A few years ago, my husband and I went to an Open Studio event hosted by Linda King in her home studio. She’d gotten tired of being reliant on outside forces and decided to take charge of her artistic career. As we left, James (sculptor) turned to me and said “why can’t we do something like that?” So…we are! I’m looking forward to seeing folks IRL and building community. If you’re in the SoCal area, we’d love to have you - email me at ann@ann-mitchell.com for the address and directions.
Our Checklist for Open Studios:
Goals: We had multiple goals. Create a deadline to make new work and show it, grow our community and people’s awareness of who we are as artists, sell work and create opportunities. I like to think of this as “stirring the cosmos.”
Artwork: I’ve been working on a new platinum series, a pastel over pigment series, and ceramics - so I might show some of all of them! James has been working on some new pieces - integrating wood with ceramics. We are also figuring out how to display the work - I don’t want frames, but need to protect the work somehow.
Date / Time / Location: We chose April because (hopefully) it won’t be raining or too hot, the garden looks beautiful, and folks haven’t left town for the summer. In talking with Linda, we decided to limit it to a single weekend, 12-5pm. We figured this was a large enough window for folks to drop by and still do other things with their day. Our location is our back studio space.
Prep:
Signs: we followed Linda’s lead and got a nice metal sign made that we’ll hang on our driveway gate. We also won’t have parking in the driveway, so folks can see the sign.
The Space: That back studio space was filled with odds and ends - so we Marie Kondo’d the crap out of it! Got some simple white metal storage cabinets that can serve as a surface as well. Took down the Happy Gilmore sign and painted the whole place white, plus put up lights for the walls. Obscured the view out a side window, hung nice curtains over the storage area…basically tidied it all up.
The Back Yard: that’s also getting tidied up and we will have seating and refreshments areas.
Made sure the WiFi works in the studio area for sales. Plus, we will be documenting all the work for our own records.
Cleared out the top three drawers in the studio flat file to show additional work.
Promotional:
Mailing List: still working on getting my email lists cleaned up. It started when I got this newsletter going - some folks want updates and nothing else - others (like you!) want the full experience. I’m also keeping track of curators, jurors and writers that I admire and would want to have see the work. The goal would be to send a “Save the Date” a month beforehand and then an announcement a week or so ahead.
Social Media and Online:
Since this will be two artists, I decided to make a website for our joint ventures, Borradori Studios…use this link for the backstory on that.
Postings: Artist Habib Kheradyar was one of the best Gallery Directors we had at LBCC’s Art Department. Before every Opening Reception, he would cover the glass gallery doors with paper so you couldn’t see what was happening - it added this great sense of mystery and anticipation. So…for my social media posts (and the website) I’m going to be posting just snippets of the work - maybe parts of the process…build some energy for folks to come in-person.
In March we attended The Brewery Art Walk, with 100+ Open Studios. Some artists were on-top of their printed materials - others literally had nothing…not even their name!
Printed materials: Handouts and Take-aways
Short announcement to be used in emails and social media posts.
Bio and Artist statement. I’ve been going back and forth on the tone of these - first or third person…I feel like I’m “supposed” to be academic and do third person, but I also feel like folks connect more with a direct approach….TBA
Take-away card: Our announcement card will be printed and folks can take that home with them. I’ve got a local place (Color Images Printing) I like, but many folks use Modern Postcard.
Business Cards: updating mine to remove the phone number and add my social media info. I used Moo.
Price List - I’ll create a couple of folders with bio, statement and pricing. Linda said a lot of folks left with hers…so maybe I’ll make more
Event:
Refreshments: Some type of drinks, snack packages from CostCo or Trader Joe’s.
Guest Book to build our mailing list.
Sales tool - I use PayPal to take credit cards. Will also create a paper receipt.
Wrapping materials.
Block off the main house to keep it private.
Music? Not sure…
And the final, most important thing, recommended by Linda’s brother, is to remember to have fun. This is a chance to show the work exactly as we want it, a chance to see folks and enjoy our community. I’ll be reminding myself of this as I start panicking!
Next Month’s post will be on art-making!
What a wonderful post, Ann . . . you pulled off the grid beautifully and cohesively, plus the info is so informative that I'm saving it as a pdf. Also, can't tell you how much I love this line . . . "so we Marie Kondo’d the crap out of it!" Can't wait to hear more :)!