elizabethramos.com

seeking shelter.

For months now, we’ve been looking at ways we can move closer to downtown. Every time we find a possible solution, there’s something keeping us from moving forward. Maybe it’s the timing, the price, the location. Maybe we’re being too picky. But for whatever reason, we haven’t found home yet.

Yesterday we visited art&light, our favorite gallery in Greenville. It’s been a while since we’ve been there and it was really great to see all the new work, visit the adjoining galleries and talk to Teresa, the gallery owner. We left with two beautiful woodcut pieces by local artist Kent Ambler. Other than posters and functional objects, I can’t remember the last time we bought a piece of art.

Seeking Shelter, by Kent Ambler

While I love the colors and the circular shape, the subject matter and title of this one really spoke to me. Andrew, Melanie and I are looking for home. We haven’t found it yet, and as frustrating as it is sometimes, that’s where we are right now.

The title and timing couldn’t be more appropriate.

Buying this piece feels like a turning point somehow. I don’t know if that’s just wishful thinking, but I can tell you it definitely feels good to buy art again.

bringing creativity back.

Around Christmas time, Andrew and I were discussing how (in spite of us both being designers) our everyday lives don’t seem to allow for much creativity. One small way we decided to combat this is by adding a small chalkboard wall to our kitchen. We’re hoping that this will give us a good place to make art that’s intentionally temporary and help us remember to have fun creating things.

I remembered that Barb of Knack Studios did this a while ago, and she kindly gave me a few tips. The most important: Don’t skip the conditioning step. Even though you won’t want to mess up your beautiful wall, you need to do it.

There are all kinds of varying reports online about whether or not this step is necessary, so her advice was really helpful. I would definitely have been tempted to skip it since that eliminates most of the process. Here’s what we did:

Step 1: paint the wall
For such a small area, I was really pleased with how quickly this went. I did three coats for this wall. It was really tempting to stop here because it looks finished!

Step 2: condition the wall
This is the part where you use up half a box of chalk by covering the entire wall with chalk. Using the chalk on its side makes it go fairly quick though.

Step 3: erase
Although it makes you wonder if the wall will ever look good, these conditioning steps make sure your wall erases better down the road.

Step 4: clean
Use a wet cloth or sponge to wipe down the wall. Surprisingly, it returned to the beautiful rich black it started out! You’ll also want to clean up your floor here as well since steps 2 & 3 leave a fine coat of chalk dust next to the wall.

After our one-weekend project, we can now draw fun things on our wall any time we feel like it! It’s been really nice to have a place to practice hand-lettering and be creative without the aid of a computer!

Andrew drew this for Melanie the day she came back for school.

We’ve also used the wall to keep track of weekly menus, welcome friends when they come over or just to leave each other notes.

I tend to be a perfectionist at heart, which means this wall has been a good exercise for me — making myself draw and write and not worry so much about how it looks. I can always erase and start over.

Note: I was worried about a chalkboard wall in a kitchen because of the mess, but the wall is small and away from where we prepare food so it hasn’t been an issue at all.

keep it local.

A few weeks ago some friends and I headed up the road to Asheville, NC. The main reason for our trip was to meet Grace of D*S at her book signing there. We had so much fun exploring the city and checking out the shops, galleries and restaurants before we headed over to the bookstore. (If you want to see where all we went, look for more photos at Erin’s blog.)

Asheville has always had a strong ‘buy local’ movement (see examples of their campaigns below), but I was excited to see a new ‘Local is the new Black’ promotion around town. Beautiful silver screenprinted posters stand out against shop windows all over town.

Various Asheville Grown Business Alliance (AGBA) Campaigns as seen around town. Photo credits clockwise from top right: alicia.pimental / briface / ello lovey / Ron Gunzburger

It’s a great reminder as we head into the holidays. Every city has independent retailers struggling to make ends meet, and we can choose to support them and our local economy with our purchases.

If you’re not sure where to start, there’s a growing movement that can help. The 3/50 Project has been very instrumental for me in demonstrating exactly what kind of impact buying local can have. From their website:

“For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures. If you spend that money in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home.”

The basic idea behind their project is to encourage consumers to pick 3 local businesses whose doors they would be sad to see close, and commit to spend $50 (total) each month at these stores. This is a great campaign with a very worthy mission.

I’ve seen a sign online that says “If you really want to occupy Wall Street, do your holiday shopping at a small independent merchant.” While I don’t know if that’s the entire answer, it’s definitely a good start! Support your local businesses this holiday season — whether that’s an artist or a restaurant or shop owner in your city. Think of creative ways to give gifts that support others in your community.

“Only when we know good can we begin to inch up from good to excellent.”

— Michael Ruhlman, Ratio

last call.

Tomorrow night at midnight, the application period for this year’s Indie Craft Parade will close.

If you’re an artist yourself, make sure you get your application in for a chance to exhibit at this year’s event! And/or if you have a few favorite artists whose work you love, make sure they’ve heard about this opportunity. Anyone in the Southeast can apply!

unintentional hiatus + handmade nation

The lack of posts here is directly related to the amount of Indie Craft Parade work that’s been going on in my ‘non-working’ hours. So, while I feel a little guilty about neglecting the blog, I’m super excited about all that’s going on in the Indie Craft Parade world!

First, the exciting news that we’re co-hosting a showing of the documentary Handmade Nation. This will be happening one week from today at the Warehouse Theatre as part of the Greenville Forward Challenge Series*. If you’re curious what the big deal about art and handmade goods is, this documentary is a great way to learn about the modern craft movement. Director Faythe Levine interviewed “artists, crafters, makers, curators and community members” across the country to learn about this subculture in America. Tickets are $10 and you can reserve them in advance here.

The second milestone we’re approaching is the application period, which runs June 1 — June 18. If you’re an artist or crafter in the Southeast, we want to see your work! We’re looking for quality handmade goods in a variety of categories. If you’re interested, or know a favorite artist who should apply, more information can be found here.

*Sidenote: we saw Food, Inc. as part of Greenville Forward’s Challenge Series, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that for us, it was life changing. This series is host to all kinds of documentaries, with focused discussions afterward that help the audience make applications to our community in Greenville. It’s one of the many helpful programs Greenville Forward is behind, and I highly recommend it!

“We must have craft before we have art, and craft is founded on fundamentals.”

— Michael Ruhlman, Ratio

Planning ahead.

This may be the first time I remember us being so well ahead of schedule. It’s the first week of November, and we have Two Over Zero Christmas products ready to go!

All the credit goes to Teresa of art & light gallery, who approached us not too long after Indie Craft Parade to see if we would be interested in selling some Holiday goods in her lovely shop. When I say ‘lovely shop’ — if you’ve never been to art & light, you really need to head over there this weekend! Teresa is an amazing curator, always finding new and fresh artists to showcase. She is an avid supporter of independent artists, which I really love. This month alone, I know that she has more than half a dozen of our Indie Craft Parade vendors’ work on display in her shop!

The card pictured above is my personal favorite of the three illustrations Andrew created for our Two Over Zero Christmas cards this year. They aren’t available in our shop yet, however you can see them and our other Christmas goodies at art & light this weekend!

Another reason to head out this weekend for art is that it’s not only First Fridays tonight, it’s also Greenville’s Open Studios weekend! This is the time of year you can visit artists in their studios throughout the city. If you don’t know where to start, check out the map, and start with your own neighborhood. There are hundreds of participating artists!