This summer I was invited to create a new work on canvas for an exhibit at Burlington City Arts titled "Stay Home / Stay Safe [Executive Order 01-20]". 15 artists were chosen to participate by BCA and then each of those invited another artist for 30 artists total. I was invited by my friend Corrine Yonce. We worked together back in 2018 for "Home Works" at S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, a show featuring work made in collaborations with affordable housing residents in Burlington, so it was fitting that we would be in another home themed show together. Each artist was given a 2"x3" canvas and asked to create a work reflecting on the meaning of home in light of the shelter in place order issued by our governor in spring 2020. For a number of reasons, I was feeling like I couldn't count on home to be a place of safety and security. I lived through domestic abuse when I first moved to Burlington many years ago, and I could only imagine how bad the situation would have been if I didn't have places I could temporarily escape to. For me it was not self-evident that stay home equals stay safe, and I wanted my painting to reflect this. At the same time, this exhibit was intended to welcome the community back into the gallery after being closed for several months and provide an opportunity to buy affordable artwork (all canvases were priced at $250). So I didn't want to create a dark, hopeless painting, even though that's where my thoughts on home were. I was thinking a lot about how many of us are not free to feel safe in our own homes, whether due to child abuse/ domestic abuse, environmental toxicity, military planes flying over head, police presence, threat of eviction, homelessness, ptsd, and/or confinement to an institution such as a prison, hospital, or nursing home. I decided my response would be to create a painting that felt like freedom, a painting you might escape into. I based the imagery on the wildflowers growing around my house and tried to make it as colorful and full of life as possible. I titled it "June & July", after the time period I created it in, and as a nod to the idea that sometimes it is easier to feel grounded in time when you don't feel grounded in place. In preparation I made a number of drawings from life, which itself was a very grounding, and then figured out how to combine them into the final composition. The show itself turned out really cool. Sadly there was no opening event due to restrictions on large gatherings in the state of Vermont. It would have been a lot of fun with thirty different artists, many of them friends of mine. If you didn't get a chance to see the show you can check out the program guide at the BCA website.
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I was really nervous leading up to Art Hop this year. There was a lot of uncertainty about what this typically very crowded event would look like with corona virus regulations. I didn't think I would be as successful as usual without all the big crowds. Plus I hadn't yet worn a mask for more than an hour at a time. My last market had been in December, back when there was no worries about large gatherings. Since then I've focused on building my online sales. I've put more effort into my etsy shop, building up a greater variety of listings to attract more customers. I've also experimented with flash sales on instagram where I post pictures with prices and dimensions in my stories and then work out payment and shipping through direct messages. These have been pretty successful, and sometimes almost have the whirlwind excitement of a real live market, but I truly missed selling art in person. So while I was nervous, I was also really excited! It turned out that I didn't need to worry at all. Everyone was really friendly through their masks, and it was so nice to make small talk about the weather, prints, paper, and mushrooms with a steady stream of strangers. There were some friends in the mix as well, including Andrea, Dakin, Meili, Kason, Sharon, and Aleyna. My family showed up too somewhere in there. I met Erin Bundock for the first time IRL (we had only communicated through instagram up to this point). She is a recent art graduate from UVM who's work I really admire. She is the resident artist at the vaults this year, which is across from where we were all set up for the market. I also met Liv, who is a friend of Meili's from herbalism school, and was set up near me at the market. She makes gorgeous botanical jewelry and she traded me a pair of black eyed susan hoop earrings for a couple of prints. I didn't really have time to experience the rest of art hop. We live about 45 minutes outside of town these days so we didn't have time to come in on Friday or Sunday to look around, and all of Saturday we were occupied with the market. I did visit Aleyna's studio in the Howard Building and then together we visited Susan and Kevin, also in the Howard Building. Corrine shares a studio with them but was out of town for the weekend on a camping trip. I do not blame her, it really was beautiful weather. I exceeded my goal in terms of sales. This was a really pleasant surprise! I guess that even though it was quieter than usual the people who did show up were there to look at and buy art. I also raised my prices on a few things. I was nervous that people wouldn't want to buy them at the higher prices but it turned out to be the right choice. I introduced a new print, a mini version of my old cabin in the woods print. These were only $5 for the market and sold really well. My mom helped me make some print garlands a few days before the event. These were really lovely to hang from the rafters of my market tent and they moved nicely in the wind. I think they made my set up extra attractive and I was even able to sell a few. For the rest of my set up I had three tables, a six foot table in the middle, and two four foot tables turned shortways on either end to fill up the ten foot space at the front of my tent. Most of my prints were arranged on the table to show different color options and weighted down with rocks. I chose a few prints to attach to cardboard and stand up along the back of the table. Overall it was a great event. I loved getting out in public with my artwork and interacting with so many different people. I do not know what the winter season holds in terms of in person markets. My hopes are not super high at the moment. So I will continue to build my business in other ways, including more instagram flash sales and getting my prints into stores.
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