Friday, September 09, 2005

Rejection!

The e-mail came. 850 submissions. 225 acceptances. Kelp was not accepted. I am patting myself on the back for having the courage to submit a quilt, an art quilt. I had made a commitment to myself to finish it in time. I got that done. I brought it in to the Bedford Gallery (although I needed to ask my friend Susan to go with me!).

I just returned from picking up the quilt and had an interesting experience. Another woman, my age, arrived at the same time as me. She mentioned that she had received an e-mail that she hadn’t wanted to receive. She expressed many of the same feelings as I was having. This was her first time submitting work for an exhibition. She was disappointed–she had convinced herself that her work would be accepted. When they returned my quilt, the woman asked to see it and told me that she liked it!

Susan and I plan to go to the exhibit to see what was accepted. The question now is, why didn’t the juror select this piece? My friend Candice also submitted two quilts, neither of which were accepted. I still like what I did. I’m wondering about making it larger, suitable for my guild show.

5 comments:

Val said...

Joan don't let this worry you. You do lovely work and it is still lovely regardless of one person's alternative opinion. I have learnt the hard way that the way ahead is do one's own exhibitions either on one's own or with a like minded friend. You can't please all of the people all of the time! And there is a lot of rubbish out there! Glad you wrote to me and I found your blog! Grin!

Sonji Hunt said...

Congratulations on trying, Joan. That's the only way to even get into anything. If you don't try, you'll never move in any direction.

As you know, I've never been juried into a show. Not even when I was a painter, exclusively. Everything was invitational. Still is. I like to think I'm just that special. You may be too!

Eventually, we will both get into shows if we really want to.

Deborah Boschert said...

Wow... I love Kelp. It's really stunning. Sorry about not getting in. But now that you've entered something for the first time, it will be easier next time. Keep trying.

Elle said...

It sucks that you didn't get in. "Kelp" is a beautiful piece. Don't worry! There will be another show! Those things are so subjective anyway.

Miriam said...

kelp is very nice. who knows what the jurists are thinking and what mood they are in the day they view your quilt. just keep on keepin on.
my mom is a writer and she would get so many rejections. eventually her freelance work led to a full time journalist position in a new york city paper. the rejections she had became part of the process to her destination.