The last 2 weeks have been filled with trips to the post office and UPS as orders from my wholesale shows find their way to their new homes. It's always fun for me to imagine my jewelry in all these different locales. Some, like museum shops, I've become used to the idea that my work sells and displays well in those environs. Others I'm going to have to try to venture to visit them on my travels to truly grasp the personality of the place. I love seeing galleries in person. Here's a little rundown of some recent activity:
Mowen Solinsky Gallery, Nevada City, California
Last month I traveled to this wonderful, outdoorsy artist enclave nestled in the Northern California mountains. While there I took new inventory to the gallery and experienced it first hand... and was lucky enough that there was even an opening during my visit! So I had the opportunity to meet other artists and people from the community as well as got to know everyone who works in the gallery and talk about my work more with them. This type of personal connection always helps to boost sales as well... consumers don't just want a piece of jewelry, they want a part of the artist and that storied life as well. This connection has to come through the gallery representatives since I'm not there most of the time.
I felt fairly familiar with Mowen Solinsky since they represent me at SOFA Chicago; I was familiar with many of the artists from that show. But the gallery is huge with much more variety. It was fun walking through and recognizing many artists' work I know (including Greg & Heather who make raku vessels in my old Cornelia studio building), discovering new work that I fell in love with, and just feeling like I could spend hours taking it all in and still not feeling like I'd seen everything. The gallery is doing a beautiful job of bridging the gap between fine art and craft. These are all things that I had to pick up on in person... now that I have more a sense of the vibe of the gallery and the community, I might be able to make better suggestions for jewelry that works in that environment/story and appeals to a certain type of clientelle.
Caldwell's, Seattle, WA
Ben, Anita and I met at the New York International Gift Fair. They have just recently received my inventory. I was spreading the word to a Seattle friend and did some poking around online... check out these links:
http://www.nuovo.com/caldwells/
http://www.10best.com/Seattle,WA/Shopping/Specialty_Shops/26282/Caldwell|s_Seattle_WA/
I am so curious to see my work in this environment. My work definitely looks like it has tribal influences, but I've never seen it in an environment that plays to this angle. I haven't seen the store myself yet, but I'm hoping to pop in for a visit next month (on April 9 I'll be having a trunk show at Mary Lou Zeek gallery in Salem, Oregon so am planning to tour around that whole region for a week).
Fallingwater Museum Shop, Mill Run, PA
How have I never been here? I have even dreamed about this place... the website is as beautiful as the building looks. A collection of my nests and more nature-inspired pieces are now in the gift shop, which I imagine is probably slightly different from a lot of high-design museum gift shops. I'll have to plan my travels to pass through here... maybe this summer.
Gardiner Museum Shop, Toronto, Canada
The Gardiner just received a fresh bit of inventory for spring... which is great since they just were voted one of the top 5 galleries in Toronto!
Relish, Bloomington, IN
This looks like the type of store where I could spend all my money... it's a little more "lifestyle" than any one type of store. I haven't been there in person, but it's not too far... I'll have to try to visit on one of my trips East. My jewelry just arrived so should be out on display!
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There are even more to mention, but that seems like a screenful for now! Let me know if you stumble across my work here or in any other stores... or if you think a store is perfect for my work. Thanks for your support.
