February - Judgement!

Well, though we were only four of us in my dining room today, we had a lively discussion which I found relevant and interesting....adjudication of shows.

We, as artists, artisans, painters, crafters, photographers, writers and so on, often put ourselves in the field of fire when we enter shows, contests, go for grants...this morning we talked about the annual Juried Arts Salon from the Kingston Arts Council. Though at time of writing, the relevant page on their site was not current (still 2013) the pamphlets are out .... I picked some up in Minotaur downtown on Princess Street. The first question was 'do we know who the judges are'? Yes, they are listed in the pamphlet....is that a good thing or not? Hmmmm.... 

If we know the judges we might be able to play to their sensibilities...is that right? What's wrong with that? Putting their names up opens that right up.

I (Carolyn Barnett) have done many shows over my years as an artisan and not known who the judges were....maybe I found out after I won an award or place, which is nice to know...I guess, but mostly I haven't. With no clue to whom I am appealing I just do my own thing to the best of my ability, stretching myself (as I have done for the Toronto Outdoor Arts Exhibition as I wanted my wearable art to me be more 'art'). I didn't have to thing what the leanings of any judges might be.

Well, a couple of us (myself included) decided we'd give it another try...kind of a personal challenge. The deadline is March 27th. I will have more pamphlets available next week at..

Kingston Arts and Letters Club

gathering

Feb 11th 7pm, Kingston Yatch Club

Speakers: Barb Carr, Marsha Gormly of KSOA

&

Meriel Taylor of Anwyn Yarn Studio

August's Artists Round Table...

....trying to have real 'Summery' get togethers we met on my deck in Portsmouth Village (we got comfier chairs now) and be surrounded  by sun & flowers (well...we tried).

Not only did we have a nice group - what is is with the photographers in our midst...we always have about three?! Anyway, Reg kindly brought too many cookies, Cathie brought cookies  and I had made Ikea ginger cookies so we had a bit of a cookie swap at the end of the get together.

Ilana McGrath joined us.

 We had a guest of honour (sort of) - Ilana McGrath daughter of Joan McGrath of 29 years of Fanfayr fame. She had called me to say in turning our her late mother's cupboards there was lots of wool and a collection of knitting and knitting needles. I told her I would see that what I couldn't use would be passed on to a good home. I have already taken some pieces to Value Village so someone who hasn't quite the funds can still knit that warm sweater.  Ilana talked to us about her Mum, Fanfayr and joined us for most of an hour.
We had our usual  catch up, introducing each other to Ilana and talking about our get togethers and how we catch each other up on new shows, review shows we've just done, discuss the ins and outs of the business side of being and artist. I think I was about to do the Sheepdog trials.





One of us arrived on her new wheels!!!! Annette rode up on a brand spanking new e-bike in zingy purple. I got all excited because for a number of years when I was in my twenties I rode around on a Honda 70 motorcycle and loved it.











 I really wanted to see what the ebike is all about.
It seems great for a town like Kingston to get around and do your shopping, get to work etc. They are easy to park and have lovely luggage compartments......of course I had to have a 'go'!

Isn't this great art? I thought it looked like a serpent's head.

Helmeted and ready to go....

Since the meeting the Sheepdog Trials have happened and I did about the same as usual, it was good for me. I moved my felted vests, a sweater and gleaned one or two more for my latest workshop.

On my way up our street!

That's one thing about shows, if you are teaching, looking for participants for workshops a good group of people can be reached, seeing your work and taking an interest in trying it for themselves...even as a one time thing and taking it no further. I have known people taking workshops, not pursuing it but still supporting artisans with their purchases as they have a better understanding of what goes into the creation.

Now we start to talk about the Fall events we have booked, shows, exhibitions, workshops. New work for these and for the holiday gift giving in a few months.

More discussions at the September 3rd A.R.T..... We'll let you know where we are going to meet....any offers? If you have an interesting studio and feel like having a small group out for coffee and cookies....let us know.

October ART - Farewell Denise...

Denise, Cathie, Tina, Nicole, Joanne, Anne, Carolyn.

At our October 9th Artists Round Table (bumped because I was still on the Trans Canada Highway on Oct 2nd) we bid farewell to Denise Love of www.lovetheworldphotography.com as she packs up and leaves Kingston for London Ontario. We will miss her, I don't think she missed an ART meeting, and so will Modern Fuel Gallery where she worked for the past year.

As you can see from the photo of my dining room there was much in the way of munchies and we just talked about Denise's move, work, galleries and what we were doing this Fall and Christmas season.

There is no art fair at the fort this holiday season as, sadly, Lindsey Fair has moved on to greater things and the Fort got onto the bandwagon and the stretch over three weekends kinda wrecked the one weekend blast we had previously enjoyed.

I personally am trying to make the move from shows to shops with my felted work though they still want my knits...which look awful on a hanger for longer than one day whereas the felted can hang forever and not lose their shape!

There is a small show and sale this weekend at the Frontenac Arch Biosphere at 19 Reynolds Rd at the 1000 Islands Parkway. I will be there with a group of other artists:

Blaise DeLong, Margot Miller, Carolyn Barnett, Ron Tidrow, Jane Thellwel, 

Diana Earle, John le Blancq,  Arlene Massey & Otis Tamasauskas.

October 27 & 28th 2012

10am - 4pm

Our next ART is, again at my house, November 6th 10:30am

A.R.T June Announcements

At yesterday’s gathering of the Artists Round Table, (6 in attendance around my dining room table) we talked about projects for the coming meetings. We can meet at my place as it was successful last Summer and may make one of our homes/studios our meeting places in future, taking turns as anyone who wants to host offers. 

We discussed submitting images for shows/grant/award applications and how they are being done more and more online (Zapplication in the US was the first I used years ago). It was thought a workshop on the process might bring some of us out of the dark ages and update us on the right way to photograph our work for such submissions and for our own web use and archives.

From the Modern Fuel Gallery:

Denise has been able to get the New Media Workspace coordinator, Matt Kyba, to present on our workshop morning 11am Aug 7th at the Modern Fuels Gallery.

A $5 donation per person for his time is recommended.

He will also advertise it as a workshop to encourage new folks to come and maybe join artist roundtable so it could be reciprocal. 

From Cathie Hamilton:

Encaustic Workshop Saturday June 16, 11am-4pm, $70.00

Studio 1 at NGB, 12 Cataraqui St. Kingston, K7K 1Z7

Come on in and explore, share ideas and have some fun.

Materials supplied. 

Please contact cathie@kingston.net to confirm.

Photographing Your Work

Here are the notes from the Photographing your work discussion at the Feb Meeting (thanks Jane for collecting and posting):

Use all types of photos: use your phone to take action shots of things happening in your studio or work in progress; use your point and press camera for promotional photos for web; and hire a photographer (or use your own DLR) to generate magazine quality images.

Lighting is the most important thing (after deciding what camera to use).

SLC Brockville, CARFAC and OCC are hosting a Photography workshop on 26 Feb by Janice Van Dijk (Kingston artist and photographer). Check out the OCC website for more details.

we thought we might start a list of photographers who do object photography. So that when we need that excellent professional quality photo, we know where to start asking questions. Here is the short list we came up with. Please add as you see fit:
- Derek Branscome, www.derekbranscombe.com- Nicole Couture-Lord, 613.331.1210
- Tracy Olan, http://beautifuldayto.com/index2.php- Derek Cooper, ??
- Johnathon Sugarman

Jane Thelwell
www.anglinbaypottery.ca

Show list for 2010

At the last Artist Roundtable Group we discussed what shows are coming up and should be attended. The list is not complete, nor will I guarantee it's accurate, but at least it's a starting point.

Click here for the Art and Craft Show list.

Successful Studio Tour Tips

Here's a quick summary of tips for running a successful studio tour or open house that were suggested at the the Artist Roundtable Discussion Group this month:

• 2 or more artists in each venue


• artist shopping opportunity either before you open to the public or at the end of one of the days


• special invite only event prior to opening for the public


• have preview photos or video taken and posted before opening


• wrap up party to collect vendor feedback as soon as possible - maybe even onsite


• involve media


• do a draw to collect email addresses


• plan the date a year out


• send reminders 1 week and 2 days before


• make sure to have signage and have brochures available on the sign itself


• promo the morning of the show to media and on social networking sites

Please add to the list if you have other ideas.