Sunday, November 16, 2014

A New Year (?)

"From Winter We Emerge"
OK, so it isn't a new year, but it feels like it for me as I have been doing so much pondering lately about the directions I want to take with my art and what my priorities should be.  There are so many opportunities available to me that I am having a hard time paring it down and deciding what to devote time to.   This summer was a time spent in thought, remembrance, and grief.  Even now my eyes well up thinking about a great loss in my life, but I am also ready to move ahead and find strength in the talents, abilities, and support that have been given to me and try to use them wisely.  I finally do not wake every morning in painful remembrance and I have found some creative inspiration in the studio.

Here are the things I am considering and trying to find time to do:
1.  Studio Organization
2.  Writing/Getting Published
3.  Teaching
4.  Gallery Representation


I have begun organizing and reorganizing my studio space and hope to finish that before the month is over.  It means moving much of it out so I can move cabinetry in and then find a place for everything in a bit more organized way.  It is moving along and I am happy with it so far.

I had two articles submitted to magazines and one of the magazines went out of business and the other, after about 7 months of sitting on the article, chose not to use it.  I have not written anything since this past Spring so will have to think about doing that, or maybe submitting those articles elsewhere.  I think they are good, just need to find the right place for them.  Finding topics to write about does not seem to come easy for me, especially since you have to consider where you might be able to have them published.  Options are limited in that regard, particularly for non-traditional quilt artists!
"Butterfly Day"

I have the opportunity to teach locally, and maybe wider if I would choose to.  I have been asked to develop classes in both embellishment and home machine quilting on art quilts.  These take me a lot of time to organize and lay out, particularly a beading one since I feel I would probably have to provide a kit so everyone had the same materials.  Lots of time for prep, and again, this does not come easy for me.  I do enjoy the actual class time very much and look forward to teaching more, if I can just get myself to spend the time getting them ready to teach!  I would like to get a few more classes in my repertoire so I can market myself to guilds in the region and do a lecture/trunk show/full day class thing.


Lastly, I am in the market for a new gallery or two and would like to find ones that are higher end that can sell my larger (translate:  higher priced) pieces.  I will be contacting a gallery in New York that I recently found out about and will be looking around Portland when I am there in April for the Studio Art Quilt Associates Conference.  I have a show currently booked at the Lewistown Art Center with another artist, Denise Pfau, who does lovely gourds with weaving, painting, carving, beading, fiber, etc...  We are a good match and our show will be beautiful I'm sure.  Locally my gallery opportunities are minimal and the ones I do have can only sell my small, low-priced pieces.  That is just the market we are in here.  I want to get my work somewhere where people are spending money on art and see how it does.  I get so many positive and enthusiastic comments and reactions to my work that I feel like I might be successful if I can just get my work into the right markets.

"Tapestry Strutting"

There is not enough time in the day to do everything I would like to, and do it well--I don't suppose I'm unique that way!!  I have a son in school who also needs my time, and I have a household to keep up.  I need to spend time with family and I have several art and quilt related organizations that I am involved with and that require time and effort.  There is always something coming up, a new challenge, a local show, a fundraising effort, a request for volunteers, a crisis.  There is no time to waste on surfing the internet, pinning images on Pinterest, posting and reading Facebook posts, or, worst of all, playing games!  Yet those things do take up my time and I am hoping to change that.  So, a New Year it is for me.  I'm making my resolution now to prioritize, organize, not procrastinate, and use my time wisely!   Nothing new here.  Those are probably the most common resolutions around---along with losing weight which I should do as well! 


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