Putting a Hobby on Exhibition

and how it change my perspective

Recently, I submitted a piece to be exhibited in a local art nonprofit’s gallery for the month of February. Now I am feeling all sorts of things about having my lace in an exhibition for the first time. It's making this silly little hobby I picked up on a whim from the internet feel so much more 'real'.

While I've dedicated a lot of time to learning needle lace over the last few years, I still often feel like a beginner in over my head. There is just so much to learn with lace-making, and I have just scratched the tip of the iceberg. I am always looking for the next way to improve and the next technique to learn. This leads me to not recognize and appreciate what I have already learned and am capable of.

Having to get out, remount, frame, and submit a piece I finished 2 years ago forced me to stop and reflect on my work. I had gotten so wrapped up in what was next that I never took the time to give the finished piece the care and praise it deserved. It looked so professional when I got it into its frame. I had a big ‘wow! I actually made that, with my own two hands!!’ moment with giddy giggles when I hung it on my wall. I felt proud of the work in a way I hadn't before and was keen to take it to the exhibition.

When I went to the exhibition’s opening night, I was so wrapped up in admiring the other works that I almost walked right past my own. I think that was exactly what I needed. There and then, I could see my lace from a perspective of just appreciation- the same kind I was giving to all the other pieces.

I didn’t hang around to see if others admired it, because that wasn’t what it was about for me. I needed to share it offline to make myself realize that my little hobby is also art. That it can be both simultaneously.

The strangest part is, this isn’t the first time I’ve exhibited this piece, or artwork in general. Shortly after I finished this lace, I entered it in the local county fair. I grew up loving the community entries and participated when I could, but hadn’t for a number of years. The ladies who checked the piece in were very excited, which of course made me happy, but none of the process of entering it made me stop and think about my work in the way this exhibition had.

I also used to enter art shows and competitions frequently with my photography and digital art. I’ve had pieces hung in DC at Capitol Hill. I’ve placed in international, national, and local competitions. I’ve won best of show, I’ve not placed at all, and everything in between. I thought I knew what to expect putting this lace on display, but it changed those expectations and transformed my outlook on making.

It’s easy for me to write my own skills off. I think to myself “Of course, I know how to do what I already do, how else would I do it??”. I don’t stop to contemplate how I gained that skill and the time and work that went into using it.

Putting this little hobby on exhibition was my wake-up call to give my artistic endeavors credit and love. This doesn’t mean I will let myself become stagnant in my learning or making. However, I need to slow down, stop, recognize, and appreciate what I've already accomplished (even if the project isn't finished yet).