'Tis the Season

November is my big selling season. This year both of my big shows fell in November, and it's been a hectic month!

First came ORA's annual Celebration of Art. It's our 8th annual art show, and it continues to grow and evolve.  We held it again at Mittleman Jewish Community Center, in the beautiful Ballroom. The show is just beautiful, with about 25 artists showing and selling their artwork.

Everyone agrees that the room is beautiful, and the show is beautiful. But everyone also agrees that the attendance is a challenge, seemingly for a different reason each year. We continue to ponder that problem. But in the meantime, I had an enjoyable day, and my sales were good enough.

Two weeks later came Hadassah's Chanukah Gift Fair, which returned to MJCC this year after many years at Neveh Shalom.  I welcomed the change, because of the neutral location and the superior space and lighting in the MJCC ballroom. But to be frank, the sales were dismal.

I've done this show for 14 years now, and feel a great loyalty to it. But it has been suffering a downward spiral since the economic downturn. Less paying customers = less quality vendors, and less quality vendors = less paying customers. It's a terrible conundrum, and I personally have a difficult decision to make. My sales for the day were definitely not worth all the time and effort that goes into doing a show.

This month I also opened my Etsy store, with just a few items at first.  In December I hope to post more items for sale, and give this thing a go!  www.etsy.com/shop/EstherBeads

Selling any kind of art is a tricky business, and I continue to look for the right path for my business.

Update on Goings On

Progress reports:

Art Spark was awesome! The folks from RACC said it was the best attendance they've ever had at one of these events. And we were so pleased to meet all these new people! Also, the Urban Farmer restaurant was SO very cool! I've never seen a restaurant like that, and it was extremely fun. Pictures soon.

Purim was wonderful! We worked really hard on our presentation, and it was worth it. With ten Disco song parodies spread out among the ten chapters of the Megillah, it was almost like a full-blown musical, and the audience was very receptive. Gershon and I both had solos, as well as a number of other choir members. Singing with a live band was so great, and I haven't seen so many platform shoes in decades!
Our friend Petra was kind enough to film some of it for us with my iPhone, so I'm in the process of uploading those videos to YouTube. The first one is up; you can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU948hA0JEE . Sorry about the mediocre quality, but hey, it's a phone!

The ORA exhibits continue in the lobby of MJCC, with my work among this week's featured artists. We set it up this morning, and it will be there until Friday at 2 pm. Next week will be the last exhibit in this series (and after that I'm gonna direct you to something really cool at Neveh Shalom).

Goings On

I've got a lot going on right now. First of all... Art Spark!
I hope you will be able to join us tomorrow as ORA hosts this month's Art Spark gathering.

What is Art Spark? It's a program of the Regional Arts & Crafts Council (RACC) to promote art in Portland. It's described by RACC as "a bi-monthly mingling for artists of all sorts to meet, discuss, blather, applaud and plot the growth of art in Portland." Each meeting is hosted by a different group, at a different restaurant, club, or bar.

This is a big coup for our group, and I hope lots of our friends will turn out to support us and have a good time. Each of the ORA artists will have one or two works on display, and Eddy and I will each do a very brief address, around 6 pm. The rest of the time is for schmoozing, networking, drinking, and socializing.

There will be raffle prizes, and a no-host bar all evening. Admission is free.

Thursday, March 17th, 5-7 pm
Urban Farmer Restaurant
(8th floor of The Nines Hotel)
525 SW Morrison
Portland

http://www.portlandartspark.com/


Then, this Saturday night is Purim! My favorite holiday, of course, starring Queen Esther. Gershon and I are co-starring in Neveh Shalom's musical Purim Schpiel, "Shushan Night Fever."

Gershon plays King Ahasueros, and I have a KILLER solo as.... wait for it.... Queen Vashti!! You have got to come hear Gershon singing the Village People, and me belting out "I Will Survive." I even bought gold platform shoes for the occasion!

Service begins at 7:30 in Birnbach Hall at Neveh Shalom. If you signed up for the dinner beforehand, you'll be pleasantly intoxicated by the time the service begins, and you'll enjoy the Disco theme all the more! Do come in costume, or you will feel out-of-place. Prizes for the best costumes, based on.... I have no idea what!






But wait! There's more! ORA has a series of exhibits all month in the lobby of MJCC. Each exhibit lasts for 5 days, and my work will be in the next one. The exhibit starts this Sunday, March 20th, and will be up till Friday afternoon. Stop by and take a look!

New Members are In!

I am so bleary-eyed!  It's been a long day in front of the screen, but I did it.... I made new web pages for our four new ORA members, and revised the "Artists" page that leads to each of us.  Exhausting!  But go take a look.... http://www.northwestjewishartists.org/artists.html

That grindstone i was talking about?  The Light project?  It will be a pleasure to get back to it, with no screen and no keyboard!  See you tonight at the Pre-JAM Slam!!!!  7 pm at MJCC.... fun and free!

A Fight to the Finish!

My struggle with this beading project continues. First, the thread kept breaking and tangling. Then, one of the beads broke, which meant I had to re-do a whole section of the project. It was tempting to give up at that point. But I've come to realize that this is a challenge to my determination. And I am VERY determined: this project will be completed, and it will be exhibited. So I bit the bullet, and re-did that whole section.

Finally the beadwork was completed, and it was time to fit it over the glass candle holder. Guess what? It didn't fit! The beading was so tight (yes, that's what broke the bead), it actually broke the glass!! I'll tell you... the sight of all that broken glass in my hands was very powerful, since this is a Holocaust Yizkor candle!

So, what does one do at that point? How can it work as a Yizkor candle cover if it won't fit over the glass? Well, first I sulked for a few days. Then I sat down with a whole box of yizkor candle glasses, and tried every single one, till I found one that fits! It turns out that different brands are slightly different sizes, and the weird brand from Israel fits just fine. Heh-heh! Point for Esther.

But this thing doesn't give up! Next thing, it turned out that the glass I chose was cracked. Sigh, back to the box. I found another that would work, but the candle is very firmly melted into the glass, and I'm having a surprisingly hard time getting it out. Fear not, though, I will prevail. The candle will come out, the label will come off, and the candle will go back in properly. And this piece WILL be exhibited at our Art Show on October 12th.

It's a Holocaust piece, it's important, and it's been an amazing challenge. But I am determined to have my artistic voice be heard. After the show, I will post a picture of the finished piece. But I hope everyone will come and see it in person.

Celebration of Art
Sunday, October 12, 2008
10 am - 4 pm
at MJCC
6651 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland