The Trip to the Miami Bravo Casting Call: My Experience

I am back in the office and finally almost caught up after a week of physically exhausting travel. Last Tuesday July 14th, the Bravo Casting Call for the new Fine Art Reality Show took place in Miami Florida at Snitzer Gallery, and I was there! Although I wasn’t chosen for the show, the experience was remarkable.

Two of my dearest friends and cheerleaders, Kelli and Shannon, decided the trip to Miami would be an excellent time to catch up and make new memories, so they drove all the way from Atlanta to meet me in South Georgia and accompany me to Miami. The trip would not have been nearly as much fun or as thought provoking had these ladies not been there. We left the Cordele Cracker Barrell – Miami bound at 3:30 on that Monday afternoon. The first 5 hours went by very quickly with our talks abut relationships, career, and anecdotes of current events. We laughed and talked uncessingly. We stopped for a leasurely dinner at a Chili’s somewhere in Florida, and back in the car the hours began to creep and the rain began to fall in intermittent waves.

Before checking into the hotel at 3:30 am, we took a detour to scope out the gallery where the casting call was to be held. Now, if you have ever been to Miami then you know that there are some really nice places and then there are some scary places. At 3:30 in the morning, the Art District is pretty freakin’ creepy. Every thing is concrete with all the doors and windows secured with metal gates and heavy steel doors. The place look completely abandoned other than a few homeless people asleep in various places and the promise of human existence displayed by graffiti marking the facades. The women with me let me know immediately that I would not be returning to this place alone.

I arrived the next morning with my trusty side-kick Shannon at 8 am to wait in the sweltering Miami sun for the casting call to begin. Amazingly, I was only the 35th artist in line although some people had arrived 5 hours before me.

The 34th artist in line was a beautiful blonde in a long pink and white tye dyed dress, pink shoes, and a floppy pink hat by the name of Ursula Cooke. She was accompanied by her wonderful mother and several very large canvas paintings bound up with blankets and bungees. I helped them unload their vehicle and was amazed at the beauty of their native Hungarian language. I was floored when I saw Ursula’s work, as there is no way I would have guessed at her subject matter from a blonde covered in hot pink. Ursula is very much inspired by the artist Geiger, and she creates images that combine the human form with mechanical parts – amazing.

The 36th artist in line was an artist Shannon and I later referred to as Clothespin boy. Gerry Stecca is an incredible Miami-based artist that has been exploring sculptural works using the medium of clothespins. He currently has work in a Seattle gallery and used to rent studio space in the Art District until he was uprooted by the economy’s nose dive. Although in hindsight, I wonder what the market is for 12 ft tall trees woven out of clothespins.

After being in line for 2 hours, I had visited many of the people in line to hear their stories and catch a glimpse of their work. There was one fellow with a gorgeous smile and really long dreads that had taken a Greyhound bus all the way from Houston, Texas. There were at least 2 other artists from Savannah, and one of them was also from the Illustration Department. In hindsight, I wish I had collected everyone’s business cards or written down their names and addresses. Everyone was very friendly and the work amazing.

The only truly disappointing part of the trip was the portfolio review. We were all in line in an open gallery, so you could see table where I assume ” the initial portfolio reviews” were taking place. There were four reviewers and four artists at a time were meeting one on one with the reviewers. From our vantage point, the reviewer took between 4-5 minutes with each portfolio while the artist explained each piece and the reviewer asked questions. Then I t was my turn.

A thing dark-haired woman with a pinched face waved me over to sit in front of her. My trusty side-kick Shannon carried over my big portfolio and held it open at the end of the table for quick access. This thin-faced woman wouldn’t smile at me. Now I am the kind of person that has evoked a smile from a man I almost ran down in a parking lot. This is my hidden gift – I can make anyone smile. Instead this lady looks at me then looks at Shannon and asks me if she is my daughter. Later Shannon called this a “mean-girl comment”, but at the time I didn’t think much about it because Shannon is quite tiny, but this comment enraged Shannon, mother of two.

SO, it took this lady less that 30 seconds to flip through my portfolio – she didn’t ask me any questions and wouldn’t even let me get out a sentence or two as she zoomed through the portfolio. When she got to the original samples from the larger portfolio, she looked at the Princess and the Pea painting and under her breathe remarked at the beauty. I asked her if she had ever heard the story and she laughs at me and says “Yes, I am an elementary school teacher.” She then sent me on my way.

Now, it very well could have been that my work was just not what they were looking for, but I didn’t feel that the work was the problem. Have you ever met someone that reminded you of another person you used to know – someone that you couldn’t stand. The new person that you met may have been fabulous but you couldn’t get past the fact that they reminded you of that other person you used to know? I felt that was the case with this elementary school teacher reviewing my portfolio. Two things:

1. Why was an elementary school teacher doing portfolio reviews?
2. Why did only one person look at these portfolios?

Oh, well, you never know what they are looking for, but I know personally that they passed over some really amazing artists during this shindig.

Now, before this trip, I said my prayers. I asked that whatever is the best thing for me – may that be what happens. SO I will stand firm that the Big Guy decided that being on a Bravo show wouldn’t be the best thing for me. I still can’t wait to see the show and find out if any of the wonderful people I met actually made it. My warmest thanks go out to everyone that supported me through the entire process. A special thanks to Kelli and Shannon – You guys made the entire trip worthwhile, and you helped me to evaluate the next steps in my career. I am still working on developing my biggest goal – I think I want a show at the MoMa – is that too much to ask?