What a difference a year makes – At this time last year, I was climbing a steep learning curve, preparing to exhibit in my first ACC Baltimore show and dealing with a lot of unknowns. This year, I get the benefit of having been through that fire, with a much greater understanding of the big trade show experience and all that’s involved, my preparation for ACC Baltimore is less frenzied.
It also helps that my booth, floor, and lighting are already sitting on a pallet in a warehouse in VT, ready to be trucked down to Baltimore. That’s half the battle. There’s still a whole host of other tasks to get done, including making new work for the show!
More textile badges in progress
The Innocence and Exuberance of Youth
When we were kids, my Mom often left my brother and I waiting in the car while she ran into the grocery store to “pick up a few items”. On one occasion, we were parked near the big white ice box and I watched multiple people come out of the store with their groceries, pause to flip open the ice box door, grab a bag and head to their cars.
After watching all these people get their ice, I thought, hey, our family could use some ice too and while my Mom was inside getting us food, I could be helpful and get us some ice.
Mini Textile Painting (fabrics, stitching), 5 x 5 inches © Ayn Hanna
Not sure how young I was at the time, all I remember is that it was a big challenge to scale the front of that box and get that lid open. It was hard work getting up there, fishing out a big heavy bag of ice then dropping it on the sidewalk below. It must have been pretty entertaining to anyone who might have witnessed that act, but as luck would have it, I got up, in and got a bag out without anyone coming by.
Pleased with my accomplishment, I then realized my work had only just begun – how was I going to get that big heavy bag to the car? There I was struggling with moving that ice bag along the sidewalk when “the Man” appeared and asked me, “Do your parents know what you’re doing, did they pay for that ice?”
Ummm, well no….I mean, what, you have to PAY for ice??? I had no money. I melted right there on the spot. He went along his way and I, well, I started working on putting that bag of ice BACK up in the box. Somehow I managed to get it back in the box and got back in the car before my Mom came out of the store.
A little confused, embarrassed and not wanting to get in trouble, I kept my ice box adventure to myself. I grew up a little bit that day, not really sure what the lesson learned was, but I felt different inside – reconciling innocence and exuberance with adult economic realities.
