emiko-o reware

Just got my work back from the Minimal Bling exhibition that was at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston last month. I was extremely pleased that they used my Maharajah’s 6th LEGO necklace in the promotional materials, including the gorgeous postcard. While I was at SNAG Philly last May I had the pleasure of reconnecting with the Director, Beth Ann Gerstein, and Exhibitions Director, Fabio Fernandez. SAC had first shown my work way back in 2003 when I was doing the Truth tiara series.

For Minimal Bling I made 2 new mid-range pieces to accompany this neckpiece and the Duchess neckpiece (these latter 2 are now at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft‘s Transmutations show).

Pas de trois is a necklace that riffs off my recent Cygne Noir reinterpretation of Lalique’s Women with Black Swans enamel necklace. The pendant has 3 components, the bottom 2 of which are interchangeable.

Twilight is my latest Limited Edition bracelet, which I was compelled to make way before I got sucked into the black hole obsession of a series that obliterated my month of January (hence the lack of posts since early december; I’m 10 pages away from finishing the last book, thank god!). I must say it does justice to books; what would Stephenie Meyer say?

Most of the non-CA shows that my work is in I don’t get the chance to see, but my pal Shana swung by and shot these pics of the gallery entrance, where lo and behold, my Luke and Darth Vader earrings are HUGE on the banner! No wonder those earrings sold!

Gallery Panel SNAG

The last segment of the PDS program, The Evolving Role of the Gallery in a Virtual World of Commerce, gave us the insider perspective of what it takes to run a gallery in this age of internet commerce, not to mention a bad economy. Each gallery owner had 5 minutes to show a powerpoint presentation about their gallery and mission. From left to right: Ruth Synderman of Works Gallery, Beth Ann Gerstein of Society of Arts and Crafts, Sienna Patti of Sienna Gallery, Whitney Couch of ObjectFetish, Patti Bleicher of Gallery Loupe, Karen Lorene of Facére.

Questions posed to the group were:

1. What does a Brick and Mortar Store (all are physical sites, except for ObjectFetish being the sole online-only store) have to offer that justifies the 50/50 split on sales? Why wouldn’t an artist just sell retail through their own site or on Etsy?

2. How are they finding and educating new, young collectors?

3. And how is the internet affecting their sales?

Answers (higlights):

1. “the gallery is there to facilitate the future of the artist,”-Sienna Patti. “It’s ALL of our jobs to be the advocate for art jewelry,”-Karen Lorene.

2. Co-sponsoring important art jewelry exhibitions with local art museums, as Patti Bleicher did with the recent Helen Drutt Collection show; brings in new audiences. “All my customers are collectors,” says Karen, who makes a point to educate every customer about the artist they are purchasing from, even with a letter welcoming them to the world of art jewelry collecting.

3. Whitney finds that the competition, like Etsy, pushes her to work even harder to promote her artists; she encourages the competition!

Thanks to the PDS organizers for all of their hard work: w

SNAG PDS organizers

From left to right: Andy Cooperman, Harriete Estel Berman, Don Friedlich, Ken Bova. Also, much thanks to Etsy and MJSA for sponsoring this program.

This will be the last year that the PDS will be a Pre-Conference event. Next year, PDS will be incorporated into the SNAG conference itself (no more flying in the night before, maybe…)