Entry 17: The Last Week Before the Show.

As our show date gets closer and closer, I become more and more aware of how far I have come to making this show possible.
So far, Kailey and I have created a facebook page to promote our show and it has been quite successful. So far according to facebook, we have 94 confirmed guests, but it does not necessarily mean that all of them will show up. I remember from my last year's experience when I was part of Hayden's small art show at the frame store. Many people said that they will come, but half of them did not show up and hopefully, it is different this time.

I been very stressed since the whole thing is becoming more and more realistic to me. I also have tons of school work to do so it has been quite a week. I keep telling myself not to lose focus and that life is a fight between myself.

Since our poster has been finalized, Kailey, Natalie, Ted, Alex and I have been going around town asking for permission to put our poster up. Places that are owned by corporations such as Safeway, Peet's Coffee, McCaulou's and more refused but all of them were impressed by the fact that we are only students and we are doing something like this. We were allowed to put our posters up at most of the local businesses around Lafayette.
The funniest thing was, we actually got a nerve to walk into the Round-Up Bar where we were laughed by mostly middle aged men. I asked if we could our posters up, posted three, and left as quick as possible.
I did not forgot to stop by the Gallery and drop off one.

Kailey, who was in charge of renting the tent is taking a while, but it seems like there is a storage problem. but we are very certain that we will get the tent at least by Friday, and it will be about 75 dollars. She is making me a little nervous since Friday is the day right before the show but I will keep my fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Ted got us on the Lamorinda Patch! And it is a mystery, but some how, we ended up on the school bulletin also, I will check tomorrow if it was Ms. Taylor who has been very supportive of our show.

I have been going around school, inviting many of our favorite teachers. It seems like Acalanes has a strict posting rules so I was only allowed to post on the hallway bulletin boards. I will not complain but it was something different than what I expected; but that was my best effort to promote the show at school where most of our audience is from.

It seems like we are a bit confused on the printing of our art works. Everyone has a different plan and it is very disorganized. I will figure it out tomorrow when Kailey comes to school. She has been absent for past few days.

And now, here is the good news. I finally talked to Mr. Alan Chin !!!!!
I was so excited to get his contact information from Ms. Carbone. With my heart pumping overwhelmingly fast, I dialed his cellphone number. I practiced talking several times before the phone call, but I slipped few times during the conversation. I basically explained who I am, where I am from, and why I need his help. I think he was very happy to hear from an Acalanes student. He agreed to be my third space mentor and I got his e-mail address also. He asked me if I was Ms. Taylor's student and I said yes.

Next day, I talked about my phone call with Mr. Takahashi and Ms. Taylor. I asked her if he was her student but she said he was only Ms. Carbone's student; but she knew about him because he was known for his talent. He entered an adult art competition and did very well for a youngster. I think he is something very close to what I want to be. I want to have talent and be known for something I am good at.

I was so glad that Mr. Chin was such a friendly person because I was feeling so nervous when I was talking to him. I invited him to the art show and I really hope that he will come. He not only can be my senior project mentor, but can be my career mentor as well. He mentioned that when we meet for the interview, we can meet at Acalanes and I think that is a fantastic idea.

Entry 16: Our Poster Is Finalized!

 

 Ted, a member of the project who is very skilled with photoshop has been helping me with designing our poster. I final edited the poster, and above is our finalized poster!

I spend all my time after school until I went to bed to finish this poster since we have shorter time to promote our show now. Ted did the background, which is a collage of one of each artists' art work and I did the text which I had a hard time fitting and wording all the information. I was really happy when I was done and I think the poster is very good looking.

All the members of the project accepted the poster. The poster will be printed so we can spread around the area including our school.

Today, I went around Lafayette looking for a place for printing service. I found Allegro Printing & Copy where I was offered 15 cents for each sheets; and I needed 200 sheets.

It cost about 30 dollars but I think that was a good deal. I did hear later that Kinko's has a better deal, which was 10 cents; I said to myself, "why didn't I thought of Kinko's?!"

The flyers should be ready by tomorrow morning so I can pick them up on my way to school. I am very excited to start putting them around. It is a mini stardom for all of us involved in this show.

And hopefully, this poster would be significantly affective for our promotion.

Entry 15: Meeting With The Gallery Ladies

Yesterday, Kailey and I were invited to meet the gallery ladies at the venue.
As I walked out of my car, I started to panic a little bit while I took out my laptop and my bag. The thing is, I was already a minute late. I knew the meeting was too early after school; I scolded myself.

As I was running to the door of the gallery, I went through the front parking lot where the show is supposed to be held. I pictured where the band, art tents and baking sale/cashier table would be set up; and I smiled with excitement.

As I walked in, Kailey and the gallery ladies were waiting for me. They happily greeted me we got some chairs to sit down. I had my print out of the show information in my hand and we basically went over what the students went over with me. They were okay with all the plans we presented which was very nice.
We talked mostly about our equipments: tents, tables, chairs, power and etc.

The gallery already owned two tents and a big table and they were willing to let us use.
We already had tables but they said we could just use theirs since that could be more convenient.
They also got out of their way to use their power source through their window.

They also offered to provide us with hooks for the display. "It's fine I have million of those at home!" said one of the gallery lady with such friendliness.

I did not forget to ask them about the parking issue. During the weekend, people often use the gallery parking lot to eat at Chow's which is right across. She said feel free to put ropes around the parking lot and indicate that the parking lot is not available for the weekend. That also confirmed that we are allowed to use the entire parking lot which was expected and hoped.
They also told us that at least one of the gallery managers will be with us the whole time to watch over us and help us with our community service.

They thought us donating our money to the Red Cross for Japan's natural disaster crisis was a fine idea. One of the lady suggested that some one should paint at the scene which tents to attract a good curious crowd. I volunteered to do so since painting is my main hobby; that should be very fun for me and the audience.

The ladies were willing to lend us anything we needed.
They were awfully generous; but they had a price for it which Kailey and I were more than happy to pay.
Ms. Miller owns a charity group that collects donated teddy bears which goes to police officers. When a child is involved in a stressful situation that involves the police, for example, a father being arrested, the police will give the child a teddy bear during the commotion. I thought that was a wonderful and creative charity.

She wanted us to make a facebook group for the charity and tell others. She said she does not know much about computers, and of course, we are part of the facebook generation and we could definitely help. Also, if anyone at Acalanes is interested for their community service, they could help.

The ladies said if we want to add more artists, works or anything, we could do it. They were really flexible about our planning.

One of Kailey's concern was neighboring stores and houses being disturbed by our music. Kailey was wondering if we should go around the area asking if the music at the gallery is okay. However, the ladies said that they had music around before and it seems like the neighbors are okay all the time which was a relief.
We did tell them that it would not be anything too loud or strange; our musicians are planning to play peaceful and calming songs. I thought it might be their concern since we are teenagers and youngsters are known to have a music taste that is not exactly similar to adults.

Everything was covered so far and all of us were happy with our meeting. I have told them that they can contact me if they had any questions or concerns. I could guess that they really liked us since they were being so nice and generous.

After saying thanking them, Kailey and I walked out the door and gave each other a high-five. We were so happy and excited that everything we planned was confirmed. I thanked Kailey since she used her amazing people skill. She has her excellent ways with adults.
I am glad that I have Kailey to help me out.

So far, my project is on a smooth sail.

Entry 14: Meeting Done!

I set up a meeting on Thursday at Acalanes Library to meet with all the people who are involved with the show.
Kailey, Ted, Ryan, Laurel, Natalie, Sonia and Alex came to the meeting. Unfortunately, Cybelle and Sarah who are involved in music for the show could not come. However, Alex and Kailey took some notes for two of the missing musicians which was awful nice of them.

At the meeting, I basically went through all the basic details about the show and we all discussed about things such as the name of the show, the kind of baked goods, the art works, the presentation of works and much more.
Here are things we have talked about in the meeting:

• The date of the show is March 26th and 27th
• The venue is Lafayette Art Galley
• We decided to name the show "Inelegant Expression"
• All the profit will go to a charity
• The show should be at least 7 hours each day to fulfill our community service hour.
• The flyers will be ready by March 18th at latest for us to put around town and school.
• Natalie is in charge of the baking sale, and the profit will also add up to our donation.
• Musicians can collect money too for the donation.
• Ryan is playing for 4 hours each day and helping out at the show and other use of hours are up for the musicians.
• We need some back up works just in case people do buy a lot of the works on sale.
• I will set up a table where an artist can make art on the spot and sell.
• Alex will also submit some art works.
• Laurel will help Natalie with baking by baking some of her own.
• Many of the art will be switched to fit the public's taste. (It sounds bad as artists but this will help us gather more money possibly).
• Natalie will print all the flyers.
• Ted will design the rough draft of the poster and give it to me for editing.
• Sonia will get a piece done by March 18th that can be on sale.
• When all the works are ready and organized, we will discuss about the pricing of the art sale.
• When all the works are collected, I will work on the information tags and presentation of each.
• Ryan, Ted and Laurel will print their own work.
• We will possibly have a mandatory meeting again.

I am so happy that all the members of the project are so engaged and excited about the show. It makes me feel strong that we are all coming together for this project. Everyone is down to hear each others' input and everyone respects each other. Many of the kids came up with great ideas such as Natalie who came up with the idea of the baking sale and Kailey who came up with the idea of involving musicians in the project. This project became not only about my endeavor as an artist but also how I communicate with others to make my day dream come to reality. 

I been continuing to talk to Mr. Takahashi about contacting Alan Chin, and it seems like Ms. Carbonne is the one with his contact and Mr. Takahashi did tried to contact Ms. Carbonne, but he could not get a hold of her.
Since I do know her personally, I will try to contact her on my own. She has troubles using cellphones so I am thinking about e-mailing her instead.
I thought getting a third space mentor would a lot smoother.

Ms. Miller from the Gallery sent me an e-mail about her, Kailey and I having a meeting about the show. I am very nervous about this because I want her see that we are trying our best to not be a hassle but maybe a helper for her gallery to attract more crowd and engage the community with power of art. I will meet with her after school on next Wednesday. I hope it goes well.

Entry 13: The Canvas Is Ready

The date is set and it will not be changed again!
Ms. Miller responded to me fast and said the requested date of March 26th and 27th is fine. However, she was worried about the weather; it could rain on the show date and that would be terrible. But Kailey said she owns several aid for it so I think we are covered.

I have been talking to Mr. Takahashi about contacting Mr. Chin, but I think Mr. T is still busy. I might actually take his contact with Mr. T's permission and contact Alan Chin on my own. That might appear more professional instead of Mr. T calling him in behalf of me.

I arranged a meeting for Thursday, which is tomorrow after school so everyone who is involved in the show can meet up and confirm all our plans. I also requested a set list for Ryan last night. I told him each day of the show is about 7 hours long and he said it might be hard for him to play for seven hours. However, he said it would be easy for him to play 4 hours and leave it to other musicians, Cybelle and Sarah. I agreed and now I must talk to both of the girls to see what they are up to in terms of their performance at the show.

I was sad to hear that Natalie, the girl in charge of the baking sale could not make it to the meeting because I really want this meeting to be mandatory. But Kailey will take notes for her and that should do it for Natalie.

I am now looking into printing all the photographs and illustrations and it seems like it could be quite pricey. But my parents are willing to help me out with budgeting the show. I am thinking about visiting all the artist's home and taking their original file of the photograph so I can print them at Fedex.
I am not sure about framing but I will ask Ms. Taylor about it.

Also it is very important for me to organize all the art pieces for the show. I have not even counted them yet and I am scolding myself for that.

I want to give at least a week of promotion so I should be done with planning and organizing the show in a week. Judy Miller would like to meet next week to see if everything's ready. That should be nerve wracking.

Entry 12: A Problem Is In The Air

I have asked Ms. Stanton about interviewing my outside mentor for the assigned interview, and she said I am able to do so. I am very excited because if I am lucky enough to talk to Mr. Chin, I could learn so much from him by this interview!

I have been keep exchanging e-mails with Ms. Miller from the gallery. As we decided on the show date, which was about to be April 2nd and 3rd, Kailey have informed me that she can not direct the show with me on the date. As she told me about it on our way to the art room, I panicked. "So this is it, the hardship. I was wondering when it was about to happen."
I am afraid of irritating Ms. Miller with all the change but I had no choice but to send her an e-mail again about the date.
I am not sure if the gallery will allow us to change it to the particular date but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Entry 11: Introduction - The Fellow Artists.

Ted: A photographer, Ted shows great maturity with his pictures. His scenery work not only captures the beauty and the ambiance of the place perfectly, but also captures the color and the shade with so much control. His works are sophisticated, yet straight forward subject wise. That is hard among many young artists but Ted is successful.

Kailey: The co-director of this show, Kailey has a great social skill that I needed help with. Her friendly and open style of conversation blended well with my professionalism which made every single meetings with possible venues very smooth. Pen and Ink is what she is best at; she has control over her pen but she is never too stiff. Her work is free yet balanced with the medium very well. She concentrates on her work more than anyone I know.

Ryan: Ryan is not only submitting his photography work, but also will play his cello at the show. With out Ryan, this show would not be the same as I dream. What I like about his photographs are the details and maturity of the work. His work is above high school level. Also, when I say detail, I mean he has a lot visual offer in his pictures. He always include more than one simple subjective in his works and it works fantastically.

Katie: I would call her a queen of style. Her art style is so unique and characteristic that once you go through her sketchbook, you will never forget about it. Her work resembles cartoon, yet very sophisticated. That is not a easy thing to do. The viewers will fall in love with all the characters she creates.

Laurel: A talented girl, Laurel is not only good at photography but painting. Her subjects are dark and emotional. Her work has a euphoric effect; she successfully makes her work very memorable. Her works are mysterious and they are one of those art works that appear to have a behind story, which easily infatuates the viewers.

Tiffany: She is not one of those artsy-fartsy kids at school. Art is not a priority to Tiffany. But that does not matter; she always make very successful surrealism pieces. Artists tend to stand unoriginal when it comes to surrealism works but Tiffany's works are very characteristic, yet fits the definition of classical surrealism.