I have noticed over the years that patrons observe more than my work.
There is often an unspoken connection, usually starting when one visits my website. People have told me they have visited many other artists’ sites and decided they would like to work with me.
Next, we move into the communication phase. Just hearing and reading from another is enlightening. With only words, both sides get a glimpse into the other.
They will often visit. Although my shop is only fourteen hundred square feet, with fifty-two years of accumulation, it usually takes on an air of Where’s Waldo. It’s not unusual to hear from visitors in the first minutes of their visit that this is a real shop. I’m fond of the word real and interpret it as authentic.
This is a long way from the early days when I luged around portfolios and glass samples, visiting people who had no clear idea of what I was about.
Over the years, I have replaced the word marketing with theater. It is so much more fun and imaginative.