Mike Stafford
Member
- Messages
- 2,411
- Location
- Coastal plain of North Carolina
My wife was going through the folders in the file drawers of two old wooden file cabinets we bought as kits from Yield House almost 50 years ago and put together. They have served as storage for lots of things over the years so you never know what you might find when you start looking. Mostly it houses old memories and stuff you don't need anymore.
Some of the things that turned up on this clean out was a file of old things I had saved from my art show days. One of my wife's needlepoint friends worked at our local art gallery and she encouraged me to enter some of my boxes in the art show at the gallery. I finally did after she came over and thrust an application into my hands. I was awarded an honorable mention and thus began my art gallery career.
After that initial success I was contacted by the local newspaper. They wanted to do a feature on me. A reporter came to the house and took a few photos of me in my shop and wrote a little article. I apologize for how dark it is but the reality of the situation is that there is not much to see even if it wasn't dark. Besides I think he came after sunset so it was dark outside.
A couple of years later I was fortunate enough to win the three-dimensional category and was also selected as the best local artist for that year's exhibit. I live in a small town so the competition isn't loaded with great artists. If it was.... well, I wouldn't be one of them. Here is part of the story about that year's show. Even that big display box couldn't hide my abundant three dimensional girth.
Our art gallery is divided into one large and three smaller galleries. A couple of years later I was given a month long exhibit in the "local artist gallery" which is the smallest of the four. I don't recall exactly how many pieces were displayed but I am pretty sure I had over 30 pieces on display. All of my work was boxes. I still am amazed that a flat woodworker who builds boxes could merit an exhibit or an award in an art competition. The first picture is of one wall in the gallery with my name in letters bigger than anything I had displayed. One exciting thing that happened was on the first day of the exhibit I sold a box for an exorbitant price ($325). I didn't particularly want to sell that box so I put a 'HUGE' price on it. The people that bought it lived in Asheville and ended up commissioning me to make all kinds of things from boxes to trays. They were good customers. The box that sold had the artsy fartsy name of 'Vermilion Eyebrow'. Don't ask. This little box was about 3" x 8" long and maybe 2 1/2" tall not including the eyebrow.
I ended up selling all but two pieces during my month long exhibition which was quite an ego boost.
This little adventure opened up avenues that I never dreamed of. I started selling at galleries in the mountains and also at the beach. I quickly learned that smaller stuff sold better at these touristy areas so I scaled down my products to fit easily into suitcases but I didn't lower my prices. It was a profitable adventure. Towards the end of my gallery days I had started turning and turned boxes sold quite well but they also got shoplifted quite well. I gave up because of the amount of time required to keep my stock in these galleries was taking all the fun out of my hobby.
I apologize for the lousy photos and newspaper images. This stuff is old and I am shocked at how well it has held up.
It was fun finding these things in a folder. I enjoyed reminiscing about the good old days. I put everything back in its place and maybe in a few years we will find it again when we are cleaning out those file cabinets.
Some of the things that turned up on this clean out was a file of old things I had saved from my art show days. One of my wife's needlepoint friends worked at our local art gallery and she encouraged me to enter some of my boxes in the art show at the gallery. I finally did after she came over and thrust an application into my hands. I was awarded an honorable mention and thus began my art gallery career.
After that initial success I was contacted by the local newspaper. They wanted to do a feature on me. A reporter came to the house and took a few photos of me in my shop and wrote a little article. I apologize for how dark it is but the reality of the situation is that there is not much to see even if it wasn't dark. Besides I think he came after sunset so it was dark outside.
A couple of years later I was fortunate enough to win the three-dimensional category and was also selected as the best local artist for that year's exhibit. I live in a small town so the competition isn't loaded with great artists. If it was.... well, I wouldn't be one of them. Here is part of the story about that year's show. Even that big display box couldn't hide my abundant three dimensional girth.
Our art gallery is divided into one large and three smaller galleries. A couple of years later I was given a month long exhibit in the "local artist gallery" which is the smallest of the four. I don't recall exactly how many pieces were displayed but I am pretty sure I had over 30 pieces on display. All of my work was boxes. I still am amazed that a flat woodworker who builds boxes could merit an exhibit or an award in an art competition. The first picture is of one wall in the gallery with my name in letters bigger than anything I had displayed. One exciting thing that happened was on the first day of the exhibit I sold a box for an exorbitant price ($325). I didn't particularly want to sell that box so I put a 'HUGE' price on it. The people that bought it lived in Asheville and ended up commissioning me to make all kinds of things from boxes to trays. They were good customers. The box that sold had the artsy fartsy name of 'Vermilion Eyebrow'. Don't ask. This little box was about 3" x 8" long and maybe 2 1/2" tall not including the eyebrow.
I ended up selling all but two pieces during my month long exhibition which was quite an ego boost.
This little adventure opened up avenues that I never dreamed of. I started selling at galleries in the mountains and also at the beach. I quickly learned that smaller stuff sold better at these touristy areas so I scaled down my products to fit easily into suitcases but I didn't lower my prices. It was a profitable adventure. Towards the end of my gallery days I had started turning and turned boxes sold quite well but they also got shoplifted quite well. I gave up because of the amount of time required to keep my stock in these galleries was taking all the fun out of my hobby.
I apologize for the lousy photos and newspaper images. This stuff is old and I am shocked at how well it has held up.
It was fun finding these things in a folder. I enjoyed reminiscing about the good old days. I put everything back in its place and maybe in a few years we will find it again when we are cleaning out those file cabinets.
