Taming the Tangle

The Ups and Downs of Doing Shows

Often I am asked "How many shows do you do a year?" This varies year to year, and since my business is still growing I've been increasing my shows each year (to a point). Last year I participated in about 24 shows. Eventually I want to cut back, but with an unpredictable economy I am booked for at least that many shows this year.

The important thing to know is that I enjoy doing shows. Sometimes the travel wears me down, but visiting with friends (as I am now... I'm currently in Massachusetts for CraftBoston, show #3 for the year), meeting new people who are excited to discover my work for the first time, and sharing new developments with familiar collectors keeps my energy up and fuels my motivation when I'm back in the studio.

The challenge of planning a show schedule is the uncertainty... I apply to many shows but never really know which shows I'll be in until the notification comes. My friend, printmaker Judy Zeddies, always tells me that one thing is for sure... you can't get in unless you apply.

So true, but sometimes I feel defeated by the rejections and decide I can't handle another one (you can't get rejected unless you apply). This year I opted to not apply to some prestigious shows like Port Clinton in Highland Park (IL), the American Craft Exposition in Evanston (IL), and the Smithsonian Craft Show (DC).

Conversely I still applied to Cherry Creek in Colorado (rejected), Art on the Square in Illinois (rejected), and Old Town Art Fair in Chicago (waitlisted). This week I found out I made it into the Old Town Art Fair for the first time! Woohoo! Yesterday that little burst of confidence made hitting the "Apply to show" button that much easier for the Philadelphia Museum Show... wish me luck!

Quick Gala Recap

As you can tell from my last post, much of the fun and excitement of going to a gala (for the first time) is the prep work. The good news is that Dan and I fit in visually, our most important goal. I was extra excited because about 5 people stopped me about my dress... of course I would have loved it if they stopped me about my jewelry! That was a big hit, too, especially at the dinner table where people could see it in more detail... particularly the new riverstone ring I wore that has a pearl floating inside. It's subtle but got noticed.

The main activity at the gala was a silent auction to raise funds for the Society of Contemporary Art. There was so much art! It ran the gamut from artists I am familiar with like Cat Chow, Sol Lewitt and Philip Pearlstein, to some of my controversial favorites like Kara Walker and Takashi Murakami. There was a lot of art that I loved from artists I didn't recognize but will probably start seeing around. Prices were all over the place, but Dan and I did not have the budget to be bidding.

The nice thing about this event is that there was art to talk about, so it was easy to get into a casual conversation with someone. The setting was fantastic — it took place on the 6th floor of the old Carson Pirie Scott building on State Street, which is now a gutted construction site. The theme was appropriately "Raw," perfect for the concrete floors, construction-site lighting, and framed-out walls. The theme was carried across to the event staff who were either wrapped in bits of yellow "Construction Line" tape or decked out in orange vests and hard hats. I felt a little bad for the bartenders and servers who had to constantly field comments about The Village People, but everyone took it in stride since it was a fun crowd.

Throughout the evening there was live music and a small theater troupe who silently played out fashion and art vignettes... the best part was their costumes made entirely of blueprints, tyvek, and other blue and white construction materials.

The most relaxing part of the evening was the dinner, a fabulous multi-course affair of artfully constructed plates. From an opener of tuna tartar and beef carpaccio to a little mug of soup and ultra tender beef shortribs, it was one of my favorite meals in Chicago. The most fantastic discovery, though, was when Dan and Tara, the owner of Sprout Home who was sitting next to him, realized that they had not only both graduated from Carnegie Mellon University the same year but had actually been in the same 40-person program together! That weirded us all out, but they got to play the name game catch-up during the night, which made the time pass in a fun way.

At the end of dinner, the organizers got us all up from our tables in a clever way: desserts were being passed, which also gave art buyers another chance to finalize their bids. We mingled in and said our good-byes to the few people we knew. I made it home by midnight before turning back into a pumpkin.

Countdown to a Gala

Last week at this time Dan and I were in the throes of getting ready for a big art event... a gala to be exact. I've never been to a gala, and there's nothing like getting invited to one to make you analyze your self inside and out. Here's what went down, which should also stand in as explanation of why I wasn't blogging last week (sorry!).

Monday = confirmed attendance. Dan and I received official notification that there was room for us at my brother, Richard Wright's, dinner table. The event: a gala benefit for the Society for Contemporary Art. This notification was also confirmation that we were not in any way prepared for attending a gala... Dan needed a suit and I needed a dress. Panic! Luckily Dan remembered that one of our former neighbors Jim works at a fabulous old-time tailor shop, Richard Bennett Custom Tailors, so he called him for advice.

Tuesday = my first boutique. Since this was an art gala, I wanted to avoid a standard party dress if possible. The theme was Dress: Deconstructed... which seemed to leave a lot of room for interpretation. I ventured to a boutique in my neighborhood, The Dressing Room. What a great store, with pieces from my favorite brand Neesh. I did walk out of there with an outfit, but it felt way too casual (for the benefit, but I still have the pieces... bonus!). I will definitely hit this store again, though, because the prices were in my range.

Wednesday midday = Dan's suit shopping (alone and under pressure). Jim measures Dan at lunch and sends him off to Filene's Basement where he strikes out and decides to head straight to Macy's. He too wants something a little different, not just a basic black or grey suit. Luckily he finds something that fits the bill and will be improved by a custom tailored fit, so he heads back to see Jim and drop off the suit with reassurances that it will be perfect by Saturday morning.

Wednesday afternoon = 2 more boutiques. Seeing how time was slipping by, I decided to hit two of my favorite stores but vowed that if they don't work I'd go straight to Nordstrom. My first stop was to Saffron, a store I love because it also carries Neesh, but I always think of it as having a few well-chosen dresses and fancier pieces. This was true, but the between-season is tough. There was a great lace dress that had a fierce fit, very flattering... but was it artsy and deconstructed? or just pretty? I snapped a pic and moved on down the street to Robin Richman, the store that first came to mind with the "deconstructed" theme. My biggest concern was budget... this is such a fabulous store with so many beautifully handmade pieces from here and Europe. At first glance I couldn't afford anything (but loved everything!), but I finally fessed up to my dilemma and soon I was trying on dresses in my budget that hadn't caught my eye but that Robin and her assistant knew fit my criteria.

The result? I bought a dress that I was totally in love with and could imagine myself wearing again because it was more funky than fancy. The bonus: Dan also thought it was perfect.

Thursday = a girl's shoe dilemma. Robin gave me advice for shoe shopping to stay in my budget. My first stop was to City Soles, which is part of a higher-end shoe store called Niche. I had the best helper in the whole world, but we couldn't find a shoe in my budget. The pair I fell in love with cost more than the dress... it just was not an option. I had to leave them behind and move on. Later that day I went to Lori's. Who can't go to Lori's and not try on 10 pairs of shoes? That's exactly what I did, and luckily found a great pair of black dress shoe/sandals at a fantastic price, and they were comfortable to boot. Wow! Things are coming together, until I realize I need a haircut. Ugh!! I call my hair stylist & luckily she could fit me in on Friday morning. Phew!

Friday = hair. I wanted a new look. My outfit was black, not my best color, so I wanted to add some color to my hair to lighten my look overall, but I wanted the hair to be a little conceptual as well. Kate Balsley at the new Robert Jeffrey Lincoln Park Salon has cut my hair for a little while, but she outdid herself! We did a short sculpted hair do with red and blonde streaks... I think this cut will get more fun as we fine tune it with different colors and longer bang accents, etc. This was risky to do the day before an event, but what an impact!

Saturday = the big day. The event starts at 6:30pm, but Dan and I still have a long list of errands. We head downtown at 9am (no sleeping in!)... already clean and showered in case we cut it close.  We pick up the suit, which is perfect. All Dan's worries about mis-remembering the color went away. We came up with a plan and headed out shopping for shoes and a shirt. We hit Filene's Basement again in the hopes of getting lucky and strike out again, so b-lined for Macy's. The shirt selection was pretty good, so by the time Dan hit the dressing room he had about 5 shirts to choose from... we opted for a bright orange-red but no tie. Very sharp under the brownish-green (shale?) suit. Shoes were a snap after that.

Dan left me in Macy's since he had to get back to Lillstreet for screen printing. I headed for the MAC cosmetics counter and decided to splurge on having my face done in an evening look. My makeup artist was great... she did beautifully smoky eyes but left my cheeks and lips in lighter almost-natural shades so I didn't feel unnaturally made-up (I don't wear much make-up usually). I liked the look so much that I bought several of the components and have been having fun experimenting. It was fun riding the train in my fleece and jeans at 2pm in full evening make-up.

Here's the picture scoop of how everything came together:

Dan's photos looked terrible, so you'll have to imagine how sharp he was.

Now what about the event itself? My goodness, I'll have to fill you in on that fabulousness in my next post.

Artist Statement Inspiration

On Saturday afternoon I was catching up on my reading and hopped over to my friend Anne's Art Blog where she had written about developing her artist statement. It reminded me that this is a task that I still have not finished for myself... instead I have a personal-style bio (which is probably too wordy and detailed) and another type of bio that is essentially my history of stumbling into working with wire as my jewelry medium. But where's the inspiration?

I learned from Alyson Stanfield in her book "I'd rather be in the studio!" about writing an artist statement, and she presents a series of questions with open-ended answers to guide you through analyzing your own work and thought-process that went into it. These exercises are so helpful. After doing them she recommends setting your writing aside for a while (which probably means a few days, but for me has been a couple of weeks) so you can analyze it, find common threads, and just generally see the answers in a fresh light.

After reading Anne's statement, I've moved this development process of my own near the top of my to-do list, but still having the website launch and 2008 catalog as my highest priorities right now. On Saturday night I found myself in a conversation with an artist I was meeting for the first time. She designs furniture and accessories, and she talked a lot about how her work is ingrained in history, family, and being grounded. Suddenly her work had context, and I felt a sense of understanding about it on some level -- the roots imagery she used was no longer just "natural beauty" but was imbued with meaning. When she learned I was a jewelry artist, she asked me "what is your work about?"

At that moment the importance of an artist statement washed over me. I fumbled through my usual answer of being trained as a graphic designer and exploring the design themes that I learned in college, the use of line, positive and negative space, shape, contrast, etc. But is that what my work is about? That's more my design process, an easier thing for me to discuss, but that's not the underlying artistic inspiration.

Sunday morning when Iris, my early-riser dog, woke me at her usual 8am (which was really 7am due to the time change... how did she do that?), it hit me. As much as that artist's work is about stability because her life has been that way, my work is about transience and movement. For me this is symbolized by water; I have traveled and flowed through life from place to place. Water has always been an important aspect of each place I've lived, but the momentum of it is a powerful symbol to me. Many of my jewelry pieces are named after things that relate to water... waterfalls, anemone, and riverstones being the main ones... but there is something deeper there in how I'm capturing the idea of fluid movement in my designs. Suddenly so much clicked into place for me! So now I at least have an outline and a direction to go in for my artist statement, so I won't fear it when that project makes it to the top of my to-do list.

Sometimes the obvious stares you in the face, these are just two of the several water inspiration images that I use in my catalog... indication that I'm not off the mark in my artist statement direction.

Jewelry Gallery Sneak Peek

Later this week I will fill you in on my absence all last week, but for now I wanted to give you a couple more glimpses of the new kathyfrey.com to reassure you (and me) that it is underway and coming along beautifully.

There will be separate sections for Shop Online (still in development) and a Jewelry Gallery showcase. The Jewelry Gallery will feature some of my more adventurous designs, pieces I've created specifically for shows, or even some of my existing designs in a fabulous environment (like the runway show in which I -- meaning my jewelry -- participated in 2005). Here is how that page will look:

It will be a scrolling page of thumbnails where the emphasis is more on design of individual pieces and exploration of new ideas rather than filling out my jewelry lines for retail, which will be available for browsing and purchase by style grouping in the new Shop Online area.

Here is also the revised home page... I love the addition of the nature shots to add color and allude to my inspirations.

Thanks for your support and patience during this design process!