Nigel Fox Artworks

The art exhibit opening at the Terrace Art Gallery was a huge success. We had what appeared to be about 200 people show up for the opening, with people from as far away as Hazelton showing up to meet the artists. I met people that I haven’t seen in years there, including a friend that I knew since I was ten years old that I haven’t seen in years and a lady whose portrait I drew in Gitsegeukla at a church meeting in 2007. I think that tonight has been a fulfillment of my best expectations, with an offer coming in to connect me up with a print maker in Victoria. Making reproductions is a key part of my business plan that I handed in on the aboriginal BEST entrepreneurship deadline today. It has been a very busy week that all came to a head this evening. My wife and I are going to watch a movie and go to bed. Stay tuned for more on the exhibit opening in a couple of days.

Opening Night at the Terrace Art Gallery, Feb 2011

Gary Wyatt, a director from Spirit Wrestler Gallery in Vancouver, is scheduled to come up next week. In keeping with Bill McLennan’s presentation, yet to my knowledge not collaborated, Gary will be talking about traditional and contemporary artwork. In addition to this, Gary will be speaking about where he sees the market going: traditional or contemporary. Perhaps these presentations are not as unconnected as I think, because they are part of the art history lesson for this year.

Spirit Wrestler is one of the biggest first nations art galleries in Vancouver, displaying works from artists such as Dempsey Bob, Robert Davidson, Stan Bevan and Ken McNeil. In addition to aboriginal artists on this continent, Spirit Wrestler also exhibits works from Maori artists.

Below is one of my newest works. It is an alder spoon that I am finishing right now before I paint it. I like alder because it is such a beautiful material, it is easy to work with and it doesn’t give off overbearing odors or unbearable dust.

My Alder Spoon

It is the start of a very busy week tomorrow as we are continuing to work on our alder spoons, preparing for the Terrace Art Gallery exhibit, and meeting to hear Bill McLennan present on his Museum of Anthropology exhibit: Signed Without Signature: Works by Charles and Isabella Edenshaw

On a side note, I also am working to complete a business plan for the aboriginal BEST entrepreneurship program that is due this week.

Busy, busy, busy…

My Paddle at the Studio, FDS 2011

I was talking with Marty at Community Futures today and we went over what I have for my business plan today. He had a number of pointers for how to market. Marty asked me in the middle of the review, “do you contact customers on a quarterly basis?” I said no. And he looked at me with a surprised look on his face, almost incredulous. He went on to tell me that past customers are the most important market to reach. He said that I should be sending out quarterly letters or fliers or some sort of token that I still exist and appreciate their business. And you know what? Marty was right.

Geo McKay is an aboriginal artist from the Nisga’a nation, who resides in Terrace. Geo has been at this game for a whole lot longer than I–40 years in fact–and has a lot to offer the native art market and the local community of artists.

I invited Geo McKay out for a coffee tonight with the intentions of gleaning some of his wisdom and maybe a good story or two. Geo, not wanting to miss a beat went into telling stories right away. Geo told me about his childhood and difficulties with school and how he dropped out to help out his family at home. Geo later came back to school and graduated within a short period of time. In drafting and architecture classes, Geo excelled with an A+ average.

Geo was mentored for a time by Freda Diesing, a Haida artist whom Dempsey Bob described as “the only teacher [of traditional northwest coast art] around at the time.” Also, one thing that Geo noticed about Terrace when he started carving, was that there was no native representation in the tourist markets around Terrace. Geo was determined to change this and worked hard over many years to develop his skills.

Over the years, Geo would come to sell to the museum in Prince Rupert–where a friend told him that people were buying. Geo lived for 15 years in Prince Rupert. Geo also sold to certain galleries in Vancouver, developing relations with the Spirit Wrestler Gallery and the Royal BC Museum.

Geo related to me a story about how he had three masks that he had carved that he was hoping to sell to the Royal BC Museum. He said that one of the masks he was selling for $800, another for $1200 and another for $1500. When asked why the difference in price, Geo referred to the fact that the first mask had one face, the second two and the third three faces. So, the buyer purchased the first two masks, but told Geo that she couldn’t afford the third mask. Not wanting to let Geo get away with the mask, she made a counter offer; she would take the mask on a 40% commission. Geo got a fraction of what he was hoping for, but he was still happy because it was more than what he would have had otherwise.  I think that the moral of the story was that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Geo also went on to say that when an artist sells to galleries in Vancouver “it doesn’t matter how many emails or photos that an artist sends to the galleries down there, the artist has to actually meet with the gallery owners that he wants to do business with, because the artist is selling himself.”

Geo went on to share his knowledge on pricing, mentoring, artist representation, target markets, relevant market factors, sponsorship, business partnership, and why some art businesses fail.

Tomorrow we start learning to carve spoons from alder wood. Alder is a semi-hard wood that grows in recently disturbed soil on the west coast. It literally grows like a weed and yet it makes very beautiful carvings. Most of the birch that we are using this year at Freda Diesing came from trees that were blown down during a one-in-200-year storm over the thanksgiving weekend and taken from CN land near Kitsumkalum.

We are coming up to the month of February, when we will be exhibiting as a class in the Terrace Art Gallery. We will be showing numerous paintings from first year students at Freda Diesing School. Opening night is Friday, February 4th at 7pm to 9pm. I will be sending out reminders between now and then, so please be patient if you hear this message a few times. Below is a photo of one of the paintings that I am submitting to the Terrace Art Gallery.

This painting is a reflection a rather strange experience that once happened to me in Topley, BC.

The story behind the painting shown above was from when I was walking with my cat in Topley, yes she’s a strange cat that follows me around wherever I go.  Anyways, I was sitting on the bridge over the Bulkley River, letting my cat catch up with me when all of the sudden I felt these claws on the top of my head.  Startled, I quickly shooed what I assumed was a bird of prey after my cat, off of my head and as the bird flew away, I realized that it was a raven.  It was yet another strange but true story from Topley.

On a more subdued note, I am currently working on a business plan for my art business. There are a few things to consider with a business plan, but it all basically comes down to two things: cash flow and write up. The cash flow is the bones of your business, and is basically what you expect to make and spend based upon historical data from your own and other similar businesses. The write up is the flesh of your business, including a description of all the different aspects of your business: products, services, suppliers, employees, vision, competitors, competitive advantage, marketing plan and any other information that may be relevant.

One item to include in your write up is your competitors. In fact, during the small business workshop that I recently attended, they recommended that we keep a book on our competitors with as much relevant information as possible. They said to “keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” This is a theme that I have seen covered a few times by different speakers in the art world, including Greg Shaaf, director of the Center for Indigenous Arts and Cultures (CIAC), who recommended taking “competitors” out for lunch. He said that while they are enjoying their “creme brulee” (that you paid for) ask them some questions and hopefully they will tell you something in return for your courtesy, and if not, then they will still be thankful because you bought them lunch. It seems like a good idea either way.

Today was the last official day in the business course put on by the Kalum band and community futures. Overall the course has been very helpful and has helped me to run my business better.  The Aboriginal Business and Entrepreneurship Skills Training course was a two week course where participants learned many small business fundamentals.  Four students from Freda Diesing School were chosen to attend.

Marty Eisner, who was the teacher for the class, was quite professional, easy to approach and very informative.  Over all, Marty put together what has been a very inspiring business course.  I am glad that I attended.