Sun is out -- let's prep for an art festival!
After years of hovering and watching the action, I'll be an artist-in-action at the Fresh Paint art festival!
Coming to Fresh Paint 2015: the art of Lisa Myers Bulmash
Visitors stroll down the Port of Everett Marina boardwalk, where they can purchase art made or demonstrated on the spot. The Schack Art Center, which puts on this event every August, calls it a "festival of artists at work." Even glass art collectors can see How It's Made: the Schack brings out their "mobile hot shop" for the occasion.
Credit: TripAdvisor.com
An angel of a friend is loaning me her pop-up tent for my booth space. Tent weights too: they're crucial to keep the whole shebang from going bang if a strong wind gust hits your tent.
Details:
More info as things progress...
Gallery representation: in real life and online
I turned around this morning and found I'm now represented by three art galleries! (Yeah right. Like it was that easy.) This weekend, three of my altered books are for sale at the brand-new Gallery Onyx.
Artist Earnest Thomas with Gallery Onyx visitors. Credit: Jay Taylor Photography
You might remember I've shown my work periodically with this artist group, most recently at the Washington State Convention Center and the Northwest African American Museum. The grand opening will be June 12th, but for now, here are the gallery's hours:
Online, you can find much of my larger works at Hanson Scott Gallery. Later this year, Hanson Scott will host my solo show to debut new assemblages, altered books and collages.
And if you're in Edmonds, my quote collages are available at ARTSpot Edmonds. I'll be doing some demos there soon, so watch this space for more information about that and upcoming shows. The weather's warming up, so lots of art events are on the horizon!
But what if my art doesn't sell?
First rule of being an artist who sells their work: get into the studio.
I wish I could say my collage portraits flew out the door of Alki Arts so fast that my head is still spinning.
Talking to O. David Jackson at Alki Arts' celebration of Black History Month. Credit: Alki Arts
But no, not true. Lots of lovely compliments, but apparently people don't really know what to do with it. Recently art business consultant Alyson Stanfield blogged on what to do about fangirls/fanboys who love your work, but not enough to buy it. Not surprisingly, my artist friends had some intense discussions on Facebook about it.
Of course, selling art and making it are two different things. And perhaps galleries aren't the way I should go right now: perhaps I would be better off setting up trunk shows at friends' houses, or pursuing museum exhibitions, or making one type of work for festivals while exhibiting work like this elsewhere.
When things aren't going right... go left. Speaking of which, can you give me an example of what you've done when things aren't going the way you want? Leave a comment or tell me on Facebook.