"How It Feels Meeting Love" - by Meri Walker
Photo by Meri Walker.
NEM-Exhibition. The Kansas City Report by Meri Walker.
As soon as I found and followed Brett Chenoweth on EyeEm - about three years ago - I wanted to meet him in person. His mobile artwork always stimulates me and the way he manages his virtual participation in the global, mobile art community inspires me. I tell people it’s Brett’s fault I got hooked into the community: I was just going to keep my mouth shut and make crazy stuff with my iPhone all by myself.
But, having a piece accepted to the first NEM-EX Mobile Art Show provided the impetus to fly into Kansas City on September 5th and satisfy my curiosity. My heart soared, from the moment we entered each others’ presence: Brett and Gina Costa and Armineh Hovesian and Jane Schultz.
The venue for NEM-EX KC, facilitated locally by Apryl McAnerney, provided the fearless curators with a beautiful space to hang a truly powerful selection of prints. It was a joy to take in our colleagues’ artwork and to laugh and learn together. At the opening, we used Google Hangout in real-time to connect to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Carolyn Hall Young and did our best to bridge in Kaaren Malcom from Australia while each of us shared our own posts to Facebook, facilitated by NEM’s founder, Andrea Bigiarini.
Far exceeding my wildest expectations, the affection and respect we brought one another was genuine and mutually nourishing. We really did already know one another through our artwork! Having several days to swap tips and tricks, eat and shoot together, and even do a little cooperative teaching with Brett at the Kansas City Academy was so much more rewarding (and educational) than I had ever imagined. More than a few tears fell on my flight to Austin ...
Read the full report here ...
