In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Right to Brag.”

Presented with a gift from my students for getting this show together.

Over a year ago I started looking for a venue for our art group to have a show.  We were accepted by The Assembly Hall – a local Civic Community Theatre and Conference centre.  This year turned out to be a special one as  many venues were part of the cultural Spotlight in our West-end part of Toronto.  Our show ended the Spotlight on Etobicoke.

My students are varied in skill, style, interest, mediums and devotion to art.  Not all of them signed up for the art show.  Those who did, worked on their art over the past 12 months.  We have monthly challenges and the students came to most of the classes.  I run the class all year – 2 classes every Friday unless the Islington Seniors’ Centre has a special weekend event and they need our space.

It was hard to get all the info together during September – as my skills are quite mediocre in the office admin side of things.  I created an introduction to the artists binder – where each artist listed their work and said something about their art journey.  I designed a poster and invitation cards to be handed out.  Then I found out I was working every day the week of the show so I had to get the students to volunteer their time to make sure everything got to the Gallery on time.  They have some funny stories about that day and it all worked out.  The Gallery did an amazing job arranging the diverse show.

The Art Show Opening was great despite the rain and cold fall night.  Many people came.  Almost all the artists came and we had a lot of fun mingling and admiring the show.

When the reception was over, 4 pieces had sold.  But the end of the 2nd week we had sold 7 pieces.  The class is all fired up to do another art show as soon as possible.

I will be looking into another venue but the Senior’s Centre may not financially support another show.  All the artists contributed but the Centre paid for most of the expenses: the cards, posters, food and drink at the reception.

The class is now thinking about the next show.  They might become a phenomena. Raven is getting a lot of interest in her Medicine Art.  As I said, it is a diverse group.

I sent over 100 photos [reworked to look their best and a bit smaller for emails] to the students a few days later.  I was moved when one student responded: Wow! Thank you, Jacqueline! What a wonderful assortment of memories, and sending them on so promptly is once again a true reflection of your caring and interest in our efforts. I have always felt that your help with teaching us is only half of the blessings you bring, the other half is your kind and generous spirit. C.