A week ago, I had an interview with the local weekly paper about my ongoing art show, an interview during which everything I said sounded like incoherent babbling. I was not at my best. In my defense, I had just come from a going away party at work. I remember little save for the vast amount of sugar-laden goodies I gobbled up. Too much sugar turns my brain to liquid floating in a sea of liquid. The tiny boat containing words and sentences, articulately strung together into a lovely symphony, overturns and sinks. What floats to the top is pure and utter babbling nonsense.
Or so I thought. At least until yesterday, when the Boise Weekly published the interview in their paper in advance of this First Thursday’s art crawl. I have nothing but high praise for Tara Morgan, the wonderfully skilled and talented Advertising and Entertainment editor who fished out coherent phrases from her recorder and put them together with her own lovely, well-crafted sentences.
I owe her. I wish I could take her with me to speak for me. She would be my Cyrano de Bergerac (without all the drama and inconvenient ending).
Here is the interview posted online at the Boise Weekly website. “Watercolorist Jean Calomeni Plays with Metaphor at Basement Gallery.“
Excellent interview! I wish I was close enough to come to the show!
Me, too! Boise is so far away from civilization!
This is very funny! I just interviewed a pile ‘o “virgins” or civilians…people like you who normally never give interviews to a reporter and it was revealing how freaked out they were. Of course they were! Those of us on the other side of the notebook easily forget that this is a learned skill, being articulate professionally.
I had every intention of being relaxed and lucid during the interview and that went all downhill. As I left that interview, I really considered taking some speech classes or getting coaching!
Terrific article! Just tweeted it. Congrats. The image is also wonderful. Think you can start an online wc course for near hopeless watercolorists?
Thank you, elena! Oh, I thought I was hopeless early on, too. I just struggled like crazy. But one of my art teachers told me I would be great at it after doing a million paintings. Which means, I guess, that you have to keep doing it to get better!
I just adored this feature story on your show. You sounded coherent and excited and full of vigor. Despite your assertions of sugar-fueled incoherency, you don’t come off that way at all I would totally see this show based on this story. I’m going to take a page from elenacaravela’s book and tweet it also!
And can I tip an imaginary cap to you for working beautifully in one of the hardest art mediums going?
Wow! Thank you for the lovely compliments! It took me years of frustration, patience, and courage to just keep going. I still don’t feel I’m where I want to be, though. But art isn’t a one time process – it has to evolve or it gets awfully boring.
Perhaps you are a little hard on yourself? A little sugar inspired excitement really does help makes the interview upbeat and positive. Go with the sugar which just makes you talk fast. Stay away from the wine which makes a whole sentence sound like one word! Good luck with the show. Your artwork is fabulous!
Thank you, Kate! Yes, wine isn’t a good mix with words.
Beautiful interview – good portrayal of your work and you!
Maybe format it attractively and print out nicely as handout at exhibit or future promo…always good to have a nice marketing piece when working towards other shows. (Put a nice thumbnail picture of the author on it, too – and send her a cupcake or something – it’s a very nice piece)
Good advice – I thanked her by email, but I want to send her a little gift, too.
good plan. It’s work – but you have a great “product”: you and your art! Go for it
That was a great article. You’re good, accept it
Accepted, dear Hansi!
The article and the interview were both fabulous! As are you! I am so impressed.
Thank you, dear friend! I think my parents will get a kick out of it.
It seems to me that you give very good interview even when on a sugar rush and that the writer feels an affinity for your expressive original watercolors. The end result is an insightful article about a talented artist. In fact this article makes me regret even more that I cannot just hop on a subway train and see your show, but it’s taking NYC countless years to build a line on Second Avenue, so I don’t think they’re going to be in any hurry to build one that stretches to Boise in my lifetime.
It’s nice to be just a bigger fish in a small pond. I think I’d evaporate if I lived in NYC! But we all gotta be where we gotta be…
See…. not all Journalist are like the ones on Fox! Have a good night tonight& stuff!
The night went really well. A steady stream of people kept coming through. Overheard conversation: “I just met the artist! She’s a bona fide real person!”
Ha…. as opposed to being a bone fide fictional character! wheww, good thing, huh?
Love the article. You were brilliant–way too hard on yourself. I enjoy your loose application of color and way you retain and incorporate the pencil lines. Nice!
Hugs,
Kathy
Thank you, Kathryn! Wish you could have been there!
Excellent job SDS! I predict really good things for you. You’re going to make money and win accolades. Your work is just wonderful and you should be quite pleased with yourself! lol…Best to ya.
Thank you, Sherry. I can’t lose the momentum now. I’ve got a big year ahead of me!
Oh, what a great article!
She did a good job of pointing out some of the things I like best about your work, but couldn’t have put my finger on – I’m a musician, so I recognize art that I like when I see it, but for the life of me I can’t tell you WHY I like it. I thought your comments were great, so hurrah for sugar. 
Yes, I may just start carrying sugar cubes with me for that extra brain boost.
Wow! Great article. I just sent an email hoping to purchase two of your watercolors (I’ve been meaning to do that for a long time). Hope they are still available.
Thank you, worrywart! I really appreciate the support!
I like Frida too. You is smart. Yay for First Thursday Art Crawls!
Frida is one of my favorites. I think a town that doesn’t have an art crawl would be a very sad place.
Hi,
What a fantastic interview and I love the way the article in the paper was written very nice, good on you and well done.
Thank you, mags! I had a good time that evening and now I have my first article about me to frame!
Congratulations on a fantastic writeup! Best wishes for many more.
PS–Not too bad for an introvert!
Yeah, and I’m not sure you would have known I was an introvert if you’d seen me that evening. I managed to be more engaging than I ever was. Thank you, Thomas!
She’s a reporter, not a miracle worker – I think you gave her a great interview!
Thank you, Oma. Perhaps I should get sugared up more often!
The interview gives the reader a wee glimpse into who Jean is without taking away the mystique that goes a long way. Plus you are still free to just be you.
It’s just the right balance, in my opinion, to make people interested in seeing what this lighthearted feminist is up to!
I got so many compliments that night from men! It seems that men very much appreciated the subject matter. How wonderful that was.
A very good sign for sure! That is music to my ears. I’d love to learn they are representative of their brothers and that the sexes can laugh together at our differences.
Great interview, and I really like the painting they ran with it.
The writer is very talented and I let her know. Thank you, Laura!
The best editors are those who understand story-telling, and you got one.
The best word in the piece was “prissy”. I haven’t heard that word in ages, but it perfectly encapsulates what I hate about certain art – and certain writing. I think I tended toward prissiness in the beginning – natural, I suppose, since prissiness has to do with fear and a dependence on external control.
Nothing prissy about your watercolors – loved the one they posted with the story!
Thank you, shoreacres! Yes, the writing captured very well what I think about painting and art in a few words. And it worked to drive a lot of people to the gallery!
That is a great article! I think once you get more experience talking about your work with others, like at the gallery reception and such, it will come more naturally. Kind of the way stage fright tends to go away or you learn to deal with it as you become more practiced and comfortable on the stage. But I thought your interview turned out well in there.
Thank you, Casey! I was pleased, too. I’ve got to send it to my parents as well!
In my limited experience of talking to the media, I find that they usually pick out a couple of minor remarks that one has made, then inflate them, and make them the main point of the published piece – and you come over as an idiot…
Hello! I’ve selected you for the Liebster Award. Thanks for sharing your sense of humor and stories – truly enjoy it! More details on the award are here http://12southpilates.com/2012/04/12/many-thanks/
Why thank you! What an honor. It’s very nice to be complimented by readers!
Tara did an excellent job of conveying some of your many talents. Congratulations on the show, Jean.
Thank you, dear!