Scary Times at the International Quilt Festival in Houston!

I have been looking forward to attending the Halloween-week event of the year for months, or maybe for 14 years, depending upon how you do the math. This extravagant trade and retail show for the quilting industry has happened on the frightful Halloween week for as many years as I can remember. My first trip to this landmark event happened in 1987 and this week's trip will mark my 10th year of attendance!

The gap between my last trip to Houston, to play with all of my quilting peers, happened in 1999, and during the space between then and now, my fiber art passion has decidedly moved away from the heritage fine craft of quilt making into other hand needle art techniques like embroidery and felting. My street cred for quilting expertise has long-since worn off. I am looking forward to seeing how many other mixed-media and felt-loving fiber artists will be represented at this annual show. I expect to be stunned by the variety of offerings and all the talented artists and businesspeople represented. That's what always thrilled me about this event in years past...the unbridled creativity in this huge convention center.

My beautiful Mom, Bonnie Leman

A bit of anxiety is bubbling up for me regarding my opportunity to meet with many of the wonderful folks who have been friends of my mom's over the years...folks who have had personal relationships with Bonnie Leman and were often featured prominently in my family's stellar publications, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and Quiltmaker Magazine. I have contacted Karey Bresenhan, the driving force behind the International Quilt Festival, and one of my mom's life-long friends, and I am looking forward to catching up with Karey. There is a little scary feeling about seeing so many women whom I often saw standing side-by-side with my mom. We lost mom 3 years ago this September, and this will bring back tons of memories for me. I want to feel strong about all of this, but I will admit to you that I am teary just thinking about it all.

Cruella Inspiration

The last Halloween-type scare I just know will happen Thursday, October 31st, is the impact that my three fantastic friends and I will make as we enter the Quilt-a-Palooza ballroom in Texas dressed up in our costumed-best!! Now, it's been about 20 years since I last dressed in costume for Halloween, and that right there tells you how much I look forward to this sort of thing. Regardless, I have created, along with my pals, a Beauty Contestant Costume theme
that will just knock your socks off, or so is the plan. Yes, the four of us are each going as beauty pageant contestants, tiaras and all! When my son saw my costume, his response was, "So, you're going for a little Cruella Deville, huh mom?" Well, yeah.

This little Halloween journey began when the four of us visited a Goodwill store after lunch one day, in the hunt for prom dresses we could embellish. I found a striking black and white Jessica McClintock gown, which would have pleased Cruella Deville to death! My costume takes that strapless taffeta gown and with some fiber-friendly embellishment, and a little inspiration from the brightly-colored spiders of Australia, I will present my interpretation of Ms. HighFiber. (I thought that was more appropriate than entering the contest as Grandma Colorado...) You know, beauty contests are pretty silly, even by those who take them seriously, so we figured, let's have a laugh.

And you know what, when you are laughing, no matter what kind of challenge faces you, it is easy to celebrate. I hope to blog later in the week...along with a photo of the International Quilt Festival in full swing. It will be a homecoming for me of sorts, don't you think? I'm really glad I found a fantastic prom dress to wear.

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne

Building Value in American Handmade Fine Craft

I wrote this article for ArtsyShark, a wonderful resource that inspires artists to build better businesses. I encourage you to visit ArtsyShark and see if any of their resources will be of service to you.

The concept of fine craft, as well as fine art, I think we can all agree, include words like excellence, standards, and quality. When I hear of a master-crafted item, I think about something out of the ordinary or beyond the usual.  I think of an object that inspires awe.

My background in American-made craft began in the mid-1970s when I was part of the team that published Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine in Colorado. Much of my workday saw me helping people focus their love of sewing and playing with color into either a serious hobby or a legitimate profession in the quilting arts. The flourishing quilt industry of the 70’s was yet another cycle of the growing love affair Americans have had with handmade soft goods for the home that, if not master-crafted, were at least laboriously made with great love and attention to detail.

My mom, Bonnie Leman, who was the founding editor of Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, helped her readers improve their quilt making skills, and encouraged them to seek out that awe-inspiring result. She also invested heavily in helping them believe in the value of their handmade fiber arts. This resurgence of improving excellence across an ever-growing body of quilt makers in America was in full swing when big-box stores like Sears began importing bed quilts from China. I observed that anyone who had ever attempted to create a quilt knew that these quilts were not inspiring, they were heartbreaking. In a commercially-driven attempt to profit on the growing demand for quilts in American homes, the value proposition of these objects as an art form was trashed, at least temporarily.

It was interesting for me to observe at this time that the women within this industry, who had spent the past 10-15 years helping one another grow in their expertise as fiber artists, be put in the position to belittle the quilt-making efforts of other women in China. 

My own value system was challenged by this “us vs. them” mentality. I also observed that the glut of these cheaply made quilts made an economic impact on professional American fiber artists, as well as specialty fabrics stores and entrepreneurs across the United States. In fact, I suggest that the fiber arts in America as a broad class of industry are still recovering.

Now that the Internet has so drastically changed the way that people shop, imports into our neighboring stores is only one part of the supply chain. Professional fiber artists in every country have had to learn how to promote the value of what they make to the entire world.

So what can artists and craftspeople do today to both build value and express the value of what they love to make? 

• Concentrate on the absolute value of your creation. For professional fiber artists, that includes quality materials, expert finishing techniques, and professional-quality photos. We sell not only an object, but we sell how that object makes our customers feel.

• Recognize both your expertise and your vulnerabilities. Speak to yourself in terms of valuing your artistic life. Treat yourself with respect at all times. Additionally, reach out to others. We can be the support other artists need on any given day. This can take the form of emotional support, being a collector of their work, and as a supporter of the arts.

• Balance competitive energies with consensus-building. When I market my fiber folk art, I have to both remember and forget that I do not compete with the soft goods sold at Target. I am aware that my customers have a wide variety of choices, so they will likely know about the $9 pillows at Target, but my ideal customer is not interested in filling her home with cheap imports. Instead of thinking about competing on price, I build consensus and community as part of my marketing efforts. I proudly express the quality of what I make and I seek to have that message resonate with my “just-right” audience.

•  Use the power of the Internet to express the benefits of supporting wholesome, handmade fine craft, in America and beyond! This effort helps the individual artist as well as it helps the entire arts community. We can work together to create awe-inspiring results, and this adds to the healthy future of our beloved creativity!

I would love to hear what your experiences are of buying or making craft and how you see the value of handmade items in your part of the world!

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne