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Friday, March 30, 2012

Indiana Artisan Marketplace: Enquiring minds want to know ...


indiana artisan marketplace, friday, was 'get to know your neighbor' day.  all the artists were walking around during downtime talking to each other and introducing themselves.  mindy and i took on the task of asking people to answer some strange and deep or shallow questions about their experience as creative people.  we walked around and found several artists whose work we like and foodists whose food we enjoy.  hopefully these will help you get a sense of the personalities at the Marketplace this weekend, and encourage you to come and see the show. 


let me explain the questions a bit before i throw folk to the wolves for opinions here.  

what is your least favorite customer question?
-- at art fairs of all leagues and prestige customers ask terrible and often offensive questions unwittingly. 

do you work in any other media besides what you are showing here today?
-- this is a personal question for me, because i use many different media.  and i always wonder if other artists experiment with media in the way that i do.  i think a lot do, because creativity tends to be a kind of lifestyle that has experimentation and discovery at its core.

if you could write a recipe for your artwork, what would the ingredient list read like?
-- i stole this question from my friend Carolina Pedraza.  She interviewed me on her blog, The Hamster Wheel (check her out! she's interviewed some incredible people who draw), and this was my favorite question to answer. you can read my response here.

what are your thoughts on 'art' vs. 'product'?  how about 'craft' vs. 'art'?
-- as people who work in 'craft' media (as most of us at this show are) we are often struggling for respect in a world of art that deifies concept and trivializes function.  and i really feel that because of that struggle in contemporary art, some of the best art is coming from the 'craft' media that is pushing its borders right into the highest and most thought provoking art.  

how do you deal with artist's block or writer's block?
-- i suffer it.  everyone does.  i'm always curious how others deal with it. 

what do you do to pass time in your booth?
-- sometimes i get bored to death sitting in an art fair booth, wishing I was making things instead of sitting there trying to sell them.   so mindy and i play games like "i-spy" while we people-watch. i guess i wonder what everyone else does to pass time ...

tomorrow we'll publish some responses from the people we met.


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