« Getting there | Main | Deceiphering the Code »
April 21, 2007
Ego Boost
I just got home from the first real party I've been to since Lily was born (well, excepting the nice New Year's Eve bash we went to). I was invited to participate in a two night "art happening" hosted by a local mural artist. He saw my work up at the Red Cup Cafe a while ago, and wanted me to participate. It was mostly a group of people who already kinda knew each other, a mix of more established artists around here, some college students, etc. I ended up having a really good time. It was part art show, part party, part ACLU fundraiser, and part halfhearted attempt at performance art (the host was completely nude this evening except for some artfully applied body paint.) But, I got to have more in-depth conversation with some cool people I had met briefly before, met a bunch of other artists, commissioned an ink portrait of Lily, painted a tattoo on someone's back, possibly snagged a web design job, and found a new friend for Lily. The host has a 2-year-old daughter who Lily played with while we were there Friday night (who needs performance art when you have toddlers??) and plans were made to get them together again soon, especially when D (the artist's wife) and I found each other out as Extended Breastfeeders.
It was nice to have positive feedback about my work, nice to dress up, nice to meet people who at least pretended to find me and my work interesting, and even nice to be hit on by people I had no interest in. I felt like the old me. I've been feeling more and more like that lately. It's just taken a long time to feel like I can be ME and Lily's Mommy. They both take so much energy. But in any case, I collected lots of business cards, and hopefully will continue on my artistic journey in this little provincial corner of Northwest Indiana.