just when I was about to have female friends again . . .

This radical bitch— the difficult meddler from the beginning— just called me and tried to speak for the whole gallery.
Basically she doesn’t like one of my paintings and she took it OUT!
We are a COOPERATIVE. LOL.
Especially since there is some serious hotel artwork in that place— and some just plain ole shit.
Later on I will try to figure out why it is that certain people work to push me out everywhere I go.
Always a woman, I might add.
grrrrrrrrr.

My farewell to the gallery I helped to found . . .
It is with, at this point, little regret that I am choosing to leave this gallery. It has for quite awhile been veering from what I perceived our original mission to be. I take responsibility for my own misunderstandings at times and am not saying that the current Gallery North is not valid in any way. It is just different, and prescribing more and more to a set of standards to which I do not wish to have my art or my being belong.

I have accepted and graciously dealt with many instances on the line of professionalism, and have quite happily “upped” my work’s presentation to conform. Even to this moment I welcomed such suggestions and attempts to maintain consistency in presentation. That is valid.

However, having one member, by her own admittance of “taste” or “personal opinion” jury out work is NOT acceptable. We have not determined artistic standards, at least not as of yet. Removing a piece that one person believes isn’t up to par is wrong. Removing a piece that a number of people believes isn’t up to par is not really acceptable either. Based on criteria of hanging, yes. Based on evaluation or critique, no. The reason is because we accepted a wide array of talents, or not, as the case may be. AND more importantly we have not had formal discussion as a group on jurying out works based on artistic merit. My own personal opinion has noted a wide variety of quality among members and even among members’ own works. Were we to have held a mass critique prior to each change out and been led to remove works based on concensus, I would not hold this kind of anger and injustice.

I think it is sad for the members that remain that this has happened. I will leave my own critiques and opinions on the business and work out of this. If any of our leadership desire my input, you are free to contact me privately. We were all in the gallery for different reasons– some because the price was good, others probably for reasons too many to number. I was there mostly for the community of artists, and I do hope many of you will remain my colleagues. It is my desire that many of you will remain my friends as well. I will try to contact you individually to say hello in the weeks to come.

I will leave my key and retrieve my personal art and belongings as soon as possible. The next person to work may remove my pictures from the wall immediately as my membership will have been affected retroactively, as of May 1.

Sincerely,
Heidi Marie Gardner

That is the nice clean version. I wanted to be “professional.” Wouldn’t want any duct tape to get on their fru-fru little edges.