Popping the question
Aug. 19th, 2019 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrI was out of my booth at Silverton, stretching my legs, but I could have heard it at any art fair, anywhere.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Please, artists, don't do this. I know, you want to engage with browsers, but you don't want to make them feel, I don't know, pressured. So you toss out this phrase, and wait for them to make the next move.
Nine times out of ten, they won't. Why should they? It's not their job to make your job--selling your art--easy. And even the ones who might have a question, might not ask it for fear of sounding stupid. It's hard to speak up when you don't know enough to formulate a sensible question.
So what should you do? Well, say hello, first. Ask how they're doing. If they answer in more than monosyllables, they probably aren't averse to having a conversation, so start one. Volunteer information. Tell how your art is made, or tell what inspires you, or tell what got you into the medium in the first place. It doesn't have to be a monologue--one or two sentences are plenty. Then give them a chance to respond.
It'll feel awkward, at first. You should probably prepare a list of talking points before the show, mix and match them so you don't feel like you're giving the same speech over and over. (Though it probably doesn't matter if you do. They'll only hear it once, even if you (and your neighbor) hear it ad nauseum. And the neighbor probably has their own speech prepared, that you'll learn so well that you can pitch it for them while they're on a bathroom break.
(This is not a bad thing.)
Some of mine:
I make everything in the booth on the potter's wheel, and paint it all freehand. No stencils, no decals, no shortcuts.
Everything is individually hand-painted; even the things I do in multiples are one-of-a-kind.
When I first started out, I did a lot of floral patterns, but really came into my own when I started painting animals.
Yes, I have somewhere around a hundred different patterns. People keep asking for new patterns, and I keep saying, Hmm, that sounds fun.
The clay is stoneware, fired in a 50 cubic foot gas kiln. The floor of the kiln and door are on tracks, so we can roll them out for loading, back in to fire.
I do every drawing with brushes I make myself, from squirrel tail. The line quality of the drawings, the way lines go from thin to thick in a single stroke? That comes from the long, flexible tip. (If pursue, I'll bring up the road-kill thing.)
(And only occasionally, because everyone says it) My pottery is lead-free, and oven-, dishwasher- and micro-wave safe.
Over time, I try out new turns of phrase. I dropped "thrown on the wheel", because it's not necessarily a familiar verb. I started using "freehand" this spring to describe the painting, and I like the sound.
So start a conversation. It'll make time in your booth go so much faster, and who knows, you might even sell something.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Please, artists, don't do this. I know, you want to engage with browsers, but you don't want to make them feel, I don't know, pressured. So you toss out this phrase, and wait for them to make the next move.
Nine times out of ten, they won't. Why should they? It's not their job to make your job--selling your art--easy. And even the ones who might have a question, might not ask it for fear of sounding stupid. It's hard to speak up when you don't know enough to formulate a sensible question.
So what should you do? Well, say hello, first. Ask how they're doing. If they answer in more than monosyllables, they probably aren't averse to having a conversation, so start one. Volunteer information. Tell how your art is made, or tell what inspires you, or tell what got you into the medium in the first place. It doesn't have to be a monologue--one or two sentences are plenty. Then give them a chance to respond.
It'll feel awkward, at first. You should probably prepare a list of talking points before the show, mix and match them so you don't feel like you're giving the same speech over and over. (Though it probably doesn't matter if you do. They'll only hear it once, even if you (and your neighbor) hear it ad nauseum. And the neighbor probably has their own speech prepared, that you'll learn so well that you can pitch it for them while they're on a bathroom break.
(This is not a bad thing.)
Some of mine:
I make everything in the booth on the potter's wheel, and paint it all freehand. No stencils, no decals, no shortcuts.
Everything is individually hand-painted; even the things I do in multiples are one-of-a-kind.
When I first started out, I did a lot of floral patterns, but really came into my own when I started painting animals.
Yes, I have somewhere around a hundred different patterns. People keep asking for new patterns, and I keep saying, Hmm, that sounds fun.
The clay is stoneware, fired in a 50 cubic foot gas kiln. The floor of the kiln and door are on tracks, so we can roll them out for loading, back in to fire.
I do every drawing with brushes I make myself, from squirrel tail. The line quality of the drawings, the way lines go from thin to thick in a single stroke? That comes from the long, flexible tip. (If pursue, I'll bring up the road-kill thing.)
(And only occasionally, because everyone says it) My pottery is lead-free, and oven-, dishwasher- and micro-wave safe.
Over time, I try out new turns of phrase. I dropped "thrown on the wheel", because it's not necessarily a familiar verb. I started using "freehand" this spring to describe the painting, and I like the sound.
So start a conversation. It'll make time in your booth go so much faster, and who knows, you might even sell something.
no subject
Date: 2019-08-20 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-21 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-21 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-08-22 05:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-06 05:44 am (UTC)I need more details on the roadkill squirrel brushes.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-10 06:08 am (UTC)One of these days, I should do a video of the process of actually making them.