Totem:  The Red Sea, clay collage wall sculpture, 27" H x 11.5" w, by Tammy Vitale

Have made 4 new totems this week.  Will be doling them out so I have new work here on a daily basis. 

Ever wonder where the names come from?  So do I!  When I left the totems after finishing them, none had names.  This morning, names just rolled right out.  The Red Sea’s name makes sense once you know that the red tile is a symbol for water.  The little blue round tile has the symbol for peace.  Am starting to try to use up the tiles that I made for the cottage floor that didn’t work very well – that’s the reddish brown background tile, which is just the clay fired with a clear glaze.

Thanks to all those who persisted long enough to vote as requested in my previous blog.  It isn’t easy.  But it is a great example of guerilla marketing – for those of you looking for ways to get your work out.  What is guerilla marketing (in case you didn’t click over to the wikipedia definition) – it really isn’t anything more than using your web of friends, your art network, to put your work in the forefront.  At the AOM/ArtoMatic site on Art DC, where I asked people who like my work to go vote, voting can put you on the front page….and it only took a few to get me there (Artomatic’s page, click "favorites" on the top choices).  This takes about 10 minutes (okay, longer than the 1 minute I originally thought – you can register and then later go back – hours later).  You go to the site, register, they send you an email, you click on the link in that email to go to the home page, click on gallery (in the right hand column), click on Artomatic, click on 3D, scroll down to my work (torso, wall hanging and 3 of the Women) and vote in the stars.  It’s the least we can do to support each other in our work to get our art out there.  Thanks to those who persisted!

The idea of guerilla marketing is that small is better than big because small is in direct contact with its client base and apt to have friends there as well.  This isn’t impersonal.  This is:  I know you, I like your art or I’ve bought your art, let me support you (and hey, watch my investment grow at the same time!).

Some more marketing resources can be found at Nonstarving Artists.

Dhyana of Mystical Dream Art makes key chain art out of her larger pictures.  These have caught the eye of folks when I’ve been out and I was able to refer them to her.  Easy.  No cost on my part.  And certainly no problem on my part! (and here again, I’ve given her a call out – and again, no pain on my part – if you haven’t seen her work, do click on over!)

So be creative when you think of ways to get your art out there.  You know there’s someone that’s been waiting for that piece their whole life.  And maybe they didn’t even know it until they saw it.  Do them a favor; help them find it!

thought for the day:  There are many fairy tales about a maiden who has to serve an old woman and perform difficult tasks without understanding what the test really is until she has passed or failed.  The old woman is life herself.  She is the seasons and the challenges and the necessary trivia.  The lesson she teaches is that one must be faithful in small things in order to win fame and fortune.  Z. Budapest, Summoning the Fates:  A Woman’s Guide to Destiny