A WELL-CATERED HANGING (DAY)
When I pulled up at the American College this morning, my van stuffed with paintings, I was met at the entrance to the Conference center, where I am going to be in a group show, by two of my friends wearing long faces. "Bad news!" they said as I turned down the Pretenders song I was listening to (trying to get my energy up for the day ahead) and rolled down the window. Uh-oh. Turns out the Gallery co-ordinator had scheduled us to hang the show at the same time as a large conference was happening. It is after all, a conference center, but there had been some miscommunication amongst its directors. I guess they didn't confer on this particular point.

Anyway, we were all feeling absolutely dismal at the prospect of hanging our work surrounded by hordes of business people. Somehow, it just didn't feel like the right psychic "mix", as well as being just plain inconvenient and awkward to hang artwork in a crowd. But, as it turns out, there were some perks to the situation! Not only were the crowds of insurance industry people crowding into "our" space only at 95 minute intervals, making their emergence a convenient breaktime marker, but this conference was seriously catered. We were surrounded with long tables of delicious foodstuffs and stacks of drinks of every description. And the place was so well organized that we barely even noticed the catering staff who seemed to sneak in invisibly and silently renewing and removing the plenteous refreshments. It was like we were at Hogwarts or something, surrounded by magical house elves. Conference center elves?

Anyway, it sure was different hanging day from any I have ever experienced.