I have a one-women beaded art and jewelry show at the local library. It started mid-July and runs to the end of August. I called the local newspaper and maybe they'll run a small story.

It's my first ever one-woman show!

How exciting Meredith Best of luck to you.

Wow...what a great run for you. Why not come in here after it's over and give us all a summary of the show? I know I would be interested in hearing how it went, the ins and outs, pros and cons, lessons learned, etc...etc...

Would you?

JJ

There are 31 objects on display, 23 of which are for sale. Every object has a little story posted, whether about the materials used, its personal history, or the evolution of design templates. I wanted to make an educational exhibit and not just plop things in a display case. I spent almost 2 days just planning and making text stories, and another full two days installing the exhibit. I have to say it looks pretty gorgeous

The not-for-sale items are 8 pieces from my personal collection, including the necklace-bracelet-earrings set I wore to my PL inauguration, and several pieces I made when I was much younger. I also wrote a story about the beaded purse my grandmother made back in the 1920's, and that's on display as well.

There are also newspaper articles about my bead business, both the recent ones and ones from the 1970's, including my hand-drawn advertisements from my old shop. Gee, I looked pretty young in some of those pics!!! Two Library people said I still look the same -- are they buttering me up or what??

Because the Library is non-profit, they can't sell any of the items in the case. I have a few signs that say "To purchase anything, please contact the artist directly at..." I don't expect many calls because people won't go through that much effort, although some of the staff has expressed interest.

So far I've gotten 100% positive feedback on the quality of the display. Staff even said that several patrons have commented on how nice it is. Library gave me free rein on what I wanted to do, and one entire week to pull it off (someone else had cancelled, so I asked if I could "do something.")

Whether I sell anything or not, I think this is a great professional opportunity. And hopefully, some of those newspapers will list this in the weekend activities, and maybe even write a nice review!

That sounds great, Meredith. Can you take pics and post them to your website? I'd love to see how you've got it all set up.

Kathy

Meredith,
I hope you are sending out a lot of press releases to all the big papers and the small ones in the area. You may be surprised at how much press you get and how it increases the traffic to your display.

I do press for my church and a writing group all the time and they are forever surprised at how much coverage we get for our projects.

The story of your grandmother's purse continuing into your beading art is very interesting. Just pepper the local media with press releases and enjoy the attention.

You're already a STAR in our books.

smile

Thanks all! I sent a press release to the 2 big daily papers here(LA Times and Orange County Register), the small weekly local (Placentia News-Times), and the free ad-&-entertainment-driven OCWeekly. They all require 2 or 3 weeks advance, which would be this weekend as I sent it out a week after the show went up.

At the bi-monthly library program meeting today, another librarian said how a patron stopped him and made him promise to tell "whoever is responsible" just how great the diplay is!!!

OK, I've had this digital camera in a box for 6+ months and I still haven't cracked the instruction manual. Maybe this would be a good time to figure it out?