Getting in on the Ground Floor

I am in my hometown (Pittsburgh PA) attending Craft Congress, a conference of indie arts and crafts events organizers, distro activists, and group organizers. There is this great article about it in the Pittsburgh paper. A lot of really great conversations and information are coming out of the conference: ideas about sponsorship, marketing, current and future practices. The attendees are from all over and we are spending a lot of time comparing things that we do differently and things that we do the same. These comparisons are really valuable although we are finding that there's lots and lots and lots of things that simply don't overlap between events from various regions and subcultures. This is the second industry conference I've ever been to and it's drastically different - only fifty attendees, lots and lots of group discussion. I attended a technical theatre conference when i was in college, very much as a student. Now I feel like a bit of a leader; I've been sitting in the front of the room and have been very vocal. I am putting faces behind a lot of organizations that I've heard of and dealt with, and strengthening some pre-existing ties. I'm also seeing a side of Pittsburgh I never saw much of before: little independent arts organizations that I didn't have the resources or time to seek out when I was living here. There's some really interesting flavor in this city; we've spent some time, too, talking this weekend about why it never seems to quite percolate to the top. I'm still convinced it can.

More Opel Pics, and Alchemy

It's been pretty quiet around here; I've been reconstructing the shambles of my life and business left by an extended trip out of town, and simultaneously gearing up to go to Pittsburgh for the first annual Craft Congress. It's a small conference, about 50 people, by the leaders and organizers of the growing new wave handcrafts movement. Event organizers, distro projects, magazines, and websites will be representing from all over the US and beyond. Here a new friend of mine has hosted the event's press release properly... I'm barely able to keep up with my own promotional efforts. I have been busy, though - check out the updated artist list for April 28th's Pandora's Trunk!

I have gotten to see some better pictures from the Opel show last weekend. here's one from my good friend Chuck who came to shoot the show (but is sitting on the rest of his pictures! oh, the suspense!):

that's me taking my bow, feeling sheepish and strange on the catwalk. Here are a few shots I pulled from the mvgals gallery:


Finally, this is what I'll be up to this weekend: Running with Scissors (a part of Alchemy).

Opel V a success!

The show tonight came off without a hitch - amazingly smooth! Well, more than one last-minute change got made but nothing too overwhelming. All the models were very accommodating of our ministrations, nobody freaked out about anything, and lots of people enjoyed the work. Strangers grabbed me to tell me so. I saw my dear friends Chuck and Lizanne front and center photographing the runway, so hopefully I will have some better evidence later. In the meanwhile, some backstage snaps:

Where the Hell Have You Been?

OK, well at least this time there is a very legitimate excuse. I have been in The Middle East. I landed a free trip to Israel, funded by various parts of the world zionist conspiracy (if you believe in such a thing) and am finishing up a scant few days in New York on my way back to San Francisco that I have used to variously see friends, family, and recover from jet lag, sleep deprivation, brain overflowing syndrome, and snotty illness. I am still blowing a little blood out with the snots but none of it has drained into my lungs so I am pronouncing that a victory.

I am in the process of processing my photos and uploading them to the interwebs (I only have a free account on flickr so some of it may have to wait until next month rolls over my upload limits) and while I don't have as many as I'd like of various points & people on the trip I do have puh-lenty of shots. I will post a few here as a teaser and promise to put up more. Somehow in the next week and a half in addition to preparing for my runway show this weekend (Opel V) (San Franciscans who want to get in half-price drop me an email) and a live construction event next weekend (Alchemy/Running With Scissors) I will post trip reports. Cross my heart. I further pledge that the next time I take a trip I will have already taken the time to learn what all of the stupid buttons on this new-to-me digital camera do, so I can go back to my original ways of silly little things like being able to manually adjust my aperture settings. Advance apologies for over-exposed and poorly adjusted photographs. Still Learning the Technology.