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\nFor 2-1\/2 hours I dodged caffeine-hungry patrons and their holiday-high children, twisting picture wire, measuring placements, and patiently waiting for all-clear moments at the condiment bar to hang above and near it. Over 3 years ago, my wife had walked into our local Starbucks and without my knowledge signed me up for their wall-display-of-the-month program. Yes, a three-year waiting list, AND I was bumped from the lucrative October slot I’d been given originally for post-spending-frenzy January. But here I was, on New Year’s Eve, finally hanging 7 of my photographs. In public.<\/p>\n
Choosing, printing and framing them had been a saga in and of itself, but never mind that now. The immediate experience was a strange nervousness about actually finally facing them out to the public, combined with the almost-chaos of holiday java-addicts at their daily dealings with their pusher. Since my arrival that morning, I’d kept the pieces wrapped or leaned face against a wall while I signed agreements and measured and prepped. But soon enough, the first one was going up, and leaving it face to the wall at that point would be entirely too much false modesty. No one laughed. No one cheered either, but my ice was boken. Two up, then three. Skip the pricing and “artist’s statement” 8×10’s — those come last. Hectic, pregnant moments.<\/p>\n
I got a couple of quick compliments, even spoke at length with a couple who wanted to know about where they were all taken, which lapsed into a discussion of cogent specs on digital cameras. One man enthusiastically praised my show before it was even up, thinking me last month’s artist, but it WAS nice to know people would go out of their way to comment, since, truth be told, most were walking past without much of a glance.<\/p>\n
So now it’s done. Three years in chronic fits of effort and anticipation, and I feel a strange limbo as I ponder why I acquiesced to my wife’s enthusiasm for this public display of affectation. Favored images on which I’ve labored so long are now in another realm entirely, well past private hobby amateurism and into The World. It IS exciting, in a self-induced-fifteen-minutes-of-fame kinda way. Odd that it feels so odd, though.<\/p>\n
If you get a chance, please stop by (next to Shaw’s on Rt. 20). The Guys will likely schedule one of their regular coffee klatches there some fine weekend day. But I’m dying for somebody besides me and Tricia to tell me what they actually look like………….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adam Kibbe View Larger image Closer View For 2-1\/2 hours I dodged caffeine-hungry patrons and their holiday-high children, twisting picture wire, measuring placements, and patiently waiting for all-clear moments at the condiment bar to hang above and near it. Over … Continue reading