tigerflight!

[tigerflight-blog]

The question I get asked the most is 'Do you ever keep any of your creatures?' so here is the answer: Yes! Well, one. 

This is one of my early owls- probably 2008-ish. The combination of the colors and textures and the beak reminded me so much of my grandfather that I couldn't even bring myself to do the embroidery around the eyes incase it lost that quality.

I would love to hear the stories you might have from picking up one of my critters!

[tigerflight-blog]

How to talk to an artist in front of their work

 I have the luxury (is it? sure, why not, we'll go with that) of generally meeting people at the point of sale of my art (also, for the sake of efficiency, we are going to call me an 'artist' and be done with it and save the Art V. Craft debate for another time). I have a studio inside a gallery space in the DC area and also vend on the weekends at an established artist market that is 25 years strong. I have only been there for one of them, but still, I have endured a number of puzzling comments aimed at not just me, but other artists around me. 

So I thought I would put together a short primer on how to talk to an artist in front of their work.

1. Greetings!

DO: Say hello! Many of us work by ourselves and largely self-identify as awkward. Feel free to say hello to us. Don't take umbrage if we don't say hello first. We may be shy, reeling from a weird encounter before you, or most likely, trying to quietly and inconspicuously consume our lunch

DON'T: Take a greeting from the artist as them trying to force you to buy something and quickly scuttle out of their booth.

2. Evaluating the work

DO: Say you like it if you do! DON'T: Say you like it if you don't! AND DON'T say you like it when you don't. Or rather, you can, but don't do it within earshot of the artist. What does that accomplish? It makes the artist feel bad and it makes you, quite frankly, look jerky.  

You can say it's not your style. That's cool. Art isn't for everyone-its very nature is subjective at best. But to entirely dismiss another's style....well....that's just some middle school bullshit straight up

3. Evaluating the price

DO: Look to see if the object is priced first. If you don't see the tag, feel free to ask the artist the price, they should have everything priced or at least a sign saying "EVERYTHING $$$" because it's dumb to not have stuff priced. I know. I use to have tiny signs listing what stuff costs and I quickly (and sadly) found out people don't read.

DONT: Make pointless comments about the price such as "that's expensive!" they won't change the price for you. I do think it's fair to ask the artist how they arrived at the price but before you ask that, you should know there's more than just the materials and time that go into creating something.  There's also the gas (and time!) it took to get or ship the materials. And possibly the time to process the materials. And store the materials. And rent the space to create the item. And pay for insurance for the space to create the item. And utilities for the space it took to create the item. And gas to and from the space it took to create the item. And the marketing/packaging of the item (tags/labels/ribbons/envelopes). And the fee of the place wherever you are meeting this artist for the first time. And the insurance the artist (probably) has to cover them while they are temporarily in that space. And the gas it takes to get back and forth to that show space. And the time it takes to get back and forth to that space. And the gear the artist needs to set up that space. And lunch.

3. When you think you can do/make/paint whatever the artist has done

DO: Do it! 

DONT: Tell them that. Or buy one of their pieces to take apart to see how they made it so you can make one. That's infringing on their design and that's illegal.

DONT: Ask them for pointers or patterns or where they buy their materials. If it comes up in a natural course of discussion, then that's great! But they are there to sell the work they've made- not give you directions to a location they may have painted in one of their pieces. 

DO: Inquire if they teach classes (but DONT copy their work note for note!)

4. When you have a helpful suggestion!

See the previous posting!

5. When you need something done around the house

DO: Google your problem

DONT: Expect your local artisan to be your personal handiman

Now, I am guilty of this as well as being the recipient of some weird inquiries. For example- where I work at my full time job as a concrete floor that needs some major rehab. As luck would have it, one of my best friends is an amazing artist who works with cement and finishings so I did ask him his opinion to give me some advice. In my defense, stopping by the studio is not out of his way and we have been friends for over 14 years and I was really at a loss as to how to even approach this floor issue.

HOWEVER! I have had people come up to my booth at shows and ask if i could fix their animals. Maybe i should....maybe I should look at ways to diversify my jobs and then i wouldn't have to work at places with cement floors badly in need of resurfacing. But really, why would I be interesting in fixing something I didn't make?

About 2 weeks ago, a woman asked me if I did "other types of sewing". I wish I had asked her to clarify her question. Talking with some friends later, one of them said "she was probably angling to find out if you could hem her pants". Which goes back to my first point- don't turn the artist into your handyman, UNLESS they advertise that they do other jobs.

Don't ask a woodworker if they could fix your cabinets. Google a cabinet maker! Don't ask anyone who sews if they can fo alterations just because they sew- if you live in a city, you're probably within 5-7 dry cleaners within a 5 block radius of where you live who could do that for you.

Why not ask them? Because you're reducing their art to an errand.Maybe that's just me. But the thought of being someone's seamstress makes me feel like you don't understand what I do. Also- they get paid better so you're probably just looking for cheap labor

[tigerflight-blog]

What I saw

Well that was quick! I'm back! I have this week off from work (such an amazing luxury) so I'm cramming museums in- as many as I can.

I went to see  Andy Warhol's Shadows at the Hirshhorn It's a really stunning exhibit which lends itself well to the long arc of the outer wall of the building. 

As I walked slowly along the canvases my brain was chirping in with what it was subconsciously registering within each canvas so I decided to make a list of what I saw in each one. I drew some curious looks particularly from people who seemed to not really want to be there. 

here is my list- the color in parenthesis was the color of the canvas and when canvases of a similar color were together in succession, I viewed them together as in a flip-book)

1 (blue) A city corner at night

2(red) A light hanging above a divey-bar's bar

3(grey) A wedding dress hanging in a corner

4(green) Light filtering in from a stained glass window

5(chartreuse) streetlight shining down

6(lavendar/grey) down the hallway of a victorian house

7 (purple) A castle at dusk

8 (brown) folds in a pair of pants

9 (brown) pants hanging in closet

10(pink) Ballerinas getting ready backstage

11(olive) a chair pushed against a wall)

12(brown) looking between the crook of someone's arm while they stand with their hands on their hips

13(brown) Electric chair

14(pink) a teetotaller turning their champagne glass during a toast *

15(purple) looking out the front windshield on a hazy, rainy evening

16(green) a poker player rests their arm on the table

17(blue) a robot grinning at you

18(blue)peeking into an attic

19(orange)what the light looks like out the window when it's snowing heavily at night

20(turquoise) Ski lift **

21(yellow) looking down the hall at a garden level apartment

22(pink) spotlight on a storefront

23(red) gateway to hell

24(white) Hazy cathedral

25(red) candlelit bathroom

26(red) in the darkroom developing film

27(red) dracula's castle

28(grey) the start of a silent movie

29(grey) ghosts dancing

30(grey) can-can girls

31(white) cathedral in the snow

32-35 (black) a girl jumping

36-38 (grey)a man peeking behind a door

39-41(purple) Items falling off the shelf by grandma's favorite chair

42(brown) the back corner of an empty desk drawer

43(green) peeking between the branches of a christmas tree

44(peach) going outside to a New Orleans veranda

45(silver) bottom of a bike basket

46(white) llifting a box

47(green) looking out the window at a hospital

48 (grey) at the ironing board

49(turquoise) teenager with arm in a sling

50(purple) a shaving accident

51(olive) saluting- at attention

52(orange) warm glow of a fire at a ski lodge

53(peach) someone's senior prom

54(peach) cutting brownies from the pan

55-57(grey) cat chasing a mouse around the corner

58 (white) wedding processional

59(peach) at the alter

60(lavendar) playing tag- running around the corner

61(green) the effects of a sparkler

62(white) a train pulling into the station

63(olive) mossy hiking trail

64(orange) atomic exposure

65(lavender) reverse negative of a nasal cavity

66(green) leaning head against a train window-looking out window

67(orange) close-up of jack-o-lantern

68-69 (white) chewing

70-71(white) commuter wearing headphones & nodding

72(lavender) bats in the attic

73(white) car pulling into the driveway

74(red) boogeyman in your closet

75-76(orange) cake rising inside the oven

77(lavender) zamboni at work

78(orange) wolf eyes

79(blue) a cold glass of water

80(purple) reading across the table

81-82(blue) sitting in the theatre & watching a play

83(aqua) a snarling, laughing dog

84(silver) whispering a secret

85(peach) bed of a pick-up truck

86(olive)trees in the distance

87(red) a volcano errupting

88-90 (pink) a woman showering

91(aqua) diving into a pool

92(brown/black) grampa's old dress shoes

93(silver) entering a tee-pee

94(brown/black) garden path in late fall

95(blue) sliding down the banister

96(rust) stirring risotto

97(green)looking down at the fields through an airplane window

98(yellow) outside garden gate in Savannah

99(white) tablecloth hanging over table into lap

100 (grey) crawling under the table linen

101(pink) snowy tree in the spring

102(pink) a make-up brush picking up blush

*This one may have been influenced by a family story i was told when I went home for Christmas

**This one was my favorite

This whole thing was done on my own in an effort to make myself think in a creative manner since I've been feeling kind of spent lately on the artistic front. I would love to hear about what YOU saw in the canvases!

[tigerflight-blog]

Happy 2012 from Tigerflight

As I always do, I vow to keep up with the bloggy-ness of everyone else and I fail. So hello. Hope to see you again soon! I added some question thing, so you can submit what you would like to see me make next. I'm keeping the Anteater 

What is next for Tigerflight?

[tigerflight-blog]

Hello from Tigerflight enterprises

I don't really think of what I do as an enterprise, but i think it sounds funny so that's what I'm going with

I'm going to try this out- this tumblr thing since all the kids are doing it and if there's one thing 38 year old women like, it's doin' like the kids do, right?

in the meantime, here's an otter: