Craft Show #4

Posted on November 29th, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: Art, General.

Well, I ‘m finally back after a weekend of shows. It was exhausting! The show was two days in Augusta - about 2 hours away from us. Phil stayed home with the kids, so I made the trip alone and impressed even myself by being able to handle setting up the whole display by myself. Speaking of the display, here are some pictures:

I got up at 4:30 Saturday morning to make it to the show in time to set up. Thankfully, the weather wasn’t too bad. The roads were pretty clear, exept for hunters (it was the last day of deer season, after all). I got there, only to find that the show promoter had no idea who I was and didn’t have a space for me. ???? I had signed up online, payed, and even emailed her a couple of weeks ago just to make sure that everything was ok. I guess she lost my name somewhere in the process. Anyway, she managed to slide a couple of booths over and squeeze me in - so it didn’t work out too bad. I’m not sure I’ll want to go with this promoter again. She was very confusing to work with. She changed the times of the show about three times- and some of the crafters didn’t get the word and showed up late. I originally heard the show was 10-4, then I checked the (very confusing website) to see in one place it was listed 10-4, and another 9-4. But when I got there, it was really 9-5. Oh well… it just made for a very long day :) The promoter also didn’t stop mediums. So while this was overall a very high quality show (not very much cheap, kitschy stuff) some crafters were pretty upset. The lady next to me did jewelry - as did about 10+ other booths. By the time people got to her booth, they were complaining about it being another jewelry booth. Thankfully mosaics are pretty scarce in Maine, so I was the sole seller.

I got some great responses on Saturday. It was wonderful to be able to talk about my art with people who really understand mosaics and the process that goes into them. They can truly appreciate how much work a piece takes (and the price that goes with it). There’s nothing worse than a person walking by a mosaic stand saying, “oh, i made those in kindergarten”. I had one lady stop by who loved, loved, loved my work - to the point of tears. She was so excited. She said she hadn’t seen anything in the show to interest her until she saw my work. It was so unique and different that she was just over the moon trying to pick out pieces. She was very interested in one of my larger pieces (and I was hoping!!), but she ended up taking three of my smaller pieces. Her friend that was with her came back later and bought another piece.

I also got my website out there. So far, it looks like I’ve gotten a lot of website hits from the weekend already. People are already inquiring about mosaics through it. There was a radio announcer at the show and he described different booths on the air including yours truly. He even threw in my website for those who couldn’t make it to the show. Free advertising!

I was a little worried when I set up my booth because the people on either side of me had much cheaper things for sale. However, that didn’t seem to hurt my sales. I did walk around a little and see that I wasn’t expensive at all compared to the other art sellers. There were only three other artists there. The response to my prices was fine. People seemed to fall in love with the work and then look at the prices. They would have bought if my prices were low or high. Thankfully, I think I’ve finally hit appropriate prices. The artsy people who looked at my pieces thought they were very reasonable.

I’m finally able to pinpoint my target audience. I could pick out in a whole crowd of people moving toward my booth who would stop and look. It attracted 20-30 year olds, married, no kids, artsy, well-dressed and 50+ artsy, and well-dressed. By well-dressed, I mean not wearing snowman sweatshirts. Those people with a tailored look seemed more attracted to my work.

Many people asked me if I taught classes. I guess that would be fun to do someday after I feel like I really have a grasp of my medium. There’s so much to learn and know about the art of mosaics, that sometimes I feel like I’ll never understand it all!

Sunday I didn’t do as well as Saturday, but that was to be expected. Non one did particularly well that day (unless you count the girl next to me with jewelry - she brought a friend who bought 250+ dollars of inventory for Christmas presents - that’ll up your days profit really quick!).

Many people also asked if I was happy in craft sales or if I would do art shows. They seemed to feel (and I completly agree with them) that my work would be better seen in that type of setting. Right now, I’m concentrating on networking, getting my name out there, and improving my artwork. My goal is to try to get into a Boston art show next fall. I’m trying to sell/give away more of my little pieces, so I can concentrate on my larger art pieces.

I ended up the day making some trades for Christmas presents. All in all, it was a great show. I learned a lot, got some great exposure, and made a profit. The fair season is over now, so it’s back to work, building up my stock and working on improving my technique.

4 comments.

Online Gallery

Posted on November 23rd, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: General.

Here are some of my new works - all cleaned up. These are my two most expensive pieces at my upcoming show.

Mt. Katahdin
This will run about $300. The size is somewhere around 14×24, I think. This piece was a lot of fun to create. Katahdin is such an unusual shaped mountain - it looks different from every angle.

Knife’s Edge
This one is maybe 15×18 (I have to check my measurements again). It will go for $275. This is my absolute favorite piece I’ve done to date. It doesn’t show well in the photo, but many of those glass pieces are stained glass with metallic threads in them. It really shines when the light hits it! This piece was one of the few that I didn’t really have a vision for before creating it. I just kind of made it up as I went along. The knife’s edge is one of the trails leading down from Mt. Katahdin.

1 comment.

Reflections

Posted on November 22nd, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: General.

Today, while thinking of the death of Brad Arms I started thinking of all the people I have known who have passed on.

Emily: my kindergarten friend, killed in a car accident that year

Auntie Betty: elderly missionary lady we knew in Hawaii - she will always be remembered by me for saying “JOSEPH, remember the sweater rule!”

Mary Jane: a high school youth group friend. She died of heart failure. I only knew her for one year before she died. She was a passionate and loving person.

Joe and Bart: Joe was the head of the airport at College of the Ozarks in Missouri. He supervised and taught many of the flying classes as well. He was my boss. Bart was a fellow student and flight instructor. I remember vividly being at an exciting basketball game when everything stopped and the president of the school came out on the floor. He announced that the plane carrying two faculty members (who I did not know) and their wives, and flown by Joe and Bart had gone down not too far from the school coming in for a landing. I remember feeling like everything had dropped out underneath me. I remember one of Bart’s best friend, a cheerleader, collapsing on the floor. I remember the empty face of Bart’s fiance the next day when I saw her at the airport. And I remember trying to keep everything together, trying to answer the phones, trying to ward of reporters the next day while at the airport. And I remember crying when later that year, one of my best friends at the airport was awarded a scholarship in Joe’s name.

Then, comes the family members. I’ve lost my grandfather and grandma both in recent years. My grandma was an avid letter writer. I still have some of her letters written to me while I was at school away from family. She is very much missed.

—————————

For me, it’s comforting to think that God is in control. God has a plan and is sovereign. In the words of one of my favorite Todd Fields song:

You are God, You are Life
I will worship You forever
You are God, You are Life
I will worship You forever

You knew me before I took my first breath, and you know the day that I will breathe my last
You’re the Alpha Omega, beginning and end
Forever to You I sing

You are God, You are Life
I will worship You forever
You are God, You are Life
I will worship You forever

Into your hands I commit my spirit
You’re the only one who satisfies my soul
You’re the Alpha Omega, beginning and end
Forever to You I sing

3 comments.

Updates

Posted on November 18th, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: General.

Church situation: not better, not worse (much). there are tremors though of other people being unsatisfied.. but do you pursue those? we don’t want to stir the pot and make the situation worse. Add that that we’re both tired and Phil is still recovering from an all-nighter last weekend with the youth group and you can understand why it’s on a back burner right now. the pastor is going away for two weeks, so we have some time to think through some things.

Phil got in a serious accident two days ago. He fell asleep driving home from Rockwood after work and went off the road into a ditch. He said he woke up flying down the ditch at 50-60 miles an hour very nearly missing some telephone poles. A huge rock took out a rim and messed up our bumper… but thankfully nothing much worse than that. It could have been a lot worse. This is a huge fear of mine, because Phil is so tired most of the time and has a problem with falling asleep while driving. I guess this isn’t serious in as much as what happened as much as what could have happened.

The all-nighter youth group even went really well. We had 32 kids come (whew!) - the most this church has ever seen come to an event by a long shot. Several kids responded to the gospel message (we didn’t give it - it was down in Portland) - and now please pray that we have wisdom in following-up. So many of these kids make commitments left and right (which is why we really don’t like this event, but it is a church tradition).

I’m helping out at the school play (Music Man) this year. I’ve been to both days of the auditions, and the director wants me to be the stage manager. I’m thinking about it. It’s a really great opportunity to just be in the school and meet kids. I saw a lot of our teens while I was there and it was just great to connect with them in their school settings. When Phil talked with the teens on the event last weekend, a lot of them said they were afraid to come to church. They have this sense of awe about it and are afraid of not living up to expectations (i.e. swearing in the building or stuff like that ). We’re trying to break down those barriers and make these kids feel welcome. I think meeting them on their own turf and building relationships will go a long way.

The problem is, the school play is the same weekend as the mosaic conference (in D.C.)that I wanted to go to is. On my professional mosaic artists’ board (not the one listed to the right - it’s a new one), they really liked my new work and thought that I should submit at least one piece to the juried show in D.C. It would be awesome to have a piece in a gallery for three months. So we’re thinking now of not going to the conference, but submitting a piece for the show. Which means, I’ve got to get two of my pieces completely done, and photographed this weekend so I can get slides done in time to meet the deadline which is in two weeks.

Here’s a picture of a recent mosaic of Mt. Katahdin (it’s not quite done -still needs some cleaning up, but you get the idea).

Last night we took a trip to Bangor to get supplies for my upcoming art show. We bought OSB to make my display (connecting hinged panels that can be arranged any which way). I also was able to find some missing pieces for the costumes for the Christmas play at church I’m directing (Little Women). I’m really happy about the costumes this year - I got some from a local community theater and some from a mom who collects prom dresses for a prom swap (some of these make great pettycoats to fill out full skirts). I also got a rag rug (i’ts nicer than it sounds - I’ll post pictures of my display after the show) for my display - I’ve read that having a floor covering really helps adding to the “gallery” feel of your display. We’ll see.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to fellow Mainer - Roger. May the bears and gorillas leave you in peace today.

4 comments.

Firefox - I’ve converted

Posted on November 13th, 2004 by hanfaith.
Categories: General.

wow

so now the question is whether or not to spring for thunderbird

6 comments.

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