I have been invited to participate in the Emma Collaborative for 2014.

http://www.emmacollaboration.com

• The EMMA International Collaborations are an innovative workshop model for un-structured creative collaboration between artists working in traditional craft and those engaged in contemporary method. The event has become a catalyst for worldwide creativity in the arts. Since adopting this new spontaneous approach to learning several collaborative events across the world have emerged. Notably: Collaboration NZ, McGregor’s Bay, New Zealand, Echo Lake, New Hope PA, Hawaii Collaboration, Holualoa, HI, Art in the Pearl, Portland OR, Collaborations, Sydney Australia.
• In the summer of 2012 the second chapter of EMMA International Collaboration: EMMA ‘UNPLUGGED’ (a format based in using hand-tools and minimal use of energy) will encourage people to move out of their creative comfort zones, challenging participants to re-embrace traditional processes when it comes to making. Participants will be working without the use of electricity but with the use of some compressed gases, paint materials and battery operated hand drills.

Wow, I am honoured to have been considered, let alone invited. Scared too because it is all new, I have no idea what to expect and then wonder about my abilities to be a collaborator.  Deep breath, I am going forward to see what will be.

This week was odd because I received an email of interest from a gallery in New York.  After I cried and the initial shock my brain kicked in and I began to look them up. Part of me thought this is too good to be true and then when I started to learn about vanity galleries I thought this was a cold call.  I shared that with the author of the email and she responded:

• I apologize if you felt that I was “cold calling” you. I hesitate to mention specific works as I am a gallery assistant and it is the gallery director who ultimately determines if work is compatible with our gallery and established market. I cannot guarantee whether some pieces would or would not be accepted. That said, I believe it was your November 2013 portfolio that first caught my eye – particularly Boys Walkin and your astounding abstract pieces.

Some other feed back from local artists is to look at them more like a collective where collectors will go knowing the galleries reputation.  I am shaking my head as I write this because looking at this gallery opportunity further has a significant cost attached to it. As it stands I have no flipping idea what to do next.  I am interested. How could the farm girl from the Canadian prairies not be interested in something in New York!!! I’ve never been to New York. My palms are sweating even as I write this. Nerves, all emotion coming from me.  I’ll keep you posted.  If you have any words of wisdom, please share.