White Oak Studio

I just finished with two days of interviews and a 4-hour photo session with the Country Woman editor and I am so tired I am stumbling around on my feet. While the last two day have been fun they were also exhausting.

Ann Kaiser, editor of  Country Woman and Taste of Home magazines has come and gone and I feel like we crammed a weeks worth of work into the last two days. (Of course it didn't help my energy level that I have been working in the garden five to six hours per day and shoveling and distributing two to three truckloads of bark chips a week for the past five months.) I simply wanted the garden to be in "tip top" shape!

The weather cooperated both days with sunshine and blue sky's and I discovered as we talked that Ann and I have a lot in common as mothers of two sons, writers and photographers. My husband and partner, Gene Allgaier-Lamberti took the day off of work to help and managing the house and dog, held the bounce reflector for the photographs and made a lovely salad luncheon. His reward? To join us for a tasty Italian dinner Thursday evening at Tello's Restaurant in South Haven!

For those of you who might not be familiar with County Woman or Nieman Publications here is the explanation found on Google... Country Woman Magazine: Country Lifestyle Recipes, Crafts & Friends ... meet women who embrace the country lifestyle and swap recipes, kitchen tips, ... see the About Us page and read more on the background of Country Woman magazine. ... www.countrywomanmagazine.com

I spent nearly all of Thursday 9/20 and Friday 9/21 with Editor Ann and Friday with a professional photographer posing and working in the studio and garden as they followed me about my normal workday. (I found it humerous that Ann insisted that we begin at 8 am!) We gathered plant materials in the garden, worked on cooking fibers, pounded day lily stalks by hand and couched many sheets of my highly textured handmade plant papers.  Later that day we drove into nearby South Haven to eat dinner and then took a scenic trip to the South Haven pier and lighthouse for a Lake Michigan sunset. (Ann is a competitive sailer and a real water person.)

I am amazed at the stamina of this woman - and she is close to me in age. I would describe her as having the energy of a 40-year-old! In the two day time period, she flew in from Wisconsin, rented a car and drove the hour to Pullman from the GR airport. We worked all day, went out to dinner at night and then got up and did it all over again. She is a talented editor and a gracious person and I found myself enjoying her company immensely. 

It was an enjoyable and informative experience. Although, I must admit, at age 58 I no longer have the stamina that I once had and will be "recovering" for the next few days.

An especially nice perk was that Ann purchased 6 paper bookmarks (of burning bush leaves and hydragnea flowers) to take back to her co-workers. In addition it was a very plesant surprised when she ordered a custom 12" X 12" collage on canvas made from the papers that we made together during her stay. We had worked with Twinrocker bleached cotton linter with inclusions of iris and fresh-picked mum petals (yellow and rusy) to make a fall themed paper.

A NOTE TO ARTISTS SEEKING PUBLICITY: I went to the library and looked through more than a years worth of magazines and visited the magazines website to first make sure that they had not already used a story about a papermaker. Then I made contact with the magazine through a written letter ,dated August 28, 2005.  Once she decided to use my "story" she made contact by telephone and we had numerous e-mail conversations to work out the details. I provided her with suggestions for lodging and several names of professional photographers in my area.

It took 2 1/2 year to work my story into this editors busy schedule. However, it all "goes to show you" that courage and persistence does pay off and, that national magazines need unique and interesting material to keep their publication going and readership interested. Depending on how the images turn out, I could be featured in the bi-monthly magazine and/or on the website.

Because most national magazine's work a calendar year in advance, watch Country Woman magazine for the September/October 2008 time frame. 

Today I drove to Midland and picked up my artwork from the show. There is a bittersweet bit of sadness when a show comes down. While I am always glad to have my work back the empty space looks forlorned and there is an aura of gloom to the room while empty.

While I enjoyed being part of this show, and the center treated me very well, I have decided that exhibiting 4 hours from home is too costly to continue to do. By the time one manages the gas, meals and sometime lodging, its just too expensive a proposition.

Having said that, as long as I was in Midland, I scouted out the Dow Garden's Gift Shop www.dowgardens.org as a possible place to put or sell my artwork. I e-mailed the gardens in advance in advance and then on the day promised, I hand delivered my custom portfolio to the gift shop manager. Then Ann and I walked through the lovly gardens. When we returned, I spoke to the manager that she and her boss make the decisions. She was quite young and directly asked for price points which gave me the idea that they purchase items outright - rather than consign (just like Meijers Garden.)

I did my follow-up as promised, sending an e-mail and a price sheet. I have not heard anything back yet.

I have been asked to bring my artwork to the Til Midnight Gallery (inside the Bakers Lofts) Holland. You may recall I did my research by visiting their gallery, reviewing their website and visiting the show of artist Susan Mulder.

Once I decided I was interested in submitting to their gallery I created a custom binder for them with recent work samples, my resume and my artist statement and hand-delivered it to the gallery a month or two ago. (I was very impressed with how they promoted painter Susan Mulder www.samulderoriginalart.com for her July '07 showing. )

1. A full color mailed postcard
2. Farture article in local Urban Street magazine
3. A page on their website
4. Artist reception with wine and food

For more info. on Till Midnight  visit www.tillmidnight.biz/artgallery.html

They have asked me to be the "Featured Artist" for the November 2, "First Friday" artist reception. As a result, it has been a VERY busy week sending jpegs, writing web page text, media releases and all the necessary work to promote the show on such short notice. I even had to send in my harddrive to re-load "My Mail List" because I could not access my mailing list addresses.

The gallery will host the reception, provide food and wine and do most of the promotions. They will also design and print full color promotional postcards and have extras printed so that I can send out to my own mail list.  I will also do some postcard distribution and if it works out as planned to take advantage of the traffic from the Blue Coast Artists Fall Tour and the Saugatuck/Douglas Art Club's meeting being held here to help spread the word.

Now if can get the images of my newest artwork back from the photographer in time....