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[merimask]

Grrr...

Well, life can be rough sometimes.  Buying trends change, expendable income for the middle class can dry up, demographics shift.  I exist as a self-sustaining artist at the whim of the buying public...and my market is dry like the Sahara.

So, what to do...what to do.

Go where the money is, I suppose.  Yet, I can't do that because...it's just ridiculous to pack up my stuff and trudge across country like a modern day peddler with my wares strapped onto my back.  So, I'm doing a version of that by calling well known high-end mask retail galleries & gift shops in tourist spots all over the country.  I've sent out two information packets in the last two days (one to an awesome-sounding gallery called "Rumors" in New Orleans...I guess they're the best-known & biggest mask retail gallery in the region) with another one in the works for tomorrow.

I looked online & found a maskmaker in Key West (he was the official mask provider for Fantasy Fest for several years in a row)...HIS gallery has closed (because, he says, he's sick of dealing with the public.  I guess that's endemic to maskmakers everywhere.  ;-)  ), but he was very sweet and gave me a lead and a name for the buyer at a major art-object (& especially masks) gallery in Key West.   I'm calling later today, so wish me luck.

I HATE doing this stuff.  Hate hate hate.  I am just not as naturally good with people as my brother is...this crap scares the hell out of me.  And yet...I guess it has to be done.  As much as I hate this, if I want to keep making these masks for a living I HAVE to do it, because there's just no alternative.  I love making masks.  It's my life and I can't imagine any other.  But I can't afford to just make them for the sake of making them...I'm not rich like that.   John says "Unseen, untold...unsold", and that's where I am right now.  The best freaking maskmaker that's not selling masks.  :-(

Fortunately  my quality of work, lack of greed, and realism are just what the buyers are looking for.   I also have experience selling to retailers already, which helps me put together a pretty package for presentation.  Also, thank you Cirque for buying that mask!  I can't say enough about how that turns people's heads.  When I name-drop that account (and I do.  Shamelessly.  Like a whore) you can actually hear the tone of the buyer/gallery owner's voice change right over the phone.  It's a beautiful thing.

If ANY of you out there know of a store or gallery (in a tourist or high-traffic area...I need to go where art is selling) that specializes in masks and gifts of a handmade, artsy nature...drop me a bit of contact info in your reply to this & I'll be sure to check them out.   My stuff could be coming to a shop near you!

I bought a thick sheaf of high-quality matte photo paper and re-stocked my ink.  I'm going to keep mailing until all of that paper is gone.

Comments

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

I was going to say (er...in my response your response to my response to your last entry) that it could just be an off year? Or that people aren't travelling due to gas prices? Certainly the psychic fair was just a horrible event, not promoted properly at all.

Unfortunately you said you can't sell in Canada so I'd be of no help in locating more places. Plus Ottawa is my city, and honestly I LOVE it and it's very quirky, but it's NOT very culturally rich (in any traditional way at least) so whether your masks would work here is a complete toss-up. People would probably expect to buy them in a furniture/home deco place, lol. Yep, Merimask at Pier 1. (Or in an art gallery of course, but I'm not sure our few art galleries even SELL much, in Ottawa...they're more museum-y, all about the show.) Most artists here have their own little stores/galleries or sell in a co-op or an artists/farmers market in a semi-permanent stall.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Arggh... Canada taunts me in SO many ways. Its eclectic population that seems to co-exist in peace, its dearth of war-mongering behavior, its socialized medicine, and its support of the arts.

Unfortunately it's just about impossible to break into the Canadian art market as an American. Canada is awesome at supporting the arts...but only for Canadians. :-(

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

Weeeelll...you can't really blame Canada (actually, *you* can blame Canada if you want to, it's just *me* that can't) for only caring about its own artists. Canadian culture is hugely suppressed or flattened by US culture. So much...the vast majority...of our entertainment and media is from the US. To make it as a singer, really make it, you have to go American. Same with actors/etc. And generally they don't stay very 'Canadian' after they break into the American market. A few do, but not most. Recent example: Avril Lavigne. Avril is from a little town called Napanee, half an hour away from where I lived in college...very small town, very Canadian...and I daresay most people don't know/don't remember that she's Canadian at all.

Those Canadians who STAY Canadian tend to be very kitschy...comedians mainly, it seems. That's the only type of Canadian people want to see, it seems, the goofy stereotype. If you want to make it big as a novelist, you have to go through an American publisher...that kind of thing. So I can't really fault anyone for being fiercely protective of what little we've got that hasn't been infiltrated or homogenized. It seems like once the US gets in, Canada just rolls over in that area and becomes American...very little left of the Canadian flavour.

However, me liking you and all, of course I'd like to see your masks sold up here. Honestly I don't care how many Americans sell here but I DO feel that if a lot DID, we'd lose our identity in that, too, because we have with most other things.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

:-( I totally understand & respect the "Can Con" (Canadian Content) laws up there. Frankly, I LOVE Canadian music for just that reason...it's unique & has a freshness & freedom from corporate influence that makes it special in North America.

I just wish I could be considered an "honerary Canadian", 'cause I REALLY love it up there & I KNOW Toronto would love me right back if it could.

[golden-meliades.livejournal.com]

So the problem is finding a permanent place (gallery, etc) that would display your stuff, right? Because I know Americans can sell stuff here. But it'd probably be impossible to get into any but a specialty gallery or boutique as they do tend to showcase Canadian work in such places. But there would be nothing to stop you from having a stall at a market or anything like that. Toronto area has at least one Ren and a few other events, too.