TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS AND "AGAINST THE ODDS"

A Horror Story!

© Noelle Lyon

Ozquilt Network Newsletter Issue #37 SEPTEMBER 2000

1999 was one of 'those' years. You know the sort. We've all had them. Nothing goes right. Everything turns into a disaster and you wish you could find a hole in the earth that would just swallow you up.

Fellow quilter Jann Haggart decided to find me a hole. She had done her research - found a suitable gallery - and talked me into putting on an exhibition of our work. Maureen Stone - a talented felt artist agreed to join us and so began the contemporary textile group "Trilogy".

Work was slow at first. This was the first small group exhibition that I had been involved in. It proved to be a steeper learning curve than any of us had anticipated.

Come the beginning of 2000, the creative juices started to flow again. They had been kick started by two wonderful workshops with Glenys Mann and Joy Serwylo. Thank you to both of you.

I sat at my computer for hours on end designing each piece. I dyed so much fabric (90 metres in all!) in an attempt to gain just the right colour/shade/tint.

A number of pieces had been started when come the end of April, my husband and I went to Wagga Wagga (NSW) for a two week break. Now doesn't everyone go to Wagga for a holiday! We stayed in a caravan park near the university, and at night the 'semi's' rumbled past in a continuous cacophony of bass noise punctuated only by the screech of their air brakes as they slowed down for the roundabout. My heart sank! How on earth was I supposed to create in this environment? We went into town and bought packets of ear plugs and they worked beautifully. My husband left dutifully every morning to fly his aerochute (an ultralight aircraft) and moments later the sewing machine and fabric were spread from one end of the cabin to the other.

In fifteen days, I had put together the tops to four quilts and started a larger piece. It had not been a holiday that some dream of, but I returned to Melbourne by mid May, enthused, refreshed and ready to go.

Trilogy met frequently to discuss the progress of our work, to offer advice and provide solutions to some technical problems.

The gallery was visited on a number of occasions. We took tape measures and drew up plans detailing the dimensions of the largest works we could fit into each space. We asked lots of questions and were given verbal approval for certain non-standard procedures. After all, we were dealing with a gallery which normally exhibits "hard art". We were a whole new experience for them!

With a number of pieces finished, we organised to visit the gallery once again. Management had changed and 'no' we couldn't use the hooks already on the ceiling to hang our work, and 'no' we could not put anything like a quilt stand in the middle of the floor. We wondered what on earth we were to do! My husband redesigned the quilt stands he was making so we could stand them up against the walls, while we had to redesign some of our larger pieces.

Just before the Queen's Birthday weekend in June, Jann went to the gallery to pay the next deposit instalment set out in our contract. Fortunately, her husband accompanied her and noticed a sign saying the gallery would be closed for renovations over the long weekend. Renovations! - what renovations? Why had we not been informed?

Our exhibition was due to start on 3 August. It was a little '11th hour' to go changing things without notification! But change things they did! We lost the space where we were to hang one large piece 1.7 mt x 2 mt (68" x 80") and four smaller pieces no wider than 70 cm (28") and ranging in lengths up to 1.3 mt (52"). These spaces were suddenly and without warning gobbled up by two drinks fridges, a tall desserts display fridge and display cabinet from the gift shop - all from the extension of the restaurant.

We were filled with both dismay and anger. Surely this council run gallery knew months ago that these works would be carried out. Why weren't we told?

As part of our contract with the gallery they would provide us with 500 invitations. We were assured by one of the staff that we would have our invites within two weeks to give us sufficient time to post them out. We also managed to speak with the curator and voice our protests in as lady like a manner as we could. She took notes! We just kept talking. Yes, we could hang from the hooks. In fact they would put in extra hooks for us!

The week after the invitations were supposed to arrive, we rang to enquire about their whereabouts. The printer hadn't delivered them. For the next 2 weeks, we were told the same thing. In desperation, Jann asked if I would ring and I managed to get the full picture. They had been posted to the gallery and failed to arrive. The printer was printing them again. Jann rang again within a few days and was told they would be air couriered to Melbourne. Air couriered? Apparently, the gallery has all their invitations printed in Sydney - it's cheaper! Two days later they arrived. It was now ten days before opening night.

We were still all working on pieces - adjusting them to the new renovation. Come hanging day, we were all ready to go. Jann's husband, bless his soul, came with us, armed with his own hooks, screwdriver and saw! We declined their assistance with hanging, knowing if we did it ourselves it wouldn't take us the two days they had allowed. After all we had been restricted to thirty four pieces AND we had pre planned what was to go where!

We started hanging at 10.45 am and finished at 4.30 pm. Maureen and Peter did the 'high' work while Jann and I advised from terra firma and busied ourselves with the 'low' work. Humour was the key to the day. Despite the contract stating that they would provide our catalogue, we decided to provide our own. They would only have to photocopy it for us.

A couple of months prior to the exhibition we had received letters stating that they would not do business with us unless we each had an ABN (Australian business number for taxation purposes). Of course we applied. The pricing of our work was affected by the GST (tax). Not only were we to add their commission to our price but also 10% of their commission as well. We later found out that all this was unnecessary.

Well, opening night came and Joy Serwylo opened our exhibition for us. All in all, it was a reasonable success with some works selling.

We had thought our problems were over. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Maureen met a few friends at the gallery one day and discovered the second room where most of her work is hung, had been closed off for the entire day with a training session from the council being held around the large table which occupies most of the floor space. She protested of course. She insisted that the rooms remain open at lunch time, but some 'suit' smiled sweetly and locked the doors anyway. We just wonder now how many of these meetings have been held without our knowledge! After all, our contract states that we have rented the premises for a month. A letter of protest will be written after we close on 3 September.

Our naming of the exhibition "Against the Odds" now seems rather prophetic. The entire experience has not deterred us from putting on another exhibition in the future, but we'll know what questions to ask and what to have stated in the contract next time.