I just had the most amazing meeting with Jill. She was very positive and pointed me in the direction of Tuttle - that my work is very intuitive and it is strongest when I am really "with" the work - as soon as I get mechanical she could read that and it made the work less present for her. She said not to worry about presentation at this point but to make a couple of pieces between now and maybe 2 weeks from now - quickly - and then have her come back with the questions fresh. She thought I might want to set up "quicktime" to show the gorgeous light coming through my work during the day, but the flashlights at night idea: not so great ( in terms of light, no question she is right with that). She was here for a long time and kept falling in love with all the "incidental" pieces I have around - my color charts, where/how I had draped material on a structure I was not seeing as a piece - which, when she pointed it out - I loved it that way, too. Really, what she was loving is exactly what I love. I told her I had just written my paper 90% about the light and space artists and now am realizing I don't work like them; she said, write another paper: that my work is about light and color, specifically color in nature - and the strength is in my TOUCH, and that that is what makes it beautiful - when I am present, fully, for the touch. I said I was concerned that I needed to be able to verbalize what I'm trying to do - and she said, let the work do that. She told me the story of when Tuttle came to Mass Art and she had all her students go : that it was the worst presentation. Tuttle just stood there - there were these long silences and he was very inarticulate. She said it was a terrible presentation. Afterwards, Jill said she totally rethought about words and verbalizing her work - it somehow gave her more freedom. Interesting, I thought. Anyway, she said not to worry, I had enough material that I could already present, just from what is in my space... but for me, it's not about the show, but being present and true to myself... and daring to show what I love, not fussing over it to make some conception of a "finished" piece.
