Last winter I wrote a story about my experiences as a hockey mom and submitted it to Chicken Soup for the Soul Canadian edition. By spring I had been placed on the top 5% finalist list and summer the confirmation email came that my story was accepted.

Today I opened my door to a box containing the 10 free copies I received as part of my payment for the story. I was breathless as I held the “Chicken Soup for the Soul – O Canada” in my hands for the first time. I am a published writer.

Flipping through the pages I realized that my story in number 10 in the book – not tucked away in the middle, not last in line, but 10th! I open the second section about hockey. Considering this is a book of Canadian stories that is saying a lot. How cool is that!! (Can you read my excitement! )

So be sure to look for your copy at bookstores everywhere on November 1st! And be sure to drop me a line to tell me what you think. I can’t wait to hear from you.

In this world of consumerism, where people buy inexpensive prints from Homesense without hesitation, it seems to me that original art has become out of reach for the average person because of fear. It feels safer to buy something cheap that can easily be replaced.

To add to their nervousness, people seem to be afraid of spending their hard earned money on something that may or may not be a good investment. They don’t want to look the fool if their prize turns out to be a fake. They don’t want to look the fool if others don’t appreciate the piece as much as they do. Has the art world created so much pressure surrounding art purchases that it makes people nervous?

And what about erotic art? Does that make you nervous?

The other night I had the privilege to attend the annual Okanagan Erotic Art Show. Visit http://www.okanaganeroticartshow.com/ for more information. It was a fantastic opening with high energy and overwhelming attendance. When I arrived at Exnihilo Winery, I had to park down the street and squeeze past the wine bar just to navigate the exhibition. Over 300 people had joined in the festivities to celebrate creativity. The art was a wonderful display of mixed styles and creative talent; complete with a quartered-off section for those with more adventurous viewing tastes.

The success of the Okanagan Erotic Art Show was a nice surprise as being a part of a figure-drawing group, I have often heard the negativity towards figurative art. The human body is beautiful and is no wonder that it inspires the creative. Yet, it makes some people feel better if the body is covered. Are they afraid of how they will be labeled if they appreciate erotic art? Or maybe they just don’t understand that there is a line between erotic art and pornography.

Nervousness is the gestation of a fear from the unknown. Art is not scary and should not be a source of apprehension. Art is an expression from another person’s inner soul. Art should be a pleasurable experience, whether it is entertaining, makes you think, or is a feast of colour for your eyes. If art makes you nervous, then maybe it is time to demystify the uncertain through education. Don’t let an unrealistic fear of art hold you back. You don’t know what you are missing.

I have to say that this exhibition resonated closely with what I have been trying to achieve with my own art creation. It was very interesting to me personally to see other artists walking that line between representation and abstraction. For years, I have struggled to really understand my own creation process but was able to define the term “open-ended process” as it related to my own art. My next step in growing as an artist is to let go of the representational aspects and take my pieces further into abstraction, but that is just my personal artistic journey.

The paintings in this exhibition are dynamic and appealing with their textures and colours. And for those who need something recognizable to hold on to when understanding art, the viewer just has to read about the artists’ starting points of mapping, breaking down representational images by the process of addition and elimination or structural graphing in the exhibition catalogue available for sale at the gallery.

The other exhibition that fascinated me the other evening when I volunteered at the KAG, located just down the hallway in the smaller exhibition space of the gallery, was Carolyn Wren’s “Searching for the Sublime”. You enter the space to be engulfed by black, forest images drawn on dress pattern paper. What fascinated me about this exhibition was the artist’s use of such fragile paper as a ground for her drawings. I am not sure if this was the artist’s exact intent but, for me, the exhibit was a comment on the fragility of nature’s beauty, which can quickly be destroyed by a strike of a match or by the swipe of a consumer’s blade. On a more surface level, the drawing are beautifully rendered with care and precision. Wren’s drawings can also be seen until October 30^th, so be sure to go check it out.

Even though each creative area, from fashion design to creative writing as examples, can seem to be very different from the rest, you will find many similarities across the board in their career development.

The hardest part to any creative career is the self-motivation. The art world will often pick proven hard work over creative talent. Creative talent is subjective and dependent on other’s personal tastes or opinions. However, work habits and discipline is measurable and quantitative.

For instance, a gallery will choose an artist that has completed a significant body of work instead of an artist who has one fantastic piece. Just like any other business, a gallery is a business too with pressures of deadlines and needed completed tasks. Any gallery owner needs to feel confident that an artist can get the job done.

In any creative field, a portfolio is proof of a person’s work ethic, not just a showcase of talent. In order to present a strong, cohesive portfolio or body of work, any creative type needs to understand the value of editing. This simply means that out of 100 designs, you pick the best 20 for you portfolio. It can take a lot of time to develop these 100 designs, but the more you create, the more you will understand what it is you are trying to achieve. Once you understand your own art, the better you will be able to communicate your vision to others.

Now is a good time to start building discipline and work habits by taking on numerous projects to completion. Creating daily will help you prepare for the professional realm. Competition these days is extremely fierce with so much creative talent, but strong work habits will give you the needed edge. Even if you don’t plan to seriously pursue a creative career at the moment, it can be worth it to start getting creative now, instead of starting from scratch when it comes time to apply for a job. If you haven’t already, start a sketchbook today as an investment in your creative future. Consider it a visual diary that can one day be edited and turned into a strong portfolio.

Basically, there are lots of different areas that those who are creative can get into such as fashion design, interior design, animation, graphic arts, web design, creative writing, etc… For those who are extremely creative, it can be difficult to choose only one area. It can become a case of “Jack of all trades, master of nothing”. However, each area will require specific schooling and a resume with specific experiences. By focusing your creativity into one area, future employers will have confidence that you will have the needed experience to handle that specific creative job.

Schools are an important key place for networking and finding the next level jobs. When looking for a creative school, look at what the graduates are doing after they have graduated. Be sure to find a school that has some kind of placement, practicum, internships or apprenticeships to help you find an edge, as often people will hire people they know. Research to find out where design firms find their people by talking to a guidance counselor or by asking questions from the place where you will eventually want to work. Often creative employers will go to creative schools 1st when they need to hire. Also, when you get to school, remember that the teachers are your friends. Teachers are an invaluable resource who will be able to point you it the right direction to help you find a job.

But most importantly, look for a school that will teach you the necessarily skills beyond artist practice. It is not enough that you take classes in painting, for instance, as you will definitely need to build a broader skill set. Painters or artists, who make a creative product on their own without an employer, will need strong entreprenurial skills, marketing and business schooling in order to survive. Not to mention, the capital it takes to grow a small business. If an artist is keen to run their own gallery, curatorial and administrative skills need to be fostered.

Whatever creative area a student chooses, is not necessarily the area they will spend their entire life pursuing. By focusing on one specific area, however, the easier it will be to get a foot in the door to a creative career. After they have opened that door, then they can branch out into other areas of creativity to see where their journey will take them.

Sometimes when we look at art, it is easy to forget about all the work it takes to make a creative piece come to fruition. Often, all that work is taken for granted. It only takes a few nanoseconds to physically see a piece of art or a few minutes to appreciate it, but the reality is, that it can take months of preparation during the creative process to make a piece come to life so it can be seen.

Let’s, for a moment, think about what it would have taken to create Pratch’s tower of chairs. Once the initial concept has been dreamt up, the artist must then figure out how to go about making such a thing. I am sure concept drawings would have been drafted as a way to get the idea out of his head and into the hands of support. On paper, the concept seems simple enough. Then questions of feasibility would have to be discussed. Taking weight into consideration, a structure would have to be built in order to hold the chairs in suspension.

Then, comes the gathering of materials from the construction supplies to the donated chairs. All of this would then need to be transported to the place of instillation before the building process even began.

How long did it take to actually build this creation? I am not exactly sure. You will need to visit the gallery to find out that specific information. (visit http://kelownaartgallery.com/ for more details) But you have to think that besides the construction of the support structure, each chair would have to be considered in its placement based on artistic composition and colour. Like a puzzle, the creation would have developed piece by piece, until the artist called it complete. Now the piece sits there until November for all to enjoy, until the time it will be dismantled – another daunting process.

I personally, know this process well enough on a smaller scale as I have many times hung an art show, created a theatre set or decorated a space for an event. The months of preparation far outweigh the actual outcome.

So why bother? I ask myself this many, many times as I give my head a shake when I take on new projects. But somehow, in the end, despite all the work, it feels worth it to create an experience for others to enjoy. I am an instillation artist at heart, I have discovered. I guess it is the creative journey I am addicted to, not necessarily the outcome. Or maybe, it is a way for an introvert to perform on a different kind of stage?

Regardless of the initial motivation, it is the audience that is the key to any instillation artwork. Without people viewing or appreciating art, there really is no point. A part from satisfying his own personal creative needs, without an audience, Pratch’s tower of chairs just becomes a pile of unwanted junk. Instead, this piece of art can start a dialogue about how we look at recycled material, if people just take the time to view it and appreciate it for the work involved.

The Kelowna Art Gallery, as part of their “Dysfunctional Chairs” series, commissioned this work of instillation genius. In the open courtyard of the art gallery, his instillation piece balances overhead, giving the viewer both a sense of awe and uneasiness as his precarious stack of chairs dwarfs them.

“Pratch is interested in the notion of functionality and how it is socially determined. Once a chair has had its function deemed over with, its phenotype (relevant, identifying characteristics) would appear to be completely altered,” according to the art gallery’s website http://kelownaartgallery.com/exhibitions/2011-2/chad-pratch-inanimate-phenotype/ ”Can this perhaps be revived by giving the chairs a new function – as works of art – by simply placing them in a gallery context?”

Pratch does not just “place” the chairs in a galley setting, but has chosen to create this almost whimsical tower that surges upwards and spans across the courtyard. The front corners of the courtyard space are soften by precarious piles of white chairs that adds to the nature of the instillation without taking away from the centre star.

Listening to his written story about his discussions with Socretes in a cave, I may have missed the point and would have preferred to hear about his interviews with the local donors regarding their lost love of the discarded chairs during his artist talk. Maybe there wasn’t really much to say about this. I mean, really how much love could be lost – they are just chairs after all. But it would have been interesting to hear more about the instillation process since that is most of the fascination of this piece. But, hey, that is just my opinion and my only criticism.

It is great to see such local artistic talent! All in all, it is a piece worth seeing just for the way it makes you feel standing next to it. I just hope it doesn’t fall down before you get a chance to see it.

I have only good things to say about the company, itself. The bad points have more to do with whether this can fit into my own personal life, which I am still feeling out. To be honest, I have found that my kids schedule has pulled me away from achieving my immediate goals, unfortunately. This has been a disappointment to me, as I really wanted to grow this business into success. So far, it has been rather slow going.

A lot of it comes down to your personal network of friends who are interested in scrap booking. You will depend on their schedule & their word-of-mouth advertising to start until you can build up your network. If you have a larger network of people interested in scrap booking, then you will have a stronger start. If your network is available in the daytime, then you will be able to book daytime events, but if your network works, then you will need to make time in the evenings.

For me, I have found that when I have invited my friends to get together for a gathering, we have so much fun. There really is little sales pitch. It is really just showing them the products available. They will love the products too, because there is no doubt, it is great product.

The difficulty comes in to being able to convince others to host their own gatherings, which is important for this type of home gathering business to grow beyond your friends. Because my friends’ schedules seem as hectic as mine, I am finding, it is extremely difficult to get others to commit to future engagements. They all seem excited to attend and want to be informed of future dates, but on the actual evenings when I book a card making party only 1/2 can fit it into their schedules.

Everyone is quite happy to pay for supplies for an evening workshop but hesitate when it comes to purchases for their own personal scrap booking because of busy schedules. You will make a little money on commissions from the CTMH supplies, 22% to be exact. But in order to increase the percentage on commissions, you really need to have lots of parties with sales & find others to become consultants in your down line.

The ideal model, actually, sounds like a ton of fun with having teams of consultants for support & camaraderie all centered on scrap booking. But you have to find those scrappers, which can be a little like finding a needle in a haystack. I, personally, wish more people would find the time to get creative as it has so many benefits plus would be a ton of fun to be involved with. But the reality is that the majority of people don’t make creativity a priority, unfortunately.

On the other hand, the kid market has huge untapped potential, as most busy parents will spend money on their children’s creativity. So, if you like teaching children, this would be a fantastic place to start.

All in all, it really comes down to how much you are willing to put into it and to adjust your expectations accordingly. If you are looking for a moneymaker, then you really need to put a lot of effort into building your network and have to be a good self-motivator with entrepreneurial skills. If you are looking for a fun thing to do, it makes a great social hobby. The 22% on sales doesn’t really account for the time it takes to prep but you will be able to cover your costs. Or, if you just want discounts on your own personal scrap booking supplies, then it will work for that too. You will need to spend $330 every 3 months to maintain that 22% commission or $110 every 3 months to be a junior consultant and get 10%.

For me, the starter kit at $140 was just a small investment to see if it could work into my life. You will need to expect to spend some more money to build your kit, buy some extra tools for group workshops, or to pay for hosting events with drinks, etc… Overall it has been worth it and I have learned a lot, even if it has been a slower business start. It has been fun, anyways, & makes a great excuse to get creative with friends.