I've been thinking.
I've been working and reading and painting and weaving and dyeing and listening and not blogging. I am still ruminating.. I am a Capricorn so it is natural to gnaw on stuff a while.
And the more important the stuff, the longer the gnaw.
there is my new tagline.
I think this is a good time to take some of the inside thought and give it a shot at sunlight. So please, share your thoughts as I am struggling with this.
This year i hit a milestone that i was pretty much unprepared for. I've hit a few things for which i was not prepared and while they are mostly behind me, they do give me a poke in the back pretty regularly... but it is a familiar poke and i am better at deciding how much time i want to spend on worrying.
except for a few things
and here is one of those things
The market for art and craft has changed significantly.
Things do change. It would be dull as f*ck with the same old thing every day. I am not against change (there is another whole epic rant here ... i'll save for another time. But just to say that in most cases, doing things the same way every time usually gives the same results. Usually. Comfort in familiarity isn't always very productive. And I'm not referencing anything chocolate here. or scotch. so there.)
When I joined the studio I share with (now) four women who work primarily in fine craft and wearable art the world embraced a very different economy. We enjoy our studio with folks coming in that were there to observe a live working studio, invest in handmade items that we carry of our work and local artists plus a few we met along the way and are a physical point for tourists and downtown functions. We have always maintained regular hours so we are easy to find open and ready to help.
As the economy changes, as the energy in downtown changes, as the traveling "shows" and exhibits we used to plan for throughout the year changed and expenses increased above profit we have made a LOT of adjustments. We have an online presence through Facebook, SquareUp and an eletter, have social events, present workshops, bring new artisan work to the gallery and continue to research what we can do to meet our expenses. My situation has definitely come to that.
I am a counter.
I think about expenses and income and their relationship to each other. Very often this is wrapped up in "state of mind" (a short Lifehacker article about that is here). As I am older, finding outside employment is really not working. Even tho anti-discrimination has a large voice, it is huge. And I feel it like a bucket of ice pretty regularly as a "mature" woman. That is two. Being an alpha just puts the wet nuts on top. I've realized that cutting expenses doesn't increase income. I read a lot of articles that support this, support how over-saturated the online market is, confirm that there is a giant disconnect between an item and a handmade item (this article is very well written on this subject).
Adding workshops and supplies has given us some new perspectives on what attract people. While it is fun to learn to make something, not everyone has that connect. And usually there is someone who is selling online for less than a small shop like ours can offer the item. (interesting article here... again!)
So where does that leave the small business retail shop? We have consignors that do very well at local markets. We participate in local markets -- it is a different energy. As discussed in the last Mary's Maven's group I attended (check that closed group on Facebook out here) where women in a variety of careers, business ventures and demographics listen and speak out about their life experiences with a supportive atmosphere, your work is a passion and business is so important. Really patronizing those businesses is the way to show that support- it takes commerce, collaboration, inspiration and positive interaction to keep those things.
It is easier to let something go or to tear it down than to rebuild. Always. I cannot think of ANY situation where that is not true. Are small retail businesses unnecessary? With the over-saturation of craftiness on Etsy and other online shops, is online still the venue? Has the market become so polarized with the pop-up market vs. gallery making the small business/studio invalid?
so many questions, such conflicting answers.
What do you think?
And the more important the stuff, the longer the gnaw.
there is my new tagline.
I think this is a good time to take some of the inside thought and give it a shot at sunlight. So please, share your thoughts as I am struggling with this.
This year i hit a milestone that i was pretty much unprepared for. I've hit a few things for which i was not prepared and while they are mostly behind me, they do give me a poke in the back pretty regularly... but it is a familiar poke and i am better at deciding how much time i want to spend on worrying.
except for a few things
and here is one of those things
The market for art and craft has changed significantly.
Things do change. It would be dull as f*ck with the same old thing every day. I am not against change (there is another whole epic rant here ... i'll save for another time. But just to say that in most cases, doing things the same way every time usually gives the same results. Usually. Comfort in familiarity isn't always very productive. And I'm not referencing anything chocolate here. or scotch. so there.)
When I joined the studio I share with (now) four women who work primarily in fine craft and wearable art the world embraced a very different economy. We enjoy our studio with folks coming in that were there to observe a live working studio, invest in handmade items that we carry of our work and local artists plus a few we met along the way and are a physical point for tourists and downtown functions. We have always maintained regular hours so we are easy to find open and ready to help.
As the economy changes, as the energy in downtown changes, as the traveling "shows" and exhibits we used to plan for throughout the year changed and expenses increased above profit we have made a LOT of adjustments. We have an online presence through Facebook, SquareUp and an eletter, have social events, present workshops, bring new artisan work to the gallery and continue to research what we can do to meet our expenses. My situation has definitely come to that.
I am a counter.
I think about expenses and income and their relationship to each other. Very often this is wrapped up in "state of mind" (a short Lifehacker article about that is here). As I am older, finding outside employment is really not working. Even tho anti-discrimination has a large voice, it is huge. And I feel it like a bucket of ice pretty regularly as a "mature" woman. That is two. Being an alpha just puts the wet nuts on top. I've realized that cutting expenses doesn't increase income. I read a lot of articles that support this, support how over-saturated the online market is, confirm that there is a giant disconnect between an item and a handmade item (this article is very well written on this subject).
So where does that leave the small business retail shop? We have consignors that do very well at local markets. We participate in local markets -- it is a different energy. As discussed in the last Mary's Maven's group I attended (check that closed group on Facebook out here) where women in a variety of careers, business ventures and demographics listen and speak out about their life experiences with a supportive atmosphere, your work is a passion and business is so important. Really patronizing those businesses is the way to show that support- it takes commerce, collaboration, inspiration and positive interaction to keep those things.
It is easier to let something go or to tear it down than to rebuild. Always. I cannot think of ANY situation where that is not true. Are small retail businesses unnecessary? With the over-saturation of craftiness on Etsy and other online shops, is online still the venue? Has the market become so polarized with the pop-up market vs. gallery making the small business/studio invalid?
so many questions, such conflicting answers.
What do you think?
A collection of six
artists working with the art teachers at 
