Last year began with my speaking at the Self-Employment in the Arts Conference in February.
In March I gave my Blogging for Artists talk at the Creative Expo Chicago, put on by the city and held at the Chicago Cultural Center. This was my second year giving talks at both of events and I really love sharing what I know with college students and fellow artists!
In 2014 I pulled back a bit from applying for juried, group shows, partly because they tend to have fees, which can really add up, and partly because I’m setting my sights on solo shows. I was delighted to have two solo shows in 2014, both at libraries, the West Englewood Branch in Chicago and the Dole Branch in Oak Park.
Here’s a picture of the installation at the Dole Library in Oak Park, IL:
Exhibitions are a great reason for newspapers and blogs to write about your art, and I had three lovely stories about these pieces:
This one in the Forest Park Review, and I was interviewed at The Library as Incubator Project and profiled at the Arts Business Institute blog.
In addition, I got to do two guest posts! One at the Art Biz Coach Blog:
and one at the ReUse Diaries, where I did a tutorial on silver leafing. While I was hoping that this would drive traffic to my silver leafed Our Ladies… and my Red Bubble shop, where I sell cards and products with images of the Our Ladies, it didn’t. It was still fun to do and I enjoyed working with my photographer-husband, who shot the tutorial with me. We hadn’t shot a tutorial in a while and that was fun.
I spent the summer with kids at the art league, teaching art day camps. The fall, starting in October, was quite full, since joined the collaborative project, Pilsen Derivas, and I decided to do my first craft show in many years.
In continued to sell my jewelry at the Illinois Artisan’s Shop and Woman Made Gallery. My goal for this year is to add 3-5 more stores.
The exhibition for Pilsen Derivas was my final art show for the year, the group of us showed group and personal projects and screened a film about one aspect of the history of the neighborhood.

Pilsen Derivas Map by Elaine Luther, Copyright Elaine Luther 2014, uppermost photo taken by Pietr Buttelman, used with permission
Re-discovering old family photos, plus seeing plenty I’d never seen before was a real joy. As a solo artist, getting an opportunity to work collaboratively on a project that was about place and history was just really cool.
In November, we kicked off the 20 Neighborhoods Project at Woman Made Gallery, where not-for-profit organizations bring folks who don’t usually get to do art, from all over the city, to meet and make art together. Working with the teaching artist and participants and staff on this project is just terrific, I love being part of a team.
And finally, I taught a workshop at the Harold Washington Library on Artist Trading Cards in November. Then the holidays and then the year came to a close!
Between my various part time jobs and the holidays and my craft show, plus extensive home repairs, the third quarter of the year was not a good time for studio time. I’m looking forward to the repairs being finished (almost there!) and getting back to consistent studio time!
Want to review your year? Alyson Stanfield at the Art Biz Coach Blog asks some terrific questions, here.
What a productive 12 months–you are an inspiration!
Thanks so much Gina! I accomplished more than I remembered, so I was glad I did the year in review. My memory was jogged by answering the questions over at the Art Biz Coach Blog.