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Is anyone out there interested in Mat cutting? I have the complete mat cutter flat files and circle cutter.

Call 260-214-4212

Is my computer going bonkers or did the site age change. Mine is all white now and font is really small. Is there a fix????

10% Discount - something I've never offered. I've thought again about my original offer. Because everyone needs a break now, I'm extending my discount until the end of the year. Through midnight December 31st, I'll take 10% off any image editing or photography job sent to me by December 31st. Remember Prices go back to normal January 1st 2021.

Check out the new artwork photography and before and after image improvements:
http://bermangraphics.com/digital-jury-resources/jury-slide-photography.htm
http://bermangraphics.com/digital-jury-resources/fixing-jury-images.htm

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

It's HERE! Sign up now for the art fair business's happiest event of the season! Join an ArtFairInsiders.com tradition!

Welcome to the 9th annual AFI Secret Santa. Secret Santa 2020 is our annual gifting and sharing of good wishes for our art fair community. It is the people who make the art fair biz so compelling for s all. 

Over the years, artists from around the world have come together during Secret Santa for a common theme—to spread goodwill and joy to one another, through the spirit of giving and receiving happiness.

In our ninth year, we invite you to join us once again, in a time where love and optimism is needed across the globe. At AFI, we rely on the kind hearts of our members to shine a little light during the holiday season, and this year is no different.

Last year over 65 artists and show directors sent through gifts through our exchange, one heartwarming gift at a time. This year, join us in keeping the tradition going!

HOW DOES THE EXCHANGE WORK?

Sign up* & get matched

1. Let me know you want to participate.

Once you have notified me you want to participate I'll add your name to the email list at DrawNames.com.

Then you will receive an email from DrawNames.com. You must click the link in that email "JOIN THIS GROUP." That will take you to the sign up page. Do that and you will be registered to participate. (If you do not signup at the link you will not be included in the drawing.)

or

2. If you participated last year you must still sign up. You should have received an email invitation from DrawNames.com on 11/23/20.

3. *You must activate your membership in the group when you receive this invitation by clicking in. If you don't you will not be included. While you are there add your mailing address to the "wish list." Also, add your wishes for gifts you'd like.

4. Deadline: The evening of December 4 we will close signups and our computer program will choose who you should send a gift to (this is the most important part; this is about the giving!). If you have not signed up by responding to our emails from DrawNames.com, you will not be part of this year's matching.

5. On December 7 you'll receive the name of the person you will be "gifting" with a link to contact that person. There is a cool email system that you can use
to find out their wishes.

6. Find the perfect gift** & send it

Once you receive the email from DrawNames.com with your match's information, you'll have until December 20, to ship your gift.

When you ship it, come back here to tell us you've shipped it.

7. Receive a gift from your match

When you receive a gift, you'll need to come back here and post an amazing thank you note, hopefully with photos!

The best photos and thank you note will receive a prize


New this year: we'll host a Zoom meeting in early January to meet one another and show off our gifts.

*When you sign up at DrawNames.com be sure to fill out your wish list with some suggestions for your own personal Santa: color preferences, your interests, dream wishes. Also at that time include your mailing address so your Santa can get your present to you on time.

**This is not about buying a gift, this is about sharing your creativity. Gifts should be made by you or handmade preferably, maybe from an art fair. Suggested dollar limit (if you're buying) $25.

Curious about our gift drawings? Put the words "Secret Santa" in the search box up above and you'll find lots of fun and good wishes.

Connie, you make sense all the way. One of my mottos during this time of covid is, "We'll see." And so we will. Stay well. Lisa

Dear Family and Friends,

I trust this letter finds each of you safe and calm in the face of the pandemic. I am facing my own health crisis and I am neither safe nor calm!

I am writing this letter to share with you where I am in my life right now and seeking your wisdom, guidance, prayers and assistance.

While drafting this letter, I had a transplant waitlist meeting with the Transplant Center at Georgetown Hospital, Washington, D.C.   I have spent the last two years looking for a living donor and waiting out my time on the waitlist.  I went into the meeting thinking that I was looking at four to six more years on the list. NOT SO!  I have been taken off the waitlist and told that I had to find a living donor within six months!  If I fail to find a donor, I am condemned to spend the rest of my life on dialysis.  This was quite a shock! I have been processing this deadline, and after one day of shock, I have begun asking for help. 

Background

Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with Chronic Renal Disease. This was discovered after a bout with pneumonia. My lab work came back very bad (stage 4-5). While my kidneys numbers were elevated due to my illness, the numbers came down slightly, leveling off to stage 3-4. My primary care physician had me go to a nephrologist. My kidneys continued to slowly decline as kidney disease seems to do – often without any rhyme or reason.  It was determined that I would need a kidney transplant. Three years ago I visited the Georgetown University Transplant Center in downtown DC and it was agreed that I, indeed, was in need of this transplant and was placed on the transplant waitlist.

The average wait for a kidney with my blood type is 7 to 9 years if I have to wait for a kidney from a cadaver. Even with the best of care, my kidneys have continued to slowly deteriorate. I have moved to Stage 5 kidney disease (End Stage) with 13-15 % of my kidneys left intact.  My health continues to decline. I am very weak and anemic due to kidney failure. I have been able to keep my numbers stable for the last three years but was surgically prepped for kidney dialysis this past winter. So far I have avoided dialysis but I see it coming closer.

My doctors and the Center generally recommend having a live donor for the best chance of a really good outcome.  In my case I have no other options and a 6 month deadline.   I ask each of you to pray that someone will step forward and this will be a great match.  Then I will possibly avoid dialysis. With a live donor’s kidney, my chances for success will be greatly increased.

The Details

My blood type is 0 negative. It would be great if the donor was 0 negative but this is not entirely necessary for me to be able to get a transplant. There is a program in place that if the person does not match me, then they might match someone else. Donating a kidney in my behalf, even if not a match, would increase the likelihood of me receiving a kidney in what is called the ‘Pairing Program.’ A donor’s kidney would be “paired” with someone in the kidney transplant bank and another would be given to me as a match. The ideal, of course, is that I would receive the kidney from the original donor.

Live Donors- The Nuts and Bolts

All transplant related medical and travel expenses are covered by MY insurance. There is also a “lost wages” provision.

To Become a Donor, Please Contact:

Medstar Georgetown living donor program at 202-444-3714

Or online at Medstargeorgetown.org/livingkidneydonor

The Living Donor Coordinator will ask a series of questions and will fill in all of the details. To be eligible as a candidate, you must first pass a physical exam to determine if you are healthy enough for surgery .  If you pass this stage, you will have a blood draw. The purpose of this blood draw would be to determine if you are a direct match or can be a “paired” donor.

All of this is is paid for by my insurance as is the kidney donation surgery. The surgery for the donor is now done by laparoscope with a hospital stay of about three days. Recovery time after that is approximately two weeks. The Donor Coordinator can fill you in much more on the details and answer any and all questions.

My Challenges

For me, as you can guess, this is another challenge but one that I know I can face one day at a time. My motto is “Be present, live today, tomorrow is another day and it, too, will unfold and present to me what I have for that day.” I cannot help but remember what both my parents and others would often tell me when I was a child. “G-d never gives you anything that you are not given the grace to endure.” I have found that to be true throughout my life and I know that it will not be different this time. With G-d’s grace, I survived being struck by a drunk driver and the loss of mobility, three closed head injuries, and a lightning strike.  I will endure this as well but am willing to risk surgery and a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs to let me keep the kidney.

Please keep me in your heart, thoughts and prayers as you consider my situation.

Please Join Jay’s Team of Helpers

I ask each and every one of you to share this letter with at least ten people.  Of course, the more, the better.  Please place this on your Facebook and other social media wall and your listserves/newsletters.  With everyone helping, I have a chance of finding a living donor. I am not a person who asks for help easily but now I desperately know I need help.  I also know I can count of you to be there for me as part of Jay’s Team of Helpers.

Thank you in advance for your love, friendship, and support.

I did not attend the show but am wondering how it was. If anyone out there did the Fountain Hills show in AZ this past weekend, would you please post some info on how it was, especially during COVID.

I appreciate Connie Mettler's post about art fairs in Naples. I totally understand the objections of Naples Art that the United Arts Council show would be competition and that eight art shows in Naples is plenty.

But there is another side to the story: the artists. If any of you participate/d in art fairs in and around Chicago, you are probably aware that the market is saturated, which makes for low sales. Lots of walkers and lots of dogs just enjoying a day out, talking with friends in the aisles and passing the booths because they've seen it all before. 

My point is that the more shows there are in a city, especially a small one, the less sales there are at any one of them. The events become commonplace and, therefore, not special or exciting. As an artist, I much prefer special and exciting venues, especially since this atmosphere promotes sales.

I see the city's decision to allow another show as very self-defeating and hope the county powers-that-be realize the artists are stakeholders, too, in this conversation.

Integrity Shows is producing a special Online Art Fair in December. The focus is on artists that missed out on the 2020 show season.  It will differ from virtual shows as there will be live content scheduled including live art competitions, demos, studio tours.  We'd love you to consider participating.  We will have four information sessions if you are curious.  Also feel free to contact me!

Register once to attend any of these sessions.  www.is.gd/onlineinfo

Informational sessions:

If you are ready to join us use this link to save the sign-up fee.  www.is.gd/20artist

• Monday, November 16, 7:00PM Eastern

• Wednesday, November 18, 11:00AM Eastern

• Wednesday, November 18, 7:00PM Eastern

• Thursday, November 12, 2:00PM Easter.n

Yikes! Unrest amongst the arts community in Naples, FL.

The Collier County (Naples, FL) commissioners are listening to two organizations to determine what is best for their community. The United Arts Council "is planning an art festival Jan. 23-24 that has drawn the wrath of Naples Art (the former Naples Art Association), which considers it competition. Naples Art objected, unsuccessfully, to the UAC application for a permit, saying that sandwiching in another arts festival when Naples Art already has eight scheduled in the city would erode its income."

The Naples Art Association wants to know why the festival is using an outside producer, and whether it would be taking money from the eight other festivals already in the city.

No surprise there are many people on both sides of the story. 

Learn more about what the Collier Count commissioners are considering: www.naplesnews.com/story/news/2020/10/28/collier-county-commissioners-

And what the Naples City Council okayed: 
www.naplesnews.com/story/news/2020/10/25/naples-city-council-oks

Well, I went north to Saugatuck,Michigan in Late June.

I live there and have a studio, usually there about five months doing my midwest circuit of shows

In case you do not know me, I am a photographer who does both color and handcolored black and white images. I have been on the circuit for 45 years and do about 27 shows per year.  I actually earn a living from this, I started shows when I was in my late twenties.

This past Sunday, I turned the Three Quarter Century Mark.

This has been a totally different year due to Covid.

My last show was mid March at Vero Beach.  We got in one day and then they cancelled it and told us artists to get the hell out of Vero.

The art committee was for us staying but local authorities said “Adios”).

I went north expecting to do five shows, they all got cancelled.

I lost a couple of biggies like Uptown Minneapolis and Kansas City Plaza.

I had applied for a number of fall shows in Florida where I am a native.

None of those shows are going to happen due to Covid.

I am in three shows in Florida in January and Feb. Time will tell whether they go on.

Florida is not doing a great job of masking and distancing due to our idiot governor.

Howard Alan was able to successfully produce an art show in Ft. Lauderdale in October—Los Olas.

Amy Amdur was able to pull off a number of shows around Chicago, some with almost 100 exhibitors.  Same with Howard, he had 100 artists.

So it shows it can be done, pardon the pun.

Ironically, my hometown show, Images in New Smyrna, cancelled their Jan. Show.

I guess they did not want to spread it out with less exhibitors.

So far,I am In Bonita Springs and Naples in January.  I have Ft. Myers in Feb.

In March I have been reinvited to both Vero Beach and Winter Park, waiting to hear from Gasparilla. 

I have a reinvite to Des Moines in June.

So I have potentially  great shows to make moola at.  If they happen.

If the shows happen I am going.

I will mask up.  I will have hand sanitizers at my booth.

I have a solution to the print bin problem due to Covid.

I am in the age group most vulnerable to Covid, I had open heart surgery eight years ago.  But I feel confident I can survive and not transmit to Ellen, my wife.

Here is how I have dealt with Covid and been able financially survive.

I finally got approved for unemployment six weeks after I applied, so I got &125 per week.

A month later I got approved for the Federal PUA and got the $600 per week backdated to late April.

I was able to get the EIDL grant for $1000.  Which then made me eligible to apply for the SBA loan o small businesses.

I applied, and in early June I got the loan: $22,100 at three and a half percent for 30 years. Next August I have to start paying back on the loan at $108 per month for 30 years.

Good luck on that getting totally repaid. I am 75 so go figure.

The loan can be used for business expenses like booth fees and paying myself a salary.

I plan to start paying myself a salary in January.

So far, I have paid out almost $2000 in booth fees. I had to pay the 2021 booth fee for Des Moines in September.

My hope is to be able to do at least two shows per month next spring.

This loan has given me a small cushion.

I also collect Social Security

During the summer I worked on the average four to six hours a day in my studio.

In four months I have finished over 120 new handcolored images.

Some of them are going to be winners.  New moola coming in.

In my next blog I will talk about how I am going to display and sell work in the Covid era

Give me three days and the next blog will appear.

Stay healthy and Aloha, Nels..

I was a member of a Zoom meeting group that discussed how to make a video of your booth and/or artwork for the shows that have gone virtual. Because I'm no longer doing shows I created this video of some of the different styles of photographs my wife and I created over the years.

I had a difficult time getting the narration to line up with the pictures until I came across some AI text to speech software.  So after purchasing it I took all the text snippets and dropped them into the narration line in Adobe Premiere Elements, an inexpensive but full featured video creation software. Then I dropped in the series of images and moved them around to line up with their respective text. After that I added a subtle music tract to fill in the gaps where there is narration. What you're seeing is the result. Now I can work with any artist on creating their own video.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Larry Berman's Zoom MeetingLarry Berman's Zoom MeetingTime: Oct 26, 2020 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/4338895789?pwd=NXFRME9JRFdMK3VDUEJhdHJ5T2daQT09
Meeting ID: 433 889 5789Passcode: art-show

Check http://bermangraphics.com/zoom/ for audio files from previous meetings.You can check the page within 24 hours after the meeting ends.

Here's a link to the booth video I created. The audio didn't work during the meeting because I forgot to disconnect the external speakers that I have connected to my laptop. The muffled sound was because the speakers were about a foot behind the laptop. It should have been the actual laptop sound you heard. I'll play it again Monday remembering to disconnect the speakers or you can view it on Youtube: 

https://youtu.be/JXb0yBFUmJE

Thanks,

Larry Berman

http://BermanGraphics.com

412-401-8100

Notes:

1) PIC deaths refers to pneumonia, influenza, and Covid-19 deaths.  The CDC tracks PIC to remove the errors of mis-identification of the cause of death on death certificates.

2) Even when ignoring the last few weeks (which is always suspect due to slow reporting of the data), the death count is now within the range of the 2018 seasonal flu.

HMC is now accepting submissions for

the Artists-in-Residence Program and exhibition in 2021 at AIR-HMC, Budapest-Hungary.  For applying, please write us for more info and application form to 

bszechy@yahoo.com .

Application fee $20

We are looking forward to receiving applications of artists who have interest in our program. 

Beata Szechy, HungarianMulticulturalCenter

(HMC)

https://www.facebook.com/Residencies-in-Budapest-Hungary-218959226890/

Talking about the importance of a website seems redundant in the covid 2020 era, but even with the prevalence of the internet in our lives, there are still a number of ways you can use your website to maximize your presence and reach. A website works as a digital hub for your clients to interact with your brand when you are not around. It makes it possible for people to see your products without attending one of the events where you are selling and that increases sales.

If you do not have a website, you need one. If you do have one, odds are, there are still ways you can make it better. Read on to see the 5 things every vendor needs on their website. Great product pictures aren’t on this list because that is way too obvious. And yes, you should hire a professional to take those.

1. Give Customers the Chance to Buy Your Products

A website is a great place to showcase your arts, crafts, jewelry, or other handmade products. Throwing up a picture and a description about a piece of art is great, but it still requires a client to call you to order or to visit you at the next event you attend. If a client can’t buy your products online, there’s a good chance they’ll buy something similar on a site that will allow them to buy online. This a very real scenario that you have most likely experienced yourself.

Many think that making a website to sell products (called an e-commerce site) is difficult. Put simply, it’s not. There are several solutions that will manage an e-commerce site for you and here are just four of the most popular ones:

• Shopify
• BigCommerce
• Weebly
• WooCommerce

2. Include Your Life’s Story

There’s a good saying about marketing that “people don’t buy your product, they buy your story.” People want to relate to the things they’re buying. They want to know why you do what you do and how your product is special. This is especially true in the handmade industry because you make everything yourself.

Check out this post for how to write a compelling brand story. It may feel overwhelming to take on the task of writing the ideal brand story all at once, so do the small, easy things first.

If you want to keep it even easier and faster, create a page dedicated to your story and name it Our Story, then think about the following sections:

• The Who: Tell everyone about YOU! Things like what you love and hate, where you grew up, what your favorite foods are, what influences your creative process, etc. should be included.
• The Why: Include how you feel about your products, what motivates you to make them, how your business began, and how your passion helps your clients.
• The What: Include details if you use special materials in your products and why you chose them. What will these materials do for the customer?
• The When: Did you start painting or making jewelry when you were six years old or did you recently start because you want to put your child through college?
• The Where: Include where you create. Is it in a workshop in your backyard or on the top of a mountain overlooking a lake? Help paint the picture of the entire handmade process in your clients’ minds.
• The How: Include unique processes that you implement to make your product special. Maybe you only sew clothes during a full moon or you only use paint that you make yourself from plants that you grow. Own what makes you unique.

3. Calendar of Events To Buy From You in Person

Have a place on your website where you post a calendar that has all of the dates, times, and locations of the events that you will be attending. This way, if a customer would prefer to see your products in person, it’ll be easy for them to find you.

4. Include an Email Opt-In Field

A great way to keep your customers updated on new products is to let them know what shows you will be attending and generally keep them in the loop in an email list. Make sure visitors can enter their email into your site and be updated on the latest news from your business!

5. Vendor Insurance Badge

An excellent way to show that you are a credible business is to have insurance. ACT Insurance sells vendor insurance that can be purchased for single events or for an entire year. For those who do not qualify for an ACT policy, we recommend you get a quote from Insurance Canopy and explore their product liability coverage. After purchasing coverage you will be provided with a badge that only those with active insurance policies have. This badge gives your clients and event organizers peace of mind, knowing you are a professional with coverage that protects them in the case of your negligence.

Continually Improve

As you continue to make your website better, keep researching the best tactics of how to sell more products and engage with your customers better. Posts like this, Creating a Selling Website for Artists and Crafters will assist you in always improving.

Learn more