Category Archives: Blog

Art, Blog, Excursions, Exhibitions, Travel, ◆◆◆

Appearances ’14 – EcoFestival Recap

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This past weekend I participated in the Appearances ’14 EcoFestival in Provincetown, MA. I probably should’ve gone to the first weekend of the festival as it rained during the entire time I was there and the weather last weekend was perfect. Oh well, last weekend I had to do the Cambridge Science Festival. I had wanted to do a Nature Divination workshop but was directed to the wrong location… so I missed it. Anyway, I still got to see my artwork at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and participate in the Art + Meditation workshop at Gallery Ehva.

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Anyway, I enjoyed the Art + Meditation workshop at Gallery Ehva. The meditation was the growth of trees and we had to do a drawing of what first came to mind during each stage of the growth of a tree (i.e: roots, trunk, leaves, crown, environment, etc). I ended up talking a lot about how I’ve been wanting to live freely and live my life on my own but I keep facing setbacks and associated my growth as an artist to the growth of a tree…

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Anyway, I’m glad I went as it was fun to see my artwork in Provincetown, I was also invited to show at Gallery Ehva in their June exhibition but I haven’t heard anything yet, they have my contact info, so we’ll see if that comes through, but I’m excited at the prospect of it. I did some shopping, I didn’t buy a whole lot, just incense and a quartz point.

Blog, News

NM Rescinded

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So I have really sad news. My Starry Night Retreat/Residency has been rescinded because the person handling the applications didn’t understand what “Photographic Chemicals” meant…. and quickly skimmed past the Materials section. This came up because I had asked if there was a room that I could occupy down there to setup as an impromptu darkroom and they said darkrooms weren’t covered in their insurance, so that is why that had to rescind it. I just can’t believe my luck lately.

So much bad happened this month:

– I lost my job and because of something out of my control.
– My Guggenheim Fellowship didn’t get accepted.
– ALL of the exhibitions I had applied to over the winter were rejected (about 5-6 and my rejection rate is usually 1 of 3).
– My festival workshops almost didn’t happen because the communication regarding funding wasn’t clear. I was able to fix that on the spot, but it just created a big mess.
– And now my Truth or Consequences Residency was rescinded because of a comprehension error.

ALL my plans that I had for the last half of this year have grumbled and fallen apart. I feel like I have nothing… and the only thing that is keeping me occupied right now is my artwork. Yesterday for example I was able to finish a song that I had been working on for the last month or so.

I just want my life again. I want to be working in my field again and do my art on the side again. I want that stability I worked so hard for even if it was rocky, it got me further than staying in Wellesley would’ve did.

 

Art, Blog, Events, Exhibitions, News

A Solo Exhibition: Electrolyte

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A Solo Exhibition: Electrolyte

For the month of July, the electrographer – Kristi Beisecker is coming to Florence, MA to exhibit new artwork as well as display previous collections. Electrolyte, is an exhibition that is a celebration of her progress as a fine art photographer. The show is hosted within a gallery space at a spiritual gift store, Groundings, LLC. The shop specializes in crystals, tarot cards, meditation tools, herbs and incense as well as spiritual readings from a variety of styles.

 

Electrography is produced by exposing organic materials with electricity on photo sensitive paper and developed normally in a darkroom. This photographic process is originally used as a scientific process, seeing its’ potential Kristi reinvigorated the process to make it compatible with traditional darkroom processing. As a result, her works are dramatic, auric, images that invoke all sorts of emotions. Kristi developed the process from taking an Alternative Photography course as part of her Graphic and Interactive Design degree. Electrography was originally thought to capture the life force energy of organic materials (flora, plant life) and was marketed as so, but science explains that you are conducting the water within the plant life and capturing the light that it emits onto the paper.

 

The reception for the exhibition will take place on July 19th from 3pm – 5pm at Groundings, LLC – 7 Main St. Florence, MA. There, you will have a chance to talk to Kristi as well as look at her work up close in person and enjoy light refreshments.

You can find Kristi’s artwork on the following social media sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kglyphics

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kglyphics

WWW: http://www.kglyphics.com

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If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Kristi Beisecker, please call her at 339-225-5885 or email her at info@kglyphics.com

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Blog, Reflections

Letter to Me (Brad Paisley)

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One of my favorite country singers, Brad Paisley, has a song (Letter to Me) about wanting to write a letter to his 17 year old self. The song is ballad of what he wish he’d known at that age versus the age he is when the song was written. It gave me a prompt to write a blog post about what I’d write to my younger self.

In my teenage years, I had a strong desire to be in a relationship. Like many, I wanted to prove to the world that I was loveable, that someone enjoyed my company, that I was loved for who I was. The men I’d attract often had the same mentality, which didn’t really include my best interests and I often felt like I was taken advantage of. I wish I had told my teenage self that – you will fall in love, but, it would also cause you the most excruciating pain you’d ever experience and it wouldn’t get you very far romantically.

In my teenage years, I had self-esteem problems, worried constantly about whether or not people liked me for my personality. I lacked the confidence that I have now and wished that I had while in high school. While, I still live my life in a lot of solitude, I feel supported by my friends, appreciators and those on-lookers and my fellow collaborators. I wish I could tell my teenage self that I CAN be like those you looked up to in high school, that you can feel supported, appreciated and liked by many.

In my teenage years, I’d worry about whether or not if I was good enough for my field. Whether or not if I’d succeed in what I was trying to do. I spent most of my free time teaching myself graphic and web design so I’d get a head start on my career so when I got to college and finished college, I’d have a dynamite portfolio. I wished I could tell my teenage self that portfolios aren’t the main aspect of a job application, that sometimes a personality helps too (thankfully college took care of that).

In my teenage years, I didn’t have a clue as to who I was, and felt strange following passions or interests that weren’t sociably acceptable… um occult studies anyone? I felt strange pulls towards certain subjects that I wanted to read and study more of. But they were strange for a teenager to be reading about. I wished I could tell my teenage self that embracing the artist personality will help mask those interests as ‘inspirations’. That it is OK to follow what makes your heart sing. That it is OK to be inspired by weird things. It’s just who you are and what makes you unique!

 

There you have it, those are my wishes that I could’ve told my teenage self.

 

 

Articles, Blog, Business, Inspiration

The Rise of Cult Marketing

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I recently watched a video on the story and creation of Scientology performed by its’ creators’ great-grand son, Jamie DeWolf. It gave me an amazing insight on business and marketing and realized that there is a “Rise of Cult Marketing”.

What is Cult Marketing you say? It is a marketing practice where a company develops it’s branding and policies so much so that it starts to imitate a belief system, or culture within its’ consumers. There are many examples of this now-a-days especially with social media. The biggest two I think are Apple consumers versus Microsoft consumers.

In the video DeWolf states,  “if you really want to get rich, you start a religion.” In the same breath he says, “if you have facts, all you need is a little faith.” That really woke my mind up. Why? If you think about a large company, say Apple – each company has a certain aura around them. Apple was geared towards the general PC user and wanted to create a user-friendly computer for the average American. However, it’s consumers appear to be more influenced by artists, designers, students, ‘hipsters’ and the average American… Microsoft – while is still used in many homes because the price of PC products are more budget friendly, have consumers who are more into computer programing and electronics.

This practice has gone into cosmetic companies as well, there’s an indie brand called Lime Crime Cosmetics that features bright and high-pay off makeup. The CEO, Doe Deere is notorious for her specific style and visual elements and encourages their fans to follow their styling. I suppose cult marketing is a mixture of style and quality – but the definition of style is usually described as the voice of the artist or designer.

Each artist or designer has their specific style and technique to create their art, and when a company is born and grows, it takes on an image (brand) of it’s own as well – that the artist or designer has created based on the company’s policies and beliefs.

In this day and age of social media, it becomes clear that consumers become followers (or “believers”) of the company’s product and image. If you find a good company or product that you want to invest your money in you become it’s “follower”. Just like in a religion has it’s followers.

If you create a stigma or personality around your product, and believe in it strongly and market it as so and make it convincing, you’ll attract the same type of thinking in your audience/consumers.

Marketing isn’t just about advertising your product and trying to convince your consumer that it’s the best on the market, marketing has become more about creating a following and that following will be your returning customers. It is something that artists who are musicians who are active in the industry have always known – create a following and the rest will follow you.

Blog, Reflections

New and Old Fears

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So it’s been a week since I was asked to leave Minuteman. I am doing better than I expected and I think it’s because I’m focusing my energy on the present but also I have been getting a lot of support from my friends and family, so I’m really grateful for that. But I have been feeling a sense of abandonment and it’s really not the best feeling in the world.

This past weekend I finished up my Cambridge Science Festival activities and this coming weekend I’ll be spending time down in Eastham to attend the Appearances ’14 activities. The opening for this festival was last Friday when I came down to Wellesley so unfortunately I couldn’t attend. The Appearances festival has a cool Nature Divination and Art + Meditation events that I am thinking of going to.

In terms of goals right now… ideally I want to stay in Longmeadow, MA. Because there I have space for a darkroom and if I move back to Wellesley, I won’t have space for anything and I’ll be back to where I was summer of 2013. Except, I wouldn’t be grieving from heartbreak, so I suppose it’ll be easier to deal with and I won’t be dealing with the same fears and anxiety. But eventually, the long-term goal is to move out to California. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since my trip last September.

One of the major issues at Minuteman was that my boss couldn’t understand or bothered to care enough that I had a mental condition that prevented me from seeing certain things upon completion of a project, which he saw as mistakes. One of the things that he said to me that has rubbed me the wrong way was I couldn’t find a process that works for me, it’s not that easy!

Throughout my life the specialists that I have seen all told me to take time when doing certain things. The issues that occurred at Minuteman were issues that weren’t issues in school… because the design process we were taught it was OK to send multiple revisions to the customer. So we never had ‘mistakes’ because they were always caught in the revision process.

We were also taught in school that reporting to someone to look over your work was OK. Well, that didn’t really vibe well at Minuteman. The project had to be done, and done right before it was seen by our bindery person, my boss or the other designer I worked with because they simply didn’t have time to go over everything. OK I get that. But if you have no quality control in the first place, how do you expect ANYONE to do ANYTHING right the first time around?

Last Summer I was in a slump because I was afraid I’d never find a job in my field and I did find a job. I had all the talent, but in my field talent only goes so far, and my experience didn’t line up exactly with my level of talent. I had the design skill of someone with 3-5 years of experience but the experience level of an entry-level designer.

My new fears are finding a job that is suitable enough for my talent level. I do not want to stay in a position where I’ll only be using my design skills minimally. As I felt over and over again at Minuteman I felt the experience was killing my talent level. It was suffocating my desire to design and be creative and ultimately suffocating me! My mother made a good point when I told my parents over the phone on the last day at my job at Minuteman… she said, Just think of the number of days you came home and had a bad day! Too damn many.

Articles, Blog, Business, Reflections

Business Lessons from Working in a Press Shop

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1) The customer doesn’t care how the job is done.

In a fast-paced environment the customer is the boss. In a performance review, my boss told me that while I work for him he works for the customers as the owner of the shop. If the job isn’t done right, the customer will go elsewhere.

Which means that all rules they taught you in school get thrown out the window. Sometimes if the customer is well respected, you do everything it takes to get it done right. Because if you do they’ll return.

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2) Quality over Quantity.

It’s better to have returning customers ordering in larger quantities than many one-time customers just ordering smaller quantities.

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3) Quotes Done Right

If a customer requests a quote, this is a good sign. Make sure you gather all the information necessary and include all steps of the process in the quote from the beginning to the end. Make sure you ask if the job is a rush job because additional charges may apply and it will guarantee customer approval if the customer and the shop both understand the deadline and it is reversed, make sure the customer understand that problems do occur and you’ll do your best to get the job done. Request a deadline even if the customer doesn’t have an opinion on one.

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4) Follow-Up

Don’t be afraid to follow-up. Sure, you may come off as a pushy sales-person but if you don’t, you may never get the project moving forward and then the money won’t come through. If the customer has trouble committing to the project perhaps ask what their budget is. You may know of options to make the project fit their budget – take shortcuts if you need to.

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5) Time is Money.

The Press shop I worked at allowed 2 weeks for the maximum amount of time for projects to be completed. Most customers wanted their business cards yesterday. Which goes back to the first point of this post; customers don’t care how the job is done. If you have to cut corners to get the job done that is OK. If an employee at the shop screws up the job, the shop will need to find time to redo it.

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6) Prioritize + Workflow

Look for specific pieces of information on the work ticket. It helps to get certain projects done. At the end of a busy day I looked at my document count from Indesign and had 20 documents created throughout the day. Yes, you’ll be doing many and multiple projects at once. Some people can handle this environment some people can’t. And your plan for the day will be interrupted by your boss, other employees and customers. If your workflow becomes interrupted make a mental note of where you left off so when you return you can get right on track. Have a plan for the day. See what deadline are closest to you, what projects are just given to you, and other projects that may be more important. Write them down – I kept a sketch book of work lists and plans for the day and week. It helped me visualize what needed to be done and I can be sure to mark something off and then move onto the next project.

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7) Mistakes + Typos will be the death of you

May not necessarily apply to other businesses, but if you work in a press shop, mistakes and typos will be the death of you. It really hurt my position as I wasn’t as quick of a thinker as my boss wanted me to be… but if your shop makes a typo in a name, or piece of information than honor the mistake. Sometimes a discount is offered, most often a complete redo is needed.

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8) Be polite

If you make a mistake, apologize and tell them that it’ll be resolved as soon as possible. Say your pleases and thank yous. Do not demand information, request items or information. Don’t be afraid of your personality – sometimes customers are sold on your product based on how well you handle their demands. One time working at the Tremont Tearoom, I had to deal with a Groupon fiasco and a friend within the group that came chose me because of my patience and sweetness in dealing with the situation. Stay grounded while dealing with difficult customers. Make note of exactly what went wrong and get help when you need it.

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9) Don’t get Emotionally Involved

This is one of the hardest lessons to learn and I’m still learning it. It’s especially hard to learn if you are putting your whole heart into your work. Labor of Love isn’t the only thing you should be careful of, anger as well needs to be controlled. If you are getting angry over simple errors or problems in the shop, perhaps it’s time to sit back and look at the bigger picture and see why you are getting angry in the first place. People react differently to anger, a lot of people get anxiety from anger. Maybe hire more people so there will be less work on yourself and the other employees which will result in less mistakes… or if you are putting you’re whole heart into what you’re doing perhaps find another outlet you love to do. Anger directed at the wrong person can result in a law suit. Love expressed in the workplace can get you in trouble as well.

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10) Know your Boundaries

Be careful who you trust. Be verbal about your boundaries; in the very beginning I told my boss it was OK to call me if extra help is needed but do so in a respectful manner. If you are going through a difficult time perhaps a letter to your boss is necessary. In my case, I did this and I was OK letting him know, but because his wife worked with him he had to show her as well which I was not comfortable with. In the end it created a triangle between me and him and him and her and I think affected the outcome of my position as well. In the end he really appreciated me letting him know, but it created issues in the future. Since jobs change all the time, try to demonstrate some privacy on your part as well. These people are your co-workers, not friends or family even though they may act like it.

 

Articles, Blog, Mystical Life, Reflections, Spirituality

Spiritual Relationships

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Untitled-1What is a Spiritual Relationship? A spiritual relationship is one where you feel a deep, strong emotional bond to another but there may be distinct physical barriers (age, marriage, another partner, status, position of power, etc) and the emotional relationship exists to teach the other a lesson – whatever that may be.

These relationships are often deep and tend to happen when the other person involved is attached. They are meant to cause a transformation which may be disguised as Love. But it it isn’t love – it has never been about love – although the person in question may feel it. Transformations are about internal changes that shake your world. Transformations cause a paradigm shift in the other – opening their world view and expanding it. And once the person is done transforming – they toss you out – and depending on their personality it could end it heartbreak or if you’re lucky just sadness. Most people cannot handle these deep relationships as it impacts their other partner and it leaves them confused and afraid.

These relationships have plagued my entire life. I am thankful for them as they have made me stronger and have finally come to terms with them. Now, with the next one, I may even fear it – as the loss of the relationship causes me a lot of pain. For awhile, it was something I yearned for in a romantic relationship – to have someone you love and have it returned, but at the same time have a deep spiritual connection – what more could you want from that?! But in my experience these spiritual relationships the other is never available in a romantic sense. And these relationships do not last – usually 6 months tops if it lasts beyond 2 years, than that’s something – but usually means it’s riddled with lessons.

This last spiritual relationship was between me and my boss. Now, I will probably never know what he’ll truly think of his experience with working with me or what he felt – but this past relationship has taught me what second chances felt like. Second chances as a lesson within a spiritual relationship? As I’m sure you can imagine, it was a pretty powerful experience. But being the person with all the power – who had his own issues – it was a relationship where I began to feel powerless. No matter what I could do or say, it wouldn’t fix the situation and I think I know why. He wasn’t learning his lessons within the spiritual relationship that I was teaching him; valuing relationships over money, understanding others who have disadvantages, among other things. Some people cannot handle the deepness of the relationship and often struggle to break it off. A spiritual relationship is a mirror – the other a mirror of oneself – since it is a spiritual lesson, energy is exchanged – it’s a two-way operation. Yes, he wasn’t learning his lessons because I couldn’t seem to change – so I am at fault too, of course. But lesson learning requires both partners to have the courage to develop the relationship and that’s where it failed. One person usually backs out, out of fear because most people are afraid of change and transformation.

 

Art, Blog, News

Spring into Festival Season!

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Spring weather is here (currently enjoying 73 degree weather and bright sun) and so is the festival season!

Since I don’t have a full time job anymore, I am focusing my energy on the festivals that I will be participating in at the end of April and May. It will help me move on from the experience and just process the emotions. I probably won’t be as active in the exhibition area though since I don’t have a steady income.

1003579_10152270295468680_1704827752_nThis week we have the Cambridge Science Festival that starts from April 18th – 27th. The purpose of my participating is to broaden my audience as an artist – so it is more of a marketing experience. I got really good news today in regards to funding and I don’t have to fund the rental space out of pocket! This weekend I created an informational brochure about my process and a brief explanation of the science behind it.

Appearances-Brochure-20141(1)-1Next Festival will be happening during the same time, but it won’t be a workshop but an exhibition. It is the Appearances: Provincetown Green Arts Festival. My artwork is going to be displayed at Larkin Hall in the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, MA. My family and I are planning on checking it out the last weekend in April.

Then in May we have the Mayfair Festival of the Arts in Allentown, PA. I am planning on attending, I just need to figure out sleeping arrangements. If I do go, it’ll definitely be weird coming back to the area just two years after I’ve graduated from Moravian! My artwork will be participating in an exhibition that is new to the Festival.

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Art, Blog, Reflections

A chapter has ended

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I am no longer going to be working at Minuteman Press New England.

A decision made by my boss because he couldn’t keep up with my mistakes – mistakes in the sense that when he saw the final product it was wrong. It was also a decision prompted by a series of events that I did not intend to have it perceived the way it did.

I am a little startled that it has ended the way it has and did not expect it to end so ‘soon’. I guess I was lucky that I even lasted this long and I don’t blame my boss because I see his perspective. But if you say you don’t care that I have mental issues that I can’t seem to change and that you can’t seem to learn and understand what I struggle with, then it wasn’t the right fit to begin with.

I should’ve known that when I started to heal and feel strong I knew I wouldn’t be working there much longer. I feel like the sole reason for me being there is to heal me because my working relationship with my boss certainly has helped me do so in a strange sort of way. I no longer feel confusion, no longer wish for second chances, no longer wonder about that relationship because I have fully moved on and healed. He has taught me what second chances felt like, because I haven’t had many in my life. I fully understand what it means and what it feels when being given a second chance and that I think is the biggest lesson I can take away from this chapter in my life.

The only thing I am suffering from all of this is the loss of closeness that I once felt. The closeness was something that kept me going because he was the only person I felt close to in my life at the time and the first person I felt closeness with since my heartbreak. But even then, as months wore on it started to pull at me because of the way I was being treated and the up-and-down of the working relationship. It caused me a different kind of confusion and I seriously did not like the way felt – it left me confused and defeated. One day we’d be working together fine, and then the next day he’d be screaming at me for doing something I did wrong. And yesterday all day I felt dread, a separation – like I never was really a part of the team. Seen as if I was a fly on the wall… and that hurt the most. Also to put all the time and energy and heart into something and to have it probably never noticed also hurts.

So now I’m at cross roads. I’ve been searching for another job so I can stay in this area, but I’ll have to think about the next chapter in my life and moving on from this. I will miss the Minuteman Press crew as they are a lovely bunch of people. But I won’t miss the emotional turmoil it has caused me over the past 6 months. I loved the work and the people I worked with, but the up-and-down is something I cannot handle. At this point in my life I am looking for some type of stability.