The next few blog posts in this series will be about preparing and hosting the opening for my exhibition Anonymous Woman, which is running at the Shenkman Arts Centre in Orléans, Canada from Nov 28, 2019 – Jan 7, 2020.

When I applied for exhibition space via the city of Ottawa, I was living there and thought we would be there indefinitely. So naturally I had already finished some works when we discovered the news of our impending move to Houston, Texas, USA.

Moving to Texas definitely threw a wrench into organizing and preparing for this exhibition! But when there is a will, there is a way.

Before we moved I made sure to finish and leave several works with friends so we didn’t need to ship the work back to Ottawa. Once we were in Texas, I had to be a bit creative.

The first thing I did was finish my paintings that absolutely HAD to be framed. When they were completed, I shipped the 3 works to the wonderful Wallack’s Art for them to frame. They already framed my Ruth, which was exhibited with the Bombay Sapphire Artisan series in Montréal, Canada:


mixed media portrait, fiber art, stories of women, art by carrie brummer

Additionally, I shipped 3 large works to friends to hold onto until I arrived.

Note: be sure if you are an artist mailing yourself art for a temporary exhibition you make that clear in your FedEx or UPS label for customs. I’m currently trying to explain why I don’t owe HST (a Canadian tax) for art that I created and shipped to myself for a temporary exhibition.

So how did I get the rest of the work there for a 28 piece show?

I packed the remaining works in a piece of checked luggage. Gasp. I know!

I flew in a day before installation because I thought it would afford me some rest (I was 26 weeks or so pregnant at the time), AND if the luggage was lost I had a day for it to be returned to me.

I spent the first full day in Ottawa running around town collecting artwork and met a friend for lunch. When I carried one of my paintings, Peg, from my friend Holly’s car to my rented one, I was stopped by some police officers who asked me if I painted her. They were super excited about the work and very generous with their compliments!

I’m sure I made quite the image: a pregnant woman wielding (or maybe waddling with…) an at least 3 x 4 foot painting in the middle of Ottawa city streets! I don’t have a photo of that, but you can see Peg in the show here:

My in-laws graciously offered their help and arrived that Tuesday as well. And when I say graciously, they flew all the way across Canada from Salmon Arm, B.C. to be there with me in Ottawa! I’m one lucky girl. So I thought I better at least meet them for dinner 😉 

The show runs at the Shenkman Arts Centre from Nov 28, 2019 – Jan 7, 2020. Some work is still available for purchase. You can see more of the works and watch my process videos by exploring the online gallery of the work here.

10 Comments

  1. May Porter on December 9, 2019 at 12:05 pm

    You are my mentor Carrie Brummer, you never cease to amaze me. Thanks for sharing your story I love it ❤️ Congratulations just doesn’t seem to cut it! Love, May

    • Carrie Brummer on December 9, 2019 at 12:25 pm

      May thank YOU!!! <3 <3

    • Judith Daniels on December 9, 2019 at 3:34 pm

      Your story made me smile. What an exciting time for you … and what adventures are ahead. Stay well dear Carrie

      • Carrie Brummer on December 9, 2019 at 4:04 pm

        Thank you! 🙂 🙂

  2. Jean Lankford on December 9, 2019 at 3:06 pm

    How exciting… You look so cute pregnant! Your paintings are amazing. I am so proud of you. Hope you get rested up & paint some more awesome pictures.

    Thanks for including me. I really enjoyed it.

    • Carrie Brummer on December 9, 2019 at 4:05 pm

      Jean thank you so much! <3

  3. Karen W on December 9, 2019 at 10:36 pm

    I was wondering how you were going to get the paintings back into Canada. I don’t know how it works in this direction but the border guards going into the States tend to stop people from crossing if they think they are going to do some sort of work. For instance, if one of our martial arts friends wants to go down there to put on a seminar, and the boarder guards discover he has more equipment than he would have if he were just going to take a course, they would stop him. I was worried you would arrive at the boarder and be turned back. So glad that didn’t happen. I do hope you don’t end up paying taxes on your own paintings!

    • Carrie Brummer on December 10, 2019 at 5:49 pm

      Hi Karen, Thanks so much for you concern. I did a bit of homework to be prepared. But you never know!

  4. Barbara Alexander on December 11, 2019 at 11:16 am

    Love the photo! I imagine all of these art thoughts and excitement being communicated to the little one being created in your belly. The exhibit is amazing and so are you! Congratulations!

    • Carrie Brummer on December 11, 2019 at 4:22 pm

      I love that idea. Thank you so much for sharing it. I hope her life is filled with creative inspiration! I’ll do my best to foster it 🙂

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