The Opening Night of the 2021-22 Emerging Artists Gallery Exhibition was a double first for me (Kayte) as I have never been to a Gallery Showing (Shush!) and never had any of my work shown in Exhibition. So, I had no idea what to expect. All in all, it was a wild experience; we had some great friends come out to support us and felt really honored to be chosen among such amazing artists.
Of course, as the only primarily literary grantees, we also felt we stood out, in both positive and some not-so-positive ways. We are confident that we were able to showcase the look and “feel” of Dimple’s Days, through half a dozen 8X10 character illustrations, along with two 11X17 prints, one a sample page from an early readers’ book in production right now and the other, a group of the primary characters along with a short paragraph about Dimple’s Days.
The illustrations seem to have gone over well, many people stopped and inquired about the fun and funky monsters we hold so dear, and it was exciting to be able to introduce people to our labor of love. And this is where the challenge lies, in a packed art gallery, with dozens and dozens of people talking, walking by and through our conversations, it felt difficult to relay the very unique aspects of Dimple’s World that make all those characters on the wall so special.
Still, through our own efforts (making info cards, fun pins and stickers) as well as through Creative Pinellas’s beautiful information postcards, I do feel as though a lot of people did understand the message. In fact, there were quite a few inquiries about how to buy the book(s). Which is exciting and scary, we are still within our process (per our mentor, a Children’s Book Publisher, it usually takes at least a year to complete the process). Continuing to work our “day jobs” is seemingly stretching that indefinitely and we welcome inquiries for funding through our website.
