Counting Down to Full-Time Artist Life

Ready to dive into the creative world of community art? 

Summer is approaching fast, and with it comes the excitement of my new Kids Art Camps launching this July! These age-specific programs offer young artists from toddlers to teens the opportunity to explore different creative disciplines each day, from fiber arts to painting, all while completing meaningful projects by week's end.

The studio is buzzing with energy as registrations come in, though I'm keeping groups intimate with just 20 students per age bracket to ensure quality instruction and personal attention. These morning sessions will feature guest appearances from local creatives, enhancing the learning experience while building community connections. While navigating the challenges of offering affordable programming as a for-profit business, I'm exploring flexible payment options and potential single-day attendance for families who can't commit to a full week.

May brings other exciting developments to the studio! We're featuring our first-ever photography exhibition with Paul DeGarmo's intimate animal portraits in his "Expressions" collection. Our class schedule is packed with glass painting and popular bonsai workshops (complete with adorable tiny accessories). I'm also tackling an ambitious project – transforming a vintage 1977 cigarette vending machine into an art dispenser, though I could use some technical advice on making it operational without coins!

As I prepare for the Kentucky Rebloom Art Conference and count down my final eight weeks before transitioning to full-time artist life on June 30th, I'm filled with anticipation about future offerings like tufting classes. 

What creative activities are you planning in your community? I'd love to hear your ideas and maybe even help you brainstorm ways to promote your passion. Connect with me to share your creative journey or challenges – sometimes all it takes is a fresh perspective to bring your artistic vision to life! 

Sign up to receive my monthly newsletter!!

Chapters

• 0:00 Announcing Kids Art Camps
• 2:30 May Exhibition and Classes
• 6:30 Vintage Machine Restoration Challenge
• 9:32 Transitioning to Full-Time Artist

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:06

Hello everyone, happy May. I'm so excited to be here with you today. There's so much going on in my little community and I'm anxious to share how I am trying to be organized, about it and what I'm doing to promote it, and I hope that it inspires you to do something in your world to share what you do. So I have kids art camps that are coming up in July, and so May is the last month that you can sign up for those. So I split them up between ages. So I have toddlers they're two to four and then I have what I call like primary age, which is five to nine. Then I have like middle school, which is 10 to 13. And then teenagers, 14 to 19.

Speaker 0: 1:03

And so each week in July, starting the first full week of July as a toddler, and then they go up, and so every day of the week we're going to do a different activity based on kind of like a study, so like fiber art or painting, things like that, but then all of the campers will work on a project every day that will be finished by the end of the week, and so I'm going to include a snack, and I decided to start off this year, since this is my first one. They would be a couple hours long, so just 10 to 12. And then my store opens starting the summer when I am retired at noon. So I'm really anxious to get to spend the morning really focusing, working with the kids. And there's a limit. I only have so much space and there's a limit of 20 students per age group. So I really wanted to make it fun and I wanted to make it memorable and hands on and I'm really wanting to incorporate some maybe other community members coming in and sharing what they do creative wise. That would help support those daily crafts and activities. So that's part of the planning too.

Speaker 0: 2:18

So I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row so I know how many campers I have and then get those people in and scheduled and plenty of time hopefully notice for them to plan for July. So I'm really excited about it and I'm really excited how people are reacting to them and signing up and I think that if I have any spaces left after May, there could be some opportunities to do just like one day attending. Maybe you couldn't attend all of the days and maybe there would be like some days that would be available for you to just come in and do the daily craft. So I haven't really got to see how that will work out yet, but it's in the back of my mind, just because there are some people that maybe couldn't attend the whole week. And you know, I'm not a nonprofit, so I don't have anything like scholarships or the ability to have someone sponsor it or pay for campers, so that's the only thing I do have. You can split the payments up. I do have that. If you want to check out, like with shop pay, you can divide your payments into like every two weeks. So that's a possibility, but otherwise I don't have any other way to, you know, offer it.

Speaker 0: 3:38

I am a for profit business and and I'm living using my artwork, and so that is what I have to do, and so hopefully people understand that they seem to, but I'm anxious to see are you offering things that the community can participate in, and how are you doing it? How are you creating that schedule? What is in the back of your mind that makes you say this is the project that I want to offer and this is what I want to do and this is what I want to showcase. So, and how do you advertise it. You know I have a monthly newsletter, so my May newsletter went out on May 1, and there were all kinds of things in it.

Speaker 0: 4:21

I was announcing Paul DeGarmo, our May exhibiting artist for the month. His reception is Saturday, so tomorrow, from three to five, we will have light refreshments and he will be there to talk to you about his beautiful pieces that are on the wall. He hung his show this week and it is so pretty, so many great canvases. I can't wait to have him on the podcast. I think he understands that it will be very easy. I shared with him how much I want him to be a guest to talk about his process. He chose to call it expressions and it's all different photographs that are very intimate, very close up, of different animals, and so it's so cute. And then he has two of a little girl and it's his daughter, who is in her 40s now, but this is probably when she was a toddler, and they're super, super sweet. So it's just neat to see them in the studio and I've never had a photographer yet, so he's our first one see them in the studio and I've never had a photographer yet, so he's our first one and I love sharing that his work is available for purchase and that you can see during the show. So that'll be up the entire month of May.

Speaker 0: 5:38

And then I have kicking off our month with classes. We have a glass painting class tonight with Amy, and she has been doing great with the fused glass classes, from the jewelry to the sun catchers, and so I just am so enamored by the painting with the glass and how that looks. So that's tonight. And then Saturday, our bonsai class. There's always a great response to the bonsai classes and I have the most fun mini spring and summer pieces for accessories. Josh knows how much I love getting those little things to make the bonsai trees. The butterflies alone are these super tiny little resin ones. They're so cute. But there's so many like little benches and stuff, so it's so fun. So his class is Saturday night and then I leave for Kentucky and then I will be gone for the Rebloom Art Conference and I'm really excited about that. So I can't wait to share with you, um, next week, all about that trip and I'm also going to go see my mom and I'm just very, very excited about that. And then my friend Madeline is watching the shop for me and that's very kind of her that she's taken time to do that. I will be closed on Sunday. Her granddaughter graduates from Ohio University, bob get, so I won't get to have anyone there on Sunday, but it'll be okay. That's just kind of the things I have to do to make everything work, but she will be there all week long. We have a big activity happening with a group coming in and it's just so much fun to see everything develop.

Speaker 0: 7:22

The one thing that I have pending that I'm trying to work on is my vintage cigarette dispenser, the vending machine. It's all torn apart. I've cleaned it all. There isn't a cash box on the right-hand side. I think that I've found that it's a national brand, 1977. That's the stamp inside and I'm going to rewire it for the lights. But the coin mechanism doesn't work because the slot that you put the money in the box that it goes down is missing. So if you know of anybody that knows how to restore vending machines, I would be willing to pay them for time to walk me through how to maybe vend without using a coin. I'll make it a free machine just so you can pull the stems out to get a piece of art out. I'm good with that. I think that would be a fun experience. I just I don't know how to do it. So I'm working on that project. Everything will get wrapped with uh, uh colors and and fun little designs, but and we'll put new lights in it, cause that wiring is super old, but, um, but yeah. So I'm I'm struggling, working on that machine and making it, um, usable for for art.

Speaker 0: 8:41

I loved the automatics that were out in Seattle and unfortunately I can't afford one of those. They're gorgeous and beautiful and I love what he's doing, but I need to restore this one that I got that was really inexpensive, and do the best I can. So sometimes you know you just get inspired and you have to make it your own, and that's what I'm doing, I can. So sometimes you know you just get inspired and you have to make it your own, and that's what I'm doing. But, but yeah, so what are you doing to keep things interesting in your neck of the woods with what you love to do? I'd love to hear what you're doing, or if you're struggling with something and need to have a brainstorming session to talk about what you can do, let's do that. You know you can send me a message or you can, you know, start a conversation, and I would love to talk about how, how you can do something creative to bring awareness to the things that you're you're doing and what you love. So, so, yep, this is all about, I guess, how to promote some activities with what you do.

Speaker 0: 9:48

But just wanted to say hello, happy May, and I'm really looking forward to sharing all the new things that we'll be doing at the store. We have tufting coming up. I've had a lot of people ask if they could do that. So I have a big frame and all the machines to do that. That's coming up. Yeah, there's also some surprises. So I can. A big frame and all the machines to do that. That's coming up. Yeah, there's also some surprises, so I can't wait to share those, but a busy month ahead. So I am down to my last eight weeks at my full-time job and I will be an artist and an artist studio owner full-time June 30th, looking forward to it. So thanks for your time spending time with me here today and I can't wait to hear from you. So stay Brutally Made. I will talk to you soon. Bye-bye.