Mermaid Goddess, Tammy Vitale
Are you an artist? (Define that as you will – from hand-built clay sculpture to making soup that fills the house with "safe," to gardening where you can drink your morning cuppa with the birds and butterflies). Do you ever feel like you’re out there and no one knows you exist, much less the work you are doing?
Because we all have an innate need to connect somehow to community, here’s a great little secret. Blow your own horn (ok, this is not arrogance. Nor is not blowing your horn humility. Someone out there is looking for what you’re doing. Get over yourself and let them know how to find you).
One of the easiest ways to do this is the press release. Local papers (and everyone has at least one local paper, scout it out and read it) are always looking for human interest stories. Make yourself a human interest story. The world may not beat a path to your door, but a bit of consistency and you’ll find when you meet someone they get that confused look and say – now, how do I know your name?
Here’s the outline for a press release:
Press Release Outline:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: date
CONTACT: name and phone (two are better than one)
HEADLINE: Hook: Capsule Summary of Release – your 3 seconds to grab someone
LEAD PARAGRAPH: Who, What, When, Where and Why.
2nd PARAGRAPH: Other essential information
3rd PARAGRAPH: Quotes (at least one – this is your storytelling paragraph – make it interesting. If you read it, would you want to come?)
4th (or more) PARAGRAPH: Continue the story; however, these days a one pager (single space) is a good size. If you put too much, the editor may cut and you’ll have no control over what gets cut. Traditionally the press release is no longer than 2 pages double space. Many go to single space today in order to keep faxed pages from getting separated by keeping everything on one page.
LAST PARAGRAPH: Contact information (think about how you want to be contacted: phone? email? mail? fax?), and reiteration of most pertinent data. You can include a short one-sentence description of your organization if you are working with one here.
LESSON EXERCISE:
- Take the press release below and make it stronger.
- Make up a press release for a workshop or event you are planning in the future.
When you are ready, send your lesson exercises to me, tam@TamsOriginals.com, in the body of the email. Remember we are all learning together – there is no wrong way, only means to get better at what we do.
EXAMPLE
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tammy Vitale: 410-326-9473
TAM’S ORIGINALS ANNOUNCES SITE-SPECIFIC ARCHITECTURAL TILEWORK
Calvert artist, Tammy Vitale of Tam’s Originals announces the availability of site-specific architectural tilework in the Southern Maryland and DC metro areas. “I’m very pleased to say we are now available to work with designers, developers, organizations and individuals to create unique art works that are made to the specific dimensions of the client’s space.”
After working in clay sculpture for several years, Vitale began to experiment with colorful, hand-made tiles in her foyer floor area, for sink splashboards, and on reclaimed furniture. This led Vitale to an intensive study with Peter King of Pensacola, Florida, who created the entranceway to Anne Marie Garden in Calvert County, Maryland.
“The opportunity to work with Peter and to learn from him was a gateway to taking my tilework to a larger scale. Without the training of Peter, Xenia and John at Stonehaus in Pensacola, it would have taken me years to work through the concept and execution of large architectural pieces. Thanks to their generosity of spirit and hands-on coaching process, I was able to come home from the workshop and begin to execute pieces of my own immediately,” remarks Vitale.
First Vitale created a door surround for her own bathroom. Encouraged, she embarked on a 7-1/2 ft wide x 7 ft high outdoor architectural piece for a cottage in Lusby,Maryland. She calls the piece “Mother of All Blue Herons.” “Blue Herons are ubiquitous in Southern Maryland. While they aren’t my usual choice of subject matter, they are technically pretty simple, so I decided to use the heron as the central part of my tile landscape.” Vitale’s background as a painter as well as a sculptor is evident in her application of glazes to her finished piece in layers instead of in hardlined blocks of color. “I never know what I’m going to get since glazes always have the potential to react to each other, unlike paint. That’s part of the joy and excitement of doing this – you just have to trust the process.” She is currently working on a 4ft x 6ft mermaid piece that she plans to make portable.
In addition to Tam’s Originals, Vitale co-founded the Wylde Women and heads up Arts Alive!’s Solomon’s Riverwalk gazebo’s annual art shows. Locally, her recycled furniture tilework can been seen at ArtWorks@7th Gallery in North Beach and her masks at Common Grounds Coffee House in Prince Frederick. A picture of the Heron work while it was in process can be viewed at her website, along with her other sculptures: www.tams-originals.com. Vitale notes, “ If people are interested in seeing the Heron in person, they should drop me a note on my website. I would be happy to arrange for a private viewing.” A color brochure is also available: call 410-326-6951. END
NEXT LESSON (tomorrow I hope – in the middle of a time crunch here – that’s art!): Tailoring the release for the media outlet.
Thought for the day:
Vocation: Where the world’s deep hunger and our deep gladness meet. (anon)
