GaricStephens

Feeling this so hard right now!

I still can’t even believe this happened. So many people came together, giving their time, their labor, their resources, their love - all of it for art. I’m still processing this experience and all the emotions - joy, grief, pride, exhaustion (it’s a real mixed bag over here) - wrapped up in it. This is the community I longed to have as a child/young adult growing up here, a community of artists and collaborators who come together to share their gifts and the people who see the value in their work showing up to support and celebrate their labor. Saturday night was so surreal because it felt like we had finally arrived: on a Saturday night where so many talented, hardworking people came together to share their gifts, and our community was there to receive us. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
I cry every time I think about it. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
And then I think about all the work (and Ryan, too) put in to make this happen: creating the designs, making ALLLL the clothing, coordinating models, florists, make up Artists, THE LOGISITICS - all the unseen labor that people don’t account for…​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
And I cry some more because I am just so damn grateful. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
So until I have a chance to sort through all the feelings from this event, I’ll go with what’s right at the top - gratitude. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
For all of your work, vision, talent, for transforming my work with such respect and integrity, for inviting me in to be part of this experience at all - Steve, I truly cannot thank you enough. ​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​
For the models (y’all know who you are!) and the way y’all brought the clothes to life with your personalities and embodied that spirit of joy and play shared by the paintings (I mean, had my work dyed on her head?!), for Nikki and and Hannah making us look our best, and for crafting LIVE FLORAL JEWELRY(?!) and a FLORAL SLEEVE(?!)- I will never get over it. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
*continued in the comments*