Phoenix art museum photos how to#
If you knew all of the breakdowns, struggles, stress over how to pay bills, confusion, doubt and fear that have existed in my world over the past year then you would know how much this meant to me. To go from feeling like a failure to being emailed by the Phoenix Art Museum.It was a break through. Her eyes welled up with tears as I spoke and then I began to tear up. I remember Airi (A Museum staff) walking into the room and chatting with me for a bit. I began explaining to her how much this experience has meant to me and how life changing it has been. He would be there soon for his show and I wanted to meet him before the celebration started and before I would be tied up facilitating life drawing all night. I waited patiently in the orientation room. The next day I arrived to the Museum an hour and half early.
I left the lecture feeling so unbelievably hopeful. He took us around the world and shared his creative experiences and processes. He started with showing and explaining his early paintings and his struggle with his identiy as a Black man in America. I listened to every word and soaked in every moment. I can do all of the amazing things I dream of and he is a living example of that. I sat in the third row. I’ll never forget the moment he walked on stage and seemed a tiny bit nervous. The room was filled with people anxious to hear what this living legend had to say. It was Thursday and I had just arrived for Kehindes lecture at Phoenix Community College. Talk about humbling!Īfter over a month of anticipation, preparation and excitement, we were down to the final 24 hours before the event began. It was like a dream seeing myself talk about who I am as an artist as well as my favorite artist and to see it posted all over the museums social media. Talk about incredible! One of the most memorable parts about the experience leading up to the big night was filming a short video. I even had the opportunity to wander the museum on a day it was closed and there wasn’t a soul in sight. There were meetings, tours of the museums library and education centers, studios and galleries I had yet to explore. The behind the scenes process was so amazing to witness and be apart of. I was a little in shock and overwhelmed with joy!Īnd so, the process began! I was asked to during First Friday which was the opening night of the Wiley exhibition that he himself would be in attendance for. Remember that.” What were the odds that my all-time favorite artist, my absolute HERO would leave a positive comment on my photo when I was feeling so hopeless? SO, you can imagine how shocked I was to receive an email from the Phoenix Art Museum a few weeks later stating that they wanted to know if I would be interested in facilitating life drawing at a special event featuring a collection of work from Kehinde Wiley. It was like the Universe was saying, “Don’t give up Antoinette. It was a recreation of one of his pieces. As we were talking my FB notifications popped up and told me that Kehinde Wiley commented on my painting I had done. I was telling him how hard it was to get out of my funk. One day I was sitting in my car on the phone with one of my best friends and I was telling him how I had been feeling. That sense of failure led to severe depression. I had a goal in Denver and I didn’t meet that goal. It was July 2016 and I had just gotten back from Denver’s Black Arts Festival. It was hard to move or to even get out of bed. In order to really understand the importance of this experience I need to take you back. So when I look at your posts I just think ‘Damn she’s so close.’” It wasn't until that moment that I realized where I actually am and how far I have come. Working with the Phoenix Art Museum for the opening night of Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic was in my opinion the first step towards the direction I want to go as an artist. He said, “Antoinette do you remember the first conversation we had? You told me that you wanted your paintings to hang in the Art Museum. He told me something that really had me in awe of how far I have come. I saw a friend of mine a few weeks ago who goes by the name of PK Tha Poet.
Phoenix art museum photos full#
I am now a full time working artist and the journey has been quite the roller coaster. That's when the seed was planted my journey as a working artist began. It was never something I thought could be a career, that is, up until the end of 2013. It was true love in the form of liberation. Life was tough as a teenager and the power to create was the only thing that gave me real purpose. In a world full of uncertainty, loss and confusion it was my only constant. I loved art more than I even knew how to comprehend. It seems like just a yesterday I was a middle school kid laying on my bed drawing photos of all of my favorite athletes and musicians.
0 kommentar(er)
