Okay, so I’m way overdue in updating my blog since the show. Believe it or not, it’s been hard to get enough time to sit down and properly write about how things went but I am so thrilled to say that the exhibition was a fantastic experience. In spite of the rain and the distance, I had a great turnout; it was amazing to see how people came from so far to come and show their support. I had friends come in from Jersey, Puerto Rico and my mom surprised me with a visit from Michigan. It was a total rock star moment.

The night of the show was the culmination of a lot of hard work that I had been putting in for the last several months. I didn’t realize how hard I had been working until the show did end and I passed out and slept the like the dead. The last few days of the show were probably the most nerve-wracking too. Since I only had two and a half hours to hang 22 pieces, I was really anxious about getting everything up in time and have it look beyond presentable. I planned ahead of time as much as I could by making cut-outs of my pieces so I could place them before hanging, staging the display at home in my apartment so I knew where everything would go, and arranging the postcards on my apartment wall so and so on. When we did get to the Brooklyn Artist Gym (BAG now known as Brooklyn Artist Space), we weren’t able to get into the studio. The buzzer on the intercom system wasn’t working and no one at the gallery was answering the phone (the phone lines weren’t working) and my crew and I had to wait anxiously for 30 minutes until a resident artist let us in. I think I had several small heart attacks in that time span because that, of course, left us with only one hour and a half to hang everything and get everything set up. Luckily I had four lovely, dedicated people to help me and somehow, through the grace of Sweet Minty Jesus, we got everything hung by 7:30! (I still don’t know how my sister managed to get two 18×24 framed photographs hung in what seemed like two  minutes). Incidentally, one of the gallery employees asked that I do another show with them because my exhibition was one of the best arranged shows they had hosted.

That aside, everything else went along with out a hitch. People trickled in close to 8 ad then a flood hit about 8:30, with people rushing to buy postcards at once! I must have sold at least twenty of them as well as my large Brooklyn framed print and of my tote bags.

But beyond people buying prints, what was most meaningful was hearing how my how inspired other people to pursue their dreams. I met other fellow artists who had ideas and dreams that we they wanted to share but felt too intimidated by the process of putting a show together to do so themselves but they felt encouraged after visiting my exhibition. Yes, it IS a lot of hard work but you’re working hard for your dreams and that’s always worth the sweat.

I made a short video of the show that includes behind-the-scenes footage so you can get a feel for how everything turned out. Check it out after the jump! I also included a photo gallery that you can see right here!