Friday, September 24, 2010

Work of Art

Did you see "Work of Art, the Next Great Artist" on Bravo last spring? I liked the show, it was fun and I did learn a thing or two. There are fourteen artists at the start. Each week has a different competition and one player is eliminated. The winner at the end gets a show at the Brooklyn Museum. 

So spur of the moment, this week John took me to Chicago for the casting call for the next seasons show. It was fun. At 9:00 on Wednesday morning I got in line. I was number 311, I think a hundred people were behind me in a line going around the building. I was surrounded by some very nice people. Moora from Pennsylvania, Johnny from Milwaukee, Jay from Chicago with his girl friend Megan. Everyone liked the show except for the "shock" episode…is sex and nudity really still shocking?


Johnny, me and Jay. Moora took the picture with my phone

I was up for being the token old person, however judging by the line there would be some competition for that spot. But mostly I think people were in their 20's to mid 30's. Ok, so half my age. 

Three hours of standing… and then, but wait, I can't tell you about the judging process or I could be fined $100,000 or was it $1,000,000.

But, anyway, back to what I can tell, after I was finished at 1:15 John and I had lunch. We checked out  the Contemporary addition at Art Institute of Chicago. We roamed all the gorgeous public gardens, and ate dinner in Millennium Park under an umbrella. It rained but we stayed dry.

We were back at the hotel when my cell phone rang about 6:00. It was someone from "Work of Art" telling me they wanted me for a call-back and I should come back the next day. I was really shocked. I danced around the room on my ever so tired and achey feet saying, "oh, my god, oh, my god."




So Thursday I was back in another line (a short one). The artists came from all over. I met three from Atlanta, one from Wichitaw, one from Omaha, one from Toledo, one from Detroit. There were a couple very interestingly attired young women, performance artists.

As I was sitting there, I was wondering how I would possibly compete, or keep up with these talented artists if I did make it on the show.  I was still tired from the day before. The last woman I met was Sarah. She's pretty, charming, with an education from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Michigan and Cranbrook Institute of Art. I hope she makes it all the way. Me. I'm back home, very pleased to have had this experience, AND really relieved the I didn't make it.

One other thing, I have the greatest husband. Not only was he happy to drive me to Chicago, he did an awful lot of running to the Fed-Ex store to zerox. First my entry form, then to zerox pages from my "Images" book, then back to the zerox store to get the book that we had left in the machine. I love you, John.

If you're interested there's a casting call at the Brooklyn Museum in New York Saturday the 25th. You don't have to sign up ahead of time, just hop a bus, train, plane or car (like we did), and show up.  Go to
http://www.bravotv.com/casting and print and fill out the 23 page form to take with you.


Now onward. I think I'll take up painting again.

2 comments:

  1. Lynn, you are the greatest. With each new day you become more creative,spontaneous and gutsy.

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  2. Lynn, What a great experience. What a trooper John is for you. So your book was left in the copier!lol Thanks for sharing your wonderful story. loveyaschar

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