Time to Kollaborate!

I can't help but notice that there's a feeling in the air, a feeling that is different - I think it's the feeling of collaboration. Everywhere I look this fall I am seeing signs of how people are working together in very creative ways - whether it's fellow artists working on bodies of work together (good work Andrea, Jane, Carolyn, Alexi and so many others), my son mentoring a new student in his class, two struggling businesses finding a way to combine what they do to survive (yes it's true - we almost lost two of our downtown jewels this fall, but now they're staying!).

And it doesn't stop there. I just sent off a grant application to the Ontario Arts Council for a really cool project (I'm biased since it's my project) called Kollaboration Kingston. It will be a weekend where 17 local artists from all mediums, ages and stages of career, get together and work on bodies of work together - big and small. I can't wait to see what comes out of this project....

Successful Studio Tour Tips

Here's a quick summary of tips for running a successful studio tour or open house that were suggested at the the Artist Roundtable Discussion Group this month:

• 2 or more artists in each venue


• artist shopping opportunity either before you open to the public or at the end of one of the days


• special invite only event prior to opening for the public


• have preview photos or video taken and posted before opening


• wrap up party to collect vendor feedback as soon as possible - maybe even onsite


• involve media


• do a draw to collect email addresses


• plan the date a year out


• send reminders 1 week and 2 days before


• make sure to have signage and have brochures available on the sign itself


• promo the morning of the show to media and on social networking sites

Please add to the list if you have other ideas.

The best way to learn it is to teach it

Last week I ran a summer camp 'Beads 'n' Bowls' for kids. It was a blast, a little on the tiring side, but full of inspiration. It was amazing watching the kids teach each other things that they had just learned. That's when the light bulbs would go on. You could see their confidence growing and their skills accelerating. The picture to the side is a group of kids I taught at the MAKE camp the week before.

Now it's my turn, heading into the fall, I'm doing a lot of teaching. From business to blogging to beading. I'm sure going to learn a lot! Have a look at the new NGB blog that lists the upcoming workshops that all the artists at NGB are hosting this fall... http://notyournormalschool.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, think about something you want to learn, or practice. Maybe you can find a student. Imagine the learning then..

Diving in Fully Clothed

Last night, after dinner, we decided to take a quick trip down to my favourite rock beach. It was a beautiful night, light breeze, big waves where you could actually hear the rocks being tumbled ashore and washed away again (thanks Matt for pointing that out), and 3 giggling Fair's messing about. James was looking for sticks to make into pretend weapons and in between jumping waves trying not to get wet, Matt was watching the sailboats in the distance and wishing he was out there I'm sure and me with my head down on the 'hunt'.

At one point I said, 'come on orange'. Referring to my desire to find an orange piece of beach glass. Looked down and was what at my feet... not an orange piece of beach glass, but a piece of an orange peel. Note to self, be more explicit when I call out my wishes.

I continued to think about a piece of orange glass and giggled as I pictured myself diving in the water, fully-clothed, blackberry and all to get a piece. And there's no doubt that that's what I would have done if one had caught my eye. There's not many things in business that I would jump in fully clothed for, but it's good to know that I still have something that gets me that excited.

What about in your business, is there still something that would make you jump in fully clothed (and it doesn't have to be literally like in my case)?

Studio vs Dining Room Table

I've had a few people ask me about this, so I figure it's time to do a blog about it. Last spring the artist roundtable group did a studio tour and one of the stops being my studio (at that time that meant my dining room table). The discussions are always about the business of art, not art itself, so I talked about why I choose to have a home studio vs a dedicated space (leased or owned). So I rhymed off this list of reasons:

• I can work when I feel inspired, and can sneak in 5 minutes here and there


• I don't have to lug stuff back and forth, or end up leaving something at the wrong place


• I don't need duplicate things like a hammer or Internet


• The price is right

Jane Thelwell, a pottery on the tour, asked if I would ever consider having a studio outside of my house. And I thought briefly and at that moment all I could think was about the benefits listed above and the main benefit was that I could spend more time taking care of the house, my family and spending time with my son. So I answered, maybe one day, but right now I need to be at home.

And now, just a few months later I have a studio. So what changed? My family. They didn't change, but after that day at my house, I took a long look at how I was doing things. Was really being at home more efficient, did it really mean I got to spend more time with James? No. When I was trying to work, in what was supposed to be our family space, I got frustrated that they were interrupting. The lines got blurred between art time and home time and I was doing neither efficiently.

Those 5 minutes here and there, were interfering with playing games so I had to put everything away each night, which meant that it would take me half and hour to set up again and half hour to clean up, leaving me with barely any time to create. Not to mention that I couldn't work on anything that I couldn't put away, so I hadn't worked on a mosaic in months.

Then there was a safety concern, although I never did any polishing inside, I was still getting nervous about other aspects of my work being around my son and his friends. What if they got silver slivers? Or whatever, but still.. So I started working off-sight to do any polishing or sanding.

So I started looking... and found a space. Since then I have realized so many other benefits about working somewhere other than my dining room table such as:

• I can sit and do some research, or sort glass without feeling guilty for not doing the laundry


• I can accomplish more in a short amount of time both at home and at the studio, because I'm focused for both


• James maybe spends a little less minutes with me, but way more quality time since I'm trying to squeeze in 'just one more thing' when I'm with him


• I now have inspiration, critics and mentors right at my door, when I need a sounding board or an opinion I just go down the hall

So sure it costs a little, but so far it's been worth it!

Talk about Competition

The Sea Glass Festival in PEI was a great learning opportunity for me. Not only did I get to meet the guru of Sea Glass, Richard Lamotte, and learn about appraising glass, finding glass, identifying glass, I also got to scope out my competition. My true, head to head competition; other sea glass artists. (photo by Buffy Delaney Moore)

The morning of the festival started out exactly how I thought it would... slow. Not with foot traffic but with sales. There was actually a lot of traffic. So I thought it must be the amount of direct competition. There were almost 25 vendors all selling sea glass products. The up side to this is that I never once had to explain what sea glass was, because everyone that came, came because they too were a sea glass lover. In fact, one women said to me 'I collect sea glass' and her husband swatted her arm and said 'who here doesn't'. The downside to having an 'educated' audience? Everyone photographing your work, writing notes about your work, studying your ideas, so they could go home and use their stash of glass to try and recreate your art.

The afternoon was a nice surprise though. It proved that what I always say is true; don't worry about the competition, if you offer something of value, you'll come out ahead. And so I did. The afternoon I was very busy with sales, orders and compliments about my work. It didn't matter that I had so much competition around me, it was a good show (for sales, and for learning). And besides, I got to make my own notes too..

The Working Holiday

Before I get into the working holiday bit, I wanted to share one of my favourite photos of me with you. It's not my favourite because of how I look, but rather the authentic smile / laughter that it captured while I was beach glass hunting on my favourite beach. Thanks Tracy Olan from Beautiful Day for capturing it!

Now it's down to crunch time preparing for the working holiday. It's definitely the way to go. Not crunch time, but the working holiday that is. The trip to PEI originally started with just me going to be a vendor at Canada's first ever Sea Glass Festival, but it quickly grew to be the annual family vacation. We have always wanted to travel down east (or for Tim's sake out East), but kept putting it off. Now we found a way to make it happen and now it will be a tax write off too! Shhhhh.. don't tell anyone. The downside is you have to pack for both things and you have to make time for both things, but the pros definitely outweigh both of those things. My suggestion is to keep two separate packing lists and don't intermix the boxes - well that's what I'm going to try and do, I'll let you know how it goes when I return.