Beginnings: Preamble

This recap is more for me than for you; I may have written all this before, but I need to recall and clarify, so you must excuse me.

When I decided in March 2010 that I was going to have a solo exhibition, I had the working title of "WYSISYG: What You See is What You Get", and the "concept" behind it was, "cloths without concepts".

I had a mental picture of the exhibition: big tubes like Titanic's funnel/smoke stacks hanging from high above, and folks possibly walking into and/or standing inside them, looking up. I based the other contents of the exhibition on this one picture: lots of big, pretty but useless cloths doing what cloths do; wrapping, dividing, hiding, declaring. A little like an European castle's banquet hall with tapestries, flags and banners, but more contemporary and clean. I don't know if others do this, but I wanted to create an exhibition and fill it with cloths.

Mind Map or Solo Brainstorming on the Function of Cloth, Version XXX

And finally a legible version

The problem I had at the last meeting at my house was, this being a group exhibition, I wanted to brainstorm about the overall view/flow/philosophy/vision/picture of the exhibition so I can make things to fill it, but my insistence on the look of the exhibition was interpreted as my not trusting others to make nice work, and things heated up.

After going over the meeting with Pat the next day, she picked up that I have a totally different approach to my making, in this instance, and understood why I needed the group brainstorming in order to start working, instead of make things, and then consider how they can be displayed. She suggested I go all the way back to the first picture and work from there, and it's been smooth sailing since.

I still feel a little trepidation about Monday, but I think it'll go well.

I need to confirm with the group that ours is not a strictly conceptual textile work exhibition. I'm also going to suggest, though maybe at another time, some brainstorming about the difference between a joint exhibition and group members' work being hung together.