happywaiting, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

This evening I went to my first ever art critique. The critique was held at the Creative Alliance as part of there members only, Big Show exhibit. I admit that my main motivation was not to get my work critiqued but to get out of the unbearable heat that has gripped our fair city.

I made it over to the Creative Alliance a little before the 7 o?clock start time. Just as I walked over to the exhibition area Jed Dodds was either talking to me or the elderly gentleman who stood by me. It was kind of hard to tell whom he was addressing. Overall, I was absolutely amazed that upon seeing me he did not say in a curt manner, ?Who are you? What do you want??, then make moves to call the cops. He was actually personable. I mention this because it seems as though the majority of times that I have run into Dodds he has been downright hostile towards me. I?m not sure if it?s racially motivated or if there was something else going on. Perhaps on the previous occasions I ran across him he was just having a bad day. So now ladies and gentlemen that makes three times this year that I?ve run into Dodds and he?s been pleasant twice. So perhaps as Meatloaf once sang, ?....two out of three ain?t bad??

As the critique started Dodds explained that the entire exhibit was hung by him and a few other folks. He said that last year?s exhibit had an all time high participation of 200 artists. However, with this year?s show the number went down to 175 artists out of 1,000 members.

The work was arranged chronologically according to when we joined up as members. There was an outer wall and an inner wall. The work on the outer wall consisted of members who recently joined. The work on the inner wall consisted of long time members. The most popular form of work this year was photography.

Three people not including me were there when the critique began. The three people were all senior citizens.

At the critique was Skip. He was an older gentleman who wore glasses and carried a cane. He had on a tan Indian like print shirt. Then there was Carol. Carol was an older lady who wore her grey hair in a ponytail. She also had on a seersucker long sleeve top with a jade necklace. Next we have George. George wore a baseball cap along with a rainbow coloured vertically striped shirt. Pretty soon at around 7:10 the number of three went up to four when a young twenty-something lady came in the door. I didn?t quite catch her name. So thus she remains the nameless woman.

The first piece we looked at first was Skip?s. Skip contributed a black and white photograph of sand to the show. The photo had a highly textured feel to it. It looked more like waves in an ocean than sand. It was taken while he was vacationing in New Mexico. I?m not sure but I think Carol might have been his wife. They both seemed to have a close familiarity with each other. Anyway, the main opinion of the group was that Skip should change the mat from grey to white. The reason for this was that the photograph itself had a grey tone to it coupled with the grey mat. This gave it a very monochromatic look. Carol however, felt that it would have looked better with a darker charcoal grey mat.

Next we walked over to the nameless woman?s piece. I learned that she was originally from Massachusetts but is going to school in Maryland. Her contribution to the Big Show was a black and white photograph of a woman with a people in the background. To my eyes the woman in the photograph had very odd eyes. The picture looked very mysterious. The woman explained that it was part of a series she was working on. Apparently, all the people in the photograph are her friends. No one had any real critiques to make about the photograph. Carol said that the photo looked very narrative. Dodds said that it looked like a scene from a play.

For a short while we looked around at other pieces. The group became enamored of Sally Mercle?s very lovingly detailed teeny theatre. I kind of sort know Sally through the Art-Mob mail list. Also she has a blog.

Then next we moved into the inner wall to critique George?s painting. George said that he paints what people might like to see. I liked his attitude. He was like an elderly baseball capped, every-man who just happened to like to paint. His painting was a large oil on canvas of a female face. It had an almost yin-yang feel to it. The overall scheme in the work was red, black, and white. It had a nice linear feel to it. The eyes were done in a realistic manner. This gave it the feel of eyes looking through a mask. One side of the face/mask was black, while the other was white. He said that he was inspired by wanting to paint eyes. He wanted to paint them huge. He also said it was part of a series of four to five paintings. To my eyes the piece had a Picasso like feel to it.

Finally, we walked over to Carol?s piece. Carol said that she was an art teacher at a senior center. She also said that she was developing cataracts. Her painting was a very kinetic looking abstract. The painting was done in pastel coloured scheme. The only critique that came up was the possibility of adding borders to the painting. Then the nameless woman upon critiquing Carol?s painting said that, ?... trying to put borders on the painting would be like trying to put a lid on a trash can.? I do not understand why she had to be so cruel. Carol is an elderly woman who is going blind with cataracts!!! What she said right then and there made me not like her very much. She came off as being a very arrogant, condescending, bitch. I hope never to come across that nameless woman again!

I never did get a critique done on my painting as I did not know where it was located at in the gallery also I was frightened. Everyone there had little stories to tell as they showed there work. I was afraid that I would break down and start to stutter uncontrollably if I said anything. Thus, throughout the evening I stayed my typical quiet autistic self. Also I have to admit that I think I might have openly cried over whatever cruel remark the nameless woman dished out about my work. She seemed to have some sort of weird obsession with borders and mats. It seemed like every painting she looked at she mentioned the mat.

Just to let you all know, I did not find my painting until the critique was well over. It was located on the inner wall. I recall getting an email from Dodds saying that the painting had sold or that someone was interested in buying it. I wasn?t quite sure how to respond to the email, thus I never did write back. I was surprised to find that it did in fact have a red dot under it indicating that it had in fact been sold. I hope that the buyer does not change his or her mind.

Now, I wish I had found it sooner so that I could see what the nameless woman would have to say about it. You see her photograph did not sell. In fact my piece was the only work amongst those that came to the critique that night that sold.

WHAT I?M WEARING:
Today, I have on purple plaid mini skirt and purple v-neck short sleeve blouse along with black slides.