2010 in Review and Moving Forward

January 24, 20118 Comments

Even though one year flows into another with no real difference between them, at this time of year it always feels as if we’re about to start something new with the hope of life being better (or maybe just different) in the coming year. It’s a time of reflection on the previous twelve months, mostly focused on levels of happiness.

I’ve been feeling the need to take a step back and review all I’ve accomplished since deciding to pursue art full time in 2010. I don’t feel I can move forward properly without it. Sometimes I feel that I’ve done an incredible amount of work, and other times I feel I did very little. I’m hoping this blog post will document things realistically, as well as show what worked well and should do more of, and what I can safely never do again.

» Artwork:
I’m really happy with this area of my practice. I produced a healthy volume of new work over the course of 2010, including continuing with the explorations of altering books, and building on the portrait series of women begun in late 2009. I also forayed into large-scale installation work, which is something I’d like to do more of in future.

Artwork by the numbers:
– 16 individual altered books, framed and ready to hang
– 25 altered books as part of the Forgotten Knowledge series
– 1 large-scale paper tree
– 15 photographic portraits for the Imaginary Girl series
– 5 canvas prints of Imaginary girl portraits

2011 Artwork Goals:
– schedule more time for producing new work
– make experimentation and play a higher priority
– come up with one installation project
– explore creating street art
– produce lower priced inventory
– take on work commissioned by clients

» Exhibitions:
This is the area where I put most of my time and energy last year, and ended up participating in a ridiculous amount of shows because of it. Most of these shows were not career building in any way and had little value beyond an item fleshing out my CV. I confirmed that I need to move beyond showing in theatre lobbies, and be pickier about the group shows in which I take part in order to grow my career. There were a few exhibitions that were terrific for exposure and helped raise my previously non-existent profile in the arts community. The experience this past year taught me that exhibitions are not the more important thing I need to do with my work and in future I will do much less of them.

Exhibitions by the numbers:
– 3 solo shows of three different bodies of work
– 11 different group shows
– 2 juried exhibitions outside of Canada -> Portland, and the UK
– 2 firsts thanks to Container Art -> forays into both public art and installation work
– 1 multimedia collaboration with Resolve Design to create the Tree of [Un]common Knowledge
– 1st time taking part in the Eastside Culture Crawl

2011 Exhibition Goals:
– be more selective about exhibition opportunities
– show outside of Vancouver
– apply for artist residencies
– get paid to show my work

» Selling Work:
I gathered up all the numbers for the first time before I started writing this section and I’m actually surprised at how much work I sold last year. It was the most I’ve sold within the period of one year, which is a good sign. But in order for this career to be sustainable long-term I need to focus more on selling and diversify how and where I make my work available for sale. The bulk of this year’s sold work went to people from my immediate network which confirms what I’ve been told. Most of these sales occurred as a direct result of sharing my work through social media, and also through face-to-face interaction at the Eastside Culture Crawl. A small fraction of the sales came through my Etsy shop and most of these were to people outside of Canada.

Sold Work in 2010 by the numbers:
– 11 altered books
– 2 large metal prints
– 5 small metal prints
– 3 cradle frame collages
– 3 commissioned canvas prints
– 26 postcard sets
– 1 photographic print

2011 Artwork Selling Goals:
– Approach local shops about carrying my artwork
– Research on markets such as Portobello West, Granville Island, and Blim to see if they’re a good fit
– Develop better branding and strategy for selling work online through Cargoh or Etsy
– Research stock photography sites to sell my photo archive
– Participate in the Eastside Culture Crawl
– Increase number of sales from 2010

» Business Development
Business development is the area I find hardest to focus on because it doesn’t come naturally to me. It requires the ability to see the “big picture” and think beyond the fine details of making artwork. Thankfully the entrepreneurial spirit has taken hold and I invested time into laying the ground work for my business. I created an inventory spreadsheet to track information on the artwork I create, and it became an essential tool I often refer back to in many situations. I made use of Harvest to keep track of the time I spend making art, and also use it to create and send invoices. I began using measurable information (i.e. hours) to accurately price my work instead of roughly guessing as I embarrassingly have in the past. I also started using Mailchimp to send out a monthly newsletter and keep people up-to-date with what I’m up to.

Business Development by the numbers
– 45% increase in subscribers to my mailing list between April & December
– 1 dedicated studio space (my first ever!)
– 1 awesome inventory spreadsheet
– 12 newsletters sent out in 2010
– 500 business cards printed
– 1 article in the Georgia Straight promoting the Eastside Culture Crawl

2011 Business Development Goals
– Increase the number of subscribers to my mailing list
– Diversify how I sell my work
– Find and work with a business development mentor
– Develop more of a vertical inventory
– Figure out ways to produce products from my existing work
– Track the time I spend on administrative tasks
– Redo my website to better showcase my work and skills
– Increase exposure of my work online
– Teach workshops on altered books & social media for artists

» Miscellaneous Bits
Figuring out how to shape the artist career I want is an on-going process. I’m still fine-tuning a schedule that works best for me, while trying to get away from the 9 to 5 work day that seems to be deeply engrained. I often forget I have a FLEXIBLE schedule. It’s a constant fight for balance between pure creative time, administrative tasks, and business development but at least I’ve learned to keep art producing days completely free of other things.

I’m glad to finally know more people pursuing art as a full time career because it’s a great thing to have a network of like-minded peers to call upon for advice or just share experiences.

2011 Miscellaneous Goals (Without the numbers)
– Work with a more experienced artist as a mentor
– Meet with a group of fellow artists every two weeks
– Conduct a series of interviews with artists about their careers
– Find a flexible well-paying part-time job working with a creative company
– Find an affordable studio space outside the home
– Save money for new camera equipment
– Exercise every day, including walks and yoga

A Gift of Many Gifts

January 18, 20116 Comments

My sister Kathryn celebrated her birthday yesterday, and even though I couldn’t be there in person I did my best to make sure she had a special day. I know she really loves these cool coffee tables that are all over pinterest these days, she recently bought one, but tells me she was nothing to put on and into it… So, I put together a package of forty individually wrapped gifts meant to go on or stored into her new coffee table, one for each year. It was inspired by a present given to me by a friend on my thirtieth birthday and I’ve always wanted to do this for someone else.

IThere were two gifts she had to open before the rest and the very first one was filled with confetti. (I like to kick off present opening with a bang!) I’m really glad the package arrived right on time, and it was the perfect thing to make her day.

Recycled into Art

January 17, 20113 Comments

I’ve been collecting toilet paper rolls at home since the end of the summer. I had vague thoughts of eventually making them into “something”, but I was also interested to see how many would accumulate over time. The toilet paper roll is a one-time-use disposable item everyone has and pretty much ignores. But it’s made of perfectly good light-weight cardboard I was pretty sure my paper craft explorations could make use of.

I recently brainstormed a few ideas for the rolls and today did some playing around with them. I was less focused on making a finished product than I was on seeing the reality of roughly sketched ideas. These are crude unfinished pieces but I learned much from the doing. I can see I’m going to make something BIG out of these.

Exploring and experimenting with new ideas, materials, or processes is unbelievably important, and yet it feels difficult to justify the time because it seems like play instead of work. I’ve frequently struggled with different aspects of this mindset in my first year of being a full time professional artist.

I have much more to say on the topic, but for now, let me ask you: how do you distinguish between play and “real” work in your life or daily job?

Altered Book Commission: Time is More Infinite Than We

January 13, 20117 Comments

Late last year I was thrilled to get my first request to create a commissioned altered book for a client. The couple had recently found a deer skull on their Gulf Island property and felt it was the perfect thing for me to work with in making them a custom piece of art. It’s not the first time I’ve used bones in an altered book, but it definitely was the largest.

Altered Book - Time is More Infinite Than We

The skull was quite fragile and missing a large part of the nose, so my first step was to assess every break through the skull. I had to determine where to glue without causing further damage and then reinforce certain parts so the whole thing wouldn’t fall apart. In the photo below you can see the paper “bandages” I created inside the eye sockets. I felt without these the glue wouldn’t hold and the bottom part of the skull would come right off. (It almost did while I was feeling about).

The book I chose to use is an encyclopedia volume with a lovely red cover with a raised border embossed on the front and gold letters and designs on the side. I carved through the cover and cut a niche three quarters of the way into the pages, making it large enough to accommodate the skull.

I took a short timelapse video with my iPhone 4 as I did this, which makes it look like a faster process than it actually was.

Once the book was ready I began pulling out materials to create the rest of the composition. I took inspiration from the background notes given to me by the client and used these to guide in the selection of objects. I won’t go into detail here but I was looking for things with symbolic significance specific to them.

The photo below was taken when I was satisfied with the placement of things and is a “sketchbook” version of the final composition. It helped me remember what should eventually go where after I dismantled and put everything out of the way. I still had much work to do in preparing the book and mounting the skull.

Altered Book - Time is More Infinite Than We-2

Altered Book - Time is More Infinite Than We-3

Above are some process shots I took while I worked on different things. I used a thick heavy thread at the base of the skull as this was the only point from which I could attach it to the book. These loops of thread were sewn into a heavy paper that was glued into the book and then covered over with the sewing pattern paper. The image above with the clamps was taken after the skull was mounted in the book and some of the pages still needed gluing together.

This is the finished altered book, many steps away from the previous photo. I used eight watch parts in the composition and it gives it an unintentional steam punk look. The fancy embossed border on the cover works nicely (as I’d hoped) with the rest of the composition. I love all the details in this altered book, from the shiny metal parts to the zig zagging fissures through the top of the skull.

This was an interesting project to work on because there were many problem solving challenges along the way. But that’s what I love most about making altered books. It always gets me thinking in new ways.

The outcome of this project is a positive one, with the client happy with the work I’ve produced and the first successful commissioned altered book under my belt. Here’s hoping many more will come my way.

Materials used: book, sewing pattern paper, tree bark, wasp nest, red thread, small glass bottle, seeds, watch parts, moss, and deer skull.

A Visit to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum

January 10, 20112 Comments

How excited am I after a visit to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum yesterday…? SO VERY EXCITED! I could move in and live there forever, except I’m sure that’s not allowed, or very comfortable. I’ll just have to content myself with a yearly membership and frequent visits.

Our adventure to the museum happened on a spur of the moment Sunday afternoon. I was looking at photos of bones and things I’d taken at the ROM three years ago, when Boris suddenly remembered he’d recently bought an admission ticket for the Beaty through Groupon. It opened over the summer and I’d been wanting to visit, so off we went on the long journey to the other side of town.

The first thing you see upon entering the Beaty Biodiversity Museum is the awe-inspiring Blue Whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling in the main atrium. I’m sure the sight of it causes many a traffic jam by the front door as people stop to stare. I continued staring from every angle as I spiralled my way down the ramp to the bottom level where the rest of the collection is located. Standing underneath the whale made me feel very small and I couldn’t help but imagine it crashing down on top of me. (Curses to my over-active imagination).

All but a small fraction of objects are tucked away in a vast underground storage facility that houses the over two million pieces in the museum’s collection. It’s the storage that doubles as display and walking through the endless rows of tall cabinets reveals windows of skulls, taxidermied animals and birds, aquatic life in jars, fossils, preserved flora, insects, and everything else to do with the study of biodiversity.

As a child I was always drawn to the animal displays in museums, but as an adult I can’t help pondering the staggering amount of dead animals taken for the sake of research and how this contributes to the depletion of species. It’s a bit morbid to realize how many dead things are in one place, even if I do happen to have a fascination with dead things.

Boris and I started out following a tour of people lead by an interpreter but quickly got side-tracked by one wow-inducing thing after another. There was really no end to the captivating objects and creatures to look at.

This crocodile still looks ready to eat passerby – and with a smile I might add – even though all that remains is its skin. It was HUGE.

Beaty Museum - Seahorse in a display case

The windows into the storage units are sporadically placed throughout every row, and there is a variety of ways things are displayed. Some are set up to show objects at their best advantage, while others (like these) are pure organized storage views. I was amused to see even museums use shoeboxes to stash things away.

The Beaty Museum is a welcome addition to Vancouver’s cultural repertoire, and goes on my list of recommendations to locals and visitors alike. For me it can finally be a stand in for the ROM, a place I would visit frequently when I lived in Toronto and miss having access to. It’s funny how looking at photos taken at one led to the exciting discovery of the other.

Please visit flickr to view the full set of photos from my exploration of the museum.

iPhoneography

January 5, 20113 Comments

2011 has unexpectedly found me with an iPhone in hand. I’d been looking at lower-end point and shoot cameras so that I could once again have something on me at all times, but it ended up making more sense to get an all-in-one device. The deal was sealed once I found out I could get the iPhone for almost half price using my Fido dollars.

Boris in the sun along Robson Street.

Folded book pages to prep for a workshop.

The wooden bird Nicole gave me yesterday.

These were all taken using an app called Instagram. I’m using it as a visual diary and so far it has me motivated to take photos more often. If you use the app please come and find me. I’d love to share the experience with more artists.

A Year End Review in Twelve Photos

December 31, 2010

I decided to go through my 2010 flickr archive and select one photo from each month of the year, while avoiding selecting any artwork. This is what I came away with. It’s mostly nature themed, except for the coffee cup that says “fart”.

Goodbye 2010. Hello 2011. I plan to be EVEN MORE creative, productive, and dedicated in the year to come.

Yuletide Christmas Gif

December 22, 2010

I wanted to shoot a fun portrait of Boris and myself to send out as a digital Christmas card. We finally got around to doing this the other evening but I wasn’t quite happy with the results. The portrait wasn’t creative or fun enough to suit me so I decided to take seven photos from the series and make them into an animated gif. I’ve never done this before but It was really fun figuring out how to put it together in photoshop. It was relatively simple too. And now you can watch Boris and I kiss over and over and over…

The tutorial I used is for Photoshop CS3, if you want to make your own animated gif.

Collage: Birds of a Feather

December 19, 2010

This particular cradle frame panel has been hanging around unfinished or half-started (depending on your perspective) for a couple of years. I did a gel medium transfer of an ink jet print of one of my photos and overlay this with a semi-transparent spiral patterned Japanese paper. That’s as far as I got with the thing two years ago. I found the long dimensions of 12″ x 24″ challenging to work with at the time.

I picked it up again this week and decided to follow the same theme of birds, book pages, and thread from the previous two collages. I broke up the background image with pieces of book pages and tried to treat both as texture. The thread and bits of scrap paper add a bit more colour and give the collage some flow from one bird to another.

This is the largest collage I’ve ever created. It’s challenging to work larger and I think I prefer making smaller pieces because most of the materials I have to work with are small scale.

Materials used: scrap book pages, red thread, paper birds, rubber stamp & ink, origami paper, and gel medium.

Five Good Things

December 16, 20101 Comment

Writing down a list of good things is a way to remind myself to appreciate what I have. These are a few items from the past week:

1. A decadent lunch of corn pancakes with blueberry sauce and a side of bacon at the Roundel Cafe with Joan.

2. An unexpected gift from Nicole of a crow pendant we’d seen a few weeks earlier at a craft show.

3. Eating our way around the German Christmas Market, from one meaty item to another. (Yum yum).

4. A spontaneous trip to the Vancouver aquarium. It was almost deserted on our weekday afternoon visit. (I love the jellyfish).

5. Standing next to this tank of Arctic Char at the aquarium. They were wonderfully calm and indifferent to my presence, and we hung out with them in their element of water and me in my element of earth and air.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life