primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM on fri 18 jan 02
It's after midnight on a friday and I just came rolling home; I'm all happy and excited but my family is asleep. What better time to thank clayart for all the help -- on list and off -- with my poppykettle jpg, how-to-handle-galleries advice, and general wisdom.
The first part of my gallery experience illustrated the old saw, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The 1000 professionally printed postcards never happened, the reporter never called, no mention in local arts calendars.
So I took the poppykettle image some clayarters had cropped and fixed for me, messed around with it on the photo software someone suggested I try, and printed out about 50 postcards on a pack of cards stock I had bought for $2 at a yard sale. From what I have learned in clayart's "making a mailing list 101", I came up with a list of friends, family, teachers, students, anyone who ever bought a pot, and mailed them, intending only to show off a bit ;0)and remind folks that this is what i do if they ever need a potter.
Then one night I stopped at a friend's house and he said he had just seen a 30 second bit on my pots at the end of the evening news. Yow! Friends called to say they had seen it. (i missed it, and the gallery director had no idea it happened.) Things were looking up.
Tonight was my "artists reception", the first time I have ever done anything like this. I bought a nice black dress and arty jacket for $10 at Goodwill, my husband made a big platter of sushi (california rolls) and I bought cider, cheese, and a box of the finest wine ;0D the gallery bought veggies and nuts and more wine. We were pretty sure we'd be bringing it all home again, since the hundreds of people on the gallery's mailing list were never notified, and the gallery director had told me "nobody ever comes to these things".
It was the best night of my potter-life. Friends showed up that I haven't seen in years. My homeschool students brought their parents. A dozen families from my UU church came, and the professor who's leading my independent study session, and a "big dog" potter from out of town whose work blows me away. It was like that old program "this is your life." People said wonderful things about my work, fondled it, read about it, ate food.
I heard the voices of clayarters all the way through this process. In the weeks before I heard "make sure it's your best work" and pushed myself to late night innovations that replaced the stuff I wasn't so sure of. Tonight I remembered the clayarter saying "don't hide in the corner like I did, have fun and enjoy it." I'm not much of a corner hider but I really made an effort to relax and enjoy.
And stuff sold. Gargoyle whistles, a fish bowl with a family of clay "sea monkeys", vases with birch tree patterns, double walled bowls, odd urns with folkloric "histories". One woman is bringing her husband back to look at the poppykettle tomorrow.
At the beginning, my kids were there; my six year old was giving people the tour of "my" room at the gallery, explaining the basilisk and various myths behind the works, telling folks proudly, "my mommy MADE these. ALL of these." People wandered through the rest of the gallery afterward, and bought paintings and glass work and small pieces, so the manager was happily at work behind the till. People signed my guestbook. Drank wine, introduced each other. Women who took my women's class raved about it to ones who hadn't yet.
Then at the end, three of MY best women friends took me to the riverfront to a lovely italian restaurant for coffee and cannoli....
Now here I am at the computer in the middle of the night, grinning like an idiot, feeling like a big fish in my small-pond little way. All of you who taught me techniques, set good examples, shared your advice, humored my beginner questions, critiqued my slides, and just generally gave me moral support are a gift and a blessing I will never forget.
Best of all... my functional stuff sold at christmas, my arty stuff is at the gallery, and... it's time to start fresh, get back to work, fill the shelves and see what's next.
Blissfully off to bed... Kelly in Ohio
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Tom's E-mail on sat 19 jan 02
Kelly,
What a nice story. CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS,
CONGRADULATIONS,CONGRADULATIONS .....ditto
Tom Sawyer
tsawyer@cfl.rr.com
PurpleLama@AOL.COM on sat 19 jan 02
<< And stuff sold. Gargoyle whistles >>
Kelly -
I'm glad you had such a great time at your reception. Of course you stuff
sold. It's great. And as far as those gargoyle whistles go. Well, when I
bought 3, I thought I would keep one and give two as presents. But I can't
part with them. All 3 live in my livingroom.
Shula
in sunny Redondo Beach, CA
Richard Jeffery on sat 19 jan 02
Good feeling, isn't it?
sounds like you reaped the rewards of your labours. I would be a bit
worried about that gallery director though - managed to get TV coverage and
didn't know it, and was dismissive of her (?) own venue. make sure they
don't ride too much off the back of YOUR success.
OK - what's next?
cheers
Richard
[only 5.50 pm here, so I'm getting that wave of excitement while it's
fresh...]
Richard Jeffery
Web Design and Photography www.theeleventhweb.co.uk
Bournemouth UK
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of primalmommy@IVILLAGE.COM
Sent: 19 January 2002 06:05
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: first gallery gig, update
It's after midnight on a friday and I just came rolling home; I'm all happy
and excited but my family is asleep. What better time to thank clayart for
all the help -- on list and off -- with my poppykettle jpg,
how-to-handle-galleries advice, and general wisdom.
The first part of my gallery experience illustrated the old saw, "if it
sounds too good to be true, it probably is." The 1000 professionally printed
postcards never happened, the reporter never called, no mention in local
arts calendars.
So I took the poppykettle image some clayarters had cropped and fixed for
me, messed around with it on the photo software someone suggested I try, and
printed out about 50 postcards on a pack of cards stock I had bought for $2
at a yard sale. From what I have learned in clayart's "making a mailing list
101", I came up with a list of friends, family, teachers, students, anyone
who ever bought a pot, and mailed them, intending only to show off a bit
;0)and remind folks that this is what i do if they ever need a potter.
Then one night I stopped at a friend's house and he said he had just seen a
30 second bit on my pots at the end of the evening news. Yow! Friends called
to say they had seen it. (i missed it, and the gallery director had no idea
it happened.) Things were looking up.
Tonight was my "artists reception", the first time I have ever done anything
like this. I bought a nice black dress and arty jacket for $10 at Goodwill,
my husband made a big platter of sushi (california rolls) and I bought
cider, cheese, and a box of the finest wine ;0D the gallery bought veggies
and nuts and more wine. We were pretty sure we'd be bringing it all home
again, since the hundreds of people on the gallery's mailing list were never
notified, and the gallery director had told me "nobody ever comes to these
things".
It was the best night of my potter-life. Friends showed up that I haven't
seen in years. My homeschool students brought their parents. A dozen
families from my UU church came, and the professor who's leading my
independent study session, and a "big dog" potter from out of town whose
work blows me away. It was like that old program "this is your life." People
said wonderful things about my work, fondled it, read about it, ate food.
I heard the voices of clayarters all the way through this process. In the
weeks before I heard "make sure it's your best work" and pushed myself to
late night innovations that replaced the stuff I wasn't so sure of. Tonight
I remembered the clayarter saying "don't hide in the corner like I did, have
fun and enjoy it." I'm not much of a corner hider but I really made an
effort to relax and enjoy.
And stuff sold. Gargoyle whistles, a fish bowl with a family of clay "sea
monkeys", vases with birch tree patterns, double walled bowls, odd urns with
folkloric "histories". One woman is bringing her husband back to look at the
poppykettle tomorrow.
At the beginning, my kids were there; my six year old was giving people the
tour of "my" room at the gallery, explaining the basilisk and various myths
behind the works, telling folks proudly, "my mommy MADE these. ALL of
these." People wandered through the rest of the gallery afterward, and
bought paintings and glass work and small pieces, so the manager was happily
at work behind the till. People signed my guestbook. Drank wine, introduced
each other. Women who took my women's class raved about it to ones who
hadn't yet.
Then at the end, three of MY best women friends took me to the riverfront to
a lovely italian restaurant for coffee and cannoli....
Now here I am at the computer in the middle of the night, grinning like an
idiot, feeling like a big fish in my small-pond little way. All of you who
taught me techniques, set good examples, shared your advice, humored my
beginner questions, critiqued my slides, and just generally gave me moral
support are a gift and a blessing I will never forget.
Best of all... my functional stuff sold at christmas, my arty stuff is at
the gallery, and... it's time to start fresh, get back to work, fill the
shelves and see what's next.
Blissfully off to bed... Kelly in Ohio
_________________________________________________________________
iVillage.com: Solutions for Your Life
Check out the most exciting women's community on the Web
http://www.ivillage.com
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Marianne Lombardo on sat 19 jan 02
Kelly;
Congratulations! How lovely for you!
Marianne Lombardo
Omemee, Ontario, Canada
Angela Simmons on sat 19 jan 02
Dear Kelly,
I am teary eyed and happy for you! You go Girl!
Angela in Kentucky
Laura Moon on sun 20 jan 02
Dear Kelly,
I don't write in often...am a bit of a wallflower at times...but was
compelled to after reading you post...You are an inspiration to me this
Sunday morning. I too am Mom and 6 months pregnant with #2 right now. Your
post brought tears to my eyes...one day I hope to be there too, arty jacket
from Goodwill and all!! Thanks for the inspiration to keep going!!!
Laura Moon in Lake Worth, Florida
BeardiePaw on sun 20 jan 02
Kelly, Congratulations!! Hey, I have a "Kelly" piece! na na na naaa nah!
Sherry Morrow
Marcia Selsor on sun 20 jan 02
Great event, Kelly. Congratulations. Can't wait to see what's next.
Best wishes to you.
Marcia in Montana
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Tuscany2002.html
Alisa og Claus Clausen on sun 20 jan 02
Dear Kelly,
Congratulations and best wishes for future events. Reading your about your
debut was enrapturing (to use a word I am not sure is correct, but
capturing and enchanting is what I mean).
Years go by, friends' interests and families go in all directions,
containers of stuff go over the sea. Daily contact with old friends
becomes more seasonal contact. As Clayarters become a daily broad circle
of friends, good friends, I am glad to read that one of my friends has had
such a great experience. Hard work and well earned.
I am writing now at my computer late at night and I wish I could have a
canolli....Good going Kelly, really, congratulations.
Best regards from Alisa in Denmark
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