Open Studio Days - A thank you! (and LONG progress report)

Hej everybody!!!!

First I just want to thank all the r.c.t.q.ers who helped out with their
good advice!!! What a helpful group!!!! :-)

There were 25 artists participating in the two day long Konstrunda (Open
Studio Days) and we'd all chipped in a little bit of money as well as
getting some from the local government. This paid for a full-page ad in the
local paper as well as flyers, small posters, etc. We were able to use the
gallery locale owned by the local newspaper for free since the paper was one
of the sponsors of the event. This was the official starting point and
people could pick-up maps, flyers, etc. Plus, each artist got to have one
artwork displayed in the gallery during the 2 days.

I had 31 visitors, not bad for someone who only began exhibiting just under
2 years ago. On Thursday I had mostly children and on Friday mostly adults,
perhaps because it was rainy on Friday. I work from my home so I don't have
a separate studio locale (such as in a garage or outbuilding) and I didn't
really want total strangers trooping through my living room. Instead I
booked the hobby-room at my apartment complex.

It was absolutely perfect since it has a small kitchen area (stocked with
cups, saucers and plates) and a bathroom as well as the meeting area with
sofas, etc. There are adult sized tables that I used for displaying my work
but there is also a child sized table and chairs. This is where I spent most
of my time, actually, decorating little bags with the kids who came by. This
was such a hit that the children are already asking me what we're going to
do NEXT YEAR (like I've really thought that far ahead!!!). :-)

I was hoping to give people a bit of insight into the creative process and
to show that "konsthantverk" is art too. In Swedish "konst" = art and
"hantverk" = craft and there are still many older people who think that
never the twain shall meet! I had one older visitor look about in puzzlement
and then ask "but do you PAINT pictures?"

I cut out and sewed little bags from some suedey type fabrics. I left the
sides open so that people could sew them closed after decorating but it
turned out that most of the kids just wanted to sew the sides and left the
middles plain! I put a large, round metal tray in the center of the table
and scattered beads, feathers, embroidery floss, etc. on it. I also had a
large plastic container of assorted beads. Turns out that a couple of gel
pens I just happened to have with me also will write on fabric so that was a
hit. I never did get any grown-ups to participate!

I did have some nice conversations with other women, though. When I
mentioned about how I first started in 2002 because of being encouraged by a
friend, they responded by saying that a LOT of us women need more
encouragement. I couldn't agree more!

Erin
--
Erin Winslow

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-52319/erin1.htm

Oops, to follow-up my own post, my url should be
http://home5.swipnet.se/~w-52319/erin11.htm but I haven't yet put up
pictures from the event. Hopefully I will have some up sometime this week,
especially if the weather stays so nasty!

Erin
--
Erin Winslow

"Harri Kulju Erin Winslow" skrev i meddelandet
...

Oops, to follow-up my own post, my url should be
http://home5.swipnet.se/~w-52319/erin11.htm but I haven't yet put up
pictures from the event. Hopefully I will have some up sometime this week,
especially if the weather stays so nasty!

And to follow-up yet again, I've posted the text from my original message to
my Textile Art web page. If you scroll down a bit, there is a list of links
to pics. :-)

Erin

--
Erin Winslow

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-52319/erin11.htm

Seems to have been a successful day, great for you.
It's really a shame, that no grown-ups participated in decorating
the bags. You should have had some RCTQ-ers around,
we hadn't been that shy :-)
Heidi
"Harri Kulju Erin Winslow" schrieb:

Hej everybody!!!!

First I just want to thank all the r.c.t.q.ers who helped out with their
good advice!!! What a helpful group!!!! :-)

There were 25 artists participating in the two day long Konstrunda (Open
Studio Days) and we'd all chipped in a little bit of money as well as
getting some from the local government. This paid for a full-page ad in the
local paper as well as flyers, small posters, etc. We were able to use the
gallery locale owned by the local newspaper for free since the paper was one
of the sponsors of the event. This was the official starting point and
people could pick-up maps, flyers, etc. Plus, each artist got to have one
artwork displayed in the gallery during the 2 days.

I had 31 visitors, not bad for someone who only began exhibiting just under
2 years ago. On Thursday I had mostly children and on Friday mostly adults,
perhaps because it was rainy on Friday. I work from my home so I don't have
a separate studio locale (such as in a garage or outbuilding) and I didn't
really want total strangers trooping through my living room. Instead I
booked the hobby-room at my apartment complex.

It was absolutely perfect since it has a small kitchen area (stocked with
cups, saucers and plates) and a bathroom as well as the meeting area with
sofas, etc. There are adult sized tables that I used for displaying my work
but there is also a child sized table and chairs. This is where I spent most
of my time, actually, decorating little bags with the kids who came by. This
was such a hit that the children are already asking me what we're going to
do NEXT YEAR (like I've really thought that far ahead!!!). :-)

I was hoping to give people a bit of insight into the creative process and
to show that "konsthantverk" is art too. In Swedish "konst" = art and
"hantverk" = craft and there are still many older people who think that
never the twain shall meet! I had one older visitor look about in puzzlement
and then ask "but do you PAINT pictures?"

I cut out and sewed little bags from some suedey type fabrics. I left the
sides open so that people could sew them closed after decorating but it
turned out that most of the kids just wanted to sew the sides and left the
middles plain! I put a large, round metal tray in the center of the table
and scattered beads, feathers, embroidery floss, etc. on it. I also had a
large plastic container of assorted beads. Turns out that a couple of gel
pens I just happened to have with me also will write on fabric so that was a
hit. I never did get any grown-ups to participate!

I did have some nice conversations with other women, though. When I
mentioned about how I first started in 2002 because of being encouraged by a
friend, they responded by saying that a LOT of us women need more
encouragement. I couldn't agree more!

Erin



http://hbquilts.bei.t-online.de
mail: please remove quilt from address

sounds like you had a lot of fun! I am surprised the kids didn't go for the
beads and feathers... BTW, my DH loved the Star Treck uniform! )

"Heidi from Germany" wrote in message
...
Seems to have been a successful day, great for you.
It's really a shame, that no grown-ups participated in decorating
the bags. You should have had some RCTQ-ers around,
we hadn't been that shy :-)
Heidi
"Harri Kulju Erin Winslow" schrieb:

Hej everybody!!!!

First I just want to thank all the r.c.t.q.ers who helped out with their
good advice!!! What a helpful group!!!! :-)

There were 25 artists participating in the two day long Konstrunda (Open
Studio Days) and we'd all chipped in a little bit of money as well as
getting some from the local government. This paid for a full-page ad in
the
local paper as well as flyers, small posters, etc. We were able to use
the
gallery locale owned by the local newspaper for free since the paper was
one
of the sponsors of the event. This was the official starting point and
people could pick-up maps, flyers, etc. Plus, each artist got to have one
artwork displayed in the gallery during the 2 days.

I had 31 visitors, not bad for someone who only began exhibiting just
under
2 years ago. On Thursday I had mostly children and on Friday mostly
adults,
perhaps because it was rainy on Friday. I work from my home so I don't
have
a separate studio locale (such as in a garage or outbuilding) and I
didn't
really want total strangers trooping through my living room. Instead I
booked the hobby-room at my apartment complex.

It was absolutely perfect since it has a small kitchen area (stocked with
cups, saucers and plates) and a bathroom as well as the meeting area
with
sofas, etc. There are adult sized tables that I used for displaying my
work
but there is also a child sized table and chairs. This is where I spent
most
of my time, actually, decorating little bags with the kids who came by.
This
was such a hit that the children are already asking me what we're going
to
do NEXT YEAR (like I've really thought that far ahead!!!). :-)

I was hoping to give people a bit of insight into the creative process
and
to show that "konsthantverk" is art too. In Swedish "konst" = art and
"hantverk" = craft and there are still many older people who think that
never the twain shall meet! I had one older visitor look about in
puzzlement
and then ask "but do you PAINT pictures?"

I cut out and sewed little bags from some suedey type fabrics. I left
the
sides open so that people could sew them closed after decorating but it
turned out that most of the kids just wanted to sew the sides and left
the
middles plain! I put a large, round metal tray in the center of the
table
and scattered beads, feathers, embroidery floss, etc. on it. I also had a
large plastic container of assorted beads. Turns out that a couple of gel
pens I just happened to have with me also will write on fabric so that
was a
hit. I never did get any grown-ups to participate!

I did have some nice conversations with other women, though. When I
mentioned about how I first started in 2002 because of being encouraged
by a
friend, they responded by saying that a LOT of us women need more
encouragement. I couldn't agree more!

Erin



http://hbquilts.bei.t-online.de
mail: please remove quilt from address

"Dr.Quilter" skrev i meddelandet
...
sounds like you had a lot of fun! I am surprised the kids didn't go for
the
beads and feathers...

I wasn't quite clear I guess. They did sew on the beads and feathers, but
just along the edges of their bags. Then 2 of the most interested kids
announced that they were going to sell their bags for 6000 Swedish kronor
each (that's about 600 american dollars, btw.)!!! :-) They later decided to
reduce their prices to 100 kronor after not finding many buyers, though. Oh,
well.

BTW, my DH loved the Star Treck uniform! )

Thanks! Harri loves it too, he just is shy about appearing on the website!

Take care,

Erin

--
Erin Winslow

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-52319/erin.htm