Some make it, some don't...

This has been a busy summer of preparing work for submission to one show or project or another. Submitting is always fussy and time-consuming and, at least for me, somewhat stressful. For one thing when you make something targeted at a particular show, with requirements and themes and such there is the anxiety of meeting all those requirements and making sure you haven't forgotten something key, like the prescribed size or how to prepare the rod pocket on the back, and of course you are second-guessing yourself all the way to the moment you actually proffer your submission.  "Will this really communicate the theme?,  Is this piece going to be so far out it just won't mix with any of the other entries? Will the juror be one of those that only likes one style, or hates words on art, or thinks commercial fabrics are unacceptable, or, or, or is this just horrible and stupid????" Rejection is hard to take, but it's part of the program. At the SAQA Conference this spring, Maria Shell, one of the speakers said she feels she is doing well if she has a 50% acceptance rate. I latched onto that number and, by her standard I have done OK this summer.

First the accepted:

The Rhythm of Rain

A Sense of Summer

Both of these pieces will be part of the High Fiber Diet "Making our Mark" show, which had the requirement of at least 75% neutral color and the inclusion of a common mark which will be hidden or in plain site in all included pieces. I was so happy with both of these pieces that I would have been  very disappointed if they were not chosen. Each really does express my take on mark-making and a cool, clean neutral color space.

The not accepted (I can't bring myself to use the word "rejected"):

Anne, Patron Saint of Grandmothers

This was a submission for a publishing project and a bit of a shot in the dark. I wasn't entirely sure it met the criteria and it was constructed in haste to meet the deadline. It's fine. I'm fine. It is small and will be good for other shows and/or sales.

"We are such stuff..."

My submission for the Oregon SAQA Show and frustrating in a variety of ways.  I made this specifically for this submission to the theme "Blending poetry and fiber" and stepped quite a bit out of my box here. It is a little bit of tribute to the artwork of Corita Kent and my years at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I hated making it. It was a total bitch to put together and stitch. Maybe that alone cursed it. It looks nothing like my other work, but I still have some fondness for it. I struggled physically and mentally with this one. I hoped it would find a place in the show, but never had a good feeling for that happening. From what I saw of what others were working on this seemed too graphic, too word-y, too......much. And I failed to have my piece accepted for the last Oregon SAQA show, so that is looming in my mind as a nut I have to crack! (Is that really a reason to make art? I don't think so.)

Right now I am working on things with no particular show or requirement in mind and it is such a pleasure! And I will be thinking about what succeeded and what didn't and especially the fact that what I really loved and engaged in was successful and the ones that I was less engaged with were not. There is a lesson there, if I can figure out how to make use of it.