Art & Design Archives

Something for nothing?

September 3, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Handmade, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Have you ever been asked to do something for a client only to find out that they can’t actually pay you? If not be prepared to be in that situation sooner or later in your creative career. As I have started this journey of self-employment I have encountered quite a few opportunities to do something for someone where I was not necessarily “paid” in monetary terms.

Depending on your situation you have to ask yourself a few questions to determine if this project is a good idea or not.

1. Is this project something I would enjoy or love doing?

2. Is the client offering me something I can truly use in return for my time and services -is it truly of VALUE to me?

3. Can this client lead me (or refer me) to other clients who can pay me?

4. Are the project and the expectations of you and your client clearly defined?

5. Is this an opportunity to expand in a new direction that you have been wanting to gain experience in?

If you answered yes to at least 3 of the questions above then you may want to consider this sort of arrangement. I am finding that I am being asked to participate in various types of projects by other entrepreneurs and when someone else is just starting out as well I am more inclined to help them out if they are serious, professional and can offer me something equally valuable (relative to the time I would spend for them).

I’ve also been approached by mid sized/large companies asking me to work a barter deal with them. Frankly, this is not as appealing to me unless they rarely have something valuable to offer me in return. We all have to earn a wage at some point, here in the US it would be virtually impossible to survive on a barter system alone.

The whole subject of “Free” is one that is continuously being discussed. I’ve participated in a few online discussions over at the former website “Make and Meaning”. You can find an archive of these discussions on the subject of free over at Crafty Pod. This subject really gets people worked up, they either love or hate the idea of sharing their ideas and services for free or for the exchange of publicity, referral or some other less monetary exchange.

Either way, be prepared to explore the possible advantages and disadvantages of doing something for “free”.

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Invoke the Spirit of Play

August 27, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

Cats, dogs play and children usually play on a daily basis…why don’t we make the time Invoke the Spirit of Play (as adults)?

Some of us play sports, some of us play board games, some of us play musical instruments. When I get particularly stressed my automatic response is the opposite of play. I think of all the things I need to do or that I should be doing. What I should actually do is make some play time, give my brain a little time off and free myself of all that is causing me stress. Last year for the holidays I broke down and got my husband a PSP player and I’ve found myself playing video games now and then. I don’t “Play” any musical instruments but love to hear my husband play guitar.

Sometimes play for me means sitting down and creating jewelry, knitting, making something with my hands or taking a walk with my camera and not taking the end “product” too seriously.

During one of the blizzard we had last winter we lost power for about 12 hours. One of the most fun parts of that blizzard is bundling up with blankets and candles and playing monopoly on our bed and Humm… my husband still owes me the completion that game!

How do you invoke the spirit of play?

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Modern Women in Design

August 24, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Museums & Galleries, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

One of the most inspiring things I have seen this summer (and there have been quite a few!) is the current exhibit at the Textile Museum. It is all about mid-century modern women in design and boy are there some fabulous and fun textiles on exhibit! I tend to be a rule breaker (in some areas of my life only) and when it comes to taking photo’s in museums…I often break the rules. I do it so I can share snippets with others who I know may not be able to experience the same thing in person. So enjoy the photo’s I risked my visit to take, luckily that day the security guard seemed more interested in talking on the phone than observing the museum goers.

The show is called “Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain” and it ends on September 12, so if you get a chance you may want to make a trip to see it. The show features a majority of designs by British designer Lucienne Day and two of her contemporaries: Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler. The work above and below is from Lucienne Day. Aren’t they just incredibly fresh and fun and honest? That is what I love about this era of work. The designs are not pretentious, over thought or trend driven.

This is the type of work I love to share because it’s different and fun and the love that the designer put into the work shines through.
Lucienne Day’s husband (Robin) was also a furniture designer. I’m certain this contributed to her overall sensibility about good design for home interiors. Below are some great tea towels she designed.Her are a few shots of the overall show. All these ladies were fabulous designers who’s designs have stood the test of time. I especially enjoyed the work of Lucienne Day and was so glad to get to see this show in person. Save

Collaborative Visions

August 17, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Handmade, Inspiration & Education, Photography Leave a Comment

Moving directly from my last entry I would like to explore the idea of collaboration. My last project was a collaboration between myself, another artist and the client. Each and every custom design is just that, at least that’s the way I view it. My job on any custom project is to help fulfill someone else’s vision. As an artist and designer I am find myself getting stuck on certain projects or pieces from time to time and usually, if I can find a way to collaborate then I can break free of those limitations. Over the last several years I have been involved in quite a few collaborative projects. I’ve both been invited to collaborate and organized collaborative projects. You can view some images of my last project “Collaborative Visions” over HERE. Above is a mosaic of several in progress pieces from a previous art project and there are more images over HERE. These projects never fail to inspire me to look at my process differently. I love seeing how other’s react to things I create intuitively and vice versa. We don’t take these projects too seriously, we have fun with them. That’s the whole point, to liberate ourselves beyond our own creative process.

I can promise you will be seeing a lot of collaborative work here at HKPowerstudio. It is something I want to explore in more depth on both a professional level and in a more personal creative way. How and why do you collaborate?

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A Custom Design is Born

August 13, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Handmade, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

I thought it might be interesting to show the process of how a custom design is born! This is a recent project I worked on and was super fun because my clients; Normans Farm Market; are energetic, young, entrepreneurs who run several farm stands supplying the DC area with fresh produce from many small farms within about a 100 mile radius of DC. They had a long time friend of theirs, Anne, create the conceptual sketch for their new season re-usable shopping bags and tee shirts. When I heard they were going to hire a graphic designer to convert Anne’s art I told them I could do it for them! Here is what we started with, Anne came over and we spent a couple hours together as she was curious to see how a pencil drawing becomes a screen print design. Next I worked on “cleaning up” this original piece of art. I work in Photoshop and an industry program called Texcelle for all my work. I really want to learn Illustrator, that’s next on my list. So after I got this basically into a two tone image with the right high resolution and file formats (this will differ based upon your output type and end product) I presented it to the client and it looked something like this. From here I went back and forth with the Normans several more times to revise text, placement and other elements within the design. The final design is below and it turned out great, they were happy and that’s the most important aspect of working with a client on a custom design. I have to say that working on custom design is one of my favorite ways to work. I love working with people to take a creative idea and make it a real product. The final product is always a little thrilling to see once completed! It’s is especially great when you get to work on a project that incorporates something your passionate about, in this case Local Food and it’s even better when your clients are such fun to work with. Thanks John, Eris and Jeff!