spring sprang this past week or two.
new england will have to say something about that for sure.
i have enjoyed reading all about everyone else's plans to plant gardens.
many have grown sure signs of the early good weather,
sore shoulders from raking and sunning.
i love all of it.
as i always seem to feel, cautiously, this is too good to be true.
it cannot truly last until the proper time arrives.
i am a conundrum... an optimistic pessimist.
what normal people call a walking oxymoron.
no wiseacre cracks please.
in the gorgeous temperatures,
my collective of short or non sleeved shirts has made an annual showing.
they are brightly colored and make me happy.
today i wore my watermelon colored top with a bright green flower necklace.
gosh did i feel spiffy.
i even washed my hair to give the world a glimpse of it in a clean format.
why so much primping?
(yes, a lot of primping considering my generally slacker attitude about this and hiding in my house).
well i had been asked to "film" an interview.
ok, so there was no film or tape involved.
just the beauty of a mac book and a very willing and kind super intern.
the young man is an intern for jennifer neuguth.
she is a promoter, genius, kind woman, tireless supporter and all round good egg.
i have met her before the amazing real meeting last june.
that seems to have been when it took officially in my mind.
Jennifer is the Queen of creative generosity that started the whole
FESTIVAL FETE
show.
it was held several times last year and i participated in the very first one.
it was in Garden City.
this is a hugely pleasant open air shopping mall in Cranston, RI.
i had signed up for it and was sure i would have a miserable time.
my experiences with doing shows were both limited and freaking me out.
also i had never done an outdoors show with rain coming down all around me.
panic mode was in full tilt.
luckily, Jennifer's husband aka King David, talked me down off the ledge.
i managed to harness my panic,
and with the help of my husband, son and eldest daughter was able to set up for the show.
at the end of the show,
i was packing up to leave and in my fatigue, i tripped over a curb.
my lesson in this experience was very rich.
no matter if it is raining cats and dogs or if i fall flat onto my face,
my show was and always could be a hit.
financially, socially, and experientially.
a fantastic thing to learn early.
so my luck held out and i participated in several more episodes of
FESTIVAL FETE.
i shall not lie and say all were making me an overnight success.
instead, i got to learn so much
and meet some of the most fantastic people also participating or shopping.
so now i am a devoted artist within the cache of uber talented participants in these shows.
this year, i have signed up to participate in the kick starter
in june.
(i will be posting all the dates and locations soon... i just need to look them up)
Jennifer's intern visited me today and we chatted a bit.
we recorded some of the answers to the questions
and that was quite a trip.
he used his computer as i said earlier, however as squeaky clean as i felt i was,
i could not get it all looking good.
not as i had wanted to.
i felt a little like the sweet round inner section of a watermelon.
YIKES.
anyways, the questions posed were about when i started creating vs. being an artist.
i am sure everyone has some great story about this.
it is a deeply personal thing for everyone,
whether a professional artistic life is pursued or not.
in my case, i have been making things for as long as i can remember.
from the butter marble cake when i was 6, in a state of benign neglect, using the grown up oven...
all the way until today.
it is something about me that says i need to make things every day;
an itch that needs to be scratched.
i think this is common for all practicing artists, regardless of the medium.
discovery and acceptance of this as my life was a long journey.
now i am happy on my correct pathway.
another question posed was: why jewelry?
it is a long answer... one that i surely have answered a few times already.
so i will sort of gloss over that answer.
(it is in this blog somewhere and a thousand redundant times.)
from stringing beads at home as a child,
to making necklaces for my lifeguard friends during summers at the beaches in my home town.
found shells and other oddments suspended as embellishments in macrame knotting
was my summer thing.
much later as a mother of 3 small children,
i found it relaxing and familiar, so i returned to the lure of the bead
all over again.
since then,
no further departure from my bejeweled path has been made.
i have stayed what has become my own course.
this allowed mike and me to have a conversation regarding style.
style to me is what comes from your heart, soul, mind, hands
and whatever else is needed to create it.
many can look at a still life set up and no two will ever create the same image.
they can use the exact same perspective and tools,
yet it will be as individualized as each person is.
what comes of this is personal style as i see it.
this is why copyists fail.
it is not possible to duplicate someone else no matter how faithfully one may try.
the final question was to do with what does Festival Fete offer me?
it offers me the chance to act as an ambassador.
someone who can educate and forward the love of a creative process to the rest of the world.
a world that may not be as informed as they might be, about handmade creations.
it also offers me a chance to have my voice heard.
my creative choices allow for conversations and what is in me, to meet the world.
i really appreciate this opportunity to share my thoughts through the interview.
thank you jennifer,
(thank you david, my artist rep and jennifer's husband)
thank you mike.
thank you everyone.
i guess feeling a little like a watermelon with some cute jewels on
is a gift.
like i said,
thank you.
xo.
w.
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