emiko-o reware

Very exciting news — today me and fellow Co-President, Rebecca Deans, of the Metal Arts Guild will be interviewed on a LIVE PODCAST by Jay Whaley of Whaley Studios from 3-4pm. His show is Metalsmith Benchtalk  on Blogtalk Radio and I did a spot on his broadcast back in May during the SNAG conference in Seattle when I gave my Niche Marketing presentation. Today we’ll be talking about MAG’s 60th Anniversary events, specifically the Forging Communities Symposium coming up Nov 12 at the Oakland Museum of CA, as well as the 3 exhibitions surrounding the symposium.

Jennifer Shaifer, Harriete Estel Berman, Garth Johnson

Joining us throughout the hour will be three of the symposium presenters: Jennifer Shaiffer (historian and gallerist, NYC), Harriete Estel Berman (artist, Professional Guidelines founder, ASK Harriete blog), and Garth Johnson (artist, educator, writer, ExtremeCraft.com).

If you would like to call in and say hi or ask a question, you can call: (646) 716-5718. Don’t worry if you can’t tune in live, it will be archived for future listening!
Go to: Metalsmith Benchtalk on Blogtalk Radio .

emiko’s Top 5 Tips for Getting Your Business Out There!

Tip 1: Professional Quality Photography

This is THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP for getting exposure for your business, if you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, focus on getting professional photography of your work. Less than professional photos will not bode well on how you as an artist are perceived by the industry/editors/curators. First impressions are everything so why not wow people’s socks off from the get go!

If you aren’t a skilled photographer (yet), best to hire a professional studio photographer and ask if you can observe the shoot. Some won’t mind if you quietly look on while they shoot your pieces, but it’s best to ask.  Do your homework before your appointment and look at magazines and books for the type of shots that you are attracted to and bring these to the attention of your photographer so they know how to style your shots. Also, if you have strong ideas for the composition of your shots or how the pieces should be oriented in the shots, do some quick mockup drawings or quickie photos to give to your photographer. ALWAYS GIVE PHOTO CREDIT TO YOUR PHOTOGRAPHERS for images that you use, for print and web.

Lark Books (Sterling Publishing) and their 500 series is a great place to start looking at photos. Just released this week is their “greatest hits” of the 500 series books, titled, 21st Century Jewelry: The Best of the 500 Series. I was one of the jurors for this compilation and you can read my quotes and see my work in this hardbound, gorgeous publication. Available now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

photo by emiko

If you want to take your own photos, make sure you are using a camera that is not a point-and-shoot (or your smartphone), but more on the professional level. There are camera stores that will rent cameras, lenses and lighting by the day, and this a great way to test out equiptment before investing in your own. As I started taking more photos with work on a model, I needed a lens other than my usual 90mm macro, so I rented a great portrait lens (24-105mm) for a few shoots at $30 a day, which is a deal compared to how much it costs to buy that lens new ($1100). Now I own that lens, but it was worth it to test it out before making such a big investment. Make sure to use a TRIPOD so that your photos are as crystal clear as possible. You don’t need a fancy set-up or even lights; for years I shot in the bathroom over the tub using natural light since it was a diffused white and perfect for what I was shooting. Check out my current set up in my living room:

Shoot TONS of photos, more than you think you need. And shoot in RAW mode if possible. Shooting JPGs means that your losing information in your files as they are compressed.

After shooting your photos you will need to be well-versed in photo editing software like Photoshop. Taking a class at a community college is great for keeping up with the latest versions of software. Fortunately, software is getting easier to use, and what used to take an hour to digitally correct, can now be done in a few steps with programs like Adobe’s Lightroom and Camera Raw photo editors. Online tutorials like lynda.com are super informative, especially if you have specific tasks or tools you want to focus on learning. You will need to understand how to create files from your master image for print and web for magazine/book publishing, for juried show applications, and for online viewing.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is that editors are drawn to images of jewelry on models, rather than just jewelry by itself, even if the jewelry is not the focus of the image. Model shots tell a story, give a human element, plus add a reference to scale of the work in relation to the body. Much more editorial and eye-catching to grab a reader’s attention. I suggest shooting both the work on the model and by itself so you have options for different scenarios (online shopping sites vs. jewelry book vs. fashion blog). Practice really does make perfect, the more you shoot, the better trained your eye will be! Last, but not least, experiment and have fun!

Read more about Professional Quality Photography on this week’s ASK HARRIETE blog.

photo by emiko

photo by Aura O'Brien Photography

photo by Aryn Shelander

Christine Dhein and emiko oye at SNAG

A couple of months ago I was invited to give a short presentation on Niche Marketing for the SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) Conference in Seattle, which was a great honor and quite the thrill! The audio and digital presentation were recently released by SNAG so that those were unable to attend the conference could still experience the Professional Development Series of that Saturday, on Niche Marketing and Professional Photography. This week I’ll be breaking down my Top 5 Marketing Tips in the next few blog posts. You can catch a snippet of what I’ll be talking about in today’s “Ask Harriete“, the Professional Guidelines blog by Harriete Estel Berman.

Here are my Top 5 Marketing Tips that I’ll be discussing:

1. Professional Quality Photography

2.  Take Risks: Don’t Get STUCK: Balance

3. Take Note and Be Accessible

4. Be Ready Set GO!

5. Get Involved

Listen and see my presentation in the video link below as well as the other Niche Marketing Presenters, Hilary Pfeifer and Deb Stoner, through Slide Share. Thanks to Harriete for doing such a superwoman job of sound editing!

Creating a New Craft Culture–Friday 11 AM, Part 3
Round Table Discussion: Craft in the 21st Century: Identity, Choice, Meaning. Sandra Alfoldy, moderator. Panelists: Claudia Crisan, Thomas Patti, and Michael Sherrill

Alfoldy, Patti, Crisan, Sherrill

It’s about brain explosion time right about now, and the conference leaders are really on top of their game keeping presenters to task on time. For different perspectives on these presentations, don’t forget to check in with Harriete’s blog: ask harriete.
For those who remember watching Pee Wee’s Playhouse, remember that Word of the Day, that whenever the Word of the Day was uttered throughout the course of the show, you’d have to yell and make a lot of noise? Well, the words of the day here seem to be: Quality, Martha Stewart, and D.I.Y. The latter two mostly as a point of contention between what seems to be two very divided schools of makers (and perhaps generational, and very much represented here).

Moderator Sandra Alfoldy (associate professor of craft history at NSCAD University and associate curator of fine craft at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax) set up the discussion by posing her “TOP 5 Assumptions [of Craft]” and having the the panel members speak a total of 8 minutes on each issue. Here are the TOP 5 ASSUMPTIONS:
#5. You don’t need to use traditional craft materials to be a craftsperson
#4. Craft is an environmental, sustainable set of practices
#3. Functional craft is less important than one-of-a-kind work
#2. Making it by hand makes it craft
#1. The craft field is dying and DIY (insert Pee Wee scream here) will save it!

First, a brief background on the artist panel:

Tom Patti

Thomas Patti–industrial designer and sculptor, known for his innovative use of glass and plastics to create visionary architectural systems, small-scale sculptures and large architectural commissions.

Claudia Crisan

Claudia Crisan–an artist trained in metals and fibers, she owns and operates (with her husband) a small bakery and edible art gallery called Crisan in Albany, New York.

Michael Sherrill–self-taught ceramicist and inventor of a line of tools for potters and sculptors, called Mudtools®

As far as answers to the above questions, numbers 5 through 3 didn’t really bring to light anything new, esp to the makers in the group. I mean, alternative materials have been pretty hip and more in the forefront of exhibitions these days (hence, why I’ve had to create a spreadsheet of where all my recycled work is this fall so i don’t double-commit work). Craft doesn’t inherently have environmentally sustainable practices-it’s only been recently brought to light as something we should do, as seen with Ethical Metalsmiths. And Function vs One-of-a-kind isn’t about either/or, for many of makers we embrace both; perhaps we enjoy mixing it up, or one funds the other.

The real heat came in #2 & #1. In #2 arose the CAD/CAM-is-it-evil issue, in which either you get it (meaning CAD) or you don’t. Is it a mere tool, means to an end, or is it a craft in itself like ceramics or metal. Is the hand still connected to the mind–going back to Dr. Sennett’s earlier talk, the importance of an all-body engaging the mind type of craft. For Claudia, she wholeheartedly agreed that working on the computer was no different than hammering metal. And for Thomas, he disagreed and believes a tool should never be made more important than the work.
Another Pee Wee squeal here–Either you love her or you hate her, Martha Stewart, that is. Bottom line: she’s made crafting accessible to everyone, from moms to kids, and in doing so, perhaps has sparked the desire to pursue a more serious investigation into craft for the younger generation. ‘Cause as long as you’re making that’s what really important, right? And for some of us we’re living by doing this. As Thomas says, take it to the next step and push boundaries, make meaningful, well-crafted work.

claudia's edible brooch

Jana Evans wearing Crisan brooch

attendees wearing Crisan brooches (claudia 3rd in)

Friday Schedule

DAY 1
7:45 AM Friday: The early bird catches the worm and a whole lot of presentations here in the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Minneapolis MN. Arrived LATE last night (my need to take public transit everywhere) and signed in way too early this morning, thermos in hand. Harriete Estel Berman and I are Ready for action, and it didn’t take long for the atrium to be buzzing with anticipation (for the Thursday tours and pre-conference scoop, check  out Harriete’s blog). Used to the cattle rush of SNAG conferences, it is refreshing to be a part of a smaller group here at this conference (imagine half as many or less); surprising, actually since Craft embodies so many more fields of interest than just metals. Perhaps it’s the recession, time of year, or location, but I have a feeling that after people hear about this year’s conference, the next one will have a much larger attendance. (Yes, that is an img of today’s schedule: 9+ events, not including the evening craft tours!)

Many familiar faces in the crowd, many from the Philadelphia SNAG conference that for a moment I forgot what conference I was really at, and as Harriete and I were mentally preparing ourselves, a few stopped by to say hi and wish us luck: Sienna Patti, Namita Gupta Wiggers (who will be presenting a panel tomorrow about internet marketing for which I’m SO excited), and Lena Vigna (she co-authored with Namita the recent Metalsmith article, Ornamentalism Revisited, and is curating an upcoming exhibition with a similiar feel at Miami University Art Museum).
Lena tells me that she was part of one of 7 Convenings dialogues, small gatherings of specialized groups such as curators, educators, writers, of which the participants were specially invited by ACC. Forums for people to get to know one another and begin to raise questions. This arose due to feedback from the 2006 ACC Conference. Some of the issues that came out of Lena’s curators’ forum:
-What happens when artists don’t identify themselves as craftspeople?
-Recognizing that 20th Century Craft should be regarded as a Historical movement (and move forward with 21st Century craft as a new one).

8:30 AM: ACC Board Chair, Leilani Lattin Duke, opened this years conference speaking of the themes to Creating a Craft Culture:
-Thinking about Craft and the Individual, the Community, and the Marketplace
-The Idea of Making: how it address the rapidly changing world and Crafts place in it

Dr. Richard Sennet, Keynote

8:45 AM: Keynote Speaker: Dr. Richard Sennett. A little background: Sociologist and writer,  the most recently published book is The Craftsman. He founded, with Susan Sontag and Joseph Brodsky, The New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University, was an advisor to UNESCO & president of the American Council on Work; teaches at New York University and the London School of Economics.
The Craftsman argues that the craftsman’s realm is far broader than skilled manual labor; the computer programmer, the doctor, the parent, and the citizen need to learn the values of good craftsmanship today.

OK, enough background, let’s get down to it–I was glad the Dr. prefaced his talk with “You’ll have to excuse me, but I’m a Night Person” (so am I, Richard; trying to speak before 10 am IS challenging)–so I forgave him for the sluggish, somewhat philosophical sputterings at the beginning, comparing computer engineers to craftsmen, and Linux as public craft. I mean, I get it since my fiancé is a techie, but many artists glaze over after more than a few minutes of techie speak.

The question of the hour (and theme for the day) is: Why is it that Mediocracy tends to dominate over Quality in our society? In the modern workplace, delivering Quality is regarded/rewarded less than delivering Results. Thus we don’t reward craftsmanship since we don’t reward quality. How do we maintain the balance of Quality and Democracy?

Craft is exploratory; in craftsmen, there is a deep relationship between problem solving and problem finding–good craftsmen want to see what opens up when solving problems. It’s about the craftsmanship in learning, in stopping to dwell on things and find out what’s interesting and possible.  Unfortunately our society doesn’t look kindly upon learning at this pace.

What’s the solution?–Remove craftsmen from the need to produce Products and return importance to Process.

See what Harriete has to say on her blog here.