Life swirls and flashes by so quickly that rarely do we have the chance to give back to those who helped you get to the point you are now. Thank You at the moment is fine, but to actually find a way to do more is rather exciting.
Life has handed me a couple of lemons lately and instead of sitting here on my duff I have thought about taking the time to recognize people who directly influenced me and who supported me during some lean hard years. People went on the ride with me just for the sake of being there. They took on a lot and gave me faith and support when I needed it.
I run a co-operative gallery and for several years the location that I maintained wasn't the best to have for the enterprise I was trying to run.
In those years a lot of artists came to me and we exhibited together through the "lean" times. They trusted my idea and wanted to be involved. They could not always stay too long in the gallery because in a co-operative overhead sometimes out weighed the commissions and sales before it became an additional hardship on them. Again location, traffic and capital to promote were not always available and that did make a difference to people and how long they might be willing to give their support.
I now am in a location that drives traffic to our door, we are experiencing some good sales even in this economic down turn for most of the country. I have thought about those who hung in there with me as long as they could, but never got to ride the upside of the co-operative.
I had this "light bulb moment" of how to share with the former members what is happening in the gallery now and I hope it will work out. I am going to invite each former member to have a chance to exhibit in our new home as a thank you for helping me get there.
I am still in the working stage of this idea, but feel that allowing one artist a month to come hang a few pieces of their work in the new space will be nice; not only for me, so that I can see what they are doing, but maybe a little bit for them too. I think they deserve that moment, it may take me years to get to all of them after running a cooperative for 11 years, but it certainly is worth the try. Some have moved on to better places and larger galleries and they probably will not return, but several I think would enjoy the experience of what they helped me do.
Think I will set a date to get this started and just get it done...I think it is very important to give back whenever you can, especially before you lose the opportunity.
