Who? What? When? Where? Why?
I’m 62, and I’m an artist. I use that term a little loosely. I like to be clear for those of you who like to engage in the interminable discussion of arts versus crafts. While my degree is in art, I actually design and make jewelry, so technically that makes me a craftsperson. In the past four or five years I have also become interested in the book arts, book repair, restoration, bookbinding, etc. I guess that technically falls into the craft category, too.
I am not a hobbyist. I’ve definitely have made a living through my craft.
I had my own production jewelry design business for over 22 years, marketing my work at high quality craft fairs and selling in galleries throughout this country, and in several international markets as well. My spouse was, and sort of still is, my partner in that business. For eight years we also had a jewelry gallery in a nearby northern suburb. Eventually, we got tired of the whole business. And, while I still make jewelry and do the occasional show, and now have a web site selling some of my work, the jewelry business is no longer a primary source of income.
We have instead moved on to selling antiquarian and rare books, and collectibles. We were book readers, collectors, and accumulators for years and then the books got out of hand. C. always wanted to have his own book business, so over the last ten years he has been making a transition into that business, selling primarily on eBay and at the occasional book fair. We also sell collectibles at an antique mall in the city, and sometimes online.
I’m still honing my book repair/book making skills, and have created a nice little niche for myself in book arts making book clasps and teaching others how to make them at workshops here and there.
I started an online original journal several years ago, and, at first, I didn’t really want people to know who I was. I guess I was a little Internet shy. I’ve thought it over, though, and I’ve decided that it’s best to just be me. It’s easy to find out all about me if you care to know.
Expect the usual random blathering, thoughts and plenty of opinions, but not anything that I wouldn’t share with a crowd of people, because I have no illusions that I write in a vacuum. My older grand daughters may very well be reading here so it’s probably going to be mostly PG 13. Oh, yeah, and my 86 year old Dad may read, too, so that means I have to be PG 86. So don’t look for any really good train wrecks.
I started this particular blog as part of NaBloPoMo, so for the time being I hope to update daily, but I may run out of steam. More likely, I’ll be updating here whenever I get around to it.
I have no idea why I feel the need to publicly air my life.But it has something to do with furthering my own creative process to keep a record of my daily life, so I can look back to see where I was, what I am doing, where I am headed and see whether or not I have a chance in hell of ever getting there.