It's been an interesting experience to sit with my show for the whole month. I haven't been living in the gallery, something I considered at one point, but just being there for 11 hours per week has taken me on a fascinating journey. I've kvetched plenty about the lack of traffic, but when it's really busy, and conversations are full of energy, I'm grateful when there's a lull. I've collected about 35 stories on the digital recorder, about 12 hours of chat, filled with some very moving tidbits. My eyes teared up pretty regularly, listening to people's deep connection with the earth, the healing that planting things offers them, and the legacy of this practice in so many of their lives. I was delighted by the diversity of the stories, and excited by the overlaps. I still feel frustrated that so many dozens of people have not come in to share their stories, but it is clear that I will have to go to them.
An article will come out in the Beachcomber this Wed and hopefully that will bring in crowds, and I will have a line of people waiting to be interviewed. The gallery will be open on Thursday night from 4-8 pm and then again on Sat, the 28th, from 10-5 pm. After that all the seedlings will go into the compost (unless someone with a greenhouse wants to try and nurture them), the prints will go into storage, the seed packets (minus one) will be boxed up, and the story boxes will live in my studio in Tacoma.
On Feb 8th I'll be presenting the proposal to the Vashon Parks District Commissioners. We are crossing our fingers that the third time is a charm, and they will see the value of this project taking place in their park. They will vote on Feb 22 and then in March I'll be able to bring together the team for a meeting to discuss what needs to happen in May, June and July. Those will be our work months, and hopefully we'll get everything done that needs to be done then.
As you can see, we now have some new drawings for the proposal. What is not visible in the drawings are the water gutters for the top of the deer fence and a tile project that will line the piece. I will make some more precise drawings for the Feb 8th meeting.
No comments:
Post a Comment