Getting Noticed

As any artist knows, getting noticed in the art world is not an easy task. There are a few things that you can do however to help the process along. First, join associations that are related to your area of expertise. I myself belong to Visual Arts Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council. Being in these organizations gives you access to newsletters, competitions, special events, and exhibition possibilities. The cost of joining these organizations is usually quite small as well. You don't need to limit yourself to local organizations. There are also excellent national organizations, such as the Canadian Painters Association or the Surface Design Association. They usually offer associate memberships if you don't feel you are at the stage where you want to face a jury.

Having subscriptions to the various art related magazines are also beneficial. Not only do they keep you up to date on the latest happenings in the art world, they also provide workshops, great photos, artist bios, etc... My favourites are Fibre Arts Magazine, Quilting Arts, Canadian Art, Threads, and Drawing (American Artist). Think about checking out the section on making submissions to the magazine. Got an idea for an article or a how-to? Check out some of the smaller publications. I recently had an excellent felting spread or several pages in "A Needle Pulling Thread". I didn't get paid, but it's great exposure, and something I can add to my resume.

Finally, there are various websites out there who's purpose is to inform artists about competions on a local, national, and international level. Two years ago I was chosen as a Canadian Artist to exhibit in Iceland through one of these sites. A word of caution. Beware some of the sites that have online exhibitions. They charge a fee for entry ( a common practice in most competitions), and you are exhibited on the site, however the only people viewing the site may be the entrants. Do your homework. I have gotten burned a couple of times this way. My favourite site for finding competitions is artshow.com. One final word of caution. When sending a work out for exhibition, make sure it is clear ahead of time how you will get your work returned to you and who will be footing the bill. I can one incident where I sent my paintings via regular post, but the gallery sent them back fed-ex with a HUGE pricetag that I was stuck with. Contracts are a MUST.

Good luck exhibiting!

Fighting with Technology

The thing about technology is that it's great when it works. I had the bright idea of printing out some images I created onto cotton transfer sheets designed for the printer. Well, I don't know what printer they were designed for, but it certainly wasn't mine. I have been cancelling print jobs and trying to yank stuck cotton on paper out of my printer all day. So much for doing a little bit of art quilting tonight. My printer had other ideas. I would be surprised if it still worked tomorrow. I guess it's back to the drawing board. I had better luck transferring on silk a few months ago, but Michaels no longer carries those printer sheets. Time to take a deeeeep breath!

Post Sale Relief

Well, I do believe the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival will be officially over today. I can already see a lot of improvements and gains over last year. I was part of the Fibre bazarre yesterday at the Tantramar Theatre and I am happy to say that it was really well done. It was an intimate setting, the preparation was wonderful, the vendors were fantastic, and it was well attended by the fibre community and other interested folks. I was lucky enough to have been invited to be part of it. As always I was surprised by what did sell and what didn't. I threw 3 pieces that I had displayed last year in at the last minute and low and behold two of them sold. I also found my knitted sterling silver rings to be popular as well as my needle felted polar bear kit. People hardly looked at my hand painted kerchiefs or my landscape felting kits. That being said I made some new friends, had some great chats, made a couple of key contacts, and got invited to go back next year. I am just thrilled that there has been such a renewed interest in all things fibre around the globe. What's not to love? One of the coolest things I saw was yarn that was fair trade and made from banana fibres! I've got to get me some of that!

Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival

It's that time of year again folks. For the second year Amherst is hosting the NS Fibre Arts Festival, which promises to grow each year as more people become aware of what is being offered. Last year I was lucky to be asked to have a solo exhibit, and this year was even luckier to be asked again. My small show is at the Amherst Town Hall on Ratchford Street. I included several felted pieces, as well as several art quilts. This year I have done some stitching on my felted pieces. I think the stitching is an evolution of what I have been doing. As well as the exhibit I have been included in a fibre arts sale which takes place on Friday from 11-7 at the Tantramar Theatre. I am looking at it as an experiment of sorts. I have decided to include some pieces I displayed last year, some sterling silver wire rings that I knitted, as well as 5 different felting kits of which 4 are brand new designs. Whenever I take part in any of these endeavors the nay sayer that lives in the heads of many of us tells me that my work isn't good enough, that somehow I will look silly. As an artist I struggle with those types of feelings all the time. I think it's because my art is part of me, so by putting it on display I am putting myself on display. Criticism, while it can be productive, can also really sting. I'm sure that anyone who creates has felt that sting from time to time. The only cure is to suck it up and keep on going. Hope to see some of you this week as part of the festival!

Upcoming Exhibit

I am afraid I have been slacking off in my blogging. I have also been slacking off in my art. It's not slacking off exactly, it's just that there are so many other things that get in the way. It's difficult to make creating a priority with everything else that goes on in our lives, but like everything else, there needs to be time set aside for just that. Tonight my five year old is still asleep with a four hour nap so far, due in large part to his fever and sore throat. I have taken advantage of the down time to spend a couple hours at my sewing machine sewing backs onto my art quilts. In just two short days I will be hanging a solo fibre exhibit at the Amherst Town Hall. Unfortunately I have been leaving all of the little details until the last minute. I have nine new pieces that I plan to show which include felted art quilts, oil painted art quilts, and watercolor crayon art quilts. I'm kind of worried that I might not have enough pieces. I always worry about that before an exhibit. I keep telling myself that it's the quality, not the quantity that counts. I may be able to get a final one finished tomorrow night, but it's the season premiere of The Practice and another new episode of Grey's Anatomy. I know, I know. Stuck to the TV when there are better things to do. My real worry right now is that art sale that I am expected to be in. I am not nearly ready and am worried I may have to bow out at the last minute. I have been having a lot of trouble with my eyesight lately and it affects my ability to work for any length of time that I have to really use my eyes because I get a lot of pain. Anyway, my eyes are starting to bug me now so I guess it's time for a rest. Better luck tomorrow.

Mentality

Mentality is the name of a Magazine published out of Nova Scotia that addresses the issues and needs and opinions of those who live with a mental illness. I had the chance to check it out the other day and was surprised to see a felted self portrait I had done of myself as part of a women and art exhibit last year that was up at the Dalhousie University Women's Centre. The issue I was looking at was spring 2009, and I had no idea that it had been published. Nice surprise for sure, and something more to add to my Curriculum Vitae. It was a partially completed felted image of the upper part of my face. I didn't finish it because I wanted to show that we are all somehow incomplete, always a work in progress. Who we are today will change by the time tomorrow comes. Although I have already shown it in two exhibits I am planning to put it with my exhibit in the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival as a change from all of the nature scenes I have been felting and art quilting. Speaking of which, I finished another art quilt today with my new crayons. This one is from a picture I took while on a hike at the bird sanctuary with my two sons. We had some bird sees, and the chikadees would fly down and eat the seeds out of our hands. I took a picture of one in my son Justin's hand, and this is the image I art quilted. The rest pf my day today is going to be spent reading art history, knitting, and baking some pies (like I need to be eating pies!).