Clay Coyote Gallery and Pottery Blog

Photos, ideas and random musings from Tom Wirt and Betsy Price at the Clay Coyote Gallery and Pottery. We encourage comments. www.claycoyote.com

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Name: Clay Coyote
Location: Hutchinson, MN, United States

Tom & Betsy are potters in Hutchinson, MN. View main website at www.claycoyote.com

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Clay Coyote Gallery Summer Picnic


IT WAS A FABULOUS WEEKEND!!!

70 Deg, A little breeze and
Throngs of people!

Thank you all for stopping out!





We estimate that some 700 or 800 people stopped out over the Saturday/Sunday affair.
Guest Artists included:
Madam Lorna from Excelsior brought her oils, soaps and scents, http://www.madamlorna.com/
Lollie Hinkle from Mankato had her fine silver handcrafted jewelry,
Margo Bonniwell, a neighbor who also happens to publish the Clay Coyote cookbook brought her handcrafted journals, books, and paper creations.
Kim Hensel, from Hutchinson, brought her Maille jewelry and garments.
And finally, while a family emergency kept her from being here, Patti Ellis from Frankfort, IL, sent some of her Pheasant Feather art.

The echinacea and other prairie plants made a spectacular showing. Tom even mowed a path out into the prarie restoration to allow visitors to get up close and personal with the 9 or 12 grasses, maybe 15 flowers, and maybe a few mosquitoes...although not many because it's been so dry.

Inside, it was a frenzy on Saturday. Betsy puts on a pretty good spread for lunch and the word is out! But the smart shoppers shop first, while others are eating, and then have a bite when they're done. Between 11:30 and 1:30 is busiest.




In this shot, Anna Slyter, of Vivid Image who helps us, along with many others, with our website, is an old hand at Gallery Open Houses and is here showing her "new buddy" (she's going to kill me for that), the lay of the land....mostly where the food and refreshments are.
Right outside the door was Madam Lorna http://www.madamlorna.com/ with her wide variety of oils, soaps, scents and 'stuff'. Lorna was a potter for many years (I promised not to tell how many) and a few years back, had back surgery and suddenly had to give up potting and landed on fragrances. Her husband Steve is just to the left of the booth (that's Lorna in back). More on Steve later.


Lolly was next with her beautifully crafted silver jewelry. She has studied for several years with Fine Goldsmith Patty Conlin of St. Peter who usually is at our fall open houses.



And new this year was Kim Hensel, the daughter of a friend and good customer, who has taken up the unique art of Maille...yes, that comes from chain maille, like the knights of old wore. Beside some unique clothing accessory items, she has fashioned unique bracelets and other jewelry with the 1/4" interlocking rings that are each hand formed and linked together. That's Kim frolicking in the prairie above.

And inexcusably, I didn't get a picture of Margo Bonniwell and her beautifully hand crafted journals, books, book marks, and other items. She's a neighbor, and appeared as if by magic a year or so ago saying that she published cookbooks, and voila, the cookbook that's been on our 'to-do' list for 10 or 12 years, became reality-Cookin' with the Coyote. So if you're looking for a organization cookbook, or other bound paper work, call Margo (dare I say The Barefoot Turtle Publishing?) at 320-587-5290. Oh yeah, I'm supposed to say her husband Jerry helped put up the tent.


Let's get back to Steve. When Lorna was a potter, Steve did decorative and functional steel work. Look closely at the photo, He's now making frames for pictures, mirrors, whatever, on which you can write whatever you want. It's permanent for cleaning with Windex or water. But then you can change the sayings just by wiping it with Endust. What a fun idea! 'course I'll have to spiff up my handwriting a bit!



And then there's the food. Betsy puts on a spread that's becoming known throughout the region for it's excellence. It takes 2 or 3 people to keep it all going,. This summer it was Linda and her DIL Kelly Lindahl, and Shirley Smith and her daughter Stacie Jones. Tom did up the Sangria, plus we had 1919 rootbeer, beer, wine, sodas and water.


Meanwhile back inside, Lena Mowlem was helping customers out with jewelry, Tami Watt was wrapping....and wrapping...and wrapping. Guess you could call her the Coyote Wrap Star.



And Michele who says she never smiles for photos, was caught almost smiling. Ann, Rachel, and Alyssa took turns at the register, restocking shelves and helping Tami with her rap.





The end of a long and successful weekend. Alyssa, Michele, Betsy, Ann, Rachel and Lolly see who stopped out.

We really do appreciate your support of the Clay Coyote Gallery and Pottery. Without you, as loyal customers, it wouldn't exist.
So bring your friends out. There's more to come! Watch the website for upcoming events.

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Sunday, July 8, 2007





In The Good Old Summertime…
We’d like to Say “Thank You”!
So You and your friends are invited to a
GOOD, OLD FASHIONED PICNIC
(AND ART FAIR) IN THE COUNTRY….

The Clay Coyote Gallery summer open house is much more relaxed than the spring and fall extravaganzas.



We get a chance to chat, you relax over Sloppy joes with all the picnic fixin’s, slurp down some fine root beer and other refreshments and, if you want, have a watermelon seed spitting contest!








And you can buy fine art and hand-crafted
work for the rest of the summer’s gift giving (or yourself if you’ve been good).







UNIQUE GUEST ARTISTS!
Patti Ellis from Chicago with framed Pheasant Feather art;
Madam Lorna - Wayzata, with unique oils, salts, soaps and scents
www.madamlorna.com;
Lolly Hinkle, Mankato, fine handcrafted silver jewelry;
Margo Bonniwell, our neighbor, with handmade books and cards;
Kim Hensel of Hutchinson with her Maille jewelry (maille is the ancient art of weaving with wire...as in chain maille.

In The Gallery, you’ll find new artists and new works – jewelry, pottery, glass, accessories…and much more! What a Great Excuse for a summer road trip! Bring your friends and neighbors! Meet someone here.

Check the website for other things to do in the Hutch area!
www.claycoyote.com
FIFTH ANNUAL
Summer at the Gallery Picnic
Sat., July 14th 10 to 6 PM Sun., July 15th – 12 noon to 5 PM.
17614 240th St., Hutchinson, MN 55350
320-587-2599 1-888-737-4014
From the Cities, go west on 394/12 or Hwy. 7 to MN Hwy. 15 –
about 60 miles, then it’s 4.5 Miles North of Hutch off MN Hwy. 15 -- 8/10’s Mile East on County Rd. 60 (240th St.) Watch for signs on 15




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Thursday, July 5, 2007

Art Show Reflections


Bob Carls, Woodturner, Aitken MN...couldn't resist

THE ART SHOW …
… an insider’s view

Many artists and craftspeople make a good portion, or all, of their living from sales of their art at art fairs and shows, sometimes called street fairs. We know artists that do a few shows a year, and some that do 25, 30 or more. But it is an ‘industry’ that is changing rapidly, and there are some circles where the discussion is about the death of art fairs as we know them.

Many shows are sponsored by organizations for which the show is a source of income. When this happens, there seems to be a consistent result. The show gets watered down, one way or the other.

Costs of running a fair are significant, to be sure. Advertising, administration, porta-potties, websites, fair maps, … the list goes on and on. Expensive and complex.

The basic process for shows is that they put out a call for applications via mail, internet and magazine advertising. Artists submit the application with, typically 3 to 5 slides of their work. These slides are viewed by a committee of jurors who select the show participants. These juries may be practicing artists, interested arts supporters…but more frequently a show committee or, in one case, business students at a community college who are acting as interns (not good). Good shows will publish their jury list…at least by qualification. Typically there is a $25-$35 fee for applying. This jury process usually takes place 3 to 5 months before the show, and they advise you as to whether you’re in, 2 or 3 months ahead. If you’re accepted, typical fees per booth range from $125 to $425 depending on the size of the show). There is usually some relationship between potential sales and booth fees.

What’s changing:
The Internet…for applications, slides can now be entered digitally, and shows are entered with just a few clicks resulting in more people applying to shows and making quality jurying more difficult. If you’re interested, one of these venues is Zapplication ( http://www.zapplication.org/ ) (I wish I could give you our id and password … but you might sign us up for more shows ).

The internet is also providing an alternative venue for sales (artists need less shows) as well as for galleries like The Clay Coyote Gallery ( http://www.claycoyotegallery.com/ ) which sell their work.

A computer downside is that it is now easy to manipulate slides before submitting.

So What’s happening? As shows find it tougher to fill the booth allotments (and budgets from fees) there is a tendency either to let in lower quality work, or start selling “commercial” booths … cell phones, packaged food items, sampling … whatever. A trend this year seems to be to take out a row of art booths, generally in the prime space, and put in these commercial booths, moving the art booths to the side.

The second trend is for more and louder entertainment. Especially rock bands. As the woman who used to run the Edina Art Show pointed out, the least sponsors could do is match the music to the art audience.

The effect of these 2 moves is to dramatically decrease sales by artists at art shows. The inclusion of commercial booths makes the atmosphere more of a flea market or retail street sale than an art fair. The addition of intrusive entertainment changes the message from ‘this is an art fair’ to ‘this is a music festival’….entertainment. As sales go down, the artists who make a living from their work will have to find other ways of selling, and suddenly shows are in a negative spiral.

Long term, this direction also prevents new, young artists from breaking into the crafts world. If shows aren’t working, they will find other ways to market.

One of the ways we judge whether a show will be good for us and our customers, is to judge if the art show is the "reason for being" for the event. If it is, the show will attract serious customers, interested in buying because they know there will be a good selection of high quality work. If the art show becomes secondary to other activities, quality inevitably slides and the show rapidly becomes entertainment.

If you feel that a favorite show of yours is changing in negative ways, please, go out of your way to let the show’s organizer know your feeling. For one, for shows that we do, we will start posting the show’s management contact information in the section of our website where we list our show schedule: http://www.claycoyote.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.display&page_id=25

If you want to spend some time reading other’s comments, the potter’s discussion group had a thread in 2002 about this subject. (Copy and paste into your browser – click the lightbulb in the header to move through messages). (Copy and paste this address to your browser)

http://lsv.ceramics.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0201D&L=CLAYART&D=0&P=11773

Anyway … the one person not heard from in this is YOU! What are your impressions of Art and/or Craft fairs? What do you like and not like? Click on comment at the bottom of the blog. You can leave your thoughts as anonymous to save the hassle of signing up but we'd really like to know who your are.

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