Unlike past shows, I’m sharing a booth at the #SummerArtMarket2015 with another monotype artist, Taiko Chandler. I’ll post some of her work soon. It has allowed me to dial back the preparation of the small-to-medium-sized prints that usually sell there in favor of some larger work, which I will still need more of to crack into a more sustainable position from a business perspective, but also to more fully develop creative ideas. I’ve worked hard in past years at creating a large inventory of smaller pictures, so I should be able to fill a half of a booth to please the mostly smaller, middle income collectors at the show and continue to make bigger works for a higher end gallery market.
I’m also mentoring to a certain extent. Many past students in my workshops have been moving into a more professional approach to creating and selling and the SAM is a good place to test yourself. I try to help with some of the more practical concerns of presenting, showing and selling art. Taiko is one of those artists, though she’s made a fair amount of progress without me so far, so I find myself wondering what her very polished work will bring to the booth in terms of eye appeal and new visitors- two heads are better than one?
At some point, usually in May, those practical concerns start to outweigh all the aesthetic issues. I’m sorting, wrapping, and framing art. I’m digging through the garage to make sure I have important items to transport it, hang it and keep it dry.What’s an important supply item for artists? Trash bags! They help you to transport, store and protect art at an outdoor show, and they double for the same purpose for buyers bringing it home. Art supplies include bungee cords- mundane items, yet so useful when the wind comes up.
I’m also making art, mostly smaller items again to fill out the bins and to cater to beginning collectors with small walls. I’ve made some larger work, especially in April and early May, which I’m taking to the photographer this week. I’ll post some pictures and add them to the gallery next week.
I’m doing another free library workshop this week as well, and my Summer workshops are open for registration now. The weather is still wet and cool, so I’m still reading a lot too. I’ve started a “women in comics” post which will inevitably grow too large and be chopped into separate parts. My comics posts, as I’ve said, are an attempt to post something that taps into a larger conversation about the culture wars than just my studio work. It allows me to “think out loud” about the things I’m reading, which in turn helps me to process them. It turns out that conversation -and the reading stack- is large and getting larger. My supposedly brief foray into mainstream comics has extended into a larger inquiry into comics’, and all pop cultural, expression of societal change, and that subject is starting to get a lot of attention in some very high places. There’s actually a lot of material out there, and I’ve enjoyed digging into it. I imagine I’ll continue posting about where my library and bookstore excursions lead me.
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