first gallery show, did you walk in cold or did they find you?
My first gallery show came about because a lady from Birmingham saw my quilts at a church bazaar and wouldn't let it go. She kept calling till I brought some in. I didn't have the nerve to walk into a gallery cold back then, wouldn't have known what to say.
What about y'all? Did you walk in and ask, or did they come to you? I know the old way works sometimes but I'm curious how it's happening these days.
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That's such a nice story, love that she kept calling till you gave in!
Mine was sort of in-between. I'd been painting for a few years and a local coffee shop asked if I'd hang some pieces, and someone who ran a small gallery saw them there and reached out. So I didn't have to walk in cold, thank goodness, because I absolutely would've chickened out too. I still don't think I'd have the nerve to just show up with my work and ask.
Feels like a lot of it is who you meet and where you happen to be. Were you nervous bringing the quilts in even with her pushing you?
Oh honey, nervous don't begin to cover it. I laid them out on her dining room table and my hands were shaking. She kept saying "Gloria, these are wonderful" and I kept finding something wrong with every one. That's the funny thing, I'd been making quilts my whole life, for folks I knew, for babies being born and people passing on. But putting them in front of somebody who might look at them like art? That's a different kind of nerve.
And you're right, so much of it is just being where somebody happens to see you. The Lord works in those little arrangements. Coffee shop turned into a gallery, that's how it goes sometimes. One person paying attention changes everything.