Ripley House Opening : La Mujer

i haven’t had a chance to talk about thursday’s opening at ripley house. macario and alix did a fantastic job of making everything run smoothly and in a wonderful setting. i saw some familiar faces i hadn’t seen in a while [elvira, michelle] and some i saw recently [shelley and her beautiful daughters, and my sister and her husband].

marc made a wonderful introduction about what the night was about and bringing art into the community and that sort of thing. there were several board members in attendance, too. when lizbeth introduced me, i nearly cried. it was very touching, and such a nice thing to hear from someone i admire as an artist and a woman.

i was pretty nervous when i stood up to speak. i could feel myself beginning to panic and my breathing became erratic, that i became breathless, almost to the point of hyperventilating and had to excuse myself for a second. the audience was kind, understanding … and a little amused. lol! when i finished, there was applause [which was great because i was expecting a great silence!]

diana muniz, i hadn’t met her before but had heard of her, and what marc had to say about who she was and what she has done, i almost cried then too. what an inspiration. i certainly hope to work with her again some day.

after the speaking session was done, i made a beeline to charley and javi [my sis and her husband] but was stopped by a bunch of people wanting to ask me questions. one particular lady gave me her card and invited me to speak/show to an organization that aids women who have survived abuse. she was touched by what i said about “not letting mistakes stop me” and “building onto those mistakes and working with them to create something new”. from what i heard that evening and later, i believe that made a big impression on people and was very inspiring.

i spent a little bit of time with shelley and her beautiful girls [i love them so much] and charley and javi. i left them alone long enough for charley to tell shelley some embarassing stories about me growing up

i took some photos, but the rest of the evening, a couple of the ladies from ripley house were kind enough to take the camera and shoot for me while i was talking and schmoozing. here are a few from the evening, the rest can be found in a flickr set here.