lo and behold

I realized in 2009 that I’m in art school.  It’s my own personal art school, but I’m treating my life and my time as if I were a student again.  Here’s what I did in the first year:

• took an intro class in flameworking with Sally Prasch
• took a beadmaking class with Nancy Tobey
• visited the Glass Museum in Corning 
• collected books:  Passing the Flame by Corina Tettinger, Making Glass Beads by Cindy Jenkins, and Glass Bead Workshop by Jeri Warhaftig.
• subscribed to The Flow
• joined the American Craft Council 
• set up a Hothead Torch with one pound gas canisters of MAPP and then converted to bulk propylene
• set up a Jen-Ken Chili Pepper Annealer
• made my first (and only) donation to Beads of Courage
• hosted an art sale at my home in December

Here are my curriculum goals for 2010:

• overall: build skills, professionalize my set up, become more connected with art community.
• take specialized classes with beadmakers whose aesthetic is similar to my own
  • Kristina Logan at the Carlisle School of Glass Art in New Jersey, weekend in May – I’m signed up! 
  • tried to take a week long class with Heather Trimlett at Corning Studios but it was filled, maybe it will still work out
• take an elective art class, probably glass fusing at Snow Farm in August or in the fall
• join the International Society of Glass Beadmakers and attend The Gathering, an annual event held this year in Rochester, NY, end of July
• investigate and join other professional organizations related to the glass arts
• continue with my blog, aiming to achieve MORE posts than 2009
• study the following two books:
  •  More than You Ever Wanted to Know about Glass Beadmaking by James Kervin.  I already have the book.
  •  Torchworked Marbles, Vol. 1, by Drew Fritts.  I am going to buy this book.
• research setting up a studio in my basement or building a studio in my backyard
• make one bead crochet necklace a month
• donate 50 glass beads to Beads of Courage
• host another art sale in my home in November of December and advertise more widely in my neighborhood

General goals for 2011

• continue building glass skills and connecting with the art community
• solidify signature pieces of jewelry (necklaces and earrings probably) that reflect my individual and personal voice and vision
• continue to professionalize my studio
• study and determine pricing of my “lines’”
• research market possibilities, focusing mostly on stores/galleries with some art shows
• continue to build the blog and my online presence 

And that’s as far as I go.  You will notice that I am not setting up an online store anytime soon.  I actually have one now on Etsy and one on Artfire but I am not keeping them up, and I am not going to try.  I am going to focus, for at least another full year on becoming an artist, and not a business person.  I am already run a business and I am not going to turn art into a business until I am sure I want to do that – which I may or may not ever do. 

I feel good about this plan.  I like having things plotted out.  I can easily get overwhelmed by how much I WANT to do and how little time there is to do it all.  So this feels like just enough focus and just enough room to explore.