The past few weeks have been some of the most exciting, anxious, and humbling of my life. I had absolutely no idea how much work really goes into setting up your own exhibit! Now through June 2022, my photos will still be on display at the Marshes of Glynn Library in Brunswick, GA. If you haven't yet, please stop by and check it out! All of the pieces on display are available for sale for a special event price (contact me at [email protected] for details).
Want to know something crazy? Most people don't know that I almost had to cancel the whole thing before it even got started! Here's what happened....
The Untold Story: How the Show Almost Didn't Happen
Let's just say that leading up to the show, I went through a rollercoaster of emotions. I was chosen several months ago for this amazing opportunity to display my photography at our local library. I had so many pictures I wanted to print! But, with limited space and a very limited budget, I had to get that number waaay down. You wouldn't think that would be difficult, but when you're having to choose 30 pictures from hundreds, it's much harder than you might think. Thank you to everyone who helped me narrow down that list! This took me 2-3 weeks alone just choosing the images.
All of the pictures were finally chosen! The next step was getting them printed. I knew I wanted to show different print styles like framed, canvas, and metal. But again, a very tight budget means that I had to do a little extra work myself. With the help of my husband and father-in-law, I was finding used frames and refinishing them rather than buying new frames. That involved lots of sanding, painting, and even more patience. I spent several days retouching frames to make sure they were show ready.
Around that time, I also started ordering some sample pictures from different places to check the print quality on canvas and metal. If I was going to make a big order from somewhere, I wanted to make sure everything looked good! After lots of online digging, I ended up finding 2 places that fit my budget and the print quality looked good as well. I ordered sample prints about a month before the show from both places and everything looked great upon delivery. About 2 weeks before the show, I placed my 2 big orders for the rest of my show!! At this point, I had roughly 8 frames, 12 canvases, and 13 metal prints in production. The only obstacle up to this point was realizing that the metal prints did not have any sort of hardware on them. So my husband, father-in-law, and I started building small floating frames to attach to the back of each of the metal sheets. They were pretty simple to make and not very expensive. Again, just a little time consuming (it was around this time that I learned I kind of enjoy woodworking... just don't tell my husband that).
5 days before the show, I received the first half of my photo images, and they looked amazing!! All of my canvases had arrived safely, and all they needed were wires attached to the backs and we were all set! I checked the status of my metal prints... and almost cried. My order had been delayed for an unknown reason and no updated delivery date was available. I was so confused! I checked the tracking number, and the package was stuck in customs halfway across the world!!!!! Half of my exhibit was lost in the mail!!!
Shortly after that, everything started falling apart. I went to check on the frames I had worked so hard to refinish, and I realized that for different reasons, half of them were unusable (some had scratches still showing through, some had cracks). By this point, I had 4 frames that I could still use. When I went to frame up a photograph in one of those, the glass slipped out of my hand and broke. I bought a replacement sheet that was supposedly the right size, but it didn't fit in the frame. I didn't know what to do! My 30 piece show had dropped down to 16! And I was asked to present at least 25. This all happened the Thursday before I was supposed to hang all of my work... and I was scheduled to start hanging Monday morning.
I was so discouraged about the whole situation that I went over to Creative Frameworks, which is a store that has some of my work on display, and asked if I could borrow them for the show. The owner, Lucy, was more than understanding and even encouraged me to take whatever I needed to have something to present. They were smaller pieces than what I was wanting to show, but I would rather hit the piece minimum that show up with only 16 pieces.
Monday morning, as I was getting ready to go to the library, there was a knock at the door. The second half of pictures had arrived!! But let me tell you... I was not at all happy when I saw the box they arrived in (if I can even call it a box). The box looked like it had been dropped from a 10-story building! I could even easily see my pictures sticking out of the side of it.... The only thing holding the "box" together was some plastic wrap and packing tape.
I was devastated. My husband helped me unpackage the carnage that was dropped at the porch. I carried one side while he carried the other. I couldn't even bear to look at the pictures, but my husband and mother-in-law started lifting them out of the box one at time and removing the wrapping. They removed the foam from the first picture.... and I will never forget the loud gasp that my mother-in-law let out when she saw the picture. My heart sank. I was expecting the worst. My mind started to race. Was it scratched? Was it dented? All of these are made of sheet metal after all. How would they have survived? And with such excitement, she said, "It's beautiful!". My husband held up the picture and there was absolutely no damage!!! We looked very carefully at picture after picture in that destroyed box and out of the 13 in the box, only 2 of the images were damaged beyond being displayed. I was disappointed that not all of them made the journey, but I was ecstatic that I could use the rest!
We spent that morning adding the pre-made frames to the backs of the metal pieces and managed to get everything ready and hung all in that one day!! And that's how the exhibit came to be :)
I am so thankful for everyone in my life who was my emotional support through this roller coaster, and for my family and friends that came to help me during the hanging day and Saturday reception! You all made this event possible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much!
