What you see....

Last week I got  nice email from a woman who reads my blog, with a photo attached of her standing in front of my "Red Domes" quilt, which is part of the High Fiber Diet "Simply Red " exhibit that is currently on display in Coos Bay, Oregon. She said she had watched its progress on my blog and so when she saw it was going to be in the exhibit there she was interested in seeing it in person. It was one of those really nice gestures from someone I didn't even know and it made my day.

Meanwhile, I have been working away on the piece for submission to another show and those submitting to this show have been asked not to show any progress photos on blogs or other online sites. Since this is a pretty big project, it leaves me with little to share here. I would love to be sharing some of that process and decision-making, but I will comply with their request. I understand that they feel the resulting exhibit will be fresher if pieces have not already been seen online, but thinking back to my nice message from last week, I wonder if instead they are missing a possible building of interest in the show that might be gained by engaging the potential audience in the artists' processes and previews of some of the work in progress.  My own experience of art over the years is that seeing a work of art in a book or on TV or online makes me want to see it in person. Indeed I have traveled great distances and spent plenty of money to see art that I knew first as a reproduced image. And it is always worth it. It is always better in person. Always. And it is always thrilling to discover that.

So I won't show it, but I don't like that rule and I hope it might be reconsidered next time around.  My piece is coming along. I started quilting it today. In time I can show the completed piece either if it is selected and even sooner if it is not. But you won't be seeing the front of it as it develops. Here is the back–quite different from the front, but kind of interesting in its own right, I think.