Shift work at the gallery

Last week I did my first shift at the Kentucky Watercolor Society Gallery at Louisville's Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center. I successfully opened the door, adjusted the lights, reset the thermostat, talked to the few people who wandered in, reset the thermostat, adjusted the lights and locked the door!

It was a pretty uneventful first day, but exhibiting in a cooperative gallery has been pretty exciting overall. The deal is a $20 monthly rental for the half-space; plus, I work two five-hour shifts a month. KWS takes a 10 percent commission on paintings sold but nothing from the card sales.

A few weeks ago I traveled to Louisville with paintings and notecards in tow for my first Gallery Committee meeting. After chatting with some old friends and introducing myself to some new folks, I eagerly climbed the stepladder to hang my three paintings. After all, what could be more important than getting those paintings hung, right?

WRONG!
I now know that the No. 1 task at those meetings is to schedule my work shifts. While I was hanging those paintings, the calendar was filling up. By the time I got to the calendar, I had precious little to choose from, especially if you remove Wednesdays and Fridays, the days that I teach for IU and Ivy Tech. I'm hoping to get back-to-back days during the summer months, but for now I drive to Louisville, do my shift, visit my in-laws or niece and head back to Bloomington.

The "do my shift" part is a lot more fun than it sounds.  Last week's "shift work" included some painting and art book reading in between customers. I compiled a whole list of future blog topics, so stay tuned.