The Shipping News

Right now I am on a learning curve about dealing with packing professionals. The crate maker is finally starting to work on the crate for a large wall piece. Mike at PakMail, who won an award for his packaging, has made boxes for me in the past. But I have maintained control of transporting the work to shows in the Twin Cities area. Relinquishing control to a shipper is fraught with anxiety. I need top notch packing. First, I have had to learn when to bring work for packaging. I try to avoid Monday, the busiest day. Mike talks very fast when he is busy. I need to take in verbal descriptions about how the art will be packaged very slowly. Mike can do the mental math with laser speed and rattle on about dimensions and how much cardboard, bubble wrap, and air pockets it will take. Until I have shipped a few pieces, this is all mumble jumble to me. To add to the anxiety, I do not know how fragile this new material I work with really is. And no one can tell me. O.K., it is not glass. I have been taking one piece to be packaged at a time. I do not want to leave my works at PakMail for any longer than necessary. Now I know that if I get a big out of town show, I need to plan for shipping way ahead of time.

I have two strong motivations to get this packing and shipping done. One is to deal professionally with Translations Gallery. The second is to get the pieces and the boxes out of my studio. I need room to make more work and to think.