Two local artists got things I applied for (again) and didn't get (again). They are both good, so I can't complain.
Jeannine Harkleroad - will be at Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. I think I've applied six times so far, maybe more. Jeannine is EXCELLENT!
Erling Sjovold - will enter the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program. This was the studio thing Painter commented s/he had a dream that I got. The guy who always gets what I want also applied and also didn't get in, so... maybe he doesn't really always get what I want.
Is Erling leaving? Can I have his job maybe?
I applied for about 10 things in the last 9 mos and got none of them (well, I'm an "alternate" for one). A bit tough to take.
ReplyDeleteI can't read a rejection letter anymore without thinking about your installation in DUMBO, and especially your letter responding to Jessica Hough. Brilliant. A kind of humor most appreciated by those of us who have received massive numbers of these thngs.
jec - ugh, being an alternate is almost worse than a rejection. i've been an alternate a few times.
ReplyDeleteit was totally unexpected when jessica contacted me more than two years after sending out those packets.
actually, all sorts of people relate to that piece - the long lonely struggle. some of the best feedback i have got on that piece came from a security guard who told me all about how she had to take care of her elderly father, how hard it was and how much more she had to sacrifice than her siblings - all that. she almost had tears in her eyes. it was kind of intense; she felt a common bond.
Wow, that security guard story is great. I guess it must be the universality of the "I don't accept this" idea. Life can really throw a lot of unacceptable things at us.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I'm an "alternate" for is probably the one I wanted the least of all of them. So I'm second-best for my last choice, I guess. But on the other hand, my career is going along nicely in spite of this rash of rejections.