International Womens Day ’24

I wrote this on International Women’s Day but only just got around to posting it.

Listening to the women of The View this morning, they were reminding us of Sally Field winning the Oscar for ‘Norma Rae’ in 1980 while she was dating Burt Reynolds. Apparently, he wouldn’t go to the Oscars with her as he figured she wouldn’t win. Well, she won…and then went on to win in 1984 for ‘Places in the Heart’…a movie I loved.

The conversation was about having a partner who wasn’t supportive, going about their business and interests while you go about yours. Helping out in a positive way when you need help or support in your pursuits, career, or endeavours is what a life partnership is (or should be) about.

It got me thinking about my partnership for the past three decades. We met in the Summer at a show I did each year at Harbourfront, Toronto, and then I had the One of a Kind Show coming up in the late Fall. My husband Clint was with Bang & Olufsen and would go around the dealers and help with the promotional displays….he used his skill with my booth that year (and since). He changed all my incandescent light bulbs to brighter ones which had folk commenting on my ‘new’ booth! He encouraged me to try a US show, came with me to those shows. He would look on the internet for anything that might help: clothes racks, displays, mannequins, lighting and even fans for warm shows. He even bought me a new tent when my old one which I got at a deal of a price from a retiring artisan, state of the art and perfect. We’ve used it in our driveway for yard sales and when we sort out our home workspaces, my studio. All the while running his own business.

I dated a lovely man before my husband who was never in retail sales or the art scene and would encourage me to ‘sell’ and do things I knew I didn’t want to do (pressing my brochure on fur coated ladies walking by as he thought they’d be able to afford my work)….well that just annoyed me as it wasn’t my approach and didn’t work.

My husband would create a relationship with the people who wandered into my booth but no ‘hard sell’. They came back and bought! He also wandered around the show meeting artisans while I was firmly planted in my booth…then return with information about other artists, work I might like to look at or even to buy. At the first show he was involved in he even bought me a fabulous black leather skirt from a Quebec artisan. I wore that thing until I got older and a bit of ‘middle age spread’…I passed it on to the daughter of a friend. Many of those artists became good friends.

Well, my racing around to shows is over after four decades but I still have my studio and my partner is still involved, making sure my ceiling fans are ok for the Summer (no AC), suggesting the window business to use when I had my final old screen door (yes…on the second floor without the balcony I was always going to build) replaced by some great windows. Now I have a lovely spot to sit and write, work on my few websites or just sit and stare at my garden.