How I planned and executed my very first Art Show, in Bali Indonesia.
After traveling for about a year, we arrived in Indonesia! Brandon's favorite country, and it would turn out to be one of my favorites as well and where I would host my very first Art Show.
Bali is a gorgeous island in the country of Indonesia. Bali is much more than the scenery, cuisine, tropical climate, and beaches. In my perspective, the people that reside in Bali (and in Indonesia in general) are what make it so special. Indonesians are the most genuine people I've met.
While staying in Bali I started working on a series of paintings inspired by the island. The technique that I used to create these paintings consisted in collecting leaves around, painting them and pressing them onto the canvas, resulting in a print of all their intricate details.
My days of seclusion making these paintings went by in the blink of an eye, fully immersed in flow. I had been doing art while traveling, largely on paper, which I planned to bring home with me. But, while working on these new pieces, I felt compelled to hold an exhibition in Bali featuring this collection.
I didn't know how, but I was determined to make it happen.
I thought it would be fantastic if I could hold my exhibition at a major event in Bali. To my amazement, I discovered on Google that in about a month, Bali would host a large festival called the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. Not only that, but the venue for this event was only 5 minutes away from the Airbnb where I was staying.
When I contacted the Festival to inquire about the possibilities of exhibiting my show on the festival grounds, they informed me that I had arrived a bit too late and that the list of art exhibitions scheduled for the festival had already been closed.
Nonetheless, I got on my scooter and went to see where the Festival was being held. It was a large venue, and I noticed that construction workers were already preparing the grounds for the festival.
Right next to this venue there was a small commercial space, with glass windows all around it, exactly the perfect size to host my exhibition. This commercial space was on the same lot as a high end hotel. I thought it would be ideal to host my exhibition there because it was right adjacent to the Festival and I would benefit from all of the foot traffic going in and out.
So I stopped to chat with the hotel staff. They said that I was in luck, because the owner of the hotel happened to be there today and I could talk directly to her right away.
After having the idea for my art show, it took only about 12 hours and I had secured a space right next to a big event coming up. I felt that there was too much synchronicity to not go ahead with the plan at this point.
So this is how "As Within, so Without" show came to be. I finished working on all my art pieces. A total of 17 paintings.
To attract people, I created some posters and distributed them throughout the neighborhood and the city. Brandon worked hard collecting largely natural materials such as flowers and vines that I used to decorate the space. The final look of the space was stunning!
We also got to enjoy a performance by an amazing local singer and songwriter, Kai Mata, on one of the evenings. I came across her music and absolutely loved her style, so I contacted her directly and she agreed to perform some songs live for us.
It was a completely new experience for me to go through the whole process of envisioning, organizing and executing an art exhibition. It was also great to connect and talk about art to the people that came to the show.
Bali was our last stop on our trip around the world, but that wasn't actually supposed to be the plan. At first, our plan was to continue traveling through Australia and New Zealand before heading back home to the USA. But after my art show, we decided to stay for longer and finish our travels on the highest possible note: having our wedding ceremony in Bali! It was an intimate ceremony just for the two of us. We exchanged vows with a Balinese officiator overlooking the ocean at a gorgeous house.
I couldn't think of a better way to end our journey around the world!
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