karen cooper - Blog: booth slide

Booth Slide---Aargh!*#^!

by Cooper on 11/3/2009 3:49:57 PMComment on this

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio in Jefferson, Iowa.

Booth slide, bah humbug! There are at least 1300 of you out there who are fully aware that Saturday, October 31st, was the deadline to submit your application for the Des Moines Art Festival 2010. And as all 1300ish of us are also fully aware, the folks in charge in Des Moines require the dreaded booth slide. And what self respecting Iowa artist does not jump right in there with yet another application?

Woe is me. My booth slide was aged two years, which in other words means two years too old. I am nothing if not brave, so I got out the push broom and cleared the driveway of leaves. I pulled the canopy back up the basement stairs from where I thought I had stored it away for the winter. The pro panel bags are just as heavy, and there are four of them. Once they are arranged to perfection, I selected the perfect paintings for a booth slide, and added them to the most perfect display ever. I added the booth slide to the images of my paintings and sent the Des Moines Art Festival folk my BEST APPLICATION EVER! I do bear that liability of an Iowa address, but otherwise, it was perfect! (yes, you have to be from Iowa to get that joke)

I breathed a sigh of relief. Done. Finished. Now, totally prepared to point, click and send for all the rest of the shows I intend to apply to for the year 2010.

I opened up the next show file. Aaargh!#*! Another booth slide, and aaargh!#*! it's not the same! They have different rules. They don't play the game the same way. They want a different angle on the booth slide. Corner to corner, and if you use a mat bin at the show, you have to have it in your booth slide. Your have to have four canopy weights (well, of course you do) and we'd better be able to see proof of it in your booth slide. We won't love you if you don't do it our way. Dios mio. I am back to square one with the dreaded booth slide. Yahda yahda, I'll probably survive.

How about some blog post color? That should help us all feel better! Here you go:

Window Ledge Still Life 11 3 09, an acrylic painting original on paper. And yup, it's already in my portfolio, even though I haven't cut the mat for it yet. I promise to get that done pretty quick, ok? Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

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