Survival and learning

We got through the trade show. It was a long weekend with some high points and a few low ones.

It's not unusual that events like this give one a great opportunity to 'think things through'. The realization is that what we really like to make does not fit the usual 'wholesale' concept. What does fit into wholesale is at an uncomfortable price point for some and OK for others. Nothing surprising in that conclusion. This also means that our marketing has been wildly misdirected to some extent and that we need to reconsider some of our business activities and go back to our strategic plan and rewrite it to better fit what we now know about ourselves to be all too true. It is in following that truth that we will find our niche and our success.

The other thing that has arisen lately is the incontrovertible realization that we will never again be "doing" a certain show in our home town. I'm still not sure if I need to feel bad or just glad that I have a definitive answer to the question and no longer need to wonder about what we are doing the first weekend of November each year. Somehow, writting it down and reading this makes me feel thankful and relieved, and that's a good thing. Another query answered.

I learned another important thing this week, that it's not just artisans/artists that can suffer from intense amounts of insecurity, the people that work around them and try to provide them with opportunities for advancement do as well. Sometimes these people suffer so much so that anyone that questions any of their associations or decisions, even in the smallest way, are subject to an absolute reactionist asperity based on their perception of the questioner's words as highflown and laden with antipathy. A little sang-froid handles that.

It is good to learn.

Why wait when you can do it now?

It's been an eventful couple of months with all the Christmas shows to do and then getting home on the 17th. of December and rushing right into the mad dash of last minute Christmas shopping for the few things that a person can't buy at a craft show: like gadgets for a teenage girl. It was fun to shop late for a change.

January has come and almost gone at this point. I spent a lot of time since Christmas just reading and getting ready for the wholesale show in Halifax. Most of what I have been devouring has been trade magazines and the ubiquitous self-help/success books which hasn't really been a bad thing. It lead to an A-HA moment last week.

Why some A-HA moments seem to take years to conclude, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling it has something to do with the impracticality of the choice and the fact that we can here our family members whispering over our shoulder about how that isn't a money making or stable career choice. Well damn them all, sometimes you just have to go with your gut in order to be happy... and to be happy doesn't mean that you have to make scads of money either, it just means that you are satisfied with what you do, and look forward to doing more of it tomorrow.

What I realized is that I have always wanted to work in fashion, as a designer/artist. Jewellery making is a type of fashion and like some clothing designers, we establish a sense of our own style and work with that to make our statement. This really didn't come as a great revelation to me, I've always known it just like I've always known that I wanted to be an artist. I also know that it was discouraged and that I was told that it was an impractical way to "make a living".

At some point in our adult lives we have to stop listening to the voices of our parents that are still in our heads, especially when they have finally, at 60+, decided to pursue their dreams of a business in the arts too. So why wait when you can do it now.

My partner reminds me that if all the business does is "right minus wrong equals zero" then we're OK, because it didn't cost anything and if what it takes to make it r-w=0 is to make and show the work, then go for it and stop getting hung up in the numbers.

What I realized is that all I need to do is what I want to do: make and show the type of art that I make everyday.

Yes, it really is that simple.

Promise kept

I said that I would blog today and I refuse to not keep this commitment.

A blog that I love and read this morning discussed professional jealousy - yep, been there and felt the monster growing inside too. Also been on the receiving end too. Either way, it's a pretty unpleasant experience.

The challenge presented to me by the read this AM was this: how do I handle it when I am the jealous monster? The answer: Not well, not well at all. I run, I hide, I sulk, I bemoan my seeming lack of skill and promptly retire into a funk from which I have to kick myself in the seat of my pants to refocus and motivate myself.

It seems that we are not alone in this either. David has been having an ongoing email conversation with a childhood friend and a fellow artisan for the past couple of days. She's been there too, both as a giver and receiver. The problem with jealousy is that this not a situation where it is better to be a giver than a receiver either.

Maybe this jealous streak is pretty normal in the arts world, otherwise what would inspire to try 'new' things and to stretch beyond our comfort zone? What would inspire the willingness to compete?

If you have a different answer, let me know.

The best solution that I have found for me with this problem, when the monster arises, is to be thankful. It's the quickest cure for me and it is the most humbling and often constructive. When we feel it hit, and it usually does by knocking us straight back on our behinds, is to start being thankful for the opportunities that we have and will have, for the talent we already have and will polish, for the recognition that we have received already for our work and for what we will receive, even if it is only to acknowledge that pay-day is Friday. We start to realize that we are better off than some folks at that point and that is a 'good thing'.

Finally dusting myself off after a poor weekend and starting to feel more capable already.

Cheers,
-C

Busy

Being busy helps - I find that it sooths the spirit.

The more spinning plates, the better. It means that I have to focus, that I am working towards a goal. I have less time to be frivolously distracted by fun but useless things. Busy is good.

Some people that I know don't particularly care to be busy, it bothers them and it's not necessarily because they are lazy - I am lazy - it's just that busy overwhelms them. It doesn't give them time to think and they just don't like that. I find that the less time I am left alone with my own idle mind the better.

Right now, we are working on a series of pieces for an exhibit that opens in just over a month. I have a couple of group exhibition deadlines coming up - an idea might stick & something good might get made before time runs out on them.

There are 2 back-to-back shows in Halifax over the next 2 weekends. Ones a regular show and the other we haven't done in a couple of years so we are looking forward to going back. Those shows will give us the opportunity to fine tune the booth & see what we need & what we forgot.

There are a couple of board & committee meetings for the area chamber of commerce in the next short while too. Being on the committee & board has been good for me. It reminds me that I have very little patience for some processes & it teaches me to let go and let it happen in its own good time, it will work even if it looks funny. The platypus was designed by committee.

There are other seminars and gallery openings on the event calendar for the next couple of weeks and I am looking forward to all of it.

We are currently finishing up designs on a wholesale - limited production - line of jewelry. Have to have it 'juried' in 2 weeks and then be ready to go for wholesale in 3 months, and in between, build a lot more one-of-a-kinds for the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council show in 3 weeks and the Ottawa Originals in December.

The benefit of busy is the focus. It makes elimination of non-productive habits and time very easy. It just seems to highlight what is truly important to me as an artisan/business. I appreciate that.

Cheers,
Cynthia

Get Out of the Studio

This is a note for all of us that private studios: i.e. we do not share space in a building with other artisans or share a studio with room with other artists.

Nothing can be created in a vacuum. I'm sure that you have heard that before and I know that it is true.

Without social interaction with other artists we have a tendency to forget what it is that is good about our work and I say this because we just had the opportunity to spend two and a half wonderful days in one of Fredericton's landmark artists' buildings. The upstairs houses a record store (yes, with real vinyl LP's), a photo studio, a wonderful "pop-art" artist and 2 more visual artists and a mixed media fabric artist. It's not a lot of artists by some standards but it is more than I see on a daily bases.

The joy of this interaction, including going to the Art Trek opening on Friday night is that for the first time in ages, we had a real social time with other artists, not a show where we are all concentrating on prices and money and customer service and mailing lists and unpacking and setting-up and tearing down and packing-up... but just concentrating on the art and the person who made it. What a change. I know that visitors to show concentrate on the art and the artists but as artists, it just seems that we never have much time for that. It feels good.

It feels good to discuss line, and colour and uses of negative space and to see how other artists react to each others' work and how they apply 'art-speak' to the work. I know that for me, it brought me back around to the more subtle aspects of what we do, not just the technical aspects of construction or the business side of it but the real artistry of well made and wearable jewelry as art, or at least fine craft for those that argue the art/craft thing that could take days.

I love having the private studio now, I can work anytime of night or day, as necessary or as the spirit moves me, I have few interruptions, except what I allow, I do not have to explain what I am doing at that moment to anyone who walks in the door, as hardly anyone ever visits without calling first to make sure that 1) I'm actually in and 2) that I am not wearing my PJ's to work. BUT I love getting out of it too.

I love meeting new people, especially like-minded. I love hearing the critical reviews of the works being shown by myself and by other artists which keeps me on my toes and keeps me thinking about how to better use space and colour and line. I get another person's opinion of what works and what doesn't in our jewelry. And besides, most artists are really great and only tell you what they really like and why and that tells you everything you need to know by omission.

So, when you are feeling isolated and unsure of the work, get out of the studio, go to an opening, find an art group, just do something social that relates to your chosen art. It's like blowing a hole in the side of a dungeon to let in the light and fresh air and provide a way in and out. Just make sure that when you leave the studio that you are carrying your business cards and that you are willing to talk to people that you meet. The opportunities to make good useful connections with your fellow artisans abound at these events.

If you don't normally do this at least once a month, try it this month and see what happens, you might like it.

-C

WE WON!!!

The most amazing thing happened last night. We won.

We received The Frank Phillips Award of Excellence for our "Ribbon" entry at the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia annual exhibition and competition. This is as good as winning the lottery in many ways because we are always surrounded by exceptional craftsmanship at one of these events and to receive this award for technical excellence is really outstanding.

This is a short post there is a lot of work to finish up in regards to getting the press information out and it is already afternoon.

You can read about it here: Current Release and see the piece at the bottom of the page.

More later,
Cynthia

Fall has more than one meaning

Every once in a while a crafts-person or artisan has the opportunity to do a show that is a real learning experience or at least a really good reminder of a lot of things that we forget and take for granted when we are working with certain show promoters and organizers that we have come to trust and we have the chance to work with someone new.

We forget to double-check whether or not the organizers are genuinely interested in helping the artist or just themselves. I know that realistically we are all in it to make a living, including the organizers when they are a commercial entity too.

When you, as an artisan, rent a booth, you have obligations to fulfill. You are expected to show up on time, have adequate wares for sale, treat the clientele with respect, have a nice looking presentation that should meet the standards set in the show guidelines which are in place to help the image of the show, help your own image and promote a good appearance to other crafters and the visitors to the venue.

As artisans, it is our expectation that the organizers are fulfilling their end of the deal by providing us with what they have detailed in the show promotional material that elicits the sale or rental of booth space to us. We expect that they will have reached out to the local art/craft community and promoted the event to local artisans, who should be able to book space. We expect that they will be familiar with local businesses that can be of assistance to the attending artisans, such as locations for the hardware store, stationary store, grocery store, good restaurants, nearest bank, etc. These are services that are sometimes needed at the last minute as it is inevitable that someone will forget something. We also expect this very important thing: ADVERTISING. We expect that they will have adequately promoted the show to the community and surrounding areas in which the show is being held.

I'm not saying that you should ask to see the contracts with the various media outlets that the promoter should be using, but it may be of benefit to directly ask them to tell you what kind of advertising they are doing, and where and how much of it they are doing. If you don't think it's enough then you likely shouldn't book the show.

I bring this up because we had the fortune to work with a new-to-us show organizer this past weekend. We have heard both good and bad things about them from other artisans in the past few years, which is not unusual, as not all shows work for everyone, but decided to give this particular event a shot as the marketing materials that were sent to us were terrific and sounded really positive about this 'established event'. Turns out the the fall fair in this community was indeed well established, but the show was not. It was a first year event and thankfully, for our egos, we were not the only seasoned craftspeople that attended. There were many others with as much, if not many more years of experience in the crafts industry. They were not amused at this turn of phraseology as well.

The lesson here is that if you have not attended the event yourself in the past, or have not heard of the event before, ASK questions, lots of questions. Do not depend on every promoter to be brutally honest in saying it a first year event in the promotional paperwork if they can find a way to word it otherwise.

I don't like picking on first year events, even the best shows had to have a first year, but a new show in the hands of less than aggressive promoters will almost always fall flat.

The fall, or autumn season, is not all that active for craft show in this region so when there is one, there are a lot of us that are willing to go. We know that fall is an in between time of year, tourism has slowed and the Christmas spirit isn't quite upon us yet. Sales can fall or drop off this time of year, so for those of us who are trying to keep business up and are working full time, we are willing to consider new opportunities to fill in the fall calendar.

There are obviously those of us who will fall for a good line when we hear one. Since there is a fool born every minute, there is a lot of us that will get got by someone at some point in time. It's not a good feeling to know that you have fallen for a good pitch that has little substance regardless of what it is that you fell for.

To get to the point for those of you who book shows is that you do need to know your promoter.

Ask you colleagues what they know about them, if they have any experience with them as they can tell about the quality of their jury system, the crafters that they attract and the leniency that they permit in regards to show booths. Some promoters say they jury and then permit obvious commercial resale enterprises, ask for pipe and drape and never enforce it so that you can't really tell where one booth stops and another begins.

Ask the promoter about the show, how long have they been running it, how many years has the event been operating as a volunteer board for a community event may have been organizing it for the past number of years, has the "door" or attendance been rising or falling and how many have attended the event, you want to ask if this is the maximum number ever or if it is last year's numbers. That is another line that we are sometimes given as show attendance might have peaked eight years ago and has been in steady decline ever since.

You want to ask about the scope, type and frequency of advertising. You want to know who they are targeting with their ads and how far afield they are advertising. If you paint fine art and the ads aren't running in places where the purchasers of your type of work might see them, then it likely isn't going to work for you.

You should know if they are familiar with the area, both in terms of demographics and supporting businesses that you will need to use, whether a restaurant or hotel or stationary store. They should also be able to tell you something as seemingly unimportant as whether or not this is a pay-week for the majority of the industries, businesses or institutions in the area. We all know that a show that is not on a pay-week can be a poorer show than one that is.

They are all things, that because this show provided ample social time for all the exhibitors, that we were all able to remind ourselves of once again.

And sometimes there is a promoter with a consistent reputation. As an artisan it is your job to find out what it is before you book.

You never want to be in the shoes of the gentleman who remarked, "I told my wife last year that that was the last show that we would ever do by these people, and stupidly we're here. This time I told her to just shoot me if I ever booked another one of theirs so that she could put me out of my misery sooner..."

Thankfully it's Monday,
Cynthia

Good news after taking a plunge

Like many folks, I like good news, especially when it is a good surprise too.

We received a call from a colleague in the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council and of the Metal Arts Guild on Sunday evening. My initial reaction to someone calling is often "what did I do now?" as compared to "what did I do right?" and I usually do not hesitate to ask.

It turns out that what we did right was submit a piece to an upcoming gallery exhibition called The New Cartography of Craft at the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax, opening on October 25th. The jury passed and accepted the piece to the show. She was calling to tell us the good news.

What we really did right overall was be adventurous enough to stretch just a little bit, make an unusual piece that isn't really the norm for us, and get off our butts and toss it in the ring and risk the possible rejection of the item as not being 'suitable' for the exhibition. It's wonderful that "A Connected Necklace" is good enough. (I'll be able to post pictures of it after the gallery opening so be patient)

There were several things required in the call for entry for this piece, excellence, a relevance to theme both in regards to the idea of New Cartography, and for the Neocraft conference that this exhibit runs in conjunction with, a deadline, an artists' statement, and a return envelope. Some if the bits were easy to do, some took a bit of effort, and actually putting the postage on the envelope to send it took the most effort. The work paid off. This also met another of our goals for this year: participating in more than one group exhibition opportunities.

There are lots of opportunities out there for all of us in the arts/fine crafts field. Some are handed to us when we are approached by a store owner who is genuinely interested in carrying our work, some come to us through our affiliations with various arts/crafts groups that we can join, and others are posted in the backs of magazines or on online forums. Sometimes we have to dig for the opportunities. Sometimes we have to dig within ourselves to find the inspiration and the nerve to move on the opportunity and that can be the hardest dig of all.

Other good news from the past week includes having an image of one of our pendants included on the Fredericton Arts Alliance Art Trek poster, coming up on the 13th & 14th of October; and our colleague from Sunday evening's call also told us that "it would be very worthwhile" (that's code for you may have won something but I can't tell you what) to come to the opening of the Metal Arts Guild annual exhibit and competition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax on the 2nd of October.

As an artist/fine crafts person who is working to build a positive reputation and identity in metal and stone, I have to tell you that it involves a lot of risks. It would be very easy to sit at the benches and work away making things all day, every day and to never leave that space and face the 'real' world. The real world involves everyday issues of marketing and commerce, and inevitably that means some form of judgement, whether it is someone making a decision to purchase a piece of work, a gallery prospect deciding if the work is the "right fit" for their clientele, a juror deciding if your images of your work or your actual work itself is "good enough" for the show or exhibit... Every time we put ourselves or our work out there we are at risk of a judgement.

I have been finding that learning to live with and coming to love the risk makes the time that I spend making my jewelry far more valuable than it would be otherwise. It's one thing to make it, and to do it well, but it is so much more rewarding to know that I am not the only person enjoying it.

There is joy in sharing,

Cynthia