Rejection, thy sweet sting.

I'm still feeling my way around the life in artistry and this entails wanting to enter competitions but missing the deadlines due to that old insidious subconscious saboteur "lack of confidence". Usually I just refer to it as sloth. But is it really being lazy if I complete an item and just not mail it in?

"Life Blood" - CALira '08

Well, no more! I finally applied on time to an actual hang-stuff-on-the-wall type competition. An international one to boot - the IX Triennial of Mini-Textiles in Angers, France. Dream big baby.

Good news! I learned how to say "No way, Josephine" in French!



and the fates have chosen to screw with me psychologically:


This is the fortune that was in my cookie/dessert received after the Chinese feast my brother and I had to celebrate my good news from overseas. Ooooo. Irony.

No I'm not some sugar coated optimistic junkie of a Pollyanna, this rejection was good news because it meant that my piece was at least submitted to be reviewed in the jury process. I thought for certain that they would simply chuck my file and send me a "Wrong venue, nimrod!" email of shame.

As you may know, I work fairly exclusively in crochet and both live for and relish the opportunity to cram crochet-as-art down people's throats. Uhh. I mean "to promote crochet as art at every possible opportunity". :-) The call for entries specifically said that the object must be made entirely of thread and be no larger than 4" square. I use crochet thread and work very small. Perfect! Right? I refer you to the photo above of the letter of "get-lost".

Once I got over the initial disappointment, I started to enjoy my attempt at subversion and the acknowledgment-by-review that I choose to see in all this.

First rejection out of the way. So many more to go.

Hook On!
C