Happy (belated) New Year!
Hello there! It’s been a while, since I last posted and there’s a lot to catch up on. It’s also the new year which means that it’s a time to reflect on the things that are and aren’t working for us so we can focus on the things that serve us best. As most people who are familiar with me know, I have spent several years focusing on art markets and fairs, at those markets I was mainly selling porcelain jewelry that I had made, but I was also selling prints. At the time I figured that the jewelry would be easier to sell which was the primary reason for this focus. However, the prints sold better than I was expecting them to, and after reflecting on the things that I actually prefer to do I think it’s time to make a shift in priorities and set some new goals.
I was at the point where if I wanted to pursue the jewelry making as a more full time option I was going to need to think about getting going on some wholesale accounts. The truth is even though I do like working with clay, I don’t know that I like the repetitive nature of work that wholesaling would require. After a lot of reflecting, I decided to make a return to larger scale projects more in line with the work that I was doing prior to the Pandemic, but this time working as a contractor, rather than for a company.
I realize that I haven’t talked much about my career prior to 2020, some of this is due to NDAs that were a part of the work agreement at the time, but a lot of it was because I didn’t know how to present it in a way that would help to make my skillset more marketable. I had concerns that there would not be work of that nature available to local artists in this area. Which to be honest is still a concern, although, I am coming to the conclusion that you’ll never know if you don’t try. So I’m going to try. And for anybody who is interested in what that work looked like, because it is kind of hard to explain, and sometimes visuals help, I have updated my Portfolio to include a selection of some of the projects I worked on in my previous career.
To help me build the confidence I need to pursue public arts projects as a contractor, I applied for and was awarded a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts to take two classes put on by Common Wealth Murals. I recently finished the first class in Mural design with Eric Okdeh and I am so excited to take the next one which is coming up soon and focuses more on logistics. I think that with this experience coupled with my previous work I will be more prepared than ever to pursue new murals projects.
If you know of anyone who is looking to have a mural painted, please send them my way, Id love to hear from them!
Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
Siobhan
