March 2009
March has already proven to be a whirlwind! It started by preparing for the Raymond James Gasparilla Art Festival in downtown Tampa. The show is known for its wonderfully high quality assortment of fine art and fine craft. It was especially exciting for me because I had been interviewed beforehand by the art critic for the St. Pete Times, Lennie Bennett, and she included a photo of my branch necklace--the one that appears on my home page--and some quotes. All weekend, people would stop by my booth and exclaim "there's the necklace that was in the paper!" I felt like a celebrity all weekend--I certainly had my fifteen minutes of fame at that show. If I knew anything about all this web stuff, I'd create a link for you to click on and read the article. Since I don't, I'll just write the link and hope magically it will work:
www.tampabay.com/features/visualarts/article980840.ece
It was an honor and pleasure to be there--the show is beautifully run by the many volunteers who work all year long to make it what it is. I had a great artist/neighbor all weekend, had dinner Saturday night with my friend, glass bead maker & jeweler Sandy Lent, and with the switch to daylight savings time I was able to be all packed up at the end of Sunday and on my way back home in daylight.
Back home again after an exhausting weekend at the show, I was looking over some email and was reminded of a bead show in Santa Fe. Not that I would need an excuse to go to Santa Fe! I'd almost convinced my husband to join me, but when we looked at the flight bookings and everything coming back to Orlando was nearly full, he decided he would not actually PAY for an airline ticket and he'd just stay home. Let me explain--he is an airline pilot. He gets PAID to fly other people places so he really doesn't like to PAY to fly places. On top of that, he is a very, um, frugal guy. But since buying a ticket to go and buy beads is a legitimate business expense for me, that is exactly what I did. It was a quick trip--out on Thursday and home on Friday--but very much worth it. I was able to find some of the wonderful Naga shell beads I've been without for a while, more wonderful pearls, and fabulous blown glass tubular beads from Venice (I know...I never thought I'd see the day I would have glass beads but these fit perfectly in my primitive designs) and some breathtaking natural turquoise round beads with a matte finish. I can't wait to get to the studio tomorrow and start working! Next stop...Tarpon Springs at the end of the month...
OMG...it's already March...what happened to December, January and February?
Have you ever had one of those months--or even several of those months--that just seems to disappear? It is a little spooky to lose three months, though...Let's see if I can create an abridged version of the past....
December--no shows! November was a pretty intense month with 4 shows in 5 weekends, so it was great to catch my breath and enjoy a month off--decorating for Christmas, having our son home for the holiday(and Christmas night he announced that he had, in fact, been selected for a job he'd been vying for for over a year), relaxing with friends and family--a great month!
January began with taking a workshop in a medium called Bronzclay. It is great stuff! In its clay form it is the magical color of the red dirt of Sedona, but after 11 hours in my kiln it becomes pure bronze. I've had several pieces featuring this bronze in my new spring pieces--and all have sold! Apparently, I'm not the only person crazy about bronze. There will be more down the road... And for the first time in many years, I did a show in January! I was able to "sneak it in" just before I left for Tucson, my major buying trip of the year.
Ah....February in Tucson! If you know anything about the rock & gem crowd, then you know that Tucson is their Mecca from late January through mid February. Well, "Mecca" was a little quieter this year. The Tucson Gem Show is truly an international event--and seeing the decline in attendance proves that our economic concerns are truly global. But let me say for the record that I did absolutely everything I could to stimulate their economy! I shopped with considerable gusto, and not having to rub elbows with quite as many people made shopping a lot more pleasant, I must say. I found some of the biggest, most fabulous turquoise nuggets ever--along with gorgeous pearls in all shapes, colors and sizes. I found a little bit more of those coveted Alaskan coral branches, more of my sentimental favorite little stones from Mali...well, all kinds of interesting new beads and "found objects" that will be working their way into my new pieces all year. I had just about enough time to unpack my suitcase and get ready to present some of the new things at my first show after Tucson, the Art Fiesta in New Smyrna Beach. If you've ever been to the Art Fiesta, you know it is quite an "eclectic mix"--you can find everything from crafty potholders to exquisite objet d'art. People in town really support that show--they know that there will be something fun and/or fabulous and they shop like they mean it. It was just the boost I needed after draining the treasury in Tucson!
Well, that sums up three months in a nutshell!
October/November 2008
THINK CHOCOLATE
Just a quick note for now--still have 3 fall shows to do, so need more time make jewelry than to write. Just want to let you know that the Flavor of the Month for November will be chocolate--chocolate pearls, that is. I have been able to acquire some gorgeous brown pearls in the past month, and I have been using them in some new designs--three of which were sold just this weekend in Dunedin--but I will try to have more in the coming weeks. The pearls are a beautiful rich, warm brown--some very large and nearly round, some fun & funky, but all with great flair and presence.
Also new this fall is some fabulous Nevada turquoise. These stones range from the usual beautiful turquoise color you'd expect, to emerald and lime green--all in a wonderful warm brown matrix. Chunky & funky, in designs some delicate and some audacious. And even more green--vivid green turquoise from China--amazing color! Who says it's not easy being green!
August/September 2008
ART SHOWS DECONSTRUCTED
With the Fall show season just around the corner, maybe you'll find a peek behind the scenes interesting. Like any theatrical production, there is a lot of preparation before show time. Sometimes, it seems, making the jewelry takes a back seat to the administrative end of the business. Most of the artists I know are "sole proprietors." We don't have administrative assistants, agents, road crews...we do it all.
Preparation starts months in advance of the show with the application process. Application deadlines may be more than 6 months in advance of the show. By the time I'm pitching my tent for the first Fall event, many Spring show deadlines have long passed. Every show is like applying for a new job. But unlike applying for a job, artists must pay to apply to each show. Virtually all shows have both a jury fee (non-refundable, ranging from $25-$40) and an exhibit fee (generally from $200 - $375 for 2 days of your 10' x 10' patch of real estate), also non-refundable unless your application is rejected. Hurricane--sorry, no refund. Raging fever--sorry, no refund. Car broke down and can't get there--sorry, no refund. Many have their own application formats, some shows are part of an on-line network designed to simplify the process. Competition is pretty fierce--some shows get thousands of applications for only 125-200 slots. Sometimes an application fee feels more like buying a lottery ticket--you pay your money and take your chances! In addition to the usual questions like name, address, medium, artists are also required to submit images of their work--usually three but sometimes as many as ten--and also an image of their booth set up. Back in the "old days" it was good enough to load your camera , take a few shots and mail them in. But as the competition for the "good shows" gets stronger, image is everything and many artists, myself included, hire professional photographers so we can put our best foot forward. Those images may only be flashed on The Big Screen for just a few seconds, so any flaw is magnified. Then we wait and wonder...will we get into the show or get the dreaded rejection letter...sometimes we wait for months before finding out. As Heidi Klum says in Project Runway, "One day you're in...the next, you're out." You may have done your favorite show for ten years in a row but unless you've won a major award at that show the previous year, you are at the mercy of the jury like everybody else. We don't want to hear those dreaded words "auf Wiedersehen."
If you get the word that you're "in" the next step is to become your own travel agent. If the show is out of town requiring a hotel stay, it's off to Tripadvisor.com to make sure you don't book a room at Motel Hell, and then to the other internet sites to find the best deals on acceptable places. Hotel expenses can really add up--remember, we don't have "expense accounts"--the buck stops with us as the business owner. Even a show just a hundred miles from home can require a 2-night stay, which can easily be around $200. Added to the cost of the show itself, you can see that most artists are already about $500 in the hole before we even open our tent to customers on Saturday morning. If your show happens to be in south Florida during high tourist season, or a big city like Chicago, or even a small town but seasonal tourist destination, modest hotels can easily be double or triple that.
Once we're at the show checking in prior to setting up, the next hurdle is location--the quest for the perfect spot. You know the 3 most important factors in real estate, right? Location, location, location. Imagine your disappointment to find your space is at the end of a mulch path next to 20 Porta-potties...or being downwind from the dreaded neighbor who loves spending the weekend smoking his favorite cigar in the great outdoors... When that happens, you beg, cajole, pray--whatever it takes--to convince the show committee to check their cancelation list in case a better spot has become available. And even what appears to be the perfect location may not be without pitfalls. I have had a fabulous corner location on a street in front of a storm drain (can you imagine how many earrings can fall into that black hole over the course of a weekend?), had cypress knees poking up in the middle of my space, dealt with countless fire ant mounds, sloping ground, overhanging tree branches--once even came back to my booth on a Sunday morning to find it in over a foot of standing water (but the good news was my tent was still standing).
And of course, there is always Mother Nature to deal with on the weekend of the show itself. Will it be too hot, too cold, raining, or the worst--too windy. We are, after all, just standing there under tents--tents that can become mere kites with a single gust.
And even the latest news reports--is the stock market up or down, what about gas prices, housing sales--election polls--the myriad considerations before we set out on any discretionary shopping trip.
Am I whining or complaining--absolutely NOT! I have one of the best jobs in the world! And most other artists would tell you the same thing. We love what we do. And most of us are probably blind optimists as well. Even though we don't have control over the juries that select us, the volunteers that assign our spaces, the weather, the stock market and everything else that can impact our efforts, we have been in control of what we make--the materials we select, the designs we create, the hours we put in. We get to see each piece from start to finish--from a vague idea to handing it to an appreciative customer. That makes for a very high level of job satisfaction.
Smile on a customer's face: Priceless.