On the White Line

Art show vendors can be a unique breed. Many seem to trend toward the extremes… super nice, overly crabby, wildly impulsive, tremendously habitual (I’m not sure what category we fall into).

Reckless

As we were taking down our booth in Tubac, Arizona, we witnessed one pair of vendors at their worst. An RV with a man and woman inside were all packed up and driving up the street passed the rest of the vendors.

I’m not sure why, but the driver veered way to one side of the road driving over another vendor’s tent poles in the process. The poles were off the street, so I can’t lay fault on the roadside artist. For anyone who has had to put up a show tent, you know that bent poles are pretty much useless.

Complete Disregard

The vendor on the street called out to the driver, but the the RV kept rolling along. He ran up to the driver side window and rapped on the glass, but the RV rolled on. He then climbed on the running board, reached across the windshield, and started yanking on the RV windshield wiper yelling “stop!” and the RV jolted forward. The guy on the running board jumped off and the RV swiped the branches of a mesquite tree as it sped off.

We were all in shock. Driving over someone’s tent, that’s a terrible accident. Pushing your foot to the gas peddle while everyone is waving you to stop, that’s just reckless and disrespectful.

It happened too quickly for me to take down a license plate number, but I hope there is some record of who these folks were… I’d hate to think they’d be invited back after that behavior… and they owe that guy more than an apology.

Holy smokes! We had our first Tucson Gem and Mineral and Jewelry and All Kinds of Other Stuff Stuff experience. We’ve been in town during the big gem show for the past three years, but never managed to stop. This year… thanks to our friend Bit… we hit FIVE of the over THIRTY shows going on in town.

Unbelievable! Vendors come from all over the world to buy and sell anything to do with jewelry and gems… and some things that have nothing to do with either. Next year, we’ll need a few days to see more.

You heard it here first

Yesterday started with little hope of any structure. Baby Ida’s air filters and house battery required attention, and since we were passing through Tucson, the time was right for separate trips to the Dodge dealer and the Interstate Battery shop. Either stop had the potential to turn into an all-day ordeal.

This time, we got lucky. Tucson Dodge managed to get us in and out within two hours (but not without lightening our wallet by $150). The timing was perfect to grab lunch with our friend Bit and catch up on all the details from her recent trip to Ireland.

Then we were off to the tackle the battery issue. To our delight, it was under control within a half hour and without any out-of-pocket expense. That gave us time to stop in to visit our friends Dick and Mary Ann. After catching up with them, we had to push on… check-in for our next show was only two days away in Indio, California.

As we drove north from Tucson, Arizona treated us to a fantastic sunset, and at that point we were only 30 minutes from our friends Jim and Betty in Phoenix. A bit more visiting and a friendly driveway where we could spend the night. And their neighbor plied us fresh grapefruits and lemons from his trees.

Somehow, a day of uncertainty turned out to be a complete day of visiting… with some important chores thrown in for good measure.

Okay, my title is a little misleading. The application was only one page long, but the support documents they required added another 19. Including:

1. Letter of Intent
2. Application Checklist
3. Photos of Raw Materials
4. Photos of Work in Progress (at least 5)
5. Photos of Artist and Studio
6. Photos of Finished Products
7. Photos of Booth Layout with Business Banner
8. Copies of Receipts for Raw Materials
9. Copy of Driver’s License
10. Copy of Marketing Materials (business cards, brochures, flyers, rack cards, etc.)
11. Check for Application Fee

That’s a lot of work for an application, but we’d love to be a part of the show… it’s a weekly gig on Thursday nights in Palm Springs called Village Fest. If you visit the Coachella Valley, it should be on your “must-see” list.

Alas, they’re not accepting jewelry vendors at this time, but we thought maybe they might consider us for the a mixed media category or as stand-by vendors. We’ll see.

We completed our final show of the season last week. Since August 1, we’ve had at least one show per week with only one weekend off to visit family.

Hopefully, now we’ll have time to get back to blogging… at least with our online sales at www.LiamShardJewelry.com we don’t have to hunt for an internet connection.

This weekend, we snuck away to hang out with friends in Two Rivers. We stay at his late grandmother’s house… which is like a time capsule. Nothing has changed in over 30 years…

The old phone still works.

We drove from Central Wisconsin to Easter Pennsylvania (and back) this week to be a part of the Celtic Classic Festival. We had a lot of friends via the Irish Fireside there who we never met in person, so the trip was a great fun. Read all about it >>

It was the cow chip throw that did it to us.

Last weekend… after all these years… Liam and I didn’t do a show together.

Instead he was at an art fair in Nekoosa, WI, and I was at the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw in Prairie du Sac (cow chip throwing is serious business in these parts).

Pre-show, we thought my show might actually be the more successful one. Afterall, it was a very busy event. In the end, Liam’s art fair won out. However, there was more rain in Prairie du Sac, and we were given a lousy spot — next year could be a completely different story if we decide to do them again.

Anyone opening a copy of Insight Guides’ most recent edition of the “US National Parks West” guidebook will see a photograph I took on our visit to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico in 2010. I’m used to my photos getting used on the web, but there’s something very satisfying about seeing it in print… and in bookstores.

There must be something about the photos I took in New Mexico, because another of my photos was used on the cover of the “State of New Mexico Capital Buildings Planning Commission’s Las Cruces Area Master Plan” booklet (how’s that for a gripping title?). That photo was taken at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum near Las Cruces.

I must admit… I like how they cropped the photo. I also should confess that I didn’t read anything in the report beyond the first page

For the second year in a row, I’ve had the chance to join the education team of the Milwaukee Observatory where we train Bay View High School students to help Milwaukeans explore their neighborhoods.

Gotta say… this is a really cool project. These students do an amazing job of researching and interpreting history.

If you’re in Bay View, you really should check it out… And if you’re there this Saturday or on August 6th or 13th, you’ll get to interact directly with the students! (It’ll be moving to the Clarke Square/Mitchell Park area later in the season)

I think this profile from Radio Milwaukee does a great job of catching the spirit of the program:

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Lots more info at www.MilwaukeeObservatory.com and www.radiomilwaukee.org.

After three weeks of below average shows (we just signed up for them to fill the open weekends), we are ready for this weekend’s big show in Tempe, AZ. Of course with a big show comes a whole packet of rules. We have to do our homework before the show on this one.