The Great Dark Void

This piece is entitled "Elis", named for the popular Brazilian singer Elis Regina. "Elis" was created in 2006 (considerably aged for many show jurors). It is part of my series called "Women Singing". Also in this group is "Janis" for Janis Joplin, "Nina" for Nina Simone and "Astrud" for Astrud Gilberto.

I still have these 4 pieces at home. I would like to get them out in the world. They have been on Ebay and at a solo show at a gallery in my town that has since closed. They are all dressed up with nowhere to go.

Is it time to do the gallery search again? The last gallery search was miserably disappointing. I know there are fiber art galleries out there that I am not ready for yet. They are filled with works by well-known fiber artist that sell their artwork for several thousand dollars. I must find other places to "begin".

I do not live in a city of galleries. I live in a town of gift shop. Yes, I intended for that to be singular. We do have a "gallery" that sells jewelry, ceramics and decorative art (still lifes and landscapes). Yes, I know all still life and landscape paintings are NOT merely decorative (no doubt some of these landscape and still life artists are in my blog list and I covet work by them). Yet the gallery in town selects only those pieces they feel will appeal to a broad range of people. It is a long way between my town and a reasonable concentration of galleries. I live halfway between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I have done research on galleries in those areas. I will do more. I have yet to find a suitable one in those areas.

I grew up in Virginia and lived there for 33 years. I visit there every two months. I would love to have representation in a gallery there. The "important" ones are not suitable for my work (or perhaps I should say my work is not suitable for them), and the smaller ones represent only local artists. Simply having been a resident of the state at one time is not good enough.

I feel as if I'm caught in some kind of invisible art trap. I'm getting quite discouraged. I don't think the "recession" is going to be of any help either. I know, I know, I know I'm not supposed to waste time complaining. Those damn art self-help books want us to always be positive and always be working to promote our work. Somehow, somewhere, I silently stumbled and fell and when I stood up, I realized I had no idea which direction to go.