0.6 per cent

That was the approximate success rate of the publicity for my class's exhibition/workshop/swap the other night, if you compare the number in attendance (a dozen or so, and that's being generous) with the number of flyers we distributed (2000 hard copy plus various forms of digital press). Some possible reasons for comically low attendance? It was cold outside, the Mission Hill gallery is about a 15 minute walk, uphill, from the main SMFA building, other stuff was going on that night, and/or nobody wants to see or make artist trading cards. In conclusion, art students are lazy, pre-occupied with their own work, and prefer to stay indoors.

Just kidding.

I'm not any more bitter about the difficulty of getting folks to interact than I was before the show; I feel like I've experienced this several times before, specifically at the Museum School, but I'm almost certain it happens elsewhere. And it makes some sense, I guess. Maybe artists, despite an evolving image of what it means to be an "artist", really do just want to hang out in their studios and make their own work. But if you can't get a group of art students to attend an art opening, good luck getting the rest of the world to show up.

Anyway, all that said, I was really happy with the show and had a great time at Monday night's event. All of my students over the past three semesters hold a special place in my heart, but I have to say I was really impressed with the work produced by the current group. I was impressed not only with how they interpreted and worked within the framework of artist trading cards but also with the varied ways in which they chose to display their work for the show.


For the reception, we dragged a long table into the middle of the gallery space and covered it with brown paper then scattered artist trading card materials and bite size candies over it. Visitors were invited to have a seat, make a card, and enjoy some chocolate.


Most of the folks seated at the table in the image above are students in the class whose work is in the show. The handful of outside visitors mostly hung out at Eric Erdman's poker table:




and at Jessica Scott-Dutcher's Learning Area:


where they made their own flashcards by creating visualizations of the sometimes very odd juxtapositions of words printed at the tops of dictionary pages (inedible | infant, for example, which you can see illustrated in the blue card at the bottom of the image below).


With just one class remaining, I'm already mulling over my syllabus for next semester, my final chance to mold the minds of Museum School youth before my post-grad teaching gig officially comes to an end and they kick me out for good...