Catching up after the Atlanta ACC Show

 (Above:  Thursday night's "Preview Party" at the American Craft Council's Atlanta Show.)

I'm not sure how it happens but every time I'm out-of-town for a weekend, a week's worth of work seems to magically pile up awaiting my attention!  Yesterday and today have been spent catching up on various art correspondences, unloading the rental cargo van, removing sold artwork from my inventory book, and putting the Pro Panel 10' x 10' booth back into storage.  Of course, I also have plenty of custom picture framing to do and household tasks.  I feel impossibly "behind schedule" and am hopeful that this post will mean that at least my blog has "caught up"! LOL!

So ... last weekend!  The American Craft Council Atlanta show at the Cobb Galleria was lots and lots of fun.  There was a constant crowd of people who were eager to see my work.  There were sales!  Yippee! The brooches (now without frames) sold well.  The forty+ email messages sent to area galleries paid off too!  I'm now represented by Lagerquist Gallery, a well established location in the ritzy Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta!  The best part of that experience was hearing about the art market from the gallerist's point of view, seeing what Lagerquist sells most successfully, and how my work might grow in these directions.  Soon I'll be acting on ideas from our conversation.  I certainly have good reason to think this is just the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship!

 (Above:  My booth ... # 1301.)

I took a new "booth shot" on the first official day of the show.  Booth shots are important in many national juried show applications.  Since I recently purchased the shelf and two "shorter" walls, I needed this new image for future opportunities.  I'm really pleased with the layout.  People were in and out of the booth constantly.  It had good flow and enough open space for both viewing and conversations.

(Above:  Mary Edna Fraser at the unveiling for her new batik at Saluda Shoals Park.)

Before I left for Atlanta, however, I was able to attend the unveiling of Mary Edna Fraser's new batik for Saluda Shoals Park.  It was inspirational to hear her talk about her art, process, and career.

Also before leaving for Atlanta, I learned that I have "a hand" on Seam Busters by Mary Hood ... literally!  My friend Pat Callahan has worked at the University of South Carolina Press for over sixteen years.  She's been instrumental in bringing dozens and dozens of publications into existence ... including orchestrating the cover of this new book!

(Above:  Creating the cover for Seam Busters in the USC Theater Department's costume shop.)

Several months ago Pat asked me to "lend a hand" during a photo shoot!  Not in a million years would my hands qualify for "modeling" ... or so I thought!  Of course, this particular image needed the hand of someone used to cutting fabric!  That would be me!  By the way, Pat Callahan is a very accomplished artist in her own right.  Check out her blog!  Check out this nice article written by Rachel Haynie for Columbia Living Magazine.

Most importantly, check out the book!  Award winning author Mary Hood's fictional account of women sewing state-of-the-art camouflage is already earning high praise!

"I don't believe Mary Hood is capable of writing an uninteresting sentence. She can say in three words what I can say in 160. Like all the great writers, Mary Hood has mastered the high wires of brevity and conciseness. Her deeply imagined characters in her novella Seam Busters, as in all of her writing, speak as if they are offering their own true and often fabulous commentary on the book of life itself."—Pat Conroy, author of The Death of Santini

"Mary Hood busts the seams of the 'factory-broken' farmers in Ready, Georgia, where the Diet Coke and the Bible are both open. . . . Hood's fiction brings back Erskine Caldwell's realism and Marion Montgomery's compassion."—Jan Nordby Gretlund, Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark

"Georgia novelist Mary Hood puts her fine gifts of scene-setting and characterization to work in this compact little saga of a rural sewing factory and the women bound by hard times to its ever-running machinery. Hood highlights the plentiful humor of her cast, and, in the face of a community tragedy, a humanity and warmth beyond all expectations."—Dot Jackson, author of Refuge 

I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber artwork.