The Week in Art

Today was a long day at work. I didn't get home until 6:30pm which is probably early or normal for most but for me, it was long. We had our holiday staff lunch today and while I was a bit nervous given the circumstances, it turned out really nicely. We all brought the food and desserts and sat around eating and drinking and chatting about how nice it is to eat in instead of going out to a restaurant.

And then there was a huge surprise which I for one was not expecting.

Earlier in the day, our preparator started bringing out old works of art that have been in our inventory for quite some time, most of which have been written off as "not for sale", and placing them around the gallery. He let Janelle and I in on a little secret that the boss had mentioned something about letting us choose a piece for our Christmas gift. We nosed around and sort of mindfully picked our favorites and giggled with glee like school girls in "love".

When the dessert was brought out {my peanut butter yums} the boss told us that we would each choose an envelope with a number in it. That number determined the order in which we were to choose the art that we would take home. And get this, there would be more than one round.

I was fairly excited by this point for the following reasons.

A. I love games
B. I love art
C. I love free things

We all casually {except moi who had just finished her first Heineken} walked to the area where the art was laid out and began the festivities. Round after round after ROUND AFTER ROUND, we finally ended up taking home 5 WORKS EACH! On top of that, the boss offered to have the unframed pieces framed at no cost. Do you know how expensive framing art is? REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Needless to say, I was and still am in a fairly great mood.

There was no monetary bonus. {last year it was double digits} Two of our staff were laid off which I am actually quite sad about even though one of the two gets under my skin so badly I want to scratch my eyes. My hours have been cut and I'm getting a pay decrease. But with a life-changing Monday which turned into a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday acid indigestion fest, ended happily on Friday. And not just because we got to take home art but because in a weird way, it brought us closer together.

I'm going to miss the ladies who are leaving and in January the gallery will most likely be a much quieter place to work in, but it will be different. I am both looking forward to the changes and a bit uncertain of what will come. For once in a long time though, I am not afraid. Even though the economy has just kicked my butt and hundreds of others as well, there is a big bright light at the end of the tunnel that is blinding and I just want to get there as fast as I can.


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I'm off to take a nice long relaxing bath and possibly put my hair in rollers to achieve a massive afro for this weekend's photo shoot. I heart afros ...and I heart all of you too :)