Friday, August 8, 2008

Chihuly Piece in the Toilet

You Tube video idea: Throw your Chihuly in the toilet! Go ahead, you know you want to. Art glass, like many other things is experiencing a shrinking of the market. Like you've read here on Benician Glass at BlogSpot, glass artists are the Rodney Dangerfields of the art world.
Glass artists are a dime a dozen. You can run a whole business making all sorts of custom commissions by just hiring migrant glass workers. Ask anyone in Seattle.
In the been-there-seen-that art world that is the American Crafts marketplace, two of the major trade show producers: American Craft Fairs out of New York and the Buyers Market out of Baltimore have both extended their application deadlines this year in efforts to fill the spaces in their convention center sized wholesale trade marts.
Does this mean that the American Craftsmen who did so well in the late 80's and through the 1990's are just retiring? Or are they going out of business? Most likely they are calling it quits. If you are a craft artist, what is your reason for avoiding doing the major shows today? If you are a craftsman who has chosen not to go to the time and expense of these shows anymore, or at least for now,tell us about it in our comments section.
Others of you readers I appologize to. We realize many of you are very passionate about art glass. What we want to know is: is it the tradition of preserving hand crafts and reviving old world techniques? Is it the heat, the furnaces, the melting of the sand into the hot glowing honey like substance? Is it the use of the raw materials? What is it that makes you passionate about glass arts?
Could it be the vivid colors, the hardness, the smooth surface so glossy and well, glass like. "Frozen motion", that’s what we used to call it back before cyberspace. It is still an apt term: "Frozen Motion", sounds like a video game experience, doesn't it? Also why are people so hypnotized by glass making? People always come in to our blow shop just as a fluke and some end up staying all day. They have just about worn out the theatre seats we have in the blow shop.
Tell us your thoughts here or email the shop. We want to know. Or maybe we should really just toss that Chihuly we bought into the toilet? Let us know.
Come see us make glass any time. Just call in advance to see what dates and times. Hope you can come visit and get to know us personally. Otherwise search You Tube for "Chihuly in the Toilet", it'll be there soon. Thanks for reading.

2 comments:

Webbie said...

I think the art glass market is stronger than most. The market hasn't gone away....just the methods and venues for selling are adjusting to the web-aware world. The market adjusts and corrects....I believe one must be flexible enough to adjust with it.

bigkitty said...

What do you do when the majority of your client base is not using email? Snail mail and cold calls are the only option. Any ideas???