Starting the year off on a new note

Happy 2015!

I could get into all the excuses I have for not having blogged in far too long but I won't so I can get to the excitement of being back in the studio after a break over the holidays.

I think January is one of my favourite times of the year in the studio because I get to step back a little bit from the process of running my studio to plan, experiment, play, and make new work for the new year.  I just finished working on my financial year end (ahead of the game by a few months from what I usually do) and it's given me a good picture of where I need to put my energy and time.  I'm still working on figuring out what pieces I sold most and how many I made last year (a first for me!).  All these numbers make my head swim but, at some point, it's a really important way to think through how I work and how to grow in a way that fits who I am, and what my goals are.

Part of this strategy and numbers, planning and playing is coming from starting to work with a Business Manager.  This past year I met with the incredible team from Taendem and felt like it was a good fit for me at this stage in my studio life.  When I started Dahlhaus in 2007 I took a self-employment program, wrote a business plan and had a business coach through the program to guide me for my first year.  Since then, I've been kind of winging it.  Every year I think I might have figured out the perfect balance of wholesale, online sales, studio sales and craft sales, along with hiring more or less help in the studio, spending more or less money on photography or marketing opportunities, saying yes or saying no to the increasing amount of opportunities that come my way, regretting some or learning a lot from being part of something I hadn't anticipated working on.

This intuitive approach of running my studio really came to a crashing halt last January when I fractured my arm in a bike accident.  The day before I fell, I was on the phone with my dad and he had asked me how my week was going.  I told him I felt like I was in a boxing arena, and all these punches were coming my way and I wasn't sure which ones to duck for and when to punch back.  That kind of analogy really hit me hard the following day while I sat in the walk-in clinic, pondering how I was possibly going to work with a fractured right elbow.  Amazingly, with the help of my brand new studio assistant, Janine, I was able to get through a really tough time.

So this year I wanted to start the year on a better footing.  I know that creating a viable, sustainable studio practice as an artist and a maker is a tall order, but I'm willing to give it all I have without compromise.  Well, there's going to be a bit of give and take, but you get the idea.  Here's to 2015, to turning 40, to celebrating 20 years of love with my darling, to having my oldest child become a teenager, and to the wild ride my little studio is on!

 Thanks for following along!  Join me on Instagram for more great chats and stories.

As of late ...

Where, oh where, have I been, o blog?

At the studio:
I had been subletting part of my studio (hence the crowded busy mess) for the past few months to a former summer intern of mine while she prepared for an exhibition here in Vancouver, so things at the studio got pretty crazy crowded especially in the last month or so.  Lots of work was made in this 340 sq ft space.  So much work, so little space, but it all got made (more or less!) and fired and Kelly's show has been a near sell-out so I'm so pleased she was able to have a place to make. 

As for the work that I make, I sent off about 5 early spring orders to shops and galleries, and am on another 3 that are estimated to be finished later this month and into May.  My online sales have tapered off after I scrambled to keep up with teapot sales when my teapot was featured in Bon Appetit magazine.  It's always a bit hard to predict how busy one will get with features.  It feels really hit and miss these days so I try to keep my expectations pretty low-key and feel really blessed when something does turn into a sale after being featured.  Anyone else feel the same way?

The website is getting an overhaul!  Still in the initial stages, but I met with my friend and graphic designer, Tyler Payne a week ago and we got the ball rolling.  It's hard to imagine that in 2007, we sat down to design my current site with my concept of what 'dahlhaus' would be, and 1 round of photography from work I made with the launch of dahlhaus in mind.  So much has changed online in the last 6 years- how people use websites, what devices they are using to look stuff up online, and also the function of websites has really changed over the last few years.  Initially we designed my website as a portfolio and now people have come to expect to be able to purchase the work from images that they see on a website, so it will have a shop focus, with a link to my portfolio.  I'm really looking forward to a fresh look so stay tuned!!

Work/life balance, anyone?  I think when you work for yourself, and you do something you truly do enjoy doing, a person can get really busy and wrapped up in making pretty much all the time.  Or instagramming, twittering,  facebooking, emailing, texting, pinteresting, and, oh, yeah, blogging.  It's gotten a bit much and I was really starting to crave some real face-time with other artists, makers, friends and family, instead of just slaving away in the studio or being online.  It's been really good to connect for real and there are still a few people I've been meaning to see.  On that front, it has also been somewhat comforting to know that I'm not alone in some of the struggles I face as a full-time maker.  There are a lot of us in the same boat, all trying to sort out a way to create viable and sustainable small businesses based on our creative endeavors and talents.  It's not as easy as it sounds.

So I probably won't be here much in the next month or so, just piping in to let you know about a few up-coming events that will be happening in May.  We are in open house mode at our house where our landlord is currently selling our place.  We've been here for the past 7 years, so it has felt very much like home to us.  It will be hard to leave, but we have had a good run of this house as renters.  Can't complain too much.

Practice verses Business...and a bit more of the new studio

Ever since Forage, I've been thinking through the difference between having a 'practice' and running a 'business'.  One of our panel discussions had to do with grant writing, online financing campaigns, and award applications for making art.  The term when to use 'business' and when only to use 'art practice' came up - for instance don't ever use the term 'business' when applying for a grant- always use the term 'practice' or the grant jurors won't even consider your submission.  Although when it comes time to collecting and submitting my taxes or applying for a business license to be able to use my studio, I essentially operate as a ceramic manufacturing business.

So I started thinking through how I felt about the terms 'business' and 'practice'- whether or not one applied to me more then the other, and also, if these terms were really in fact the same way of talking about what I do.  I generally use 'art practice' and 'business' interchangeably but I often feel ill-equipped as an artist to be running a viable business.  For instance when the chatty guy at the bus stop starts asking what I do and I say 'ceramic artist' and he replies 'Is there any money in that?' I kind of stumble over my words.  Not like it's any of his business, but it has become clear to me that I'm much more comfortable understanding what I do as a practice where the personal out-comes of creating and making are more important than the dollars and cents of it.

Part of me realizes that my core values are being triggered here- that I have always viewed 'business' and 'making money' as self-serving and with a negative slant.  The artist in me wants my motives for making decisions to be 'pure'- as though making decisions to do with my creative goals and out-comes are more honourable then if those goals considered financial out-comes.  I totally admire those who feel like their ability to profit financially through their creative endeavors comes honestly or naturally, and always hoped that this would be really seamless for me as well, but am recognizing that making decisions based on my artistic out-comes alone and not considering the financial isn't healthy, viable, or sustainable either.

Every milestone I have crossed with 'dahlhaus' has been really amazing and I'm truly grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.  The potential I see in what I do will come at the cost of other things for sure, but I sometimes mourn the missed opportunities that have come across my desk- missed because I wasn't ready to have all the pieces in place to make those opportunities happen.  I have always been less prepared for success and more prepared for failure and I'd really like to change this notion (*thank you to Fiona from Cartolina Cards for clarifying this in her talk at Forage).  I'm hopeful that I  can create a more symbiotic relationship between the business of what I do and the practice of making so that the decisions and the opportunities don't overwhelm or stall the creative path that I'm on.

 **These are a few photos of sections of my new studio. It's a little hard to see how big the space is (360 sq. feet!).  I have yet to photograph the whole thing because last week I purchased a used slip-casting table to help me out with some of the heavy lifting that slip-casting demands.  It's a big massive table that I still have to sort out how to configure the rest of the studio around it.  I'll also be sharing this space with my former studio intern from a few summers ago, Kelly, who wanted to share some studio space for the next few months before she moves far, far away.  I'll be missing her when she goes so it will make for some good time together before she leaves.