Letter from the President

It's countdown time for the artists participating in the Clay and Glass Festival in Palo Alto this year. The Festival is my biggest retail show of the year, and I'm sure the same is true for many others. It is also the ACGA's largest source of revenue, which allows us to not only put on the show again next year, but do all the other things that we do to make the ACGA a viable and useful organization. Each member plays a vital role in making the show a success, by making fabulous work that people want to purchase year after year, and by promoting the show to your community and customers.

Promotion can get overwhelming, especially for artists who are busy being creative in their studios. I've put together a "Promotion To-Do Checklist" for artists to take some of the guesswork out of it, so you have a little bit of extra energy to actually get it done!

• To do today: edit ACGA member web page with recent images and updated information.
• June 1-7: send a "save the date" email to customers with a digital postcard, links to the ACGA website and your website.
• Week of June 21: mail show postcard to customers.
• June 14-21: Post the event to your Facebook page, along with an album of recent work.
• June 27-July 1: send an email reminder to customers with your booth information and pertinent links.

A word about email: sending a regular email with lots of recipients will often wind up in people's "junk" mail. I strongly encourage you to check out many of email services that are available today so you can send out an email that is formatted for images and links, and will go straight to the inbox of recipients. You can also track who is opening your email! I've tried many of them, including Constant Contact, iContact, and Vertical Response. I use MadMimi, which I've found to be the most cost-effective and easiest to use for me. Most of these services offer the first month free, so take some time and check it out.

A final piece of business: in the ACGA's continuing quest to save money on printing costs and be more green, we've moved the Member Directory online. You can download it as a PDF if you want to keep it stored on your computer or even print it out, or simply log in to the ACGA website to access the member directory there. If you are now still receiving the newsletter in print form, we will be sending you a hard copy this time. But please be aware that member contact information is readily accessible by other registered ACGA members online now, and the ACGA "phonebook" is going the way of the Yellow Pages... onto the web!

More from Etsy

Here is another collection of beautiful work by ACGA members who have a shop on Etsy. Many of these artists will also be at the upcoming Palo Alto Clay & Glass Festival, July 9 and 10, at Rinconada Park in Palo Alto. For details visit www.clayglassfestival.com
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ACGA on Etsy

ACGA is now on Etsy, an on-line marketplace for things handmade. Here is a curated list, or Etsy Treasury, of work by some of our members.

Letter from the President

When news of the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami reached our shores, I think many Californians felt an instant connection with what the Japanese people were going through, as well as a shared sense of dread of our own vulnerability and fault lines. I experienced the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake near the epicenter in downtown Santa Cruz, and while the experience devastated my 19 year-old sense of immortality, it also brought to light some basic truths: we all live fragile lives, everything can be taken away in a moment, and nothing stays the same. There are practical ways to respond, with earthquake preparation and emergency plans, but the bottom line is all we really have is each other in times of crisis. And maybe, a three-day supply of water and canned beans.

I went to Japan for a residency in 2007 and was so gratified to be in a country where pottery is respected as a fine art. My former host, Ryoji Matsumiya, runs a production pottery along with his many other artistic and business endeavors. Thankfully, his business was only superficially affected by the earthquake, and he and his staff immediately jumped into the relief efforts by pledging 15,000 handmade cups to the people who have lost everything. You can read about what they are doing and see their progress right here.

For me, I get overwhelmed by these disasters. The need is so large and I feel so small, and I always wonder about donating to big charities where the cost of their overhead can eat up so much of the donation. I was directed to the Mashiko Potters Fund by another ACGA member, where money is being raised by a gallery in Boston and sent directly to a group of artists in Japan to help them rebuild their kilns and pottery. I felt that my contribution, while small, was going to people who really needed every dollar, and would put it to immediate use. Perhaps more of our members know of other places to donate, where the money goes directly to those in need? If so, please post it on our Facebook page to help spread the word.

Letter from the President

Marketing has been on my mind lately. I've been running some numbers for my business and realizing it's time to shake off the winter doldrums and bump things up a bit. Marketing is a word I dislike, because I do not want to "market" my work, I just want the world to see how beautiful my pottery is and buy it without me having to shill. I think it's not unusual for artists to have an aversion to marketing because of its connotations and connection to the "marketplace" when we would rather float above the dirty business of commerce and focus on creating works of art. But let's get real: unless you plan to give away all of your work -- or store it in a massive warehouse for eternity-- if you are making art, you probably want to sell it if for no other reason than to get it out of your studio so you can make more. If you want to sell, you have to think about marketing. But how can we, as artists, pursue marketing in a way that makes us feel like it is reflecting our work, our values, and our creativity?

One of the things to think about is developing your "story" as an artist. It's the story of who you are and what your work represents in the world. I think we are all aware that traditional advertising and marketing is no longer what hooks us anymore, it's too boring, it doesn't stand out. What stands out is the personal, the authentic, the tale of how things came to be. This is the real meat of what interests buyers, what makes them want to make that move to spending actual money on a piece of your work. Your story is speaking to them and they want that tale told, over and over again, in the form of your artwork in their home.

Telling your story is an art in itself, and takes time, work, and refinement to get it just right. Have you thought about what your story is? Have you put it down an paper and read it over to see if it is a compelling story that really tells your customers about you? I'm sure most of us need a little help in this department, so I've posted some handy links to get you started and motivated:

Make Amazing Art, Be Authentic, Tell Your Stories, and the Art Will Sell

Art Marketing is Conversation

You Need a Marketing Story

The Art & Business of Crafting Your Online Self

Many of these posts have more helpful links, so put aside a few hours for some reading, writing and inspiration, and tell us your story!

letter from the president: facebook

I don't mean to put you on the spot, but do you like us? I mean really really "like" us? The quotation marks might be a tip off to some of you that I'm referring to the "like" feature on Facebook. Did you know the ACGA has a Facebook fan page? Not many do, because the last time I checked, we only had 133 fans. For an organization with over 500 members, so few fans tells me we have some work to do on the fan page.

If you have a Facebook profile already, please look us up at facebook.com/ClayandGlass and hit that "like" button! Once you "like" us, you can post on the ACGA wall, and I invite you to do so. What's appropriate for the ACGA fan page? Basically, anything related to clay and glass, especially the activities of our members. Are you having an open studio or have you recently updated your website? Post it to the wall. Any clay or glass related links you find interesting including exhibit opportunities, technique articles, or artist profiles can easily be shared with others by posting it to the wall. If you have some new work you are excited about, upload the images to our wall and invite comments!

Do you have a facebook page? If you do, please "like" us right away, and then invite all of your friends to like us!

letter from the president

Happy New Year to all of our members! A fresh years means some new people on our Board of Directors. We have three new Board Members to welcome, Forrest Lesch Middelton, Guangzhen "Po" Zhou, and Jean Cherie. I am always gratified to have new people on the Board, and I hope these three are as excited as I am to have them contributing to the running of our organization.

If you missed our annual ACGA retreat on February 9, there were many topics discussed concerning the future of our organization. As president, my primary interest in the ACGA is making it a viable, supportive organization for clay and glass artists practicing their craft, now and in the future. The ACGA can only do all that it does by ensuring a dependable flow of revenue that helps to support our activities. We have several revenue sources, the primary ones being membership dues and the sales from the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival. While the PACGF continues to be a successful show in many ways, as seen by the high-quality work shown and continued steady attendance by patrons and fans, the hard fact is we are steadily losing ground in revenue. This is due to rising costs and lower sales gross, a deadly combination. To mitigate some of the losses, the Board voted on a small booth fee hike of $25. I feel strongly that this increase is necessary to alleviate some of the financial pressures of putting on the Festival. We have not increased the booth fee in seven years, and many on the Board felt it was time. We all dislike raising booth fees for any reason, and I want our members to know that we are cutting costs where it is possible to avoid putting more debt burden on our members in the future.

While I am on the subject of the Palo Alto show, I want to mention our publicist, Sharon Poynor, is always looking for fresh angles and stories to help get word to the public about our incredible artists, and you can help her by sending her your stories and ideas for publicity. What new and interesting work will you be bringing? What's special and different about you and your work? Answering these questions and sending your thoughts to Sharon will help her craft the best publicity possible. Even if you are not showing at Palo Alto, any fresh concept or idea for publicity is welcomed by our publicist, so please email her at sharon@poynorpr.com Someone mentioned at the retreat that it is easy to be lazy when it comes to publicity and assume that the ACGA has a handle on it. While we do the best we possibly can to publicize the the Palo Alto show, it is up to all of us as individuals to help contribute to the overall success of the show by communicating with our audience.

Ideas? Comments? Post them here!