Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Giving Myself Permission


A view of my street in Brooklyn today

Since 2004, I have been attending craft-oriented trade shows in February. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, and for a few years, both of them, back to back. At first, it was great, giving me really great exposure and lots of orders. There was even one year that I ran out of pages in my order book.

However, times change, and even though I and many others have had great success at these shows, it seems like the time for me to try something new came a while ago. Even so, I was on the verge of doing another show this winter. When it came time to pay off the rest of the booth fee, I realized, I just didn't want to go this year. I want to stay home, avoid driving a truck in a blizzard, make new work, finish some commissions, make a new website, and the list goes on.

Even though I catch myself getting nervous about how I am going to generate new business, I know that even if I had shown up, I am probably not going to miss out on a full order book. Instead, I am going to keep traveling to new places where my work is not represented, and make sure that all of my fabulous stores and galleries have the very best possible work from me. If that strategy leads me to Puerto Rico or Florida in March, so be it!

That being said, I have some jewelry-oriented shows later in the year, but that just gives all the more time to make sure that I have some really wonderful new things to show.

Monday, January 03, 2011

New Year, Looking Back


I am now looking forward to 2011, but I do want to look back briefly to the year that has passed. For my business, this year has brought so many new opportunities. My store line-up has changed considerably, with many new galleries and jewelry stores featuring my work.

For example, at the beginning of the year, I had no California galleries or stores representing me! What a difference a year makes. Now my work is available at:

Manika Jewelry, San Francisco

DeNovo, Palo Alto

Silver, Blue and Gold, Laguna Beach

Stuart Benjamin, San Diego

In Colorado, I have new galleries as well:

Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, Telluride

J. Cotter Gallery, Beaver Creek and Vail

On the Emerald Coast in Florida:

Fusion Art Glass, Seaside

In Georgia:

Pia, Atlanta

In Pennsylvania

Aurum, State College

I have been included in the re-launch of the legendary NY retailer, Fortunoff's. Now online only, they will be launching stores in the near future:

Fortunoff Jewelry

Last but not least, I am now represented by a store in my hometown of Racine, WI:

Art Metals Studio, Racine


I have so much gratitude to all of these stores and galleries for deciding to represent me. I look forward to what the next year will bring.

Happy New Year!