Season 2 Archives | Page 4 of 10

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#134 Kasia Avery: From Art Journaling to Wanderlust

When Kasia Avery discovered art journaling, she realized that was exactly what she wanted to do and that she wanted to teach her techniques to others. She and her husband Jamie invited other artists to create classes, and they’ve put together a yearly group of classes called Wanderlust. They’re in their 5^th year, and they offer one class per week for a year, including classes that they teach as well as classes from 24 other artists. December 31, 2019 is the last day you can sign up for Wanderlust 2020, so be sure to go to my website and look at the Show Notes for Episode 134 to use my affiliate link to sign up for Wanderlust.

Listen here or use a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Kasia Avery

All of Jamie and Kasia Avery’s offerings are found on their website everything-art.com.

Kasia also has a blog on her personal website that she updates, and you can also see photos of her artwork on her personal website, kasiaavery.com.

In addition to Wanderlust, Kasia and Jamie also offer other courses that you can find here.

You can follow Kasia on Instagram @kasiaavery or @everythingartuk. You can also follow these hashtags: #eaclasses and #wanderlustclasses.

Kasia mentioned the artist Finnabair. She first took art classes from her and Finnabair has been a Wanderlust instructor.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

Art making doesn’t have to be fine art. It’s all to be explored, even the messy art with many layers and mediums.
Not too long after Kasia started art journaling, she realized she wanted to make income from teaching this kind of art. She worked at night developing her weekend classes while she had a different day job. This is a great way to work your way into an art career quickly.
Teaching online classes is a great way to teach from your own home and not travel to teaching locations.
Kasia and her husband Jamie reached out to other artists to see if they’d like to teach classes under their Wanderlust brand. You won’t know if that will work unless you give it a try and reach out to people. Remember, it’s all about just doing the ask. You won’t get anything if you don’t ask.
If using other instructors, give them some kind of parameters to work with, like theme or subject matter, and the length of the class.
For 30-minute video classes, Kasia suggests breaking that down to a few smaller videos rather than one long video. This appeals to students because they can do small chunks of the class at a time.
Kasia opens the signups for Wanderlust in September. Because the first video doesn’t become available until the first Friday of January, she offers other content and mini classes that people can do in the months leading up to January. This is just extra bonus content for everyone. That’s a great way to keep people excited about your classes.
Kasia offers Wanderlust as lifetime access. That means that although the classes come out every Friday for a year, you will always have access to them. Instead of doing one class per week, you can do them at a slower pace if you’d like. This makes the class more appealing to people because they are trying to fit it into their busy lives.
Kasia also offers other classes on her website. These are good to try so you can learn a little more about art journaling and see if you’d like to join Wanderlust for the year. It’s always good to offer extra videos or tutorials so people can learn about your art and teaching style.
Art journaling allows you to express anything you feel, so it can be a very personal form of art.

Post category:Season 2 Show Notes

#133 Suzanne Redmond: Artist and Podcast Host

Suzanne Redmond is the creator of this podcast. Each week she interviews an artist from all over the world. For this episode, the tables are turned and Suzanne is interviewed about how she came to art, how she developed her artistic style, and why she started this podcast. She also reveals who her dream artist interview would be. Suzanne is interviewed here by her son, comedian and fellow podcaster, Michael Springthorpe.

Listen here or use a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Suzanne Redmond

Post category:Season 2 Show Notes

#132 Jane Davies: Collage Artist and Workshop Instructor

Artist Jane Davies lives in Vermont. She started her art career in ceramics, and eventually specialized in painting the designs on the ceramics. Now she paints abstracts and creates collages on wood panels. She teaches her techniques locally as well as all over the United States.

Listen here or use a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Jane Davies

Her website is janedaviesstudios.com.

You can also find her on Instagram @janedaviesart.

Her 2020 workshop in Tucson is hosted by Madeline School of the Arts.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

When evaluating which aspect of your business is most profitable, compare the income that is generated to the time involved. Jane spent a lot of time licensing her designs, but after a while when there were lots and lots of freelancers out there, she didn’t get as many acceptances. When she tried her hand at teaching, she realized that she could easily book many teaching classes that were profitable.
She first started teaching at venues that she could drive to. That makes sense when you’re first starting out and you’re learning about and improving your teaching style.
For each class that she taught, she would analyze it after the fact and think about what she could learn from it and how she could improve it for next time.
Teaching at a large art retreat such as Art and Soul is a great way to get a lot of people interested in your classes and to build your mailing list.
When teaching at an outside venue, you should be doing your own marketing for your class. Don’t rely on just the venue’s marketing because most likely, you’ll be paid per student, and the more students you can get to sign up for the class, the more income you’ll make from the class.
Marketing can include tutorials on your website or videos on YouTube. That way people can see what your teaching is like and decide if they’d like to take a class from you.
When doing collage, Jane likes to work on wood panels because it’s a sturdier surface for adhering papers and it’s a smooth surface for making marks.
You may do classes by planning and organizing the venue yourself. Or you may do classes where another party runs the venue and preps it for your class. Be sure and ask the right questions when looking into teaching somewhere so you know what to expect from them and just how much you’ll need to do.
Jane offers online workshops where the student can interact with the instructor, or they can take the class at their own pace. Consider both methods when offering classes and make sure you understand the differences when you’re taking these classes.

Post category:Season 2 Show Notes

#131 Deborah Engelmajer: Helping You to Start and Grow Your Handmade Shop

Deborah Engelmajer has a vibrant online community called Tizzit where she helps creatives develop a successful handmade shop. She offers lots of free resources on her blog and through her Youtube videos. She’s also created The Maker’s Roadmap, which breaks down the steps needed to dream, start, grow, and scale your handmade business.

Listen here or use a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Deborah Engelmajer’s business is called Tizzit and her website is tizzit.co.

Click here to go to the Tizzit HQ membership community.

To get your own copy of The Maker’s Roadmap, click here.

To join her free 5-day Challenge for Makers and Handmade Shop Owners (January 6-10, 2020), sign up here.

You can find her Youtube Channel here.

This is her Tizzit Facebook page and her Instagram.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

A great way to share knowledge with artists is to create an online summit where you interview experts and then post those interviews over a week. You’ll gain many followers and then you can take that information and offer it in videos or courses. Deb did her interviews with video so you could see who she was talking to.
You can offer the original interviews for free during a certain time period, then charge for the replays later.
Offering free content to people enables them to see what you’re capable of, and they can decide later if they want to pay for your next level of content.
If you build a community where people can have access to all of your content, you’re also giving them a way to ask questions and get feedback on what they are doing.
Deb has put her community on a separate website, so it acts as a forum where people can talk to one another. That website is where they also get all the content and educational courses. She chose this platform rather than a Facebook group because she didn’t want people to get distracted by everything else that’s on Facebook. When they go to engage with her community, they are focused on the community.
Deb actually blocks her Facebook feed so that she doesn’t get distracted by it. She uses News Feed Eradicator for Facebook, which is a Chrome extension.
When you’re trying something new, like making videos, don’t worry if you’re nervous at the beginning. That’s what makes it real. Remember that the more you make, the better you will get at it.
When you set up a community, the members will pay a monthly charge to be a part of it. When you’re in the community, you have access to all the content. If you cancel, then you don’t have access anymore.
Deb offers The Maker’s Roadmap, which is a list of steps in order of what you need to do to start your handmade shop. She includes a list of don’ts at each level to remind you not to get ahead of yourself. So for example, when you are at the Dream stage, you are trying to clarify what products you will sell. That’s not the time to work on your logo or marketing.
Deb believes that for every maker, there is a unique shop type that will work for them. It could be Etsy, it could be Shopify, or many others. She can work with makers to help them determine which shop type is right for them. There are a lot of choices out there and she can help you understand the pros and cons for each.
Deb also offers resources to help you with the photography of your artwork. Remember that people are buying from the photo because they’re doing it online and they can’t see it in person. Your photography has to be great before you can have a great shop.
People also want to get to know you and see who is behind the brand. Instagram is great for this because you can post photos and stories about yourself.
If you’re uncomfortable putting yourself on camera, you could just show your hands showing the process making the product. You can also just do audio and describe what you’re doing and why.

Remember to listen to my special December 25 episode where I will be interviewed by a guest host. That will be Episode #133.

Post category:Season 2 Show Notes

#130 Mary Beth Shaw: Artist, Instructor, and Stencil Girl

Artist Mary Beth Shaw creates abstract and collage art from the St. Louis, Missouri area. She also teaches all over the United States her art techniques, often using the stencils that she designs. You may know her from her very successful stencil business called Stencil Girl Products. Not only does she manufacture thousands of stencils designed by her and many other artists, but she also offers online classes and has created a community of stencil enthusiasts.

Listen here or use a podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary Beth’s website is mbshaw.com.

You can go to her Stencil Girl Products site from her website or you can use stencilgirlproducts.com.

Her online classes can be found at stencilgirlstudio.com.

You can also find her online classes on the stencilgirlproducts website through the Tutorials tab. You can also find lots of free instructional videos there.

You can sign up any time for her class through Danny Gregory’s Sketchbook Skool.

Mary Beth is also teaching through Wanderlust 2020 with Kasia Avery.

As of December, 2019, there are still a few spots left in her 2020 Italy Art Retreat.

Mary Beth can be found on Facebook at Stencil Girl Products.

Stencil Girl Products is on Instagram.

And Pinterest.

And Twitter.

And Youtube.

Here are some great takeaways from our conversation:

If you’re looking for a way to put creativity into your life, see if there are any classes in your area that you can take. Mary Beth took one that she thought was a crafting class, but it turned out to be a study about a creativity book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. That helped her to get started making collages. She later took classes from a local artist named Ann Baldwin.
Try to make your art different than what else is out there. When it became popular to use words on collages, Mary Beth went edgier with the words and phrases that she used.
When Mary Beth started applying to outdoor shows, she didn’t start with the smaller local shows. She applied to the bigger name shows, and because her artwork was so different, she got in. Don’t limit yourself to only what you think you should do; go beyond that and try something bold.
The outdoor art show circuit can become like a family situation. You travel from show to show with the same artists, and you get ideas from one another. It’s hard work but you can make many lasting friends.
Large art retreats sometimes have vendor nights where you can buy a table space to sell your art or supplies. This can be a very lucrative option, whether you are teaching there or not.
When Mary Beth did her first vendor night where she sold her first stencils, she gave some of the instructors who were teaching at the art retreat stencils to use in their classes. By the time vendor night came around, everyone was looking to buy her stencils because they had already used them in the classes. She sold out that first year. Remember that people often want to try supplies first before they buy and give people the option to try the technique first.
The artists who design the stencils for Stencil Girl Products are adequately compensated and they maintain rights to their designs. This was important to Mary Beth when building her company.
Mary Beth offers online classes through her Stencil Girl Products website. If you’re selling a tool or supply, it’s a great idea to create classes that show how to use them.
Many artists, including Mary Beth, had blogs years ago and posted regularly. Some artists have kept these blogs linked to their websites, and they’re a great archive of some fabulous stories. If you see an artist that has an old blog, take a look at their past content. 10-15 years ago, artists wrote great long blog posts that are a wealth of some really cool information.

Post category:Season 2 Show Notes