The Clothesline Art Show: September 2007

Hello everyone! I think we have all finally recovered from our September 2008 Clothesline event. Our Clothesline Art Show was absolutely a huge success and we owe our families, friends and patrons a hearty THANK YOU! I was personally amazed at the "turn-out" as well as the incredible support of all involved. We the artists and the organizers have now been able to step back from a year with two events and see ourselves having been challenged, meeting the challenge, learning, growing and refining Our Clothesline Purpose and Standards.

I do not think any one of us ever thought we'd be facing a huge interest and need for an event like Our Clothesline in Chattanooga. It is a pleasure as well as humbling to be faced with the blessings of success and we strive to face the future with integrity and purpose driven focus as we share our gifts and talents with one another and the community.

Between May and September we saw the need for organization. I decided to volunteer my time and take on the responsibility of organizing the event. I have learned a great deal about what my responsibilities entail and will require of me in the future. One of the first arising concerns is that of fellow female artists interested in participation in Our Clothesline. I have been contacted by several artist expressing their interest in Our Clothesline. My response has been this:

Thank you so much! We are also terribly excited about the Our Clothesline! Our May 2007 show was incredible and our September show was an even better success! Our September art show was our second Clothesline event and we have learned a whole lot and have began defining our Purpose and Standards.

Our Clothesline is a grassroots effort that at it's foundation began 15 years ago. The Clothesline is a unique group of women of all ages, all walks of life and art. We do love the challenge of creating new work for each new show and we love your interest. Unfortunately at this time the group is closed to newcomers. We are excited about the high level of interest but Artist Participation is by invite only at this time. At the core of our group is our Christian values and that is something we strive to refine and uphold. We will be inviting 15 Artists for our May 2008 event, three of which will be Fine Craft Artists. We understand that our event walks the line between a fine art event and a craft show or festival atmosphere. We would love to expand our horizons but feel it necessary to walk slowly through this process, for the integrity of Our Clothesline. We will not be accepting Jewelry or Accessory Artists, American Folk Artists, or Outsider Artists. We do sincerely appreciate your interest and support and will keep you informed as Our Clothesline grows and changes.

I believe this will be helpful for artists in the future. Although, if you came to our show and spoke with myself, another participating artist, or signed the guest book and expressed interest you will be contacted and invited to apply to be in our May 2008 art show. The invitations are to go out before Christmas and are only applications for approval. After our September show we will be requiring more from each applying artist and those guidelines will be included in the invitation/application. We hate that we have to turn artists away, but feel exclusion at this junction is necessary. We appreciate the overwhelming interest and hope that we do not turn people away from their personal hopes, dreams, or goals as female artists. We sincerely believe that our God given gifts and talents are responsibilities, just as a person of wealth is responsible for serving, sharing or giving of their wealth. We too feel it is our responsibility to serve our community in an artistic, creative way.

If you have questions, concerns or suggestions please contact us at:

ourclothesline@gmail.com

Thank you and stay tuned! We will be back for another round in May 2008!

Cat Collier

with Our Clothesline

Labels: Artist Participation