Landing

Val's Custom Prayer Vessel Necklace in Jewel Tones

The Arts and Crafts Fair in Santa Fe was 2 weeks ago. It was a wonderful weekend - fabulous autumnal New Mexico weather, awesome art, and the best tent spot. The ground under my tent was uneven, and hazardous. But my artist neighbors were the best company and support I could have hoped for. Sue Orchant, a silk artist, Maggie May Beyeler a ceramicist who employs graphic art in her unique designs, and Ginny Hogan, a painter and paper maker were all veterans compared to me. They had been doing art since like forever. Sue and I were the relative newbies with fairs - but none was greener than me. I had the added treat of shmoozing with silversmith Vicki Deane, my anonymous home-girl inspiration, now revealed (see my previous post). She was two spots down from me.

The first day was a bit rough. I had overslept, so it began with me rushing around at home. Plus, the first day includes the added stress of setting up the tent and filling it with all my wares. By the time the first customers strolled on in I had been working for hours and I was exhausted. In addition to the flutter of anticipation, the early morning chill kept me going, as did the hot coffee and breakfast burrito. All day, sales were slow for me and the ladies around me. No one even signed my "guest book". How pathetic. It was disappointing. Nonetheless, I was determined to surrender to the experience, whatever it would be. If customer enthusiasm was at a low, then I'd drink in the camaraderie.

The following day the energy was inexplicably different. People of all sorts starting strolling in early, with big smiles, and lots of interest. My guest book was filling up with names and emails. Women were trying on necklaces and earrings. People started buying my work, my beaded treasures, my painstakingly slowly produced shimmering, glittering, colorful, labors of love. They gave me money, and took them home. I felt as if I were adopting out beloved kittens and puppies. Wow! One after another. I could see Sue and Ginny making sales. Maggie was selling out!

One of the most memorable sales, was to Val. She asked if I would make her a custom prayer vessel necklace in her favorite colors. I took her order, without a deposit or a promise. I told her I'd contact her when it was complete. Then she asked if she could have it by October 14th, for her mastectomy. I thought of my class coming up on October 16th, and all the prep I still needed to do for it. "Yes, I will have it ready," I told her.

All my life I've wanted to be a healer. So much so, that I went to medical school, and worked as a doctor. Now, I've moved in a different direction, allowing myself to flow with the tide that has pulled me out to a new sea. I don't see patients anymore, just people. For the past several days I've sat in my studio, with Val's jewel tones in bead puddles on my mat. With a heart full of hope for her healing and for the gifts that illness offers, I wove Val's prayer vessel necklace. Today I put in my own prayer for her and mailed it clear across the country. Tomorrow she will receive it and can replace the prayer with her own.

I expect I will always remember this fair. I went in still feeling like a doctor, wondering what artists do besides make art, how they live, how they sell. I even gave out some public health information to a mom with questions about vaccines. But when it was over, I felt changed. I saw the joy my art brought to others. I felt the pleasure of sharing a part of myself - the ideas, the hours and the choices that go into each piece. I was inspired with the honor of being invited into the healing of a woman confronting her own mortality. I came home, cleaned out my studio and revamped it. I lit a candle, and got to work. I know the artist has landed.

My First Outdoor Show

Ruby Sparkle by Julia L. Hecht

Gold plated seed beads and swarovski crystal

Tomorrow I will have my first outdoor booth at an arts and crafts fair. It is a juried show for members of the Northern New Mexico Arts and Crafts Guild. I scoped out their July show. It is a great location just off The Plaza in Santa Fe, in Cathedral Park. The historic and grand Cathedral of St. Francis provides a fabulous Santa Fe backdrop. I am excited to be among this diverse group of artists. I am even more excited to be talking with a whole new group of people who will meander into my booth. I love explaining about beadwork. A lot of my work is very intricate, and it is very rewarding to see the wonder and awe that beadwork inspires. Always, people comment that they don't have the patience. As fellow beaders may relate - For me, it isn't patience - it's a joyous, meditative process and love of the beads - tiny points of color and light.

The fair is Saturday and Sunday September 25 -26th,

from 10- 5.

For a Link to the Guild and a Map click here.

Follow Your Heart

Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The last weekend in September I will be selling my jewelry in an outdoor show for the first time. The Northern New Mexico Arts and Crafts Guild has 3 shows a year in Cathedral Park in Santa Fe. Recently, I went to scope out the show, in preparation for my show in September. It is a sweet fair, not at all overwhelming, with 35 booths of very high quality art and craft. I walked the fair, examining the set-ups for ideas, meeting the artists,and introducing myself. I met another seed bead artist, Elaine Sutton, who does fabulous bead embroidery collars. We talked for quite awhile.

The next morning I woke with a start. I remembered something my mom told me when I was hating junior high school. I grew up in a town on the east coast where I felt i just did not belong. I hated living there and felt like a misfit and also "unsafe" in some way. I remember my mom telling me that I would find my place in life and that I didn't have to live there forever. She mentioned some friends whose daughter had moved away to New Mexico to make jewelry as an example. That seemed far-fetched, exotic, adventurous, and mind-blowing. It didn't really help me figure out how to live day by day. But it did give me a sense that I could explore the world and find my own place. Something I've been doing ever since I left that town. I never did meet the girl who moved away to make jewelry.

I was interested in art but never pursued it seriously. I thought I should do something brainy and prestigious and I became a doctor. After medical school, when I was contemplating where to train in my speciality, pediatrics, I remembered that girl who moved to New Mexico and applied for a residency position at the University of New Mexico program. It was strange because I had never been to the state. But, the exotic idea was planted in my head 18 years before by the notion of this girl from my town who followed her heart and found happiness far away. When I interviewed in Albuquerque I saw the full moon rise over over the pink Sandia Mountains and find its place in the indigo sky. That was it. I have been living in New Mexico ever since - 15 years. It is only this past year that I have stopped practicing medicine to give my creative life a chance to blossom.

It seems while I was sleeping, my brain put this together with a face I saw at the fair. One of the artists makes beautiful "modern botanical" silver jewelry. We spoke a bit. That next morning, it was her face that I saw when I woke with a start. I rummaged through the cards I had collected at the fair, and there was hers. I sent her an email, asking if perhaps she could be the girl my mom had told me about. It was a shot in the dark. I got a reply and guess what? She is, in fact, the girl from my town, the daughter of someone my mother knew 20 years ago, whom we'd never met, who followed her heart, moved 2000 miles away, and makes jewelry in New Mexico. She is the girl, who just the notion of her, influenced my life, in ways neither of us knew.

Cheers to us (all of us), to self -exploration, to following our hearts, and to the wonderful ways we help others, by just having the courage to be true to ourselves.