Canvas to the Imagination

2012 begins with a show of my altered books at Place des Arts in Coquitlam, called Transforming The Book.

Please join me for the opening reception this Thursday January 5th, from 7 to 9pm. As part of the evening’s events I will be giving a short artist talk about my work in the Atrium at 7:30pm. Public speaking isn’t my favorite thing to do, so your moral support would be greatly appreciated.

Also opening on January 5th at Place des Arts, Expansions by Karin Vengshoel, and When Imagination Meets Clay… by Kwai Sang Wong.

Directions to Place des Arts:
Drivers can use exit 40B on Highway #1 then proceed east on Brunette Avenue.

Transit users can get to Place des Arts by taking bus 153 or 156 from Braid Skytrain Station or bus 157 from Lougheed Town Centre.

Opening Reception: January 5th, 7pm to 9pm
Dates: January 5th to January 28th, 2012
Location: Place des Arts
Address: 1120 Brunette Avenue (Google Maps Link), Coquitlam BC V3K 1G2

Taking part in Got Craft this past weekend was the first direct sale craft show I’ve done in Vancouver, which seems strange now since I used to do them all the time when I lived in Toronto.

If you’ve never been to Got Craft it’s a terrific craft sale that happens twice a year in early May and December. The vendors are juried by a small panel of judges, and they do an excellent job of selecting a good variety of artisan designers and artists to keep the sale interesting. For the holiday edition, there were fifty vendors chosen from about two hundred applicants, which gives you an idea of the amount of competition to participate.

I decided to apply because I wanted to do more face-to-face sales, but I was also curious to see if it would be a good fit for my work. I created a bunch of small collages, postcard sets, and paper flowers to sell at the show, with the idea lower priced items would be an easier sell than the altered books. I was right (mostly), but things didn’t go nearly as well as I’d hoped.

I’m glad to say I made a profit on the weekend, but just barely. The most popular item that sold were the paper flowers because they were colourful, eye-catching and cheap. The Imaginary Girl and collage postcard sets barely sold at all, which is weird because people snatched them up at the Eastside Culture Crawl. Two collages have happily gone to new homes, including a recycled wood collage that was my favorite. None of the altered books sold, but that’s not a surprise at all because I was pretty sure they’d be too expensive for this type of event. I think there were many more sales I could’ve made if I’d been able to accept Visa or Interac payments.

The money bits aside, I had good conversations with shoppers and it’s good to know my work really “Wows” people (literally). I made a point of encouraging sign ups for my monthly newsletter and I came away with about twenty-five new contacts to add to my mailing list.

All in all, it was a positive experience to be a seller at Got Craft. I would definitely take part again if the opportunity presents itself, and use some of what I learned from this experience to do better next time.

Two weeks have already passed since it happened, but I’ve been meaning to write something and reflect upon this year’s Eastside Culture Crawl.

It was my second year participating as an exhibiting artist and though I had a good idea of how things could go, I still didn’t quite feel prepared enough. I’m no longer an artist full-time and so preparations for the Crawl happened around my part-time job, which meant the final set up came down to the wire. (Thank goodness I don’t work full-time).

I open my apartment to the public for the Crawl because my studio is inside my home. We’re located on the ground floor of a building just off Commercial Drive so it works rather well for getting people in and out of the building without disturbing the rest of the tenants. Our apartment also transforms rather nicely into a spacious, cosy gallery space with most of the furniture removed. It’s a lot of work to get the place set up, and I’m not sure I want to keep doing it at home year after year.

You would think it could be weird allowing a large group of strangers into your home, but for the past two years it’s been a pleasant experience. Everyone is very appreciative and respectful about being here, and many people hang around for awhile chatting and enjoying the work. I enjoy the conversations with visitors and I’ve received terrific feedback from people about the originality and imaginativeness of my work. Showing in my own private space means I have everyone’s full attention, and that kind of exposure can’t be beat.

Comparing my two experiences as a Culture Crawl artist, there were about seventy-five more people this year than last. I think this was thanks to more artists participating with open studios in my immediate area. But while attendance was up, sales were down from the previous year. I felt very discouraged by this even though it’s not all about sales, and I didn’t have any specific expectations about how much I hoped to sell.

A few days immediately after the Culture Crawl I met with other artists and it was good to hear about everyone else’s experiences. Many people felt discouraged because either attendance was down, sales were down, or both. It made me feel better to hear how the others had done, and realise some years are just better than others when it comes to the Eastside Culture Crawl.

A big thank you to my partner Boris, who is a huge help in playing host to visitors, and has also been very tolerant about the transformation of our home. I don’t think I could continue to do the Culture Crawl without him.