Posts Tagged “blogging”

Studio Clean Up

I went into the studio yesterday to work, only I couldn’t find anything I needed including tools, boards, rulers etc. This was a clear sign that my studio space needed to be thoroughly cleaned. I made good progress and hated to stop, but stop I had to in order to make it to my last kid’s clay class of the school year. I loved teaching it - but I am looking forward to more time to make my own work this summer without the extra demands of teaching. Plus, the last 2 kiln loads resulted in exploded pots despite my best efforts of pre-heating the kiln and firing slowly.

The kids always took news of exploded pots stoically, like a badge of honor. Funny thing is, there was one kid in class who always purposely tried to construct his work so that his would explode. When we made rattles, he made a rattle shaped and designed like a grenade. Ironically, it was always the other kid’s work that exploded - not his.

I’m not exactly done teaching for the summer. I’ll be teaching 3 week long kid’s workshops at the Art Student’s League of Denver and 1 kid’s workshop at Anderson Ranch Arts Center this summer - but all 4 will take place at their studios so I won’t be hauling things back and forth to mine.

Many of you know that I don’t have running water in my humble garagio. I need to show my handy father in law photos of the Cink! Not having running water is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it forces me to conserve and a curse because well, running water would make clean up so much easier.

As I started cleaning up my space yesterday, there was no water in my “sink”. My sink is basically a large rubber tub and when the clay sludge gets close to the top of the water line, it’s time to start fresh. I spied an empty bag of dog chow and had an aha moment. The bags are water proof and this one even came with a zipper at the top. I emptied the sludge into the bag and put it outside where I hope it will dry in the next week so that I can dispose of it.

If you’re a clay person who has no running water, what do you do with your sludge? I do recycle my clay - but this stuff is all residue from cleaning up, glazing, sanding and contains both low, mid and high fire ingredients.

Milestones

On Monday, my husband and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that it’s been that long. I met him in high school in Stuttgart, Germany where both of our fathers were stationed at the time. We got married when I was 23 in 1989. In a sense, we have sort of grown up together which is a cool thing. There’s not a lot I don’t know about him.

On April 28th, I missed my blog’s 2 year anniversary. How did that happen? Last year, I celebrated in grand style and did a giveaway. There’s always next year! I’ve enjoyed blogging tremendously over the past 2 years. It’s become a part of my routine to both write posts and to read other people’s blogs. I love how the network of blogs allows for the possibility of new connections and interests by simply clicking on another’s links. What did I do before I discovered blogs? Well, I had more time for one - but I wouldn’t trade more time in exchange for giving up blogging. I enjoy it.

That’s all for this morning,

~Cynthia

P.S. I have exciting news about a possible new gallery - stay tuned…

Tags: blogaversary, blogging, ceramics, pottery, studio clean up

Rachel Carson Nature Preserve, Wells, ME 2003, Acrylic on Canvas
Wolfe’s Neck Farm, Freeport, ME, acrylic on canvas, 2003
I’m feeling a little introspective, but not in a bad way or anything. I was just reading Andrea’s post dated Oct. 1, 2007 and I really truly laughed out loud at the absurdity of the video that she shared with her readers. You see, the video was her gift/apology for the last few months of blog posts. I think that she doesn’t think that she’s been very interesting or engaging (not true), which got me thinking… (see the dots mean I’m thinking…) Really, if I have to assume that you don’t know that I’m thinking, then what do I know about you? - or better yet, to whom am I writing and for what reason?

(I think that this post is taking an existential bent and I’m not sure that this is a good or a bad thing. Bear with me, please.)

I started blogging about 1.5 years ago after I dropped out of grad school. I thought, what the heck, I’ll be the artist that I studied to be - only - I didn’t know how to market myself. So, I found myself cruisin’ the Internet one day and found Wetcanvas, an online portal for artists.

After I became a member, I started perusing the forums - specifically the internet marketing strategies and business forums. I wanted to know how to market myself in a new age as an artist - something that wasn’t taught at the University of Southern Maine, my alma mater.

At the time that I visited Wetcanvas, everyone was talking about blogs. I jumped on the blog bandwagon and after writing a few posts, remembered that I quite like writing. In fact, I have a minor in art history and almost went on to grad school for art history because I loved researching, dissecting and writing. I was just about to write that if I were 20 years younger and didn’t have a child, I would have gone all the way - doctorate.

But, here’s where I catch myself. I make excuses for myself. If only… (the dots do not imply thinking in this case - okay, maybe wistful thinking). So, I and you, find ourselves back at my blog. (If you’ve even read this far.) I can always tell who reads my posts by your comments if you even have the energy to comment at this point.

Speaking of energy, do you think blogs are waning? Going back to Andrea’s post and perhaps my own ennui of talking about ceramic sludge, do you think that bloggers are just writing to write? Is blogging going to continue to be relevant in the future?

I don’t know the answer, I’m only thinking and writing out loud here. I have another true confession to make. Last week, I almost deleted my blog. I asked myself, “What if you were to start over, knowing what you know now?”

Why would I want to start over? What do I want to impart to you, dear readers? When I say start over, I don’t actually want to re-invent myself. I just wonder if blogs are even relevant? Are we just writing to write? I personally, like visiting other people’s blogs, including everyone in my blog roll. So, maybe blogs are relevant. Blogs link the art to the artist. The posts and shared information illuminate the person behind the art. That is one pet peeve of mine when I go to an art exhibition. I want to know what the artist is like as a person.

Did I tell you that I almost choked on a grain of salt? Now, I warned you that this is stream of consciousness writing.

By the way, I still don’t know how to market myself; but I do have a blog, something about which a good amount of people have no idea.

So I’ll loop back to the images of my paintings at the top of this post, which are from a landscape painting class that I took in Maine with one of my favorite professors, George Burk. He doesn’t even have a website which is too bad, because he’s a terrific artist and deserves to be known outside of New England.

~Cynthia

Blog
Website

Tags: art marketing and blogs, blogging, blogging and art, Maine landscape paintings

About a month ago, I was invited to an artist networking and wine tasting party by Lisa Call whom I met through my blog. The event was held last night and I had the opportunity to meet several other local artists working in different mediums. Also, in attendance was Alyson Stanfield, who is a business consultant and coach for artists. Alyson also happens to run Art Biz Blog which is chock full of resources. I had an interesting evening and the discussions that ensued have me thinking about the the art that I make and the direction I would like to move towards, my marketing strategies, online sales, eBay and blogging.

I was nervous about attending because I had never met any of these people before. I remarked to someone there that I felt like I was going on a blind date. But, one of Alyson’s most recent pieces of advice is that it is good to make oneself uncomfortable and to reach just a little bit to grow professionally and to make new connections. I felt more than a little uncomfortable because most of the artists at the party are much more established than myself. I feel like I’m just starting out and it doesn’t help that I dabble in several different mediums. However, I am glad that I went because I learned a lot last night and am ready to make the next step. Part of that next step involves evaluating my work and how I want to represent myself.

The topic of eBay came up and the site’s yard sale like qualities were discussed. Is it a good venue to sell art? Some artists are doing quite well on eBay, others are giving their work away. Is the quality there or is it better for formulaic decorator type work? I was going to stay quiet, but finally admitted that I am selling on eBay. I felt slightly embarrassed and this morning even thought about removing the link from my blog. I didn’t, because I do consider the small works that I sell on eBay as a sampling of my work. My hope is that people who buy my small works online will also be interested in larger pieces one day.

So what do I need to do?

• Narrow down my work to 2 mediums that I enjoy
  • Ceramic Wall Sculpture
  • Fiber Collage

• Either separate these 2 mediums into different websites, or somehow have the work relate to each other
• Update my website
• Reach out to more artists with my blog
• Develop a stronger body of work
• Focus less on sales
• I need new business cards!
• Write an artist statement
• Revisit pricing
• Enter more shows
• Develop a strong portfolio to present to galleries
• Get more uncomfortable!
• Enroll in one of Alyson’s Seminars

I could keep adding to my to-do list, but for now I will stop here, print this out and hang it up in my studio. One of the valuable things I find about blogging is that once I put something out here in cyberspace, I feel more accountable to follow through with what I write.

The wine for the party was donated by Storm Hoek which is a South African Winery. They are currently on a quest to donate wine to 100 parties in the US right now if you have a group that might be interested in participating. Check out their website and blog to find out more!

On another note, it’s snowing again here in Colorado! I took this photo looking down the middle of the street where I live in Denver. It was a bit like navigating a natural disaster when I drove my daughter to school this morning. Many of the trees are still leafed out and we found many broken limbs in the middle of the streets and dangling precariously from trees. I kept expecting one to come crashing throught the roof of the car.

Tags: 100 geek dinners, art marketing, artists, blogging, eBay, networking, stormhoeck