today, I want to talk about the turn out of the art show, Inelegant Expression. The show me and fellow artists and musicians worked on for so many days; and how can I forget the parents who spend around 400 dollars for the show by renting tents and helping us print the art works. After two days of showing, we succeed to earn about $1000 for Japan. It was an unbelievable outcome for all of us. I was happy to see that everyone's hard work payed off.
To summarize the days of the shows, first, right after school on the Friday before, I started working. Ted, Alex and I went around our houses picking up materials and art works and then went to FedEx to print. For 6 hours, we were in FedEx printing and cutting papers. By the end of the day, around 12 o' clock, we were exhausted and grumpy. I did not forget to hang the "No Parking" sign at the gallery late at night.
I came home and got 4 hours of sleep and then started working again around six in the morning. I printed out the information tags for the art works and the artists which is essential for art shows what so ever. My printer kept messing up so it took me a while to fix everything up. Ted came over around eight to help me put the art works on the ready-to-go panel together. While my mom made some coffee for two of us, we hustled and Ted made a mistake by putting Laurel's abstract work up side down. After panicking a bit, I just put it the right way. After putting the art work on, as I hate to say, I started to order around Ted and my father to move the things into the car while I made sure everything was set and ready to go. That was stressful minutes since I never ordered people around so much before. I felt horrible despite the fact that I was the "director."
Ted and I drove down to the gallery and met up with other project members and parents. We had no time to waste; everyone started to move things out of their vehicles and started to set everything up. The tents were the big problem. They were big and no one was used to setting up the type of tents we had. So it took us a while to set it up and we were 20 minutes late from starting the show which was a big bummer to me. In the morning, not many people went by. I was starting to get worried. "What if no one comes?" "What if this show becomes a joke?" Many questions and paranoia appeared in my mind. However, around lunch time, people started to show up before or after they had their meal at Chow's which was right across the street from us. That is when we started to earn a lot of money. Baked goods were selling fast and musicians were getting a lot of tips in their jar. Many intrigued people showed up and walked slowly by the art tent. We sold out of our prints really fast so we had to write down customer's name and address in order to send it to them later after the show.
During this busy hours, I sold my painting to a gentleman for $100 despite the fact that it was not on sale. The thing is, he really liked the painting and really wanted to have it. So we shook hands and I said, "For Japan."
After our first day of the show, I went on and started printing more art works that we needed, and got ready for the next day. Which was not as hectic as the day before since all of us were not so unfamiliar with dealing with customers.
The second day was all about seeing new opportunities as many impressed adults came with a lot of interest in us. One gentlemen, who was in charge of the summer artist market wanted to know if we were interested in having our own booth at the market. He gave us his business card and all of us are definitely considering the event. Also, an elderly lady came by and asked me if she can buy my painting of the moon, "Unexplainable Anxieties." She wanted to know the original price and wanted me to paint her portrait which was a great honor to me. I never got an offer for a commission before so I was happily shocked. I also met up with my third space mentor Alan Chin to talk about how the show is going in general. He showed us support and had few good conversation with all the kids which went very well.
By the end of the day, we could not believe the amount of money we managed to collect. Everybody was proud of each other and to all of us, it was a great event of our lives. Doing something on our own like this to help a foreign country in a great need, I think it is the most humble thing I have ever done.
This show changed the way I think of my passion. Now, I want to use my passion for art not just for living but for other people; To save and help people around the world. I am definitely looking out for more opportunities to have more shows like this, where young artists can show their best works and take chances.
I would say the show was a greater success than any one could have imagined, and I would love to do it again.
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