Judy's Brain Bits

This charming little phrase came out of a conversation with my husband this weekend. I was telling him that I couldn' t possibly cram one more thing onto my to-do list, or activities. I was full, beyond full, with commitments. If he tried, my head would explode, and he would have little bits of grey matter scattered, all over the place to clean up.

To which he replied, "Judy's Brain Bits". Over much laughter, we decided it would make a great name for a rock band!

So, what is on that list threatening the integrity of my cranium?

Preparing for ACRE is near the top. I have been trying to design the "invisible booth". A booth that seems to magically disappoear...fading back so all that is apparent is the work. Instead of trying to Wow! anyone with my booth design prowess, in an obvious way, at least, I am trying to Wow! them with my work. So I have been planning displays, determining what to rent, what I need to buy, and how to ship things. I have been figuring out which pictures I want to use for oversized images. I thinnk I have settled on the ones below.

I have been working on that mailing list, and deciding on a special offer to put on the postcard. That has to go out by the end of the week.

I need to come up with a "starter set". A way for someone to easily order a starter collection of jewelry to carry in their shop or gallery.

I have decided I will be putting together a video of how to fold a crane from polymer clay, that I will put on YouTube. My reason? To solicit donations for The Crane Project. More to come on the video later. The project is plugging along, slower than I would like right at the moment, with a few setbacks, but when I have a few hours, I am in the studio, cranking out cranes. I have about 200 cranes produced, but I have also applied for one grant, and have another grant application that has to be submitted in the next few weeks. The last one is with the Artist Valentine grant program I had written about earlier.

The other grant was with a group called Creative Capital Foundation. They have a great approach that focuses on developing artists in ways that will make their investment more meaningful in the long run. They also ask the artists to donate back to the organization a portion of any income generated by the project they fund. Paying back, so that others can benefit in the future. I will find out in June if I proceed to the next phase for that grant application process.

I have been playing around with a few other design ideas, one can be seen above in the green shibori necklace, in the second row, on the left. I am calling it Shibori Fringe.

Several orders have had to go out, and I am behind on one.

I had a wonderful opportunity to go up to New Hampshire for an evening meeting of the New Hampshire Polymer Clay Guild one night last week. I have gotten to know quite a few members through regional retreats, or through visits to the League of New Hampshire Craftsman's Guild fair at Mt. Sunapee, each summer. So, it is always nice to revisit and reacquaint, as well as to meet a few new faces. The reason for my visit was a roundtable discussion about the business of craft. Kathleen Dustin was also a part of the meeting, so it was wonderful to hear some of her insights into the market, pricing, and her approach to selling her work.

The things that remain on that list, untouched...

Making sure I have all the samples I need for the show.

Finalizing my price list, and getting it printed.

Figuring out how I will ship my materials to Las Vegas for the show.

Putting together an up to date press kit for the show.

Application for a display space nearby for next year....perhaps for the cranes.

I am sure there are many other things I have neglected, but they will pop up and make an appearance in that challenged grey matter if they are essential. And sometimes I forget a few things I intended to do, but the world never ends, does it? Perhaps those things were meant to fall of the list.

You Know you are an Artrepreneur When....

1. What others call "world craft", you call "cheap imports".

2. Your designs take into consideration production and efficiency.

3. You know what a knucklebuster is. (A credit card imprinter, used to manually record credit card sales.)

4. You are on a first name basis with your UPS person, the FedEx person and the people at the post office.

5. You know what keystone means. (Two times the wholesale price.)

6. You know what someone is talking about when they talk about Zapplication. (Zapplication is an on-line application for various shows and competitions.)

7. You have gotten packing your car up for a show down to a science.

8. You know what a CVV2 code is, and why it is important. (The three or four digits found on the back of the credit card. Getting these numbers when you use a knucklebuster can save you about 1/2 of a percent in fees.)

9. When someone asks for "terms" you have an idea of what they are talking about. (Usually means they want Net 30,..... or, delivery of goods and thirty days to pay.)

10. You know the joke about the artist who won the lottery....and you are not sure whether you should laugh or cry. :-)

The joke: An artist wins the lottery. They go to the lottery headquarters to cash in their ticket, and they are asked what they will do with their winnings. Their reply,....."I will probably just keep doing shows till the money runs out."

If you have any more to add to the list, please feel free to put them in the comments.

Sunscreen for Artists and Craftspeople

In June of 1997, Mary Schmich published a hypothetical commencement speech in the Chicago Tribune. One she was never asked to deliver, but one full practical and good advice. The column became known as the "Wear Sunscreen Speech" . Since it first appeared, it has spawned numerous parodies, and been made into two different songs. As I visited Lindly Haunani's blog recently, I was reminded of the essay by Ms. Schmich, and came up with my own parody of the original, geared to the working artist/craftsperson.

Ladies and gentlemen of the world of art and craft,

Stretch.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, stretching would be it. The long-term benefits of stretching have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering career path. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power of your creative spirit. What was I thinking? You will not understand the power and beauty of your creativity until it’s blocked. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of your work and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really were. You are not as bad as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve a design problem by throwing a tantrum, or scrubbing a toilet. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.


Do one thing every day that scares you.

Play.


Don't be reckless in other people's critiques. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.


Sketch.


Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old press clippings. Throw away your old rejection letters.


Color outside the lines.


Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your art. The most interesting artists I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their art. Some of the most interesting 40-year- olds still don't know.

Take good care of your hands. Be kind to your back. You'll miss them when they no longer work.

Maybe you'll prosper, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll be famous, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll be in a museum, maybe the Ugly Necklace contest is the only one you’ll ever win. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.


Enjoy your creativity. Use it every day, and in every way. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest tool you'll ever own.


Turn up the music and dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your studio space.


Read the tutorials, and then throw them away. Do not read too many books and magazines about your craft. They will only make you feel less than.


Get to know your fellow artists. You never know when they'll be gone from the craft circuit. Be nice to your collectors. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that galleries come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and price point, because the more success you have, the more you need the people who knew you when you started.

Do a show in New York City once, but leave before all your money is gone. Apply to the Smithsonian Show once, but don't plan on getting in. Build an altar instead.

Accept certain inalienable truths. Costs will rise. Prices will fall. Some people will copy. You too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, people bought craft, nobody copied, and everyone adored artists.

Respect the innovators.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't forget to take care of your hands or by the time you're 40 they will look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the stretching.


Finally, I quote Ms. Schmich. In May of 1999 she wrote,

"Occasionally someone asks, in a funereal voice, 'Does it bother you that people are writing parodies of your column?' No way. Because, ladies and gentlemen, if I could offer you one more tip for the future, this would be it:
Write parodies. It's a lot more fun than doing what you're supposed to be doing."

And she's right!

Different Title and Theme??

Business and art are seen by some to be the antithesis of one another. Not just by artists, either. It is hard sometimes for others to recognize us as business people as well as artists. We are passionate about what we do, and what we create. But we may also need, or want, to make a living, just like any other working person. Business and art must intersect if we are to do this for a living. Helping other artists wrap their head around the business side of this equation is something I try to do here.


But my real world also includes kids, a husband and a dog. The kids are a little older now, so it is a bit more manageable,....but sometimes it feels like a three car pile up rather than a your more ordinary collision. The collision of art and business....and life!


Yesterday I was rushing around trying to get three or four orders out the door. I can't make the cranes fast enough right now. One of the orders was sent in by email, so it was easy enough for me to track down and double check quantities, styles, address, etc. No problem. Two others were phoned in. This is where I run into problems. And I know some of you will come up with some helpful solutions like a notebook and pen by the phone, or a white board, or immediately filing the paperwork, and updating my contact and order info when I get these calls. You are absolutely right. I should do those things. I sometimes even try to do those things. But then reality intervenes.

The call comes just after the kids get home from school. They are trying to signal to me, wanting to know if they can have ice cream and potato chips, and I am trying to signal they should go away, I am trying to talk. The signal is of course interpreted to have free rein on anything that is not tied down, or otherwise claimed. Or, Nickelodeon is on the TV in the background and I am trying to signal to them to turn down (or better yet, off!) the TV. I walk away, ...thank goodness for cordless phones....., kids left looking at me like I am losing my mind. Meanwhile, I am trying to take in every word they are telling me, but actually my brain is freaking out trying to remember the name they gave me in those first few seconds of shifting from mom to artrepreneur.

Inevitably there will be a need to write down information....an address, product, dates, etc. But in order to get all this down I would need a piece of paper and something to write with. If anyone goes through my files they will find way too many notes scribbled on the back of my kids homework, a bill, or the comics....whatever I can find in those panicked moments...in crayon, or dry erase marker...or again,....whatever I can find! Pens, pencils, normal writing utensils, enter our house on a regular basis. But somewhere, there is a black hole or vacuum. It may be the same one that absorbs socks. I don't know, but normal writing tools vaporize. Yet I manage, or at least I like to pretend I manage, to sound somewhat coherent, and copy down the information, do a bit of a plug for another product they might want to try, or a style that might work for them, and hang up the phone.

This is when I should do that filing, organizing, etc. But first, I have to pull my kid's head out of the potato chip bag, or turn off the television, and get them focused on doing some homework. If I am lucky, I will at least enter the quantities, and business name for the order onto the computer so I don't lose track of it. Then it is off to take the kids somewhere, or pick them up. No time to file that piece of paper away for easy retrieval. Goes into the "Later" pile.

The piece of paper with all that valuable information now may make a journey throughout the house. How else can I play scavenger hunt when it comes time to ship the order? I will remember seeing it on the dining room table. Nope. Maybe it was in my studio. Nope. Maybe it is still on the ottoman in the living room. Nope. Okay. Panic is beginning to set in. The order needs to go out, and it is now approaching noon. I have two hours to finish packing the order, print the invoice, and get it to the post office. Should be easy. Doesn't feel very easy right now. One more time around the cycle. Dining room. Studio. Living room. Looking paper by paper. Finally cleaning up the area as I go. Must be upstairs in the office. Four piles of paper sit on the desk waiting for filing, sorting, or entry. I am vowing to get organized.

Find it! No time to celebrate. Call in credit card. Print out invoice. Finish packing the box. Oh wait. They wanted a bio. Back upstairs to print it out. Ooops. Laptop now downstairs. Go get the laptop, and bring it upstairs to the printer, and print out a bio. Daughter number one will be home in half an hour. Write a note. Should be home before daughter number two. Rush to the post office, zip over to Staples for ink cartridges, and to send a fax, and it is back home to juggle.


It is crazy. But it is also wonderful. I have never worked under such challenging circumstances, but I am also lucky to be able to work at home. My older daughter has agreed to work a few hours a week for me, on a trial basis. My other daughter wants a piece of the action as well. They get to make a few dollars, I get some help, all the while getting to be there with my kids. They get to see what is involved in running a business. They are as excited as I am when good news comes. They have been living the business with me, my (not so) silent partners.


When I am racing around the house looking for that pink piece of paper that I swear I used to write down that order, I am questioning my sanity. But once the order is shipped, and I go home, and bounce between working and parenting, I know it is working as best as it can, for now. They will grow up, move out and move on. But they will carry with them a little bit of what they learned. I may be able to find pencil and paper more easily then. But, I may miss flipping over the order I just wrote down to see that it was the rough draft of someone's essay. Just because it is hard, doesn't mean it isn't worth it.