In eager anticipation of the once per decade “Foot in the Door” exhibit at The Minneapolis Institute of Art, I decided to sneak around for the chance at a preview.  I got much more than that when I bumped into one of artists lucky enough to be on display.  She told me of her experience on Sunday when she, along with just shy of 5,000 aspiring new talents who will be in the show, was almost turned away from entering at a little after 3pm on Sunday the 13th.  Jill Burchill was all ready to wait in the long line of artists assembled to see if their masterpiece – which needed to fit into a 12″ X 12″ box — would be lucky enough to be in the show. 

The artists had to make it to the front of the line by 4:30pm in order to be considered.  Imagine her (and countless other artists) surprise when they were being told the line was closed at 3pm.  Some artists took this at face value and left without disruption.  Others stayed to challenge the decision and went all the way to the top. 

Eventually, those that stayed were not only able to get their piece into the show, but they ended up avoiding the line altogether.  Jill was one of those lucky few.  She stated “I felt bad for those who left – one guy was so angry he threw his art down in the parking lot smashing it.” The question for this decade’s show is which artists went missing in action?

When asked about the commotion one of the front desk guards simply responded “Yeah, I guess it’s to be expected!”

If this is an indication of what comes next for this once per decade show, you won’t want to miss the opening tomorrow night!

(sorry for the gangsta phone pic but that was closest I dare get to the heavily security patrolled area)

With so much drama already, I cannot wait for the opening night!