Making, Designing, Submitting
Notes From This Week in the Studio
Art making, web design, and submitting applications - it’s been a busy week leading up to what is looking to be a busy few months!
This summer I’m participating in a couple of plein air events (more on that soon); I’m honored to be showing my work at two fabulous events - the Salem Arts Festival (here in Oregon), and the Bellevue Arts Museum show (in Washington); and, finally, on a personal note, my husband and I have decided to downsize and put our house up for sale, which means among the many other things that come with this process - another studio move!
So, with a few major projects to finalize for this summer’s shows - I will be spending the majority of my time in the studio focusing on daily and weekly progress on each. And in between these many making moments, I’ll do my best to keep up on all those other studio tasks (such as more Swatch-Making, Website & Social Media Management, Office Management &Bookkeeping, Order Fulfillment, and Advertising/Marketing).
This Week in Making
Lots of Stitching! Multiple projects have converged into the land of stitch and thread this week, which is fun but can also be tedious. Fortunately, I started listening to books on tape again - starting with a fun historical fiction murder mystery: “Dark Matter” by Philip Kerr, in which you get fun phrases such as, “He’s like a dog without a tail. Most unpredictable.” (When I shared this in my family group chat, they reminded me of the fun Shakespeare insult, “I’ll bite my thumb at them” and also this entertaining Shakespearean insult generator provided by the Hawaii Public Library System.) I’m looking forward to switching gears after this book and listening to “When We Left Cuba” by Chanel Cleeton next. (If you have any favorite audiobooks, feel free to share below!)
Book listening aside - I’ve been adding more stitches to “Listen to the Fawn Lillies” (featured in last week’s An Artist’s Readings); adding stitches for the display of some of my Swatch Project pieces; preparing fabric for collaging more fiber pieces in a free-form wall hanging piece; AND planning out knitted lace patterns to add to “Uncharted Territory” (pictured below).
FYI - More details about each project and photos of my progress are available to my Patreon Subscribers in the post “Works in Progress: Studio Update Part II”.
In-Between all the Making this week…
Designing
After recently finishing another show application (see below), I realized my website could use a refresh. I’ve been building upon the same structure for several years and decided it’s finally time to clean it up while making it simpler and more representative of my current work. It will be a slow process, but behind the scenes, I’ve started to take the first steps: mocking up a new homepage that will link to nine basic areas of interest. It’s a work in progress, as I contemplate if these are the areas I want to be featured and to what each box will link, but it’s a start. My goal is to have it all set up before the end of the year (and hopefully sooner!)
For comparison, you can find my current homepage here: JenniferLommers.com
Submitting Applications - Current Status & Resources
I’ve also been busy with applications this week - following up on unconfirmed submitted applications (and then re-submitting - whew!), completing steps for show participation (after being called off the waitlist - yay!), and branching out with submissions to a couple of new-to-me artist/poet calls.
The Around Oregon Annual Exhibit at The Arts Center of Corvallis: After my application got lost in the ether last week, I was grateful to be able to reapply. It was a good reminder that bumps can happen when submitting to shows. (1) Always save a copy of the information you submitted (e.g. that perfectly crafted artist statement - you don’t want to have to create that again - and thankfully, I had saved the text in a separate reference file); (2) Don’t be afraid to follow up if you have questions or concerns about your application; (3) Know that mistakes happen - both ways. Choosing kindness and understanding builds relationships.
(See more Artist Calls posted at TheArtsCenter.net)
The Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair: As a Northwest Washington native, this show has long been on my bucket list. It’s been a few years since I last applied, so it was a nice surprise to be called off the waitlist last week! I quickly turned in my show questionnaire and made the booth payment of $1070. (This show application was submitted via Zapplication.org)
Las Laguna Art Gallery - 2022 “Golden”: I don’t usually apply to gallery shows but feel, going forward, that will most likely be my focus (rather than going to as many art festivals with a full booth display). This particular show is also the one that forced me to recognize my website could use an update in order to better feature my newer mixed media pieces. So, even if the two pieces I submitted for entry aren’t accepted, it prompted an improved website - I call that a win! (This show application was submitted via Submittable.com)
Aurora Poetry - Winter Poetry Contest: With the recent completion of my “Listen to the Fawn Lilies” poem, I decided to look at open poetry contests, and found this one. It is my first time submitting here. We’ll see what happens. (This application was also submitted via Submittable.com)
I’ve been pretty nonchalant about searching for appropriate shows and contests for my work lately. However, I do try to look around about once every month or two to see what’s out there. Following are some of the places (other than the ones mentioned above) I regularly look at for possible submissions.
Weekend Plans
So - that’s my studio work week in a nutshell. Now it’s time to have some fun this weekend with family, enjoy some good food together, and then get the house ready to sell!
Cheers!
~ Jennifer
Edited 5/6/2022 for clarity.