One of the lessons learned from my ongoing Women Artists of the DMV survey show - one of many, all of which I will record here eventually - is how artists procastrinate and shoot themselves in the tuchis.
Here's the scenario:
As artists get invited to be part of the show as more spaces are added and/or walls open up, some of them ignore the invite email and after a few reminders get dropped off.
It's puzzling to me that after they receive an invitation to exhibit, they do not respond, and even after a second or third reminder, there are always some who just drop off - case in point: a couple of weeks ago I invited 52 artists to exhibit at the Universities of Shady Grove (USG) in Rockville.
Because USG it is a public space, the the USG Priddy Library managers must approve each work individually and ahead of time.
A week after I sent the invitation email with detailed instructions on what to do and key dates, only 18 of 52 invited artists had responded; after a reminder, another 12 responded; after a third reminder another 10 responded as directed, and 5 asked if I could switch them to another venues (answer was no) because "Rockville is too far" — as a result I could then move 12 artists from the wait list to USG, which I did!
Based on previous scenarios similar to this one with the other venues, this week I will receive emails from about half of the non-responding artists with reasons such as "I kept forgetting to do it", or "I was sick", or a dazzling assortment of reasons.
Just venting.
