Meet Maria

One of the best parts of our trip was meeting all the wonderful artists alongside us. Maria White was one of my favorites. She was one of four artists who were given the Award of Excellence at the SF show, so we decided we had to meet her. She was fabulous. Her ceramic pieces have a look all their own and as much as I really wanted to come home with this beautiful bowl, my wallet said otherwise and I had to comply.

Maria was born in Nevada, raised in South Caroline now lives and creates in Hollywood. She has earned much well deserved praise and recognition internationally and her work is regularly featured in television and film productions. She was such a treat to talk to and was so absolutely pleasant to work with. She even made me a custom pendant from an earring set right there on the spot ... just because I mentioned that I liked the smaller set better. Go check out her website to see more of her pieces. They're stunning.

SF: Click Happy

Lombard Pretties

SF: Post One

I promise not to drag this whole thing out forever, just thought I'd hit the highlights in the next couple of posts. Now, after a year of really ugly sales figures, I was pretty nervous about accepting the invitation to the show in the first place. So ... I decided a long time ago that this would be my birthday trip. Hopefully I'd be able to recover my costs, but this way it took all the pressure off right from the get go.

I roped a dear friend into going with me since hubby couldn't get the time off work ... and spending that many hours at an art shop would have sent him through the roof anyway. We packed up the car with everything I could think of and hit the road Wednesday around 3pm. After filling up the tank, we drove on the long, long, straight, unpretty highway to Reno. We pulled into the Silver Legacy, drove up the 17 story parking structure, got checked in and went to find some sandwiches for dinner. The next morning, we grabbed a decent breakfast downstairs and got back on the road. After we made our way through dozens of construction zones along the way, we landed in SF just after 1pm.

It took us 4 hours to get the booth set up and presentable and we were able to meander through the other booths for a smidge to get a sneak peek of the competition. Then we were off to find us some yummy-licious seafood at Pier 39 and take a stroll to relax before the next 3 days of work, work, work. Luckily, we were able to find and check in at the hotel before dark ... we were warned that it was in a dicey neighborhood.

This was our home at Fort Mason and the finished booth photo. Like my new breezy CK blouse I got for the trip? I found it on overstock.com ... gotta love point and click shopping on the fly.

Looking Ahead

Look what came for me in the mail yesterday! It’s my press kit for the American Craft Council Show in San Francisco, complete with 5 Exhibitor Guest Passes. I have been accepted to the AltCraft section of the show August 14-16. The Council describes it like this:

“This section features rising indie craft artists whose work illustrates the innovative techniques and materials of the burgeoning new handmade movement. The work of 16 artists, selected through a special jury process, will be presented in a unique loft space in the Fort Mason pier.”
Yay me! They’ve also opened up this show to wholesale buyers, so hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a few new accounts there as well. Now, I just need to nail down my display options and try to really ‘wow’ them. Huge thanks going out to the Etsy Storque who plugged their 'Call for Artists'!! I owe you guys.