“Bette, what about that life do you miss?”

“I breathe the art world, surrounding myself with creative minds night and day–at least I did.  The past year and a half at the CAC, the creativity’s been missing.  I am the administrator.  I have to force interactions with artists—acting as interviewer during lectures, sponsoring seminars, and that sort of thing.  It is an art museum, so artists are in and out, but the spontaneity is missing.  The job does have its upside. I don’t have to worry about being in the black each month.  Staff is paid regardless of the revenue taken in by the museum shop or the buzz about an exhibition.  It fulfilled my financial requirements.  My life was moving in a direction where I couldn’t afford the financial uncertainty of being an entrepreneur.”

“Money wasn’t good running the gallery?”

“I made money, but I put it all back into the business.  I hosted elaborate dinner parties for artists, often used my own funding to secure art for the gallery, promote it, and bought plenty myself.  I was keeping my head above water, but just.”

“So you were looking for more security?”

“Tina and I wanted to start a family.  We needed the security since she decided she’d be a stay-at-home mom for a while.”

“How was that decision made—that she’d stay home?”

“Tina felt that in terms of development and confidence, a child does best when he or she gets that extra attention.  I had no objections.”

“So with that change in income to the household, you had to make some major adjustments.  That must have been a loss for you.  So much of your identity was wrapped up in the Bette Porter Gallery.” 

Bette again chose not to answer, but she was deep in thought.  It was true.  She was that gallery.  It meant everything to her.  She built it from nothing.  It had been a constant high.  Referring to herself as a gallerist made her happy.  Since coming to the CAC, she had felt nothing close to the rush she had when she was running her gallery. “I don’t know.  It wasn’t until ‘Provocations,’ that I missed it.  When we were preparing for the show, something happened inside of me.”