July 16. It started early again without an alarm after a night of restless sleep I took it as a good omen when I had a beautiful red tailed hawk fly low over my head as I began my morning run through town. If this were a movie, though, the narrator would have started out by saying “Little did he know…” because what a day this would end up being. I had some delays getting to the gallery, but I was able to grab a to-go breakfast and a couple of coffees from Coastal Coffee. I’m a coffee snob and a different, unknown person made my two amaretto lattes today and they just didn’t hit the same. The coffee had me buzzing but I zoned out and kinda stayed in my head all morning in a good way. Visitors came through and talked and I know I talked to some of them, but I was focused on getting the drawings done. In the back of my mind, I had the thought that if I could finish everything today, I could maybe take a little trip to Charleston on Thursday morning and have my favorite coffee on King Street at Cafecito. I knew it was a longshot, but the thought was there. If you've ever had Cafecito, you'll understand just how focused and hardworking this thought kept me all morning. I also knew that with installs like these, I could probably draw for weeks and still find things to add. So, I put my head down and worked as much as possible. At 2:30, I had to stop and provide some information and stories to the volunteers at PWAC so that they can help visitors with questions when they come in during the exhibit. They do such a great job greeting visitors at the door and making everyone feel welcome. This is one thing that sets PWAC apart from every other gallery I know. This turned out to be a little more emotional than expected.
Jana was at the meeting and after I said all the things I could think of to help the volunteers, she decided to share some stories and information as well. She told the story of seeing her dad experience my first show at PWAC and his positive reaction to it. It's quite the story and she's told me before but, I don't know, maybe it was because I was in my head so deeply all day or maybe it's because I'm a dad and I'm getting old, or maybe it's because his reaction is exactly the reaction I'm always hoping for, but when she pulled out her phone and showed everyone in the room the photo of her dad's smiling face in that exhibit, I thought I was going to cry. I couldn't look at the photo again.
Y'all know I don't feel emotions, but dang, she had my eyes welling up so fast and I had to be very quick with the disassociating in order to avoid a public spectacle. It was rough, but I made it through with my repression intact and my tears staying inside my eye holes.
After this meeting, I was able to work a little more and work on my repression before doing a video interview in the exhibit space for the PWAC social media outlets. You should have seen this, I was a mess. I sweat a lot and especially so when I feel like I’m on the spot. I had two cameras pointed at me and several people staring at me while answering questions. That’s the definition of “on the spot”, I guess. I had to keep a towel behind my back to wipe the sweat from my head. I could feel it running down my back as I talked. Ugh. And, of course, Jana's dad was in my head, peeping around corners as I answered questions about why I make these exhibitions and what responses I hope to get from viewers. I had been dragged out of my quiet, alone place today and I was suddenly being confronted directly with emotions and feelings. Having to do this in front of cameras was extra challenging.
One of the highlights of Wednesday was meeting Amanda and her daughter Blair. They came by on Tuesday to watch me draw and I was at lunch with the install crew. They came back today and I got to meet them. I still have no idea how they found out about me or why they went to so much trouble, but I’m so happy they did. Blair is a young artist and she brought her sketchbook to show me her drawings. That was very touching. She also had little whales and flowers like mine in her sketchbook. She made me a little Post-It note with a drawing on it and it made me so happy. They weren’t sure they were going to make it back on Thursday for the reception but said they’d try. I was losing the battle with my repression at this point. Amanda and Blair made me feel special and appreciated and it seemed that this nonsense I was creating in this space was meaningful and important and I suddenly needed to just get out and be away from people and deal with myself.
With all that happened, both great and stressful, it was a wonderful day with a happy ending, but dude, I was overwhelmed at times. After the video interview, I added a few more drawings and then gave up on the idea of finishing everything that day. I opted to grab some late take-out and just go to bed - after drawing on more Post-It notes, that is.
Stay tuned for the rest of the story...
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