spaceAid ’08: the journey ends

After three and a half months of planning, at least 10 meetings, hundreds of phone calls and one fantastic night where all the hard work came together, spaceAid is over for another year.

Working on spaceAid’08 was an interesting and enlightening journey. It awakened a whole gamut of emotions that I didn’t expect.

For one thing I became fiercely protective of the visual artists and the work that they submitted. If anyone dared to express an opinion on a piece I immediately jumped to the artists defence. I took it as a criticism of my ability as a fledgling curator.

Then there was “Solo”, my contribution to spaceAid’08. I swear giving birth to my two children was less painful. From the beginning I knew what I wanted the artwork to say and what materials I wanted to use, but actually creating the piece was fraught with woe. I brought the wrong spray paint; I asked too many people’s opinion and confused myself; I agonised for days about whether I was worthy to be included with the other artists.

Then there was the worry of whether anyone would make a bid on it or if at the end of the night I would be the only artist whose artwork didn’t sell. Surprisingly it did, and for three times the reserve! Thank you, kind lady.

Despite all the angst I am glad I did create “solo” and submit it to the exhibition.  It helped me to understand not only the process of being an artist but the emotional energy you need to create art.

But back to the exhibition and auction. I believe spaceAid’08 was a great success for the following reasons.

The artists really enjoyed the process of collaborating with the performers and the artworks reflected that joy.

People wanted to buy the artwork and we raised a substantial amount for Queen Street studio.

We all enjoyed ourselves on the night, raising awareness of Queen Street studio and its members at the same time.

I successfully curated my first exhibition and created and sold my first piece of art.

Thanks again to all the visual and performing artists that were involved in spaceAid’08 and also to my amazing friends Sammi and James at the studio for giving me the opportunity to take this amazing journey.