Open Studios 2009

I thoroughly enjoyed Open Studios again this year. I love to see where artists work - it offers a lot of insights into not only the process of how they make their art but also into who they are, how they think and what's important to them. If showing your art is like hanging yourself on a wall naked (as my high school art teacher used to say), then showing your studio is like hanging yourself on a billboard naked. And by seeing how and where others work, we can better understand our own working habits and thus realize both benefits and drawbacks to our own working environments.

My He Said, She Said buttons that I produced for today were more successful than I imagined they would be. (Each button was printed with a quote or phrase that was said to me or someone I know or overheard in the art fair setting.) At first I was concerned that people weren't going to talk to me for fear of appearing on a button later, but as the day progressed that proved not to be the case. The buttons became a starting point for conversation, much like the nametags in my Reflections piece. And I sold a number of them as well, which was also nice because it helped pay for my materials and because people were wearing them around.