Learning While Doing, In Public

I just returned from installing several large scale floral creations at Hudson Yards for the Fleurs de Villes “festival.” The sheer intensity and anxiety of creating a new work in full view of anyone walking by (including the sponsors) within an extraordinarily tight timeframe reminded me of long ago “adventures” in the arts.  Not to mention Top Chef and the Great British bake off without a recipe.

Learning while doing isn’t new for me and I do get a certain adrenaline rush from figuring things out on the spot.  There have been many successes in taking these risks - the great unknown of trying something new in an active public space for the first time.  When it was a Dancing in the Streets production, I had a very smart team with me and since we were all “out on a limb”, it didn’t seem so scary.  Even when there were seemingly catastrophic results, we were together to keep each other going, to debrief, to have a beer, to cry and laugh (we laughed A LOT.)
Today, it was just me and an assistant - a young artist, son of a very dear friend - who, like his mom, is incredibly calm and has a great work ethic, even at 5 am.  We were both making it up as we went along.  Which is NOT to say we came in with no idea of what we were going to do and the intended outcome.  I described our creation - a floral arch that had to last for a week - which we were trying to make ecologically friendly - as more of an idea than a vision. (He said those two things are on the same plane.) As floral “mechanics” are not my strong suit, I researched and spoke to “experts in the field” who had created structures like the one I was attempting and had great advice for me on how to approach what seemed like an overwhelming feat, especially challenges of working with a new product. I assiduously followed their advice.  

HOWEVER, no two situations, flowers, venues, air quality, lighting, etcetera are ever the same.  And if I had any amount of sanity, I probably should have declined to take the risk.  But a dear friend once said to me, “great risk, great opportunity.”  I had spent hours awake (and in my sleep) figuring out which flowers to use, the sequencing of building the structure, how much I could do in advance, what could fit into a van.  We were supposed to have started work at 6 a.m. but bureaucracy delayed us considerably. (That is fodder for another discussion.)  So here we are, at 7 am on the 4th floor of an upscale shopping mall, madly laying “sod” on the sand bags, tying willows to a swaying metal arch, poking flower stems into agra-wool wrapped in compostable poop bags and sweating. 

Thankfully, after 30 plus years of producing crazy things in the public realm, I am well aware of the fact that this is NOT life and death, that while flowers have incredible powers to uplift the spirit, the success or failure of a floral design is NOT a reason to throw oneself off “The Vessel” (which is btw, now closed to the public.) On immediate reflection, the entire enterprise seems an effort not to be repeated. Yet when one is building a business, new ways of attaining visibility are often worth trying.  One might fail (the jury is out on my creation - I’m not completely satisfied…)  And failure in public sucks.  But what are the results of not trying? 

Long ago, at Astoria Pools, the third largest in the world - at least in 1988 - Dancing in the Streets produced a dance “extravaganza” on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of summer on record.  Incredibly talented artists took part, but heat and timing and lack of appropriate communication resulted in what we now fondly call “the great Astoria pool riot of 1988.”   It is important to state that NO ONE was injured, but the performance took a distinctly different turn than what had been planned.  It was an incredible “happening” and/but The New York Times gave the production a rather scathing review.  At the time, I was sure my “career” was over. I wanted to go head first into the giant pool.  My husband calmed me down and said “all press is good press.”  (In the age of social media, that may no longer be true.) Dancing in the Streets went on to create increasingly complex productions with amazingly brave and brilliant artists for bigger and broader audiences.  The biggest takeaway was - of course - what we learned from our mistakes.  And how that learning changed the organization and its approach for the better.

Today’s “adventure” reminded me that the best laid plans don’t always (or often) happen as planned.  And that for all the planning and list making and advice gathering that one can do, there is always one thing you neglected to consider.  Or two. And of course the more you practice, the greater your experience, the better your checklist.  And yet…

It seems to be in my DNA to keep taking risks.  It can be exhausting and exhilarating and very scary (I won’t begin to tell you about my nightmares…) Still, how else do we learn?