July 29th, 2016

Is It Too Soon To Be One Of A Kind?

Over the last year I've had many people mention that I should go in the One Of A Kind show in Toronto. I've DRIFTED through the One Of A Kind website a handful of times and have been intimidated by the prestige it portrayed! Am I good enough? Am I seasoned enough? Will I be able to present myself properly? Omg!! Am I Ready for such an event? 60,000 people would be exposed to my work!!!
So the other day I decided to reach out and ask a few tiny questions... When does the spring show application process begin? And if I would be a good fit for the show? with a link to my website...that's it! Not even expecting an answer, typical response that I usually get when I have an interest in an event.
For example, I was interested in entering into canal days, last year and this year. I emailed 3 different people last year and not ONE person was considerate enough to give me a reply email. A "Thanks, but no thanks" would have been more considerate!!! This year I took the liberty to phone one of the event coordinators, no answer, so I left a message, with my email, asking for her to send me the application. No Response!! Then I get a call from a lady a couple of weeks ago (mind you, way past the application deadline) asking if I would be interested in entering because she had seen my work on Facebook, I'm assuming through a friend! "Oh now I'm good enough!" I was so turned off, that I didn't answer her! And I will never do canal days, ever!!
Anyways, back to my story. The One Of A Kind show coordinator emailed right back! She said she looked at my website! And "Wow! What beautiful and unique work!" And that she wanted to have a phone conversation with me. We set up a time and we were able to talk today!!
She made me feel great!! The intimidation factor dissolved and she made me feel very confident that I could pull this off. She told me that she had been all over Canada looking at art and goods, and has NEVER seen anything close to my work!! She loved it! I was so impressed at how patient she was with me and all my amiture questions. She mentioned a couple of times that she was being selfish for wanting me to enter the application process. I'm assuming that unique items in the show helps for her and the show.
So now that I've had my ego pumped I'm ready to start the application process!! Fingers crossed that the jury members will vote me in!!

photo by: http://chrisliszak.wix.com/cliszakphotography