This is just too cute! I can definately relate to that cat.

Having sat as a member on the jury for two seasons of the annual Mother’s day weekend Art Fair at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, I understand the importance of a strong booth slide. A highly competitive juried show, the Art Fair at Laumeier receives over 1,000 applications, of which only 150 are selected each year to participate. The most competitive categories are routinely Jewelry and Ceramics. Oftentimes when deciding between two or more artists who have work of comparable quality, the determining factor comes down to the booth slide. Which artist has a more professional, cohesive booth display?

I’ve been displaying and selling my work at both juried and non-juried art festivals for a decade and I have come a long way in terms on my own booth display. It has been a constant process of refinement, however, not-to-mention, that as my body of work changes, so does the way that I’d like to showcase it.

Above is a photo of the most recent version of my booth display, taken during the Powhatan Festival of the Grape 2007. It was autumn, so I selected natural and autumnal colors and even used some colorful, fallen leaves in my merchandising. Draping pendants or earrings on the leaves just made the work POP!

As I stated before, my booth display has been a constant process of refinement, one that I’m still learning to perfect. That said, I thank you in advance for feedback, display suggestions, tips, or tricks that you’d like to share.

From mixed metals to mixed materials, my inspirations are constantly evolving. I have been finding myself drawn to natural fiber beads lately. I found these great donut-shaped beads, hand wrapped in dyed hemp, from my local bead store, from which I created a new line of whimsical, dangly earrings, called, you guessed it, “Fruit Loops”. Selling at $22 a pair, you can find them on my shop at Etsy.

Another discovery during my hunt for inspiration and excitement, came in the form of a 20 mm hand crocheted bead! These, too, insisted on the formation of a brand new line of jewelry aptly named, “The Crocheted Ornament” line. This line comes in several styles and colors, most of which are available at my Etsy shop, as well.