Cleaning the (Artistic) Attic
I’ve been purging my studio and attic the last few weeks. Partly because I have open studios coming up, and mostly because I couldn’t even move around in my workspace anymore. The reason we had to clear out the attic is because it was too full to stow anything else from my studio. I found interesting parallels between sorting through house stuff and my art stuff. Come closer and I’ll tell you. But here, take this box up to the attic while you’re at it.
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It has been an amazing year for photography. While film will still be the media of choice for some, digital photography will open up all sorts of possibilities for artists. Just look at the Internet and the opportunities it offers for artists. Through it, they can reach a global marketplace and share their experiences and knowledge with other artists. With this year winding to a close, let me review some of the things I’ve explained over the year and expand on a few others.
So many times, beginning crafters think small. A local Christmas crafts fair held in a high school gym might be about as far as your ambition extends. And, depending on your craft, that might be as far as you can go. But if your product is unique, beautifully made, and appeals to a wide variety of customers…then it behooves you to dream big. Don’t be intimidated by the idea that the huge, high-quality craft shows don’t want new vendors—because they do.
Remember your very first show? The first time you put your creations out there before the masses in a little 10-foot-by-10-foot booth, or smaller? Remember how you waited and hoped, and tried not to appear too anxious? Nancy Pratt remembers that feeling, because it wasn’t that long ago for the weaver from Albuquerque, N.M. Having played around with and perfected her art for about seven years, she finally succumbed to her brother’s encouragement and applied for the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair in 2007. A juried event that began in 1962 and draws 15,000 prospective buyers over three days, the fair generates about $700,000 in sales for the 220-plus accepted New Mexico artists.
Tombstone, Ariz., site of the infamous shoot-out at the O.K. Corral, has been called lots of things over the years: The Wickedest Town in the West, The Town Too Tough to Die, and similar monikers reflecting the rough-and-tumble nature of this windswept patch of desert an hour south of Tucson and an hour north of the Mexican border. But calling it a hub of creativity, a haven for craft artisans, a destination for those interested in quality handmade art? It’s not as big a stretch of the imagination as one might think.
I just did a nine-day outdoor retail show. If this story doesn’t make sense, well, you try making sense after a nine-day outdoor retail show. …Parts of New Hampshire actually flooded that week from all the rain we had. I’m still a little grumpy. Does it show? Anyway, I had to reconfigure my lights during setup. That got me thinking about my history with booth lighting. It’s a long, sad tale with a happy ending, so bear with me.
