wordless Wednesday

new website!

You can find me at my new website ---

www.kristinemays.com

portfolio review

Yesterday I went to see about a live/work loft space here in SF. If I get it, it will be a dream come true. It’s over 1500 square feet and divided into a living space and a workspace. When I left the house yesterday I thought I was one of 25 being called back for a portfolio review. Turns out, I was one of 43 people! The competition was STIFF! It reminded me of the competitive high school I attended where people treated everyone as a threat, as their competitor, and something as simple as getting into the classroom became a race. This feeling from high school came to mind as I walked from the bus stop to the studio yesterday. I had plenty of time – in fact, I was 20 minutes early. As I strolled down the street only a block away from the building, I happened to glance back and I saw a woman who I’d seen at the open house. She was carrying a portfolio and a big bag (looked like a framed photo). Suddenly a look of recognition came over her face and she started walking faster and faster and suddenly she practically broke out in a run – just to get into the building before me. The interviews were lined up according to first come, first serve so I guess it seemed important for her to interview before me. Whatever!

Once inside the building, a dozen people lined the halls, sitting on folding chairs. I said hello to anyone I made eye contact with but most people did not reciprocate. Everyone had their game face on. At one point two guys started talking. One guy went on and on, name dropping about the people he knew in the building. I laughed to myself thinking how my friend predicted that there would be at least one person trying to use friends as leverage for entrance. The other guy talked about the two galleries he was represented by. He talked in this really arrogant way and went on to say that he’d had many galleries interested in him. At this point I knew this process was a game of endurance as well as anything else I’d expected it to be and I put on my iPod to drown out the head games and smack talking. While we were only ‘allowed’ five minutes of time per applicant, things fell behind schedule quickly and people were in that room for longer than expected. I ended up waiting over an hour before I was seen.

The process was fast and the big question of the interview- “ What could I bring to the table that would further this group's ability to thrive as a non-profit organization?”
As I talked, I felt like a candidate on the tv Show 'The Apprentice' fighting to stay in the boardroom. All I really had time to do was to offer a laundry list of organizations I’d worked with and to list my credentials. I basically had to get to the point and fast! I walked away thinking, “Hopefully my education will come into play after all.” I liked how the panel looked excited when I said I has a Bachelor Degree in Arts Administration.

So, now – I wait. They gave no directions or information about the next steps in the process. I’ll just wait and see if I’ve been eliminated.
If not, we will take it from there.

possibilities

I was contacted by an art dealer from Los Angeles this week. There is a possibility of representation with her gallery. The conversation is still in progress. Oh the possibilities!

When I did the storefront project with the SF Arts Commission last October, I was interviewed for a podcast. That was just released this past week. Listen to it by clicking here.

I just created a small piece for a show in Manhattan this fall! A curator I met here in SF a few years ago just recently moved to New York and is putting together a show and offered me a chance to be in it!

Today I went to look at a live/work loft! It’s huge and the space is divided into two areas, side by side– one for living and one for work. It is a really raw space and would need some work but it has all we’d want and more. I just know that Derek and I could make over this space like nobody’s business! I was one of about 50 people vying for that one space so we shall see what happens… Today we checked it out and filled out applications and they are doing call backs for next weekend. Let’s pray that I get a call back!

work it...

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ― Theodore Roosevelt

My room looks like an office that happens to have a bed. The table with the computer on it takes up most of the room and on each side of the monitor are stacks of stuff needed for art making and business. Today I am once again back to the grindstone making wire letters to be shipped out today. While I am often moody and discontent with the present state of my life, if I step back and breathe, I can’t help but thank God for the chance to work on my terms, to be able to pay for my next open studios show ( registration is due on Friday), to be able to share my work with the world (I’ve shipped etsy orders to 44 of the 50 US states and 4 countries). This is my reality at the moment.
I can chose to look at what I don’t have and feel crappy today or I can just go with what is before me and keep it moving. I think I’ll make the most of what’s in front of me.

Just a quick note to say hi!

I have been crazily busy. Open Studios was this weekend and therefore all of last week was full of work, art-making and preparation while the weekend was all about being at 7 hour receptions on Saturday and today. It was a good time. There wasn’t a huge turnout but even still, I connected with some great people who support my work and I had a good time meeting people who were seeing my work for the first time. I’m satisfied with how it went.

Because it was slow I got a chance to really check out the building and interact with the artists who live there. The show was at my friend’s building and it’s one of the oldest live/work artist spaces in SF. Years ago I was asked if I wanted to petition for a space there and I said no. The fact that there are community bathrooms and at the time there was no running water in spaces (there’s a dish room in each hall for washing dishes…) made me say no. I don’t know if it’s desperation that made me give it a second glance or what but this weekend I really examined it. I counted the number of bathrooms. I found out that there is coin operated laundry on each floor. I noticed that each space is different. My friend John has a gas stove and a double sink with running water in his space. I saw how different people designed their spaces. It was interesting.

Right now I am tired and need time to digest it all – the weekend, the work, the feedback, my future plans and I need to declutter, put things away and regroup…
That said - life is good.

What’s new in your world?

new work...

in the moment

It’s an insanely busy day. The biggest tasks: I am trying to complete a sculpture and paint it by evening. I have two other sculptures to paint. I am dodging the rain which could potentially destroy all of my plans for getting things painted.
The ideal plan is that I will get all of the final touches put together for my show which is to be installed on Friday morning. Tomorrow is a busy day taken up by non-show related tasks so today is the final day to get it all done.

I found this old postcard as I searched boxes this morning looking for my backup pair of wire cutters. This card is from my first open studio show (back in 1998) – well before discovering wire. I remember loving the grittiness of it and thinking it was my best work of art at the time. Right now I wonder if this work is the best I have done. I feel like it surpasses the shows of the past and yet at the same time, I’ve been creating in a bubble without feedback so I’ll soon find out what people think when I hang it.

I’m off to sculpt and paint sculptures, and make artwork labels and all of the details necessary for my show.

Pray that the rain will go away.
Pray that God will be with me and that my plan is His.

manic monday

I lack words at the moment. This Monday flew by. I have lots to do this week and lots to look forward to. I have a sore throat, which I pray will not turn into a cold.

After two big cups of coffee this morning I went to work on a new sculpture I am trying to complete in the next two days. After many hours of work my hands finally begged for mercy. I guess they should since I have worked all day when I usually limit my sculpting to three hours a day. Hopefully I will be able to continue tomorrow without too much stiffness in my hands. I wrote out a very ambitious list of things I want to get done before Thursday.

While the weather was humid today there was sunshine. Now that it’s night the winds have kicked up although it feels like rain. Part of me hopes the rain will wait until I have finished painting pieces outside. Another part of me wants it to come and go before the weekend…

Life is full.

life...

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.


Mother Teresa

my windows…

See --- placing work in public places makes for some interesting observations… Just as we finished the windows this panhandler made himself at home in front of my work. I smiled to myself when I saw this. It was humbling.

bits of life

My room is one a tiny space that shrinks each day. At the moment I have four life size sculptures in the room and stacks of stuff placed and tucked here and there. I literally sleep in what could be, looks like, and operates as a workroom.

Lots of time was spent today unloading boxes just to find one item and then re-stacking the boxes in the closet or rearranging stuff to be stored away. It will be nice to feel settled and not in a temporary space. Typing this I am reminded of being in my twenties and thinking I never wanted to be "settled" because settled seemed to equal bored. Funny how things change.

The other day I went down to the financial district to take my work out of the windows across the street from the embarcadero center. I was cranky and anxious because unlike the other times I’d been there, I didn’t have a ride. I literally rode the bus downtown with a basic luggage rack, rigged my wrapped sculptures on it and attempted to go home without a car. One of the pieces was a five-foot tall dress! I walked 5 blocks dragging the rack with the sculptures and then got on the bus. If only you could have seen the look on the driver’s face when I lifted the big bulky cart that was almost my height onto the bus. I promised her I’d find a way to get it out of the aisle…

The curator from the window project asked me to put more work in the windows so tomorrow morning I will once again ride the bus downtown with that luggage rack all stacked up. I prepared everything tonight and found myself marveling at how sometimes people don’t realize how much preparation goes into getting ready to exhibit (beyond the task of making the art). I sat here thinking how this guy keeps calling me because I am always ready to go when he calls and I make it easy for him. I am prepared and waiting for an opportunity. I say yes even when it means I stay up late to pull my part of it together. After all, you can’t buy exposure like this! The windows are in a prime location! This is a great opportunity!

The guy I met from Project Runway made it into the final four. Looks like Tim Gunn might actually visit my former studio building here in San Francisco. Crazy huh? This brings on another daydream of running into Tim Gunn and what I’d say and blah, blah, blah…

After lots of begging my brother gave into his wife and son’s pleas for a dog. The funny part is that for all of the nonchalant indifference about a dog, my brother is head over heels with this puppy. He tries to play it cool but then there are moments when you catch him playing with the puppy and you see how much of a big softie my brother really is. It’s hilarious.