|
I hope all you artists and crafters will sign in and maybe even rec this so we can get it on the greatest page.
Today is the first of November, and for a lot of us that means the beginning of the holiday arts & crafts shows season.
The first show I ever did was at the National Guard Armory in Angola, Indiana, in November 1975 and I'm still goin' strong. Even back then, there was am underlying "made in America" push, as most Christmas decorations then were made in Japan or Taiwan or Hong Kong. Now, of course, so much has been offshored to China, to Mexico and Honduras, etc.
Many artists and crafters don't have their own websites, and so we don't get listed when DUers go looking for onlibe guides to "Made in the USA" products. It's up to us, therefore, to toot our own horns.
And frankly, I'm not very good at that. But I'm going to try.
If you know of any arts & crafts shows in your area, or places were people can buy hand-made, made in the USA products, please post the information here and then rec (I've NEVER asked that before) so we can give our own DUers a heads up on this.
It doesn't make any difference if you're participating in the show or not. I just want to promote the arts & crafts industry as an alternative to the cheap plastic crap from you-know-where. And if you are in the show and want to promote yourself or a friend or the organization that's sponsoring it, please do so!
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, after my grandfather had lost his factory job, my grandparents operated a rooming house on Chicago's southside. Many of the tenants skipped out without paying, or paid only what they could. Helping out in my great-grandfather's bakery brought in a little more money, but that wasn't enough to keep going either. My grandmother had always knit and crocheted, as her mother had before her, so she started knitting baby layettes -- sweaters, caps, booties, blankets, etc -- that she sold to the local hospitals to be given away to new mothers whose babies would otherwise have had nothing. She didn't make much, but it was enough to keep them solvent and help them move to Park Ridge, Illinois in 1934, where they built a split-level Sears Roebuck "Modern Home" kit house. The house is still there.
My husband and I had plans to spend our retirement doing arts & crafts, supplementing social security with proceeds from maybe half a dozen shows each year, mostly during this pre-holiday season. Sadly, he passed away in '05 before we could make that a reality together, but I'm still doing it. Even on a very limited part-time basis I bring in a couple thousand dollars a year, a very welcome addition to my survivor's benefits and a part-time "independent contractor" job. Not to mention the enormous satisfaction I get from actuall making things!
So please, give this thread a boost and all your fellow artists and crafters, many of whom count on their holiday show sales to get them through the rest of the year. List as much information as you can, dates and times and locations and links to websites if you have 'em.
I won't list any in my area until this thread gets at least one response. . . . .
“History has remembered the kings and warriors, because they destroyed; Art has remembered the people, because they created.” -- William Morris, founder of the English arts & crafts movement, novelist, poet, artist, designer, printer, and socialist.
Tansy Gold, the sometimes modest and shy :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
