The Plan

This idea for collaborative space was not a "plan" for the first two years. The plan was an idea and the idea seemed overwhelming. So...I wrote my ideas in my sketchbook and doodled around the margins and dreamt of what a day would look like if it were my idea of the perfect day.

Quiet time with my Bible, breakfast with my family, a few laps at the pool...after these things, I would get into my little car and drive to a space filled with the things required to make art. There I'd open the door to the gallery, check the email, facebook etc. and begin as others came in to share in the process of making prints. I might be teaching someone one-on-one or helping an artist develop a business card. I might have an easel set up to paint or collage. After lunch, a local school group might come in to learn about the art media of printmaking. Each student would either get to bind a small journal or make a small print. My day goes on until suppertime. Occassionally, someone stops in just to see the gallery. They purchase a print and a copy of an exquisite corps we've done with teen authors and artists to raise money for our summer camp. The print is one from an emerging artist who has not shown in a professional setting before now. I get to help them do that. Before closing, I proof the prospectus for the upcoming new artist residency and at five o'clock I head home happy to have served and been amidst other artists and ink. The aroma of the ink and paper still with me as I head home to spend an evening with family, completing homework and preparing for tomorrow. As I go to bed, I am thankful to be blessed to be part of the life I love.

For me, that would be the perfect day. Will running a collaborative be that smooth? Absolutely not. Everyday will be as difficult then as today. Will it be the thing that makes all the difference in my life? No that's what my faith in a loving God is about. However, I won't go about life living to work. I instead get to work in order to live doing what I love, making art and helping others to do the same. I better get started before my day today is gone. I hope you'll make the most of today. Life is short and fragile please go out and live today like it's your last.

PS Tomorrow I will begin posting introductions to the artists of The Black-Eyed Press LLC. Please check them out. They are an extremely talented bunch.