7

Kay was involved in a project with a senior living center New Cortland through the Center for

Emerging Visual Artists, and a show/party was coming up for their work. Kay explained it’s not like a

gallery opening, last year they had a DJ complete with electric slide, and there was sheet cake.

Sounds like my kinda gig. I marked it on my calendar since it’d be a slightly earlier day with the drive

out of the city we would be making. The day came and we were off. I wasn’t expecting anything

huge, but when we got there it was clear Kay hadn’t expected what we arrived at either. It was full on

camera-ready setup, lots of suits and ties, the mayor was there. After listening to him and other

important people talk, it was apparent that this publicity-type meeting was centered around a new

building opening- new facilities, and that the art was an after thought. It was simply not even

mentioned. We chowed down on their super fancy lunch spread, and tried to enjoy what time we

spent there. They gave us potted geraniums on the way out as I talked to Kay about what the heck

that was. None of the seniors Kay worked with were there. Only one other artist that participated was

there, along with the CFEVA coordinator. Apparently the seniors had their own event on another day,

to keep things as weirdly photo-friendly as possible. That type of fake reality portrayed on camera

really skeeves me out. Both Kay and I agreed we’d rather have been invited to hang with the

seniors.

Kay also participated in an art party that was coordinated through CFEVA that I delivered work to for

her. She shared with me how she wraps work for storage, shipping, and shows. It was good to hear

her forward thinking of the types of damage that you need to take into account once your work is out

of your hands. Following the art party, Kay said she didn’t know if she’d keep doing them. Her

experience was mostly that artists were showing up, which was lovely, but work was not being sold

and she felt no real growth was happening there for her.

These times when the art world is tough, Kay reminded me, are what you have to sometimes

exchange fro doing what you love. Sometimes there are let downs and sometimes the world doesn’t

love or care for art or your work as much as you’d like or hope. The trade off, hopefully, is that your

practice is able to nourish your soul through these harder times.