Buying American. Being Part of The Change. Interview with Karen Shelly-Genther

READER’S NOTE:

This was a news release written in November 2008.

It’s being reproduced because the piece is as valid today as it was when it was written.

Karen Shelly-Genther knows a little something about Art and the American Dream.

 As a gallerist and exhibition coordinator, Shelly-Genther has the privilege of working with talented, local artists, showcasing their work to the public. She knows what Art can do for people. She likes to say, “Art CAN change a nation.” She should know. Making a difference seems to be something Shelly-Genther does best. Through her tutelage, change often does occur.

Graduating from West Chester University with a BA in Art, she decided to make the small downtown  of her college her home, and opened a small gallery that showcased a few local artist. The business expanded in no time to over 150 local and international artists. Then, to her horror, she witnessed the exodus of small businesses from the downtown in the early 90′s.

Walking past the empty storefronts, it became apparent that something had to be done to redirect this town towards becoming the destination place it once was. In West Chester’s long history it had always been a bustling town.

Kicking around ideas with a small grassroots business group, they settled on having a street fair in downtown West Chester. Each of the business owners involved were struggling and doing their best to survive the retreat of the customers from the borough. In June of that year, the first ever Super Sunday, with artists and crafters, and local entertainers, filling the sidewalks of downtown West Chester. People surged into the streets and stores. The town was once again alive with excitement. The communal response of shop owners was, “West Chester should look like this all the time!”

With the resounding success of their efforts, there was a glimpse of what the potential for West Chester’s downtown COULD BE. An informal business plan with the shop owners began. The goal, simple: Make West Chester a Destination. With the success of Super Sunday, Shelly-Genther suggested incorporating the same sampling of local arts and crafts, and entertainment, into The Restaurant Festival.

Until this point, The Restaurant Festival had been a collection of a few, select, local area restaurants who sampled their menus to the public through a one day venue in September. The event was entering its tenth year, and produced a fair number of visitors to the downtown. Shelly-Genther’s idea was to capitalize on the small crowd the event already brought in, but wanted to promote it larger than had been done before, and to showcase local artists and crafters, and entertainers, to compliment the restaurants. Her reasoning was to get people to linger longer by looking at the crafts and art, listening to the bands, eating more great food, wandering into the stores and shopping. It took some convincing, because change is never accepted willingly, but the idea flourished. She handed the reins over to Kathy MacBratnie of West Chester Parks and Recreation who had her own ideas on how to expand. Now after some twenty plus years of success, both The Restaurant Festival and Super Sunday EACH draw well over 10,000 visitors to the downtown of West Chester semi-annually.

However, twenty years ago, with the vacancy of the government offices from the downtown, and the foot traffic gone, businesses were struggling, and more store owners were vacating quickly. The community events, though wonderful, were too distant from one another, and there was not enough activity to sustain businesses through the lean months. Shelly-Genther was forced to close her small gallery, Something for all Seasons, but not before initiating the use of public spaces as a vehicle to display rotating art shows throughout Chester County and Delaware County.

Her earliest effort was to coordinate some of the beginning years of West Chester’s Gallery Walk. A bi-annual event where merchants stayed open late and offered wine and cheese to customers, while showcasing local artist work.

“Back then it was difficult to convince storeowners to stay open late,” Shelly-Genther explained. “The town rolled up our sidewalks at 5pm. You would never guess that now.” She added, “Having places that were not galleries house art for just an evening was a new concept too, but we persevered.” Many years later, the semi-annual Gallery Walk continues to bring people out by the thousands from as far as fifty miles away.“I feel good that through Art we were able to make a difference here. West Chester now is a vibrant, happening place…. as it always should be.”

Shelly-Genther stayed in the Arts after closing her gallery. She headed a major university’s annual week-long art show, which produced revenues of over $400K, and showcased over 200 local artists. She then went on to be the Exhibition Coordinator for Chester County Art Association, and the Gallerist for their Exton Square Gallery.

Presently, she is representing local artists for galleries in Chester County, Delaware County, and Philadelphia, as well as setting up shows for small venues, which she entitles, “Art in Unlikely Places”.

“I think the best part of being an agent for an artist is that I give the public the chance to purchase American Art. And I love that I am able to work towards getting the artist’s work seen while they continue to concentrate on just producing their work. It’s that right brain left brain conflict. Most artist struggle with the success of getting their business going because they struggle with the business side.” She also points out, “It doesn’t help that art schools refuse to teach their students anything about the business aspect of their profession. I’ve tried for years to address that situation to no avail. Generally, it is news to graduates that they are in business for themselves. They figure that out when they graduate.”

She quotes an outrageously low number, “Something like 3% of all art students remain in their field, which is ridiculous.” Because of this, Shelly-Genther has taught, “How to Profit and Market Yourself in the Art World”, for over twenty years at various technical schools, night schools, and art centers.

“The four week course is an intensive study in Art as a business. It just hits the high points.” Shelly-Genther waved her hand as she tried to sum it up, “Art really is about the creation process, and having fun. It’s a release that a viewer can actually see when someone creates something with their own hands. The art produces emotions by the viewer, be it good, or be it bad. But whatever it is, we are drawn to it, and we need it in our life. It helps when we have assistance getting it shown, and have venues to hang in.”

When asked how the art business has changed since she graduated school, there is a serious note to her voice, and a low hiss.

“The government trade agreements trifled with artist’s livelihoods. There wasn’t any foresight given when the decision was made to open global trade about how it would impact the American Artist. No one had looked hard enough at the trickle down affect.” She pointed out, “Just like West Chester’s decision to move the government offices out of the down town to loosen up parking and make available store space. It ‘seemed’ like a good decision at the time. That is, until the walking traffic disappeared.”

She added, “Things like this always make sense and sound good initially, but you have no idea about the dynamics until you actually diagram it out, and unfortunately, not everyone does that.”

Shifting in her chair, Shelly-Genther hunched over the table, explaining the basis of the problem, “There was a time that buying American was what was done. Period. It didn’t matter if it was your car, your clothing, your furniture, or the painting in the gold frame for the dining room wall you bought at Strawbridge and Clothier. As long as it was Made In America, you bought it. There was a quality of excellence stamped on anything that was made in the USA. But due to the trade agreements, which while they opened global trade, they also caused the fine arts market here in the United States to become saturated with work that was crafted overseas for pennies on a dollar. The work was inferior to anything made in America. And we as a people became accustomed to buying the imports because they were everywhere, and they were inexpensive. ‘Cheaper is better!’,  was the mindset. Unfortunately, much of what is created outside of the country that fits the loose definition of art is of lesser quality, both in materials and in labor. And because this “art” is readily available, and affordable, it’s what we as a people have come to expect.”

“We, as a nation, have become so accustomed to this inferior standard. The saturation and availability of these products have caused consumers not to expect quality pieces. Nothing lasts anymore. And that is a shame.” She continued, “What was intended to be a good thing for the global market virtually took away the livelihood, and treasured handcrafted ways of many of the American people, and American businesses. And we as a nation have suffered because of it.”

“It’s difficult, as a craftsman in America, to convince the public that spending more on a handmade item that is made here, is something they should do with their money. They need to look at the value of the product, not just the price, and they need to believe in America again. It’s important that the American people support local businesses.”

 When pushed further to comment about the global market, Shelly-Genther didn’t hesitate to state the obvious. “This act of sending jobs across seas has sacrificed the well-being of our own economy as well as our own people. Not only have people lost jobs to the manufacturing businesses in Asia, but the soul of what we are as a Nation has been lost as well. At a time when we as a nation need to rally together, a good idea would be to begin once again, buying American. That means, investing in ourselves, and reconnecting with the American crafts movement that helped to forge our country.”

 She made a bold statement, “This holiday people should think, ‘I work hard for my money, and I want to support America by supporting the arts and buying local.’ It has to start somewhere.” She then added, “It makes good sense to look inward at our economy and invest in our people. While we see the volatility of Wall Street, Art has always been a solid investment and it never depreciates. And it will always be that way.”

 Something for all Seasons will be opening one of its Art in Unlikely Places venues, showcasing, Amelia Furman, a talented young Delaware County artist, and showcasing her work in a show entitled, ‘Meditations’, at the Boutique Wearhouse, 1504 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square, PA on November 17th, 2011 from 4-8pm with a champagne reception and a meet and greet.

This upcoming holiday season,

BE PART OF THE REVOLUTION!!!

BUY AMERICAN MADE ART!

INSIST on buying, and receiving, AMERICAN MADE GIFTS.

You WILL make a difference…..and be glad you did.

I Don’t Have Time

TIME…..

It’s probably the one thing everyone can agree on.

There is never enough time.

No matter what you do, there is still stuff you’d like to do, if you could only get around to it. The problem with this is if you are trying to make your art your business, and you aren’t focusing on your business AT ALL, then you aren’t making any money. Plus there is all that inventory for stuff to be made that you hope to someday get around to using, and more than likely you are continuing to buy, and then there is the stuff already made, taking up space in your studio/home…because you are after all, in business…more or less.

Sitting with a bunch of photo artists the other night, the topic of not having time came up. Working sixty hour weeks, whittling a few hours in for family, figuring in sleep, it seems there is no time left to do anything towards the business….

Ummm, this is just a reminder, but last time I checked, being in business was about making money….!!

Something tells me there is a part of you that finds time to do something frivolous at least for an hour a week…like watching football, or picking your fantasy team, or having a few beers with friends, or getting lost on facebook. You have ALLOWED yourself time to do those things for you, but somehow, doing something for your business is too much like….work…!

When you are pressed for time, given the rest of what LIFE is throwing at you, if you are trying to make your craft a real business then you need to treat it as such, and you need to FEED THE BEAST, otherwise your dream of making it a business dies a slow painful death…and you will join the ranks of unsuccessful artists that complain, make excuses, and blame the economy on why they can’t sell anything.

I’ve got news for you, There ARE People Selling!!!…if you aren’t, then you can blame yourself.

TO FEED THE BEAST, let’s start with finding one hour to devote to your business…you can do that! An hour is just a spit in time. Anyone with kids knows that one hour is the equivalent of a Sesame Street, or two Mr. Rogers, and being a parent we know that is not long. You might think that an hour is hardly worth the investment…or is it?

Here’s a short list of just a few ideas of what you can do in an hour that will increase the success of your business without really working. If every day for the next month you did one of these things for one hour I can guarentee you will see an improvement in your business.

Of course there are more things you CAN do, but this short list of 21/60 minutes will keep you busy for now.

Now, go find an hour to kill. You’ve got “work” to do!

 

21/60 Minute Improvements For Business Practices

1~ Create a blank letter of introduction – this would be used to explain who and what you are, and why what you do is different from everyone else who does the same thing. It would be used for galleries, and shows you are trying to enter, and perhaps businesses you are trying to get an in with to sell them stuff.

2~Update your resume – believe it or not, a lot of places that take you on as an artist want an actual resume from you. Somehow it makes you more credible. They aren’t really looking for your entire work experience and don’t care if you worked at Chuck E Cheese, they want to see that you were part of the human race and not cloistered in a studio being a manic Vincent. Galleries like to know up front before they handle you if you are a manic Vincent. Think of it as a head’s up.

3~Work on your Business Plan –people get stuck on this idea of a Business Plan. It isn’t that difficult. The entire basis of your BP is the one question, “Where do you want to be with your business five years from now?” (Some people who are REALLY serious do a ten year plan) Do you want to be in an esteemed show, or perhaps doing wholesale, or hanging your work in a gallery in Manhattan? Write it down. These are your long term goals. So then, what do you need to do four years from now to get you to accomplish this quest in five years? Write it down. What do you need to do in three years to get you there? Two? One? Six months? Three months? Next month? Tomorrow? A Business Plan is something that changes and needs tweaking EVERY MONTH to be sure you are on goal. Believe me; you can kill an hour on this easy.

4~Get your Tax ID number, FINALLY, so you can buy your materials wholesale, thus cutting your costs in half so your work will actually sell. It’s a brilliant conception. Costs no money.

5~Take an accounting of what you have in inventory – Whoa baby! You better be prepared for the sticker shock on this! Once you actually figure out what you have amassed in stuff, and then how much that stuff costs in materials, you may need a beverage. The purpose of this is: A) You need a financial starting point. Translate that to you need to know how much your business needs to pay your personal self back. B) You stop making works in a particular genre until you sell the ones you have.

And after figuring out your costs, go ahead and figure out the total of what you think you are selling the stuff for. And NO, despite how many zeros there are after that number, you don’t own a million dollars worth of art. I LOVE those artists that say that.

Your stuff is only worth a million dollars IF YOU SELL IT, not if you STORE IT!

Until such time that your work actually sells, unless you own museum insurance, which I know you don’t, because it covers the “value” of the artwork and you can’t afford it, as far as your insurance company is concerned, the “value” is replacement value only. That means the cost of the paint and the canvas. Deal with it.

6~Organize your receipts – You will thank yourself come April. Make a list of all the stuff you buy and divide it into hard products and soft products, and no, I am not talking about the actual texture. You need to know what stuff you have spent money on in different categories, and some of the stuff goes bad, thus SOFT product…just like fruits and veggies. Figure out for your business what those categories are and then assign a SIMPLE abbreviation…like Black Paint/BP is a soft product. It eventually renders itself useless if it isn’t used and needs to be thrown away. Photo paper/PP, on the other hand, is a HARD product. The shelf life is longer if it is kept dark and dry. At the end of the year you can tally your hard and soft products so as to get a handle on your expenses.

7~Work on revamping your business card – Did you get a new website? Are you on LinkedIn? Facebook? Do you have a business blog? Are they actually listed on the business card? Duh.

8~Make a composite of what you need to create for the year –  Are there shows you want to participate in? Are there particular items you want to have at your ready for the holidays? Waiting until the due date, or a week before something is due is not the way to do business. PREPARE YOURSELF. Figure out what you need to have prepared for the holidays and break it out into the ENTIRE year….so each month you know what you are creating towards the season. You won’t be pulling your hair out, or running out of prints and paper if you plan ahead.

9~Do you send email? If so, do you have a signature set up that has your contact information on it? Including your phone number? Website? Facebook Page? LinkedIn? A descriptor of what it is you do? Another duh.

10~Promote yourself on your Facebook – Champion yourself. Do it every two weeks. Show off some of your latest stuff. People love pictures. How else are people going to know what you do unless you tell them?? And people you are linked to already KNOW you, and LIKE what you do….

11~Q&A your computer files – PURGE the trash. Sort stuff, put things in files. While it may not be a physical desk, if you cannot easily find what it is you are looking for on your computer, then you are wasting precious time, and you are a busy person…you could be watching football. Make is simple. Letters, Contracts, Invoices and dump what belongs there to its rightful place. Also, straighten out your Address Book. Delete old, invalid addresses, and fill out the entire form so you actually know who an email address belongs to.

12~Back up your files – Buy a zip drive and do the back up. Send important documents to your email. Buy a portable hard drive. You lose that stuff in a power surge you will be cursing yourself for years. Buy and USE the zip drive. It isn’t good enough to carry it around in your pocket.

13~Buy a carry case for your zip/portable drives – DO NOT keep this with your computer. TAKE IT WHERE YOU GO. Walk with me for a minute….imagine a house fire while you are out, and your computer…nice and crispy…along with your back up. See where I am going? Keep the key separate from the lock. Do the back ups weekly and daily. That little carry case goes wherever it is you go. It is after all, your life’s work we are talking about…treat it with respect.

14~Photograph your work – I am assuming that this is really something that is done when the work is completed, right? So now, you are labeling them properly for purpose of entering them in a show. Last name, first initial, title, medium, size, year. Put them all in one file titled “For Submissions”, so you can find them.

15~Update your Artist Statement – This is the why you do what you do statement that explains your motivations in one short page. Operative word being SHORT. Include a photo of you to personalize the statement so people reading it and buying your work can now look at the work and think of you as a real, live person. Personalizing your art sells. Trust me on this.

16~Create your BIO – This is a little more involved than the artist statement. It explains how you got to the point you are at professionally. List shows, awards, school, and only the GINORMOUS sales, like: Sold 2011, “By the Water’s Edge”, acrylic 36”x48” canvas, to the personal collection of Donald Trump.

17~Google artist shows and print out show entries you would like to consider being part of.

18~Fill out show entries you printed out last week.

19~Go to an art show, or lecture, or museum, or library – Actually going to a place to increase the weight of your left side of your brain so as to balance it with your creative side is important. Too many artists forget that the brain has two purposes; Learning and Creating, and you need to do both in life.

20~Peruse the internet for sales of new display pieces – Displaying your work, whether that is in a booth format, or a portfolio, or a stand, requires thought so that the work shows the right way. Coordinate the colors. Consider lighting and a chair for yourself. Think about checking out your customer and what it is you will need to get yourself set up properly, and everything you need to make the sale in one place – a bin, a table. When they make their purchase they carry with them something of you. Are they carrying it in a bag with your name on it? Is there a business card in the bag? <sigh> it ain’t over until you say it is…

21~Finish the product and the sale – If you are selling a print and you are putting it in a cellophane bag, make sure the print has your business card attached on the back. Anything that leaves the studio should have your contact information on it. You can also have your artist statement, and a care tag attached. But also put a second business card in the bag itself. If the item is a gift, your business card that is attached is going with the gift. What if the customer wants to get something else from you at a later date? THINK AHEAD. They already LIKE your stuff. They might BUY MORE! Market yourself as L-O-N-G as possible to the person who liked and bought your stuff.

 

DESCARTADO, Spanish for that which is discarded…..and our life is full of those.

Tiny crosses, symbolic of mourning a passing.

In the Latino heritage, descartado dot the roads and paths of the countryside. They are the little crosses that mark where a passing occurred. Someone has died, right at that point. The cross is a means of honoring that spirit, and remembering. It’s important while you are alive to revisit your descartado in order to do them honor. It’s because of those discarded choices that you are where you are today. By reviewing those choices, you can also see if perhaps a decision made to let something go might be worth rendering.  

We make decisions daily that affect our life. Some of those decisions were made long ago. Some were made yesterday, some, just today…like the degree to follow in college, the color of pants to wear for work, calling your mother for her birthday, dating a person who could possibly be the love of our life. Our life is filled with decisions, one after another, and each decision weighs on the next, just like the tiles in dominos. Sometimes we discard things we shouldn’t. We choose plaid pants over black ones. We forget to call mom on her special day. We choose a profession that is a dead end. And we don’t ever let our guard down enough to make that special connection with that someone we are dating, and because of that we let them walk out of our life forever. Just examples of poor choices one makes.

So what if we had a do-over, a chance to revisit those decisions that we discarded for the choice of something else? Perhaps now, with new knowledge, that path we once thought about, and then chose something else, should be reconsidered? There is a multitude of reasons why things could be different this time around. Maybe our financial situation is now different and we could afford graduate school. Maybe our logistics are different and the commute to New York for that dream job wouldn’t be a hardship. Maybe we realize only after mom passes that we only get one mom, and we should have spent more time with her. And maybe we now see a relationship for what could have been. However, if the plaid pants are still in your closet then maybe you should take up golf after all.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Someone famous said that. We know it to be true. Decisions revisited now, with the wealth of knowledge we accumulated after we made that decision, allow us to realize those decisions were not always the correct choice, if only we had known what we do now. We can’t do anything about the fact avenues were unknown to us before, but now….now with hindsight, those choices might be worth revisiting.  

What would you do differently?

The weighing of the value of time and financial investment are something that in your fifth decade you begin to value at a different rate than say, what you might have valued at age twenty. At age twenty, the twilight of life was yet a far off glimmer. At age fifty-something, it is quite something different. The twilight of life is more like a roaring train.  

We begin in our middle years to equate what sort of investment it is we are hoping to get in return for whatever action it is we do; with whatever time we have left. The question becomes, is it worthy of the investment? This is the very hard-to-say answer that everyone wants. Typically when it comes to decision making, a pencil and paper are required to settle the score. But under the sever scrutiny of hindsight, upon reviewing the descartado of our life, we can usually see whether something we left behind, something we discarded for something else, might be worth revisiting… and perhaps it is. But the question then becomes, do you do anything about that now? And then, can you?

Think about walking a beach with the sole intent of picking up only black shells. You begin your walk and you pass over millions of brightly colored yellow and orange ones on this quest. The tide is still climbing farther and farther away while you walk, and more and more yellows and oranges are making themselves apparent. Somewhere you get an idea of using the orange and yellow shells to create something quite different than what you originally intended. And with the tide still out, you still have the opportunity to retrace your steps and capture what you might have had if your eyes had been open further….life is like that. Rethinking the descartado is important, to see whether you missed something that your heart might actually fancy, and whether you have the time to make the corrective adjustment. And if the tide is coming in, you will have but a second to reach for that yellow seashell before the water washes over it, removing it from your sight forever. Once we review the descartado of our life, we have to decide whether to react.

Personal Homework

Everyone should choose this assignment for a weekend. Make a timeline of your biggest decisions. Think of it as a review of your life. It’s always good to see how it is you got to where you are today. These are not the choices between wearing a black or red dress to a wedding, but rather on becoming a writer rather than a rocket scientist. It’s the big stuff, the stuff that altered your direction.

Form your timeline. I suggest starting at age five, when you went to school. And note when your sister was born and you were no longer the youngest, or when you gave up ballet, and took up soccer, or when you didn’t play football for your high school team, but rather chose a different organization, which alienated you from your school friends. We are talking the BIG choices; the choices where you discarded something/someone, or something/someone was discarded for you.

While reviewing your life, you need to:

1.  Honor the choices that were left behind. 

2. See whether you missed something of significance.

Then the all important step is all that is left, deciding with what is left of life, whether the choices made must dictate what remains or whether the discarded ideas are worth reigniting. And what, if anything, you can do about that now.

Hindsight is 20/20.

What would you do if you were handed a do-over?…

Gearing Up For The Holidays

Despite the bounty sprouting in the garden, and the cacophony of cicadas, crickets, and tree frogs, you should be thinking winter….and gearing up for the holidays….afterall, it is the beginning of August….and I guarentee, the stores in the mall will have Christmas trees displayed in two weeks time.

ARTISTS ARE IN BUSINESS FOR THEMSELVES.

That business mind of yours should be filling itself with the short list of items you need to have in your portfolio, at the ready, for BUYING season. Your business plan should have you at peak performance right now….during mid-summer. It’s the best time to make use of the long daylight hours you can spend in the studio, or doing plein air work….the point is, come the holidays, you aren’t supposed to be scrambling and printing photos at the last-minute, or selling wet canvases….really.

Let’s review what should be going on:

You should have made a list of what and how many pieces you NEED to have….covering your price points that you know historically work for you. Add some additional what you would also LIKE to have (these are the hairy audacious desires we want to wow people with, if we have time to create them, AND if we have the resources available to buy the materials) Now, divide the list into the remaining months, break it out by weeks – cutting off production two weeks prior to the holiday, just for sanity purposes, to tie up loose ends…and whatever that magic number of pieces per week is, THAT is your production number.

In order to have a successful season, you MUST create THAT MAGIC NUMBER in order to be prepared for the buying season. Trust me. You’ll thank me in December.

Right now you need to reorder business cards, and the finishing pieces you know you will need….plastic bags, corner protectors, particular size frames and canvases, whatever propaganda you attach to your work that leaves the studio…. In other words, get prepared. Draft a newsletter to your customers and remind them you will be happy to work with them on lay away, but they need to get their orders in early because you are just you, the lowly production manager….and you need time to be creative on their original piece. Possibly you should consider including open studio times in your letter, where you plan to entertain potential customers. Yes, these are typically a lot of effort, but usually are quite effective for drumming sales.

The holidays come every year, at the same time. How prepared you are depends on how organized and successful you want to be. Now…..GET BUSY!

What Is Working For You? More Importantly, What Is Not?

Wasteful spending is not something your business needs, especially in this economy.

We all spend money when we shouldn’t. A periodic review of where your money is going is necessary. If we aren’t benefitting from an expense, then we need to cut the spending.

This isn’t as black and white as it appears. The number one cause of bad spending might be the basic thing you do for yourself as an artist; be a part of some art organization. Memberships appear mundane, hardly a place to be thinking of wasted money. But upon closer introspection, more than likely, that membership is a black hole of expenses. A fellowship in an organization means there is always something going on that requires an outlay of money.  You need a tally sheet and some answers before you send that membership check back in again.

1) Review what organizations you participate in.

Everyone that is an artist, whether self-proclaimed or awarded, should be established with a unit of other artists. Participation in a group gives feedback, not only on what you are doing, but trends, and opportunities to show your work, and places to make connections. It also gives you the freedom to bounce ideas, allowing for encouragement to move in different directions and break comfort zones. This is important so you can push yourself further. But this in no way should exonerate a Center from unwittingly fleecing its members.  It’s important for you to note what the real assets are in being in a particular group.

2) Determine which group is worthy of participation.

Ask yourself what this organization is really doing for you personally. Have you garnered sales, individual shows, or gotten commissions through your participation? Have you been cultivated? Mentored? Encouraged? Are there business ideas and avenues available for you to utilize so you can improve what it is you do? Are there open crits? Does the group allow for purchasing of supplies in bulk and the passing of savings on to you? When sales are generated, are you able to obtain the name and contact info of your buyer? 

If any answers to those questions are not to the positive, then you need to reconsider whether this organization is really advantageous for you and your business to be part of.

3) What has this organization done to help your career?

 Are you a means for them to pay their bills, or are they actually vested in your career improving?  It might be a win-win situation, if the organization actually offers you something without expecting payment, then you both benefit; free seminars, guest lectures, portfolio building, and the like.  But, if an organization does nothing to promote your personal growth, then this is not an organization that deeply cares whether or not their members succeed. That is something to think about. You should shop around for an organization that does strive for your success.

4) What does it really cost you to be part of this organization?

Even seasoned artists make the mistake of quoting the membership fee as the cost of doing business. But, consider the add-ons for a one year period. Start with your membership fee; we will use $35 as our example. With that membership you get a discount on classes. They’re an additional expense, should you choose to take any. If you take a class a semester, find a medium price and list it. Discount tickets to a museum? Additional. List it. As a member you also get the perk to put a piece into their open show, held once a year, but you still need to pay a transition fee. Work must be ready to hang, so mat and frame is additional. There are juried shows and offsite shows you can be involved with too, but at what cost?

 We’ll say $10 per submission, $5 for additional submissions. A $15 outlay, to MAYBE have your work get into a juried show. MAYBE, is the operative word. Plus the expense of framing all work, which can be double, even triple, the cost of the painting itself.

Juried shows are the quagmire of the art world. Considerations before submitting work to a juried show should occur. Begin with, how will you feel if your work is rejected? If you don’t have the chops to handle being told that your work is not worthy, then you shouldn’t be submitting.  And if you don’t have $15 to flush down the drain, AND the cost of the frame, then don’t do it.

5) Ask questions and demand answers

You have permission, so it is okay, to ask who is the jury? What is their background? Their expertise? What are they looking for? If the show flyer says Abstract Landscape, ask what is “the look” of this show. Unfortunately, most Centers don’t secure their jurors in advance of publicizing the yearly show schedule, so therefore the “look” may not be conceived of yet. The list is created by the exhibition coordinator, not the juror. It’s important to factor this when considering whether to submit to a juried show. Art is subjective. What’s abstract to some is just art gone wrong to others. The juror’s “look” may not happen until the juror shows up for his stipend. Unless an organization can say what the “look” of a show is actually going to be prior to submitting for jury, then you are at the whim of the juror, and you really should just go buy a lottery ticket.

 The other at issue, is damage that can occur from transport. Nicks in frames, and tears in dust covers, just to be told your work was ‘not good enough’ is an expensive lesson. Sending work via a shipping service involves an entire other level of expenses. You better know what you are getting into before grabbing the packing tape. Bad stuff happens when you mail away your art; lost shipments, damages, no sales, and refused deliveries. Plus the cost to transport. Consider all of this before you participate.

6) Do the math.

Reasoning in that Right Brain of yours that it’s only $15 to submit work for jury? You should think again. If the Center does juried shows ten times a year, at $15 a pop, then it’s $150 additional monies you’ve donated. The cost of doing business….But perhaps not one of your pieces was even accepted for the actual show. You gave them $150 for the honor of transporting your work to and from the center. If they took in over 200 pieces to jury for one show, then they made out pretty well. And what did you get out of it? You learned how to pack a car really well.

7) What is the turn down rate?

Organizations should be able to tell you how many pieces make it to the walls. Again, this information is usually not available unless you specifically ask. If the juror is a minimalist, out of 200 works he might accept 21. You should know that figure ahead of time. Otherwise, there’s a greater than 50% chance your $15 is just going into the coffers.

Most Centers have other opportunities to show as well as their main gallery exhibits. Offsite options allow for more opportunities for work to be seen. It also means…..

8) More math.

If offsite shows rotate every six to eight weeks, and you pay the same amount to have your work juried, you are looking at $200 additional expense. You should do a spreadsheet and see for yourself whether submitting work at that particular Center is actually advantageous for you.

So your $35 membership has cost you $400 for a year, if you participated in all opportunities to jury your work, with no promise of your work ever making it to a wall to be seen by the public.

9) What did you get out of that year? Did you sell? Did you get commissions? Did you get mentored? Did you get publicized?

If those answers are no, you need to find another organization that will do those things FOR YOU.  And, if your work is selling, don’t get overly excited until you make sure your mom isn’t sneaking in and buying the work, and putting it in the attic, just to make you feel good. To think you are collected, only to find out friends and family are buying, and storing, is not a good feeling. You should always know where your work is, even after it sells. You may need to gather your pieces for a future showing of your life’s body of work!  A Center should willingly supply you with your customer’s name.

After careful review of your organizations, you can determine which ones are really working for you.

Those that are not, you have two options:

• Do not renew the membership. Look for, and join, a different organization that works for you. They are not one size fits all.
•  See if your organization would be willing to consider their member’s needs and make some changes, which would help everyone. Be the squeaky wheel and be willing to put some volunteer hours in to make something better.

Organizations are the mainstay of the arts movement. They aren’t all bad. But they’re all not good. You can help. Volunteer your time. It keeps you in the loop, and it allows you to familiarize yourself with what work does come in. You will see first hand what gets hung, and more importantly, what sells, so when you are creating you can think in the manner of selling the work.

In this economy all art organizations are struggling. As an artist who relies on them, YOU should be doing what you can to assist them. They’re an important resource of potential clients for you.

Keep your focus on what YOU need to do FOR YOUR BUSINESS to make it successful! Your success hinges on you alone. No one does this for you. Your biggest lessons should be: Don’t buy into hype. Investigate and ask questions. Do the math, and make sure your investments in your business expenses are really paying off.

The author, Karen Shelly-Genther, has been mentoring artists for over 30 years in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Change is Gonna Do You Good

Think about that fabulous new relationship you’re flirting with…get your mind out of the gutter, it might just be the the guy behind the meat case who saves the beef bones for you we are talking about.

Whoever it is though, you get a thrill from the look you get. Every day you see the same person on the way to work, at the grocery store, at the bank, crossing the street….and because they are intrigued enough to smile at you…. you yourself want to look good, so you try really hard to keep it new.

Here is my question: Why aren’t you doing that with your business?

Gallery windows that do not change up their windows or displays often have lost the sensation of new. They appear tired and stale. If you wonder why no one is coming inside perhaps it’s as simple as what is showing. This is why it’s vital to constantly change the view in order to keep the viewer interested and wanting to come inside and look around. Sooner or later they will have to stop in, just to satisfy their curiosity……And you with the tent and the plastic bins, this applies to art booths at fairs as well, because if you do the circuit, and the customer also does the circuit, and they have already been in your booth once previous in the season, and there are 500 other vendors to see at the festival you are at, they will skip you if they know what to expect. You need to keep it fresh.

I worked my senior year in high school down at the Jersey shore, at a tiny little gallery that offered not only paintings and sculpture, but fine furnishings and expensive accessories. When I graduated college my first real job was additionally at an exclusive gallery of the finer things of life. Both managers and regional managers took me under their wing and taught me the stuff of working retail in a short simple six rules.

• Just like in life, change is good. It keeps the visitor looking. Perhaps they spotted something, and are a constant visitor to the space to check in on the item. They like to visit, and see if it’s still there, giving it a little lust for good measure. Move said item somewhere else, and panic ensues. That same visitor will assume, in panic, that it has sold. They will feel that loss of connection. When YOU, the business owner, notice the lost look, YOU the business owner, hold the cards to what happens next.

 

• Engage the conversation. The schmooze is so important. It can be the difference between, “just looking” and “SALE!!!” Pay attention to your customers. Don’t be distracted by other obscure things. Discuss with the visitor how things within the space must be moved to fill the gaps of the items that sell. In other words, even if you aren’t selling a blessed thing, you move your inventory around constantly and LIE, LIE, LIE. And remark that in this new location, doesn’t said item they thought was gone forever look marvelous? Why there was someone just in looking at it and took measurements.

 

•  Put the bug in their mind. That initial lost then found feeling will become lost forever if they don’t buy now, and they know it. So now is the time to suggest LAYAWAY, or a PAYMENT SCHEDULE, because your goal is to get local art in their hands, however that can happen.

 

• Keep a tape measure handy. Offer to measure and write down the particulars. Discuss colors, and sound enthused when they say they painted the paneling and stenciled a border in the item’s future home. It is not your place to pass judgment. It is your place to sell.

 

•  The first ten feet of any retail location, be that tent at a fair or store in a mall, is no-man’s land. The items are not seen when people enter because they are transitioning between actively getting where they are going and starting the process of looking to buy. This means there is a greater chance of the visitor noticing something that is placed there only on their way out, especially if it is of little consequence. So do yourself a favor, and make whatever is there, STAND OUT. Color, heft, dimensions, BIG, BOLD, BEAUTIFUL. Make them stop the transition and actually see.

 

•  Be nice. Go out of your way to say thank you, and mean it. Thank them for stopping, offer them propaganda on their way out, tell them the who, what, where, when, and the why of the business. That is how you gain repeat customers, by being a place they can escape to. People go to the movies for an escape and willing shell out over $10 for a ticket. Think about that. Make your place a slice of heaven where they feel good and can get lost, perhaps with an open checkbook…If they like the place enough, they will tell two friends…and that is how it goes.

As far as your work itself, change is good there also.

We get comfortable and complacent, and we forget to grow and expand ourselves and our abilities. Push your realm. Try new mediums. Buy some new lights, and some new brushes, perhaps try a new source for printing.

It’s important to also rework your display options, and remember, while you are at it, you are part of the package…You are physically part of the sale space, so how you physically appear is part of the experience. It’s a suggestion, but perhaps, you should rethink the outfit.

Self growth can translate to continual growth of spirit and ability. We just forget sometimes how to do that, so it’s always good to have a post it note that reads, “BREATHE” hidden somewhere in your world. I keep mine on the inside door of the medicine cabinet. It reminds us that as we breathe, our chests expand, and we grow, and for that moment, we are in control.

Change is good. ~k

Rejection

Rejection is the hardest thing for anyone, artist or not, to deal with.

It is a conundrum, laced as a counterproductive tool, because it tears at our fiber, yet is essential to utilize in order to advance personally and professionally.

In this economy, with more people out of work and applying for the few jobs in their field that are available, more people are finding out what artists have known for years, that rejection is so terribly hard to take. However, as any artist will tell you, the act of rejection is twofold. It causes you to reassess what you are submitting, be that a resume for a job, or a wicked piece of artwork for a show, and that act of rejection should light a fire in you.

When we are rejected, because we have put ourselves out there, and have shown a vulnerable side of ourselves, it hurts. Because it hurts to not be wanted. But if you believe in yourself, and what your passion is, rejection should not serve as a giving up point, but rather a redirection that the path you were on was not right for you.

Just because your work does not make it into a prestigious show does not mean what you do isn’t of value. It means, it wasn’t right for the show. That is key. Perhaps the look was not right for what the juror had in mind. Perhaps the job would have been more headache than it was worth. Keep in mind, that the people who choose whether you get a job or whether your work is accepted are not gods. They are people. They can’t always see the forest for the trees either.

This is also where history teaches us a lesson. There was a group of pretty heavy hitters back a couple of hundred years ago that took the art of rejection to another level, and need to be touted as the poster children for how to deal with rejection. They were so fired up about being deemed not good enough that they started their own show, appropriately named,’ Salon des Refusés’ , French for ‘Exhibition of Rejects’. Those that were rejected from the government run Salon, were in good company. The list is HUGE! And out of this experience of being deemed not good enough, a new avant-garde movement occurred that changed the course of Art forever. The Impressionists did not fit the mold of what was considered appropriate art, or more specifically, the appropriate application of art. They weren’t even close. The stuff that was hanging all over Europe at that time in houses and museums, in those heavy gilded frames, were stuffy and uptight compared to what these creative buggers had up their sleeve. The Rejects were fresh and exciting, and vibrant ,with a new vision, and because of their tenacity and stick-to-itiveness, the ROCKED the art world, and we have all benefitted.

Imagine the world without the now-famous painting of Édouard Manet‘s Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe). That would be a tragedy.

It’s easy to get frustrated, and to want to give up and be hard on yourself. Rejection is personal. You pour your soul into creating something. It’s a piece of you. You put yourself out there when you submit work, or a resume. We want people to like us, so it’s natural to want your work accepted too. But in the face of rejection, after you wallow around a bit, take yourself back to the studio and work. Research other shows and avenues, and resubmit the work to those. Perhaps it’s a better fit.  Or, be like the artists of 1863, and start your own show.

Like I continue to say, Own What You Do….You have nothing to lose.  And regret for life is much harder to take than rejection. If you give up, you will regret. The ’I should have’s’ will plague you for life. Rejection teaches us self worth. It’s a bitter pill, but it’s useful in keeping us humble and teaching us about ourselves.

And I do find it’s always much better to grab the bull by the horns, rather than getting dragged behind and stepped on.

Now, shake off the dust, dry the tears, and make something happen for yourself. No one can do this but you.

~k

 

A Little Something About Ownership

The great debate of who owns the artwork can be summed up this way…

 

Ownership changes hands when payment in full is received. Until a piece is paid for in full, the artist who created the work, retains ownership, and can reclaim the work at any time.

 

Reproductions of the work, however, are only owned by the creator of the work, not the owner.

 

Confused?

 

This means whoever buys your stuff does not have the right to mass produce cups, cards, T-shirts, and posters. If they do, you can serve them with a cease and desist notice, and any proceeds from the reproducing of your work belongs to you, not them, because you own the copyright, even if you sell the piece.

 

A copyright of your work is in effect when you complete your piece. Proof of copyright for court purposes, however, needs to be certified. You can file for a copyright after you find someone knocking off your work, it’s just a little more problematic to go through the process. You can also copyright bodies of work rather than individual pieces. Personally, I would save the $35 to copyright until you had an issue and had to have physical proof.

 

You should also document all your work by keeping a file of digital photos on your computer. Time stamps do not lie.

 

When you sell a piece outright, you can put an addendum on the bottom of your invoice that states, ‘customer must make every effort to comply should artist request that piece be available for show’. That means they don’t have to show it, and truth is, if it’s fragile and could damage easily then it shouldn’t show, but it does mean they will try and comply if it suits their schedule, and it puts them on point that should the situation arise, they may be asked.

 

Consigning your work to a gallery, or show, means you need to comply with the contract you negotiate AND SIGN. If you do not pick up your work on said date, you will relinquish your ownership. The copyright, and right to reproduce the work is yours.

 

I have a very dear friend that is an international artist who goes by the rule of when something sells, go paint another. The image is yours to reproduce. You can produce multiple versions of the exact same work, and each is original and unique. Everytime you do it, something will be different. I wouldn’t suggest getting fixated on one image, and filling your studio with the same thing over and over again, but the point is, you can make another piece of the same image and sell it for yet more profit. If it is a great image, you will want to. And you can do this because you are the creator. NOT the owner of the sold image though. They can’t reproduce it to sell it because they do not own the copyright. YOU DO!

 

Clear? Good. Here is your no-brainer list for the day:

 

1) Comply with contracts.

2) Write dates down transition dates for galleries and shows on your calendar. 3) Document your own work digitally and keep a file on a thumbdrive

4) Own what you do, both physically and mentally.

 

Now go have some fun and create something…! ~k

It isn’t all fun and games, people………

As an Artist you’re in business for yourself.

I realize that  might be an epiphany to some people. It’s easier to throw paint on a canvas, because that is fun, than to think of P&L statements, taking inventory, rechecking your personal business plan, or updating contracts.

 “Wait….What???? I don’t do those things…nobody ever told me THAT stuff in art school!!”

I hear you. They don’t. You have to figure this stuff out as you go along, or how else do you know if you are actually doing better this year financially than you did last year? Pssst…..That would be what a P&L is all about…

Profit and Loss….Where did you make money, and where did you lose it? Stuff like that is important to know especially if you are trying to actually make money doing what you love.

Here’s another….How much money do you have tied up in supplies and finished art in your studio? Do you have an excel spread sheet of finished work stating size, materials, title, date? Do you have enough insurance to cover all of it?  Hmmm…..maybe a better question is, What kind of insurance do you really have? It’s great to hear that you own a half a million dollars worth of your own art….But I’m here to tell you,

1)    It’s only worth a half a million dollars if you sell it, and

2)    In the event of fire or theft it only is worth half a million dollars if it’s insured for the replacement cost, they aren’t talking VALUE, they are talking the canvas and paint. PERIOD.

 Let that thought sink in a moment.

 Here’s a curious question…Do you ask when you put your work in a gallery if they have ‘gallery’ insurance? Gallery insurance means they cover the VALUE of the work, not replacement cost.

Don’t assume anything. Sure the place you hang your work might have some fancy lighting and someone that is a gallerist, maybe even some brass title cards, but most places and many art centers, have only replacement cost insurance… Because gallery insurance is expensive. SO YOU NEED TO ASK.

And since we are talking about your work… Where is your artwork….exactly??? Yeah, great to say it’s at a bunch of different galleries, but the question is,

 1)    Do you have an inventory list of your work that the gallery owner/manager has signed and dated? and you have left the gallery their own copy for their records….?

2)    Is the work actually hanging on the floor, or is it in the back waiting as fill in inventory, or is it in the back waiting for you to pick it up?

btw…two out of those scenarios are not good

3)    When do you have to rotate work out??? If the contract reads typically, then you have a certain number of days to claim your work once it’s removed from the floor. Otherwise it becomes theirs after that date, for THEM to sell and THEM to make the profit…they acquire the entire sale price. You no longer have ownership….and that is because it says so on your contract. THIS IS WHY YOU NEED A CONTRACT. 

And you do have a file of contracts for each location you are showing with, right????

Dude, you are killing me. The collective scream I am hearing is deafening….Don’t panic. You’re not alone. Even seasoned artists take a lot for granted…and most artists never treat what they do as a business, so their bottom line does not improve. So you are ahead of the curve if you are even thinking about contracts.

I know, I know…you create art because you love to make it. And you are Right Brained…and the office stuff is not your forte.  This might be difficult to understand, but in order to actually MAKE MONEY AS AN ARTIST, you need to be a business person, and you need to make the LEFT BRAIN work.

The practical side of this is, you are in business for yourself when you are an artist. There are no art police people out there making sure that things are all above board and that everyone is playing fair, and no one is getting ripped off. You are the only one taking care of you…which is probably why most people who graduate with an art degree are no longer pursuing their life’s dream… the business part is hard stuff, especially when you make it up as you go along, because it is the stuff that is not taught in art school.

Promoting yourself, learning how to be organized, keeping records…those are all self-taught if you are an artist. How successful YOU are as an artist, depends on how successful YOU are as a business person.

Here’s a short list of NO-BRAINER rules to get you started:

1) Don’t put your ”stuff” in a hefty bag and bring it into the gallery unless it is pouring rain outside and you are protecting the work from the elements.

 Presentation is big. Making an impression, bigger. We’ll discuss how to later…but keep in mind, you get one shot at a first impression. DON’T BLOW IT!

2) Keep records.

Make contracts if the gallery does not supply one and have contracts signed by whoever is in charge when you drop off. Keep an inventory of what you drop off where…and leave a copy with the gallery owner…otherwise, you have no clue where your artwork is.

Let me ask you this, Do you know where your car is parked? Then you should also know where your art is. IT BELONGS TO YOU.

 3) Figure out where you want this profession to take you.

Make a hairy, audacious goal as your ten year plan, then work yourself backwards towards today, so you can step yourself to your goal. The thing is, you need to have meetings with yourself where you do your paperwork, and you take out your business plan and see if you are on target for making that goal. If you are not on target, then you need to figure out what you need to do to make it happen, and make the correction. WHERE YOU ARE GOING IS UP TO YOU.

4) Figure out how much “stuff” you currently own.  

This means taking inventory of your supplies so you can check your home owner’s policy to be sure that monetary amount is covered, because if they are lost in a fire, it’s going to take a lot of hard earned money to buy all of them again. If you have exceeded the monetary amount for “stuff” then pay the rider on your policy. YOU NEED TO DO THIS.

5) Figure out what is working, and what isn’t.

It’s important to account for what is financially busting your wallet, and you need to actually give up because it is costing you more than you are getting out of it, and what is something you need to do over and over again because it works. HARD DECISIONS.

Sometimes the thing that seems the best idea for you, is really the worst idea for you financially, but you don’t know unless you actually take it apart and assess what the benefits vs the hardships are.

There are ways to make a living being an artist. But it’s up to you to decide if you are an artist, or if you are a hobbyist. The difference…..Someone who dabbles, or someone who wants to make a positive impact on the art world.

No one can do that for you but you…

~k

 

 

 

 

Own What You Do

Crits are part of being an artist, because…. after all…. everyone is a critic.

It’s normal for someone to look at your work and say they would do something different…. or question why you did something a certain way….or didn’t put a gold frame on that piece…..or a different matboard…..because, Really? Can’t you see? It would look so much better!!!

……ahhh, the well-intentioned critic…..that, my friend, is what Art is about….it’s public ridicule and  humiliation for the entertainment purposes of the masses…..that is unless you really own what it  is you do…otherwise, you’ll be a sniveling puddle in no time, because people have no mercy. They chew you up and spit you out, carelessly tearing the fiber of your being, not realizing your efforts, and they blindly are confident that they are in fact, actually helping you. And nothing is beyond comment. Trust me on that.

Your job, if you still choose to be an artist, is to remember one thing…..Taste is in your mouth. Think about it. Everyone has a different taste. Everyone. Just because you like something, don’t expect anyone else to. And that’s okay. There’s room in the art world for everyone….and I LOVE that….!!!

My daughter eats ranch dressing on everything. I can neither be blamed for that condition, or comment. It is what it is. It’s what she likes. It’s her taste…..personally, I gag.

Art is just like that. It hits each person differently. It’s subjective. It’s supposed to move you to wonder, to have your senses titillated. It’s supposed to evoke an emotion, or a deep stirring from within. And so you need to accept right now that disgust is an emotion too, and you need to be prepared to have people disgusted when it comes to your art. It comes with the territory. Some artists actually strive for that.

What is fascinating is that we artists do this ’personal ridicule’ to ourselves. We purposely expose our underbelly….. intentionally. 

Keep in mind, not everyone is this brave. You won’t find CEO’s out there exposing their emotions for people to see, let alone hanging their feelings out for public display. It isn’t easy putting yourself out there for public opinion to charge at you. You need to remember artists are very brave.

We do it because we love what we do, and our art is an extension of ourself.

Those of us that really own what we do have tremendously thick skins about our art….we endure the ridicule because we believe what we’re doing has purpose….and it secretly thrills us. Those that are less confident and allow the opinions of others to shatter us to where we walk away never to create again…don’t own our purpose, or our art. And you have to in this business.

If you aren’t ready for public criticism then DON’T SHOW YOUR WORK.  If your skin is too thin, if you don’t yet own what it is you do, and if you can’t yet listen to the rhetoric while smiling sweetly, then don’t bother wasting your money on the supplies……Because you aren’t ready for the gift of the crit.

The gift is being told your work, in a word, sucks, and possibly that another profession would be better suited for you. Really. Mom was right, criticism builds character. It also makes you a better artist….It either gives you a different perspective, or it sears into you the fact that you are totally secure with your choice and your commitment, and you stand by what you do. Crits are not for weenies.

Where else in the world can you get something like that?

People question themselves daily about choices they make in their everyday life. Yet this….this is a done deal. You know at that very point that there is no other choice for you. You know it, you feel it, you stand behind it, and you own it. A crit is as good as it gets.

A crit is the art world’s version of good cop/bad cop. First they tell you what is wrong…. and believe me, there is always SOMETHING wrong…no one gets by unscathed. And then just when you are totally questioning yourself why you are an artist in the first place,  they tell you what you did right, and what works, and how tremendously visionary you are. They tear you apart, then patch you up with bubble gum and a band-aid, to put you back together. It’s quite invigorating actually. It stimulates your brain….right where all those arty ideas are waiting to be created. Magic happens at a crit.

The best advice for an artist is to partake of a crit at least once every few months, to keep your focus, and to charge your brain. With limited gallery space available for artists, group crits are a means of getting the feedback you would get from a gallery experience.  A group crit is essential to know if what you are doing feels right.

If you can’t find a crit group to join, start your own. Gather a few artists. Make sure you all do something different. There are plenty of restaurants which have rooms in the back, and they would be happy to provide libations and nibbles for a happy hour. Call around, get a deal. Ask for special pricing. Set a date, make it consistent, and whoever shows up, great. Bring an easel, and a light and let the snacking and sipping start. And the emotions will flow.

My personal experience is that the libations are often necessary to take the sting out :)

Artists need community. Crits are a wonderful place to find it.

Whatever you do, just keep creating….and own what you do ~ k