New Year, New Look

I've been considering changing the look of Artventuring for a while, but couldn't find a new template I liked.  Well, thanks to Tina, from Your Daily Muse News blog, I found the Blogger Styles site.  After looking through 47 screens filled with templates, I settled on this one.  I love the style, the colors and the black background, of course.  It reminds me of my own work (which is probably why it shouted out to me among the many others I saw).  The transition was very simple, and I was even able to tweak some of the colors and fonts in the original html.
I'm happy with the new look.

What do you think?

Next up:  New Year, New Work...I promise!

Studio Mascot

I'm extremely allergic to cat and dog dander.  This has been true since I was 14, despite the fact that I love dogs and cats (especially my 'nephew kitty' Kobe!).  Why is this important, you ask?  Because I've been adopted by a cat who has now become our studio mascot!  Here's her story:

In late August, we noticed a skinny little cat who came through our yard fairly often.  She seemed friendly, was pretty vocal, and didn't have a collar.  She was not much more than a kitten, with a frail body and a fluffy tail.  We suspected she'd been left behind when her family moved, and as the weather turned colder, we began to feed her outside.  Then, we watched as she began to fill out, and her body began to match the fullness of her tail.  My sister, my nephew kitty's mom, said we should give her a name, but I had no idea what to call her.  Then, one day I watched the cat leap onto one of my thistle sock bird feeders, grab an unsuspecting yellow finch, devour it, and thus a name was born:  KiKi, which stands for Killer Kitty!  Unfortunately for the birds, that wasn't the only kill she made--her tally is 3 (that we know of), and not suprisingly, I've noticed a marked reduction in the bird traffic around my feeders!

During the recent very cold weather, I took pity on KiKi and let her inside to warm up.  Amazingly, I'm able to be around her for long periods of time without sneezing or wheezing.  She is a fun companion (when she's not sound asleep), and has her favorite places to be (usually right where I am, 'helping' me paint, as shown at left). 
So, we've been adopted, and our studio has a mascot who's curled up asleep in "her" chair even as I type this.

Featured Artist: Crystal Bowers

After a long hiatus, the Featured Artist post returns!

Although Crystal and I haven't actually met (we connected through AmericaCreates and Facebook), her work resonates with me and I love her views on the creative process.  Her work can be found at Stone Soul Pottery.

1. What is your art form?

I make one-of-a-kind ceramic sculptural vessels, and just lately smaller pieces for my new Etsy.com store.

2. What inspires you?
Nature, both outdoor and human. Sometimes I come across an object that seems to cry out to be expressed more fully. It’s not unusual for me to create a piece around a particular strand of beads, a beautiful shell from the beach, or a nightmare. Sometimes the concept I want to express is more abstract, like the word “meditation” or an idea, like “paper ships” which was posed to me by a poet friend. It’s lovely to wrap your mind around an emotion, feeling, word or object and then take a malleable substance like clay and work it until you’ve captured whatever you’re trying to express. It's why most of my pieces have names—I was really trying to get something across while I made it.

Chinle Sunset

3. When did you decide to pursue art, or did art pursue you?
A little of both I think! Back in 1999 I became ill due to extreme stress. Corporate America was clearly not the place for me; I felt stifled and on the few occasions when I was encouraged to let my creative side loose, someone else always seemed poised to take credit for my ideas. It was very frustrating. I finally quit and started my own web consulting business, but after a year of working from home I was bored and lonely. That’s when my husband suggested I take an adult education class at the local art league school in Alexandria, VA. As I browsed through their catalog, I remembered that I had a little toy pottery wheel as a kid and how much I loved making and painting those pots. I enrolled in a beginning pottery class, and from the moment my hands touched the clay I knew I was home. I eventually starting spending so much money on open studio time that it became more economical to buy my own wheel. I stayed with the classes for 7 or 8 years, usually year round. Eventually my mentor, an incredible artist named Lori Katz, invited me to assist her in teaching a beginner’s class in the evenings and I loved it. Unfortunately, at the same time I was becoming more involved with the school, my work was becoming more delicate and complicated, which was resulting in the loss of several pieces though the loading and firing phases which were manned by other students. The final straw came when someone who broke one of my pieces left me a long and very nasty letter about their dislike of my work. I knew at that point it was time to seek out my own studio space if I was going to make any progress as an artist.

Venomous

4. How do you sell your work?

I used to rely mainly on higher end craft fairs and art shows, and I still try to do at least two good sized shows a year because I love the interaction. Selling your work takes more than just setting up a table and sitting behind it; the skills you develop while learning to entice people to stop and really engage with you and your art are priceless. Those skills not only help me when I’m selling in person, they translate to my website and my ability to find unique opportunities to showcase my work in different venues. I’ve worked my way into one gallery show so far, which was a great experience, and recently I was awarded a consignment spot at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in their Museum Store. I don’t think I would have pursued either of those opportunities if I hadn’t learned to engage wholeheartedly in the selling process.

5. Do you title your work? If so, how do you decide upon titles?
I’d say 95% of my pieces have titles because I usually know what I’m hoping to express through the clay before I sit down to throw. It’s not unusual for a title to change as I work; sometimes the thought changes, or the work clearly has a direction in which it wants to go, and I don’t mind being a follower rather than the leader. Throwing for me is an awful lot like writing, which was my first profession. They are similar in that sometimes you have to work at what you’re trying to express for a while until you find just the right words. That’s how my titles come into being. The beads and found objects with which I decorate many of my pots serve as punctuation meant to emphasize and compliment the central idea.

Breath and Bone

6. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?
I’d probably still be plugging away at some job that paid well but that I hated. I’d like to say that I would be hard at work on my second or third novel, but I haven’t found the time to write the first one yet! I have a well developed puritan work ethic that never quite lets me enjoy creating just for the sake of personal expression; I want my endeavors to be financially successful as well. I don’t really make enough to live off of my art earnings, but I’m really enjoying the process of trying, and the feeling of moving forward (albeit slowly) toward that goal.


7. What other jobs have you had which have aided you on your artistic path?
My first job out of college was a dream job. I love music, and I was hired my a music magazine publisher to spend my days interviewing some of my favorite musicians and then writing about them. It was an amazing experience for six years, and I still try to keep my writing chops up by occasionally submitting an article to various magazines--not necessarily about music, but about any topic I find interesting or relevant. I’ve run a radio information for the blind and print-disabled and been the director of marketing for a six million dollar United Way fundraising campaign. Both jobs called on my creative talents to entice people to participate and to donate money. They were wonderful challenges, and I’m proud to say that I was successful at both.

Outta Space

8. At the art supply store, which section do you go to first?

That’s easy, I head for the clay! Because I work with such small amounts of clay at a time—it might take me a few months to go through 100 pounds of clay—I generally work with whatever the supplier has in stock at the time. Sometimes its porcelain, sometimes it’s something like “Craggy Crunch,” a wicked sculptor’s clay that has so much sand in it will can take the skin off your hands if you’re not careful. Sometimes it’s an earthenware clay with a great color. I like the challenge of buying new clay bodies each time and getting to know them on the wheel. Next, I head for the glazes. I could stare at glaze color charts all day. The idea of making my own glazes has never appealed to me, but I love trying new commercial glazes. My current favorites are Coyote Clay’s Cone 5 glazes—they are really beautiful.

9. What new technique or art form would you like to learn? Do you have plans to do so?
I can’t think of another art form I would like to study at the moment. I would, however like to play around with Keraflex sheet porcelain. That stuff looks pretty amazing, and the shaping possibilities are endless.

10. Where do you want your work to be a year from now?
In an exhibit in the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia. I’m really hoping that my time in the museum shop goes very well like the recent holiday sale they held in December. I received a lot of terrific feedback from folks associated with the museum, and sold a good amount of work. Here’s hoping I can continue to build on those relationships over the coming year. I’d like my Etsy shop to see some sort of modest but steady success as well. My goal is to continue to be able to cover all my expenses associated with my art and eventually make a decent income from it.

11. What advice have you received which has helped you the most?
It would have to be the advice I receive from Mark, my husband, who continually encourages me to pursue this passion and occasionally steers me back to the path of creativity when I start to veer too much toward thinking about profit. I think he has really enjoyed watching me break away from the art league school to pursue my own path, and he’s been absolutely instrumental in keeping me focused on making sure my work has a strong element of pure creativity to it. He’s my best critic, and doesn’t hesitate to challenge me to correct course if I’m getting lazy or too wrapped up in finding commercial success. Every artist should have someone like him standing behind them, whispering in their ear. His mantra for me is “no casseroles!”

Clay Meditation

12. If you could do anything, and knew you could not fail, what would you choose to do?
Hmmm, I think I would love to try my hand at acting or maybe singing. I sang in choirs and choral competitions throughout junior and senior high school, and I like to think that I can carry a tune, just like anyone singing in the shower or in their car can! LOL. I think acting would be a riot! I love sci-fi movies, and I think I would love creating all of the imagination-based characters and story lines. I could be the world’s first crime fighting galactic potter!


That's an interesting image...I wonder what the costume would look like?!
Thanks for the interview, Crystal.  I wish you continued creativity, inspiration, prosperity and lots of fun for the new year!

New Beginnings, The 2010 Edition

To begin the year, I have two new business ventures:  our new shopping cart on the Kindred Spirit Studios web site, and a brand new newsletter to announce the launch of the cart.

Shopping Cart

It has taken a great deal of work to get everything ready for both of these ventures, and thanks as always, go to my husband Stan who knows about all things related to computer design.  I have to also sing the praises of ProPay Cart Lite, a new service provided by ProPay, the credit card processor I've been using for 5 years.  The setup of the actual cart was extremely simple, the per year price was very reasonable ($39), and we're hoping the cart will also be easy for customers to use. The addition of the cart will provide me the opportunity to generate sales during our show "off season". It will also let customers who see us at shows to make a purchase afterwards, without the hassle of using email.  My web site will still serve as a gallery for my work, and I will still display pieces at shows which aren't on the web site.  I'm looking forward to seeing how well the new cart will work.

Newsletter

I decided to design and send out a newsletter as another way to keep in touch with customers and potential customers.  Since I've been collecting email addresses at shows I've done over the past 4 years, I've sent out snail mail postcard invitations just prior to shows.  Now, I can send an emailed newsletter to this list of people as well.  I've chosen to use Mail Chimp as the provider for the newsletter services.  Since this is a brand new venture for me, I did some research, and found that I liked the way Mail Chimp presented its service; instructions are easy to understand, there are tutorial videos available as you begin each task, and there were many templates and colors schemes from which to choose. The service also includes tracking reports, which will be a great way to keep my email address list current.  And, best of all, it's free for fewer than 500 email addresses and 3,000 mailings! 

A Gift for You!
To say thanks for being an Artventuring reader, I've created a coupon code:  BLOG20 on the Kindred Spirit Studios web site.  When you enter this code at checkout, it will give you a 20% discount off your purchase. The coupon expires on Sunday, February 28th.  
So, go visit the site, and I hope you'll see something you love. 
And, if you do purchase something, let me know how the experience of using the cart went. 
Thanks so much!

Thoughts on Creativity

My creative impulse is not very strong at the moment, but the first glimmers of a new idea have been forming at the edges of my mind as I'm doing other things.

I'm heading into what is usually a very creative time for me; when I develop new designs and ideas for new products for the new year ahead.  I usually spend the time just before immersing myself in what I like to call "visual delights", some of which I've shared on this blog.  Today, I'll share a written "delight" on creativity:

" Creativity is really the structuring of magic." ~Anne Kent Rush

I really love that!  Anne Kent Rush is the author of a number of books on Yoga and massage, and I smiled when I read her quote.  

Perhaps that's why creativity seems at once fleeting and always there--at its core, it's magic.

I'm off to have a day filled with magic, and I hope you will, too. 

From out of the blue....

Just when you think you know what's going to happen in your life, sometimes good things happen "out of the blue."  I've had two such occurences recently, both having to do with my work:
One of the things I'm planning for 2010 is to launch a shoppng cart on my website, especially for when I'm not doing shows.  We're working on new photos and all of the rearranging of the site necessary to do this, but we aren't ready to launch it quite yet.  So, it was a wonderful surprise when I received an email "out of the blue" requesting information about one of the clocks on my current site.  This has turned into a custom order for a woman who has renovated her kitchen for the first time in 23 years. I'm working on her clock right now, and because it's a design I haven't done in awhile, I'm appreciating how much I enjoyed doing my square clock designs a couple of years ago. 

Something else I'm working on for the rest of this year and into next is to ramp up my presence in my Etsy Shop.  To this end, I've listed my Leaf Dance Series 12-inch bamboo bowl wall hangings, which you can see in the badge in the column at right.  I listed them on Sunday, and today, "out of the blue," I learned one of them, 'Leaf Dance IV, Red, Yellow on Purple' was included in an Etsy Treasury, called Hidden Among the Heather!  This is a pretty cool thing; my work is featured among 11 other pieces, can be viewed by the public, and will hopefully generate some views, interest and sales.  The Treasury will only be available for viewing until 1:00 am on Wednesday, November 25, but it's great exposure, nonetheless.  I'm excited by the recognition, and now I want to try to put together my own Etsy Treasury and list more items!

I'm hoping there'll be more positive "out of the blue" moments...I think that thing about keeping yourself open to the possibilities is really working...

Celebrate The Positive

For the first time this year, I embarked on a new adventure and entered a piece of mine into the NC State Fair. Fellow Guild members had encouraged me to do it last year, but I didn't get my act together to make the deadline. This year, I made a special point of being ready on time. As a first-time entrant to this juried competition, I found the categories a bit confusing as they related to my work (why is it that there's usually no Mixed Media category, which would make life so much easier?!), but chose the Professional Painting category. When I took my entry in, the director took one look, and said she thought "Land and Sea" would be better suited to the Professional 3-Dimensional category. As I was in line with others who were obviously entering the Painting category (with traditionally framed landscapes and portraits), it seemed she was right. So, I had my category changed to the one she suggested. I left, hoping for the best.
My son Jordan went to the fair, and saw my entry had been juried into the display, but hadn't won a "premium". He took a photograph of it with his phone, along with the winning entry in the 3-D category (which was a ceramic teapot). I was disappointed, but not surprised, expecting that something much more "country" or traditional would have won. Since the State Fair isn't my favorite place to get to or to be, I decided not to go, figuring I'd seen what I needed to see in the photo.

Today was the day to pick up work since the Fair ended yesterday. I was able to see some of the other entries--there was a fantastic turned wood vase in the "Amateur" category--as well as the winning teapot. When I turned my piece over, I noticed the official Entry Tag, which listed my category as not only 3-Dimensional, but as "3-Dimensional Sculptures"! So no wonder my painted and decoupaged bamboo bowl was competing against ceramics. Seems like the proverbial apples and oranges, but in the absence of a Mixed Media category, that's what happens.

Best of all, alongside the Entry Tag was a handwritten note, with the name of someone who is "interested in purchase"! Very cool, potentially. I've left a message at the number, and I'm looking forward to speaking with him soon.

So, as a Facebook friend said, " All good things come to those who read the back of their work," I'm celebrating the positive: the experience of entering, the positive feedback of everyone who saw it, including the director, and the possibility of selling the piece to someone who appreciates it. And next year, who knows?