When I first started doing shows, the 1994 American Craft Council show in Baltimore to be exact, I took wholesale orders, enough at the time to leave my day job with the gem dealer to make the work, granted I had a low budget life style. I stumbled forward largely in the foot steps of friends, some of whose studios I worked in while I tried to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I still appreciate the insights and encouragement I received from Amy Faust in particular.
Remember the days before the internet? Maybe some of you don't. Well, information wasn't as easy to come by. "Getting yourself out there", as in publicity, is something many jewelers I knew, myself included, never had the time, or the knowhow, to get, so when you came by some it felt like dumb luck.
This is just not the case anymore. We are all still pressed for time, but the information is readily available for everyone with a computer. Today I learned that three of my pieces will appear in the gallery section of Art Jewelry Magazine, in three issues in 2009. Here's where I went to submit images Kalmbach Publishing Company. One favorite place to check for calls for entries to exhibitions is fiberartcalls.blogspot.com/ . There are some that are just relevant to fiber artists, but many that are open to all media. And check I the American Craft Magazine website too.
So now that I have restarted my jewelry business after years on the back burner while my kids were young, I am making the time to create publicity opportunities. It is a community after all, and if you don't knock on the door and say hello no one will know you're there.
