Robin Wolf on tue 13 sep 11
Got home from Western Design Conference in Jackson Hole at 2:00 am this
morning. Long drive, 2500 miles total. Worth it though, I was absolutely
stunned and thrilled to be awarded Best Artist for home accents. WooHoo!
They paid out $1000 for the win. The juried entry fee was $700, building m=
y
own display pedestal was $85 in supplies, but the award and trip were
priceless!
In order to afford the trip, I shared the booth (10x20) with 3 other artist=
s
from Oklahoma - a jeweler, a gourd artist, and an oil painter. They are my
friends, all of our work looks great together, and each one of us brought a
different asset to the group - I have a cargo trailer to carry our
inventory, Brenda has a 4 door pickup so we could all ride in one vehicle,
Kathy was our carpenter for building our peds, and Barbara had access (at n=
o
cost) to a family condo that would accommodate all of us. We are truly
lucky to have such a good group, it made the trip amazingly cost effective.
We also picked up one other artist, Lisa Sorrell, a master boot maker in
Guthrie, and she split travel expenses with us. Just FYI -
www.customboots.net - Lisa will be feature=
d
in the PBS series "Craft in America" October 17th. Check your local
listings for times.
The sales were slim for most vendors including all of us, but the contacts
were great. We did not come home with pockets full of dollar bills, but we
are all happy that we pooled our resources and went anyway.
Boils down to this - we all refused to sit at home and buy into "the sky i=
s
falling , everything is horrible, so there is no need to try and make it
better". Find a way to minimize the overhead/expenses. Ask your show
coordinators if you can share spaces, consolidate displays, share the
overhead expenses. There is always a way to get there, always a way to
squeeze at least a small profit from a difficult situation. Think outside
the box, it's not great for artists, but sitting at home waiting for someon=
e
else to make it better is a poor business plan. Figure out what you can
afford to spend, eat canned spaghetti and PBJ's, sleep in the car if you
must or you have no other friends in the area to borrow their sofas. I
borrowed a good outfit for the fancy meet & greet. No one at the function
knew that my outfit was borrowed, I looked great in the clothes that did no=
t
cost me a dime.
I have updated my website with a few new photos, including one of the
winning group of pieces. Biggest thank you goes to Pete Pinnell for sharin=
g
his recipe for weathered bronze. 2 pieces of my work with PPWB were awarde=
d
"Purchases Choice" at Arts Festival Oklahoma last weekend, and my juried
pieces at WDC were glazed with the same. Website is:
http://www.robinwolfpottery.com/clayart.html
Robin Wolf
Robin Wolf Pottery
Kingfisher, OK
405.368.0919
www.robinwolfpottery.com
"Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel the
artistry moving through and be silent." - Rumi
Pottery by John on wed 14 sep 11
Beautiful work on the winning pots Robin. The way you applied the PPWB is
quite unique and beautiful. Is that brush applied over another glaze base?
I am betting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming anything with horns in the design is
considered good home accent material ;-) Congratulations on the Best Artist
award at the WDC and the Purchases award at Arts Festival Oklahoma (cash
prizes and purchases are good...no?)
John Lowes
Sandy Springs, Georgia
http://wynhillpottery.weebly.com/
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