To do or not to do

 

This is the question going through my mind lately. With life changes and health issues, I’ve had a lot to absorb and process these days. One of the main things I’m thinking about is my art and how it’s changed over the years. My first gallery show was in 2000, where I showed masks sculpted out of window screening. Yup, the kind of screening you buy at the home improvement store. 

From there, I made and showed screening or clay masks in boxes that contained a copper repose landscape and a story that tied all the pieces together. Some were free standing and some hung on the wall. 

A gift that changed my art and life.

During an open studio years ago, a very sweet couple came to see my art. They had bought one of my copper masks and spotted some of my clay sculptures. Wondering why they hadn’t seen these in the gallery, I told them I only had a few because without a kiln, I was only able to get the pieces fired by a kind art teacher. They then offered me their kiln and insisted I take the wheel they had, too. 

That led to a few years of clay classes where I learned to throw and glaze. And after that, throwing became my biggest focus. I threw and showed and sold mostly functional pieces: mugs, bowls and vases. A few sculptural pieces snuck in but not a lot.  

Now what?

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself a lot these days. With all the life and health changes throwing just doesn’t feel the same. I still love clay, so I did what I could physically do, making some lily vases, leaves and small sculptures. 

When my small sculptures sold well last year, I saw it as a sign to make more. I did. I made a lot more. But what I found out is that making more doesn’t mean selling more. Even though I did sell almost all of my birds(made in 2020) and polar bears(made in 2023), I had a hard time making more. It just didn’t feel the same to ‘remake’ my work as it did to make a new idea in clay. I know this may sound weird, but I struggled with copying myself. 

Perhaps, production work just doesn’t work for me. My art has certainly evolved over the years, I worried about that, too. I think that’s why I wanted to produce more to prove I could and to sell more. 

To do or not to do, what do I do? 

To force myself into the studio to copy myself isn’t working. 

Maybe that’s the problem: production instead of creating.

Making more didn’t lead to more sales.  

Maybe, just maybe less is more. 

Showing Up

 

I can’t believe I haven’t written a blog in almost a month. And on the other hand, I can believe it. I’ve been very busy. And that’s a very good thing for me because this past year with all the life changes and health issues, I’ve been the opposite of busy. While I’ve had good reason to rest, recuperate and reassess the way I live my life, it was time to get moving. 

This is what it looked like in my studio last week. I had a very big ceramics show this last weekend. I had a lot to do to get ready on my end: making work, pricing work, inventory and packing.

Setting Up. 

I’m lucky I had my wonderful husband to help me haul my bins from home to the show and back home again. I used to do it all myself, but this year I needed help. Once it was all stacked in front of my shelves, it was time for me to set up my display. 

I admit, I love doing the display part of this multiphase job. I’ve always loved decorating my spaces whether it’s my office at work, my kids play spaces or my home. So setting up my work to display is fun. 

Standing Up.

Doing this show involves much more than my own little set of shelves and pedestals. It takes hundreds of people, including myself, to set up the display areas, sales area, gallery area, kids clay booth and more. I worked in the gallery area setting up the display and keeping it looking good throughout the show. I love working doing gallery display. 

I also worked ‘manning’ the gallery and group booth. It’s a lot of standing and walking and waiting, too. Again, with my past year, I was very worried I wouldn’t be able to manage the work load. I was worried I’d have to pull out at the last minute. But I did it! 

Not only did I handle my own work, I did my work shifts and I sold some of my own work, too. 

My biggest win

Wasn’t showing my work

It was showing up, doing the work

Talking to other artists

And feeling strong. 

Virtual Shows: The New Normal

It’s the COVID Anniversary. Cue the single finger salute, please. Right? Let’s all take a blissful step back in time to pre-COVID. Remember that time?

A year ago, I went out to lunch with a friend at an indoor restaurant. Shopped for a new pair of slippers(who knew they would become my primary footwear for the next year). Went to a large group meeting where I talked, smiled, laughed, hugged friends and got information about the upcoming big group show. 

Ghosts of the past?

Will big group shows and open studio tours and gallery art walks ever come back? There is an energy in being part of a large group of people with a creative focus. Setting up the show’s group booth and gallery was such a satisfying task. 

As an artist working alone in my own studio, I love my quiet creative space. But throughout the year, I looked forward to working alongside other artists, setting up displays, helping with stocking, working the cash register and wrapping. Did I get tired and overwhelmed at times? Sure. Did I want to do the event again? You bet. But COVID stopped it all. 

Virtual art sales.  

I’ve always had an online presence with a professional website and I’ve been using social media for years. But COVID has changed and intensified the whole online landscape.

While I used to spend time pricing and packing my work for a gallery or show, now I upload my work for my Etsy shop or an upcoming Virtual Show. It might seem the same, but it’s not. Yes, I built my own website on WordPress and updated it from time to time. I’ve got an Etsy shop. While online marketing used to be in addition to shows, it’s now THE show. 

This week, a large part of my studio time was spent shopping the best online options for my work: domain, web hosting and template costs. Should I give up Etsy and go to Big Cartel? Should I stay with Go Daddy and WordPress or go to Squarespace? Can I get the changes made in time for the Virtual Show?

Whew. One step at a time. I took new photos for the Virtual Show.  I found a new website platform. But best of all, I found time to get my hands dirty doing my most favorite thing pre and post COVID: throw and build some clay cups, bowls and little plates. 

Let me add hope. That the new normal can mix with the old normal. That virtual can mix and mingle and thrive with the actual.