meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

Every time December comes around I feel like a piece of pulled taffy. There are so many things on my "to-do" list, and so many events and invitations piling up! I'm feeling the full plate pain a little extra this year, but that's not stopping me from piling it a little higher with a new job, projects and events.

Fill your plate and cross some holiday shopping items off of your to-do list THIS WEEKEND at Hyde Park Open Studios. Visit me at 65 Sprague Street, 2nd Floor, Studio #4 (rear window) and get an exclusive look at my magical workspace. After 8 long years of managing this multi-use studio, I'm moving it all down to Providence.

To save myself some packing drama, I'm offering special pricing on all of my archived artwork, '07-'08 jewelry from Crostini, and a nice selection of unique studio supplies. Come meet me and Henry the ginormous stick plant (then tell me how I'm supposed to move him, he's 10 feet tall...)

With over 80 local artists participating, it's sure to be an exciting and enjoyable weekend. Please stop by and introduce yourself!

Web Alert: the retail arm of my studio, Crostini Designs, is today's Site Of The Day on superfind indie shopping site NeatoStuff.com

Get it while it's hot! And remember, Buy Handmade this holiday season to support creative artists and indie businesses! We'll rebuild the heart of the economy one stitch, brush stroke and stir at a time if we have to (and look fabulous doing it, if I do say so myself).

Today I'm thinking about...supplies. I spent a good part of my day exchanging community-building ideas with a very large group of Providence arts community stakeholders - a forum which required supplies like: sharpies, kraft-paper, coffee, pushpins, sketchbooks...which led to more socializing (requiring supplies like beer and bar snacks).

If you think about it, most activities require supplies of some sort, so why not get them from a source you can feel good about? As part of my "if you can't make it yourself at least buy handmade" mission, I'm participating in an Etsy community supply sale this week with crostini*VS. Head over to Etsy, and search "Team ESST" for creative supply deals from fellow artisans and craft suppliers.

Often, the best creative materials can be found off-the-beaten-path, rather than at your local art supply store or out of that glossy wholesale catalog. As a supply junkie, some of my most triumphant finds have been courtesy of tag sales, personal or business move giveaways, and downright dumpster diving!

Over the years, I have utilized my collection of unique materials to create many pieces of original artwork and, more recently, collectible designs and accessories.

Today, however, I hit the supply jackpot. My lovely studiomate, who enjoys a very interesting career as a trend forecaster, let me have at a gigantic pile of sample books that have outlived their rather short life at the top of the trend pile. Because she forecasts color and material trends four years ahead, the sample selection (albiet yesterday's news for her) is super space-age in my book!

I'm already drawing up a list of project ideas so that I can breathe new life into these squares of fabric, leather and beyond!

Readers: if you have creative ideas for reuse of sample fabric and material swatches, post them to comments below. I will be putting together a "Wicked Cool" crostini*VS grab-bag prize from these designer footwear sample materials that will go to a winner, chosen at random from your project idea comments. The winner will be chosen next Friday, May 30th! Good luck!

I have always had a love for paper that goes beyond the expected excitement of a blank, white sheet ready for the artist’s first mark. As a small child, I spent hours poring over the decorator’s hefty wallpaper sample books, left over from our 1977 home renovations: the mirrored backgrounds…the bold florals or geometric patterns rendered in one exciting colorway after another. In my early days, these enormous, psychedelic volumes rivaled even Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle for my affections.

Many years later, I helped fund my way through art school by working in the cataloging department of my college library. My love for found papers, combined with my passion for words inspired me to stash away hundreds of colorful book jackets, typically discarded during the cataloging process. Fast-forward another decade or so, and here I am in my studio, surrounded by several Tupperware storage bins full of vintage paper ephemera that desperately needs purging!

Unlike my vintage giftwrap and wallpaper collections, these heavyweight, coated book jackets don’t offer enough regular patterning or figuration to make them appropriate for the mixed-media art collages that I often create. They are text heavy, and extremely varied in coloration. With some creative experimentation, and using some tools I had available, I created this unique DIY project for my sturdy and colorful paper source. Click here for my full, illustrated tutorial: