WHY DO WE TAKE THE PATHS WE DO?

Sometimes I wonder "what if"?  I am sure you do as well.  I think it is much of our makeup as human beings.  Did we make the right choices?  Are we sure we can make that leap?  What if we just "play it safe" and not take the risk?  These thoughts run through our minds pretty regularly.  That is OK.  It is good to reflect on our decisions.  BUT there comes a time when we need to ACT.  Take a step and move forward.

I look back on the paths I took in my career and my life and I clearly see where I followed my "safe and logical path" (education and career) and where I followed my heart/passion (marrying my husband 6 months after our first date).  My life would look very different today if my choices were all safe and logical or all driven by my heart.  I believe it is important to find that balance.  The great thing about choosing a path is that it is the journey, not the destination, that is important in our lives.  The paths we take create the individual we become, AND we can continue to refine ourselves as we choose each path.  How wonderful is that!

 

If we look honestly within ourselves we know what path we need to take.  I have had many conversations with God through the years on which path is right, asking for guidance in various situations, or just plain saying “thank you”.  I find him a wonderful listener!  When I tell people that Richard and I were married quickly (within 6 months) they are quite surprised.  I did not have any reservations with my decision, I just knew in my heart we were meant to be together.  In April, I will be married to my best friend for 25 years.  Marriage certainly is not easy, I like to call it character building, but it is worth all the work it takes to build a life together.  God brings wonderful people and experiences to us; it is up to us to act on them.

On the "play it safe" route with my career there have been a lot of career choices I had to make, beginning with my degree.  Did I make all the "right choices"?  Who knows?  What I do know, is that the choices I made created the person I am so far in life.  Beyond the stability of a traditional career, it has provided me the opportunity to meet interesting and challenging people from many parts of the world, learn good business practices and how to manage through difficult situations, stretch my comfort zone with presentations, people interactions and continue to learn new things.  So although it was not an art career I started in, I do value the learning’s and growth as a person I became because of the paths I chose.  The beauty of it all is that art still can be a special part of my life.  The start of my career in the business world will enhance my retirement career in art. 

It is interesting when I talk to people who need desperately to figure out what they want to be when they grow up.  For me this is not the question I think we should ask ourselves.  It is more, what experiences do I want from life’s journey?  As you evolve through life’s experiences, this answer may very well change “who you want to be when you grow up”.  So look back and see how you have grown, even with your difficult experiences, and be proud of yourself for taking a step, whatever the direction! 

Making my art more visible to the world is how I am working to create this new path for myself.  I stepped my little toes over the career path I was on, a few years ago, when I put pieces at Glass House Designs.  Getting a view of what could be done, if the effort is applied.  Now I have added pieces at Creative Corner, pursuing it further.  I have a dream to create a space where art is created, shared and taught.  Creating that space where artists can share their passion and talent with others to spark their love of art.  This is the beginning of that journey.  How it evolves is dependent on where the path goes.  We don’t want to get there too soon, or we may miss some of the fun (and character building) along the way.

CHECK THAT BOX!

I wanted to do a quick note to say… “I have arrived at Creative Corner!” 

It was just my luck that today and tomorrow are terrible snowy days.  Of course when you get to know me, it does not take much snow for me to hibernate.  I just HATE driving on slippery roads.  Since we don’t know what tomorrow will truly be, my darling husband braved the roads with me today and we headed to Holland.  Interestingly, we drove through the storm and about a half hour before we arrived, the roads cleared and the ride back was also clear.  I think we made a good choice! :-)

We unloaded and setup pretty quickly.  Gotta love Velcro!  We have a very nice sunny spot in front of the window for the glass to sparkle!  I am very excited to see how this will turn out.  If nothing else, it will be learning (or a series of learning’s). 

 

My favorite piece in the collection is the orange curved plate.  The color just brightens your day!

I have been reading a book from Kelly Rae Roberts, called Flying Lessons, on how best to create a creative business.  In there she talks about ‘doing’ and not waiting for everything to be just perfect.  Of course, that means you will need to work diligently to catch the rest up.  I tend to like all my little ‘ducks lined up’ and then go.  So this is a bit uncomfortable, but it is not the first time and I am sure it will not be the last time, I am uncomfortable.  I will start addressing those loose ends next week (updating my website, www.2dogsglass.com, which needs a TON of work, updating my artist statement and getting to work on my business cards).  For now, I am happy to have work at Creative Corner and my blog started.   

Next week, I need to get started on the wind chimes for Glass House Designs and a few new designs I have rolling around in my head…

It feels good to be in that creative spirit….

ALMOST THERE...

My brain and hands hurt!  We will not let that put a damper on my plans for the gallery.  I began wondering this weekend, why is it that I do this to myself?  As if I don’t have enough work to do with our consulting business, I decide to take on another ‘job’ and pursue my art more seriously.  Really?  Why can’t I just support the consulting business and enjoy my ‘spare time’?  Guess I am just not wired right!  I am tired from the push to get product ready, but it is a good tired.  I am excited about getting setup at CreativeCorner.

The plates are almost done…

 

The last plate is in the kiln.  The last wind chime is beaded and assembled.  I don’t think these hands could crimp one more bead!  I hate to admit it, but I have spent about 14 hours assembling/beading 3 wind chimes.  It takes me quite a bit of time to get these cute little darlings, just so.  J  I LOVE them fully beaded.  The beading adds so much more FUN to these ‘singing’ little chimes.

This afternoon, once I finished the last wind chime, I had to get to work on the cart and trellis.  Cut the tapestry fabric for the top and drawers, used Velcro for the trellis assembly and Styrofoam feet for the trellis to help stabilize it.  Laid out the product to see how it would all fit.  I think all the little parts and ideas have come together nicely.

 

The picture is a bit busy with the background, but hopefully you can see all the pretty glass colors!  I thought it would be nice for the initial placement to have lots of bright colors to draw people in.  Of course the cart is a pretty adorable display.

Tomorrow I need to sign, polish and pack up all the products so they are ready to go.  As much as I love making glass items, it sure feels good to be done for a few days, so I can catch up on a few things around here that are in desperate need of attention… like my taxes. J

I just LOVE it when my plan starts coming together!  Guess that is the project manager in me.

GETTING CLOSER...

Oh my!  It gets more exciting every day that we get closer.  Although I have product in Lowell, starting at Creative Corner co-op is my catalyst that starts my motion forward.  It is the official start to taking my art more seriously. 

I have sent in my deposit for Creative Corner, in Holland, MI and set my start date as March 20.  I have purchased an adorable tea cart to display my work and I am working out how best to display the wind chimes.

I still have product at Glass House Designs in Lowell that is strictly commission, based on sales.  The co-op has a monthly fee along with a small commission.  A girl needs to start building where opportunities are and see where it takes her.  I am excited about working on some new product and have a few ideas I really want to flush out the design on.  The FUN part!!! =-)

I stopped in Lowell at Glass House Designs for more materials and to visit with Susan, the owner, last week.  We had a great talk and I shared with her my plans to do more glass and add my display in Holland.  She shared her insight on window displays as a great draw to bring people into a shop, but not for sales.  Interesting.  I would not have thought that.  If you think about your purchases, do you purchase from a window display?  I can’t say I have.

I have been working in my glass studio getting the wind chimes fired and parts ready for assembly.  Next up is curved plates and bowls.

       

Need to stay focused to meet the setup date of March 20… Did I mention that I still need to work on our consulting company taxes …. oh my!  No one said it would be easy…. ;-)

BEGINNING AGAIN

by Teresa Kenyon

I have done very little blogging to date, but I am taking on a new creative adventure and I wanted to share the emotional rollercoaster ride with all of you out there in hopes that my bumpy road of learning’s can help someone else.  But more importantly ‘spark’ something in just one creative person that say’s, I can do that too!  So welcome to my little journey…

I have decided to make my primary focus getting my art ‘out there’ with the secondary being my more traditional business career.  I am very lucky to have a husband that understands that I need to take this journey and see where it goes. I count my blessings every day.

How I got here…

I am a 51 year old woman (seems weird to see that number in print) that was raised to be ‘responsible’ and told that art was not a career, at best it was a hobby.  Even though art has always been what I loved to do, I chose to pursue Chemistry as a degree and career.  As with many others, Chemistry is where I started out of college and through the years my career evolved out of the lab and into the management and leadership roles.  I always had a desire to keep learning.  Looking back, it was likely that I was just not fulfilled with the positions I was in.  This did turn out to be a great career model for me though, as it did help me grow professionally and provided a stable income.  Roughly 6 years ago, I made the leap to go off on my own supporting my husband in his business and do project management for clients as a consultant (rather than an employee).

Throughout my career, I have managed to squeeze in a variety of art classes to feed my creative side.  I started with oil painting, tried my hand at watercolors (I have SUCH A RESPECT for those that have this talent), did a little pottery and then discovered glass.  Oh my!  I fell in love with glass from that very first class.  I could not get enough of it.  There is just something about creating art from beautiful sheets of glass that ‘gets into your blood’.  It has been my creative outlet for almost 25 years.  This is an art medium that I see myself working in for as long as my hands and mind hold out.  ;-) 

When I left my traditional job to work on my own, part of the drive for this was to have time to ‘dabble’ in the art world and see what was involved to move my livelihood in this direction (down the road).  My traditional career and very supportive husband provided me the luxury of taking some time to investigate the opportunities in the art world.  My long term plan, when I retire, is to focus on art and teaching others, helping them find the passion I found in art.  Being the responsible person I was raised to be, I needed to understand what that meant.  Early in my investigation I found an art studio doing fused glass.  I was in heaven!  I quickly signed up for classes, joined in on the open evening glass nights and discovered a very special lady from my past.  For those very early years of doing glass, there was a shop in town that became my ‘hang out’.  I bought supplies, took classes, and was on a first name basis with many of the staff.  I enjoyed being a ‘regular’ at their studio and loved that they knew my work.  My heart was broken when it sold and eventually closed.  What I discovered with my new favorite glass shop is that Susan, the owner, had worked there before she went on her own and was still in contact with many of them.  How wonderful is that!  Susan added my art to her gallery and gave me my first opportunity to professionally sell my art.  I don’t think she will ever know how touched and grateful I am for the opportunity she so freely gave me. 

My first learning…. There are people out there that will purchase something I made.  Oh my!  That is something you ‘hope’ for but when it happened to me, I had this perpetual smile on my face.  The fact that someone actually purchased something I made because they liked what I created, made my heart soar!  I would not be able to replace my traditional job by selling a few items each month, but what an emotional high this was.  J  Selling art and making a living are not easily connected.  This is what I expected, and why I wanted to start investigating what this art world was like.  I sold pieces and that helped pay for some of the materials, but it is nothing like the income of the business world I came from.  This brings me to my second learning.    

My second learning…. Artists, like Susan, who have marketed their product to galleries around the country, do a far better business (of course).  To get to this level takes significant effort, participating in art shows and investing a full time effort.  Part time effort that I am able to do initially, with a few items in a local gallery, does help me start down this path.  I CAN see my dream of having a working studio where I teach others when I retire.  BUT to see this become a reality I need to get out there and work it!

Time is such a difficult obstacle for all of us and our plans.  The consulting side of my business took off and at the same time my husband’s business took off, so it was taking away from my creative time, once again.  My first responsibility was to our business, so again my creative work was slowed significantly.  BUT I AM BACK.  I can never stay away too long.  J  If I really want my dream for retirement, I need to refocus on my second learning and give it the time it needs to grow.

Where I am going…

I took a long weekend trip recently with my friend Shannon to Sanibel Island and walked through a few art co-ops, dreaming about having product in a co-op back home.  When we got back, Shannon found one and sent me the information.  I have signed up and will be starting in March (in just a few weeks).  I have my display ready (just need to get some product made) and purchased a few creative businesses business planning books.  It will be good to learn from those that have blazed their creative business paths.

This adventure will be interesting … finding balance within the mind… the logical, responsible left side of my brain (where I have spent most of my life) with the creative spirit of the right side of the brain (where I choose to spend more of my life).

I am ready to begin… again.

I hope you find this blog interesting and helpful as we take this creative journey.