Did anyone get the number of that bus?

Being a bit on the introvert side of the continuum, it takes me awhile to recover from a 2 day/14 hour long weekend open studio event.  I’m thrilled that we had nearly 200 people come see our studios, and even happier that I was able to have some great conversations with so many visitors.  Seems weird that all that goodness makes me feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. 

new "Hanna-Dyed" pillows ready for the studio tour

In addition to recovering my energy, I’ve spent several days basking in the warmth of so much love & great feedback and also was inspired to write down several “next” action steps to move my artwork and art career forward – steps which came pouring out of my inner spirit, emboldened by all the fan support.

Here’s a bunch of photos from the weekend:

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Key Statistics

• We had almost 200 visitors this year and had a “clicker” to keep a more accurate count.  This was a bit higher than last year, but we didn’t have a very accurate count last year.
• 57 new people signed up for our mailing list and 50% of these new fans said they are interested in taking workshops – since I’m working on designing and scheduling some new workshops in my own studio space, I’m really happy with this response.
• I doubled my sales during the weekend compared to last year, and just sold a large piece today to a new collector who saw my work for the first time during the open studio.

What went well and what could we do better?

Since Barbara is a veteran open studio event planner, we definitely know how to put on a really good show, and still, after each one we do a debrief session to acknowledge the good and make plans for how we can do better next time.  Here’s our list of learnings from this show:

1. It takes a Village: Thank you to all our Helpers! – We are blessed with amazing friends and family that rally to support us for these shows.  We assembled our largest crew yet to help us with check out, dog sitting, sign placing, sewing pillows, and greeting visitors both at the front door and in my lower level studio.  

Having someone to help me with greeting people was the greatest improvement from our last open studio event, because it allowed me to relax and have better conversation with those I was already talking with when new visitors arrived.  A special shout out to Victoria who not only helped greet people in my studio the whole weekend, but sewed and sewed and sewed pillows all week till her fingers nearly bled – and is crazy enough to come do it all again this December for our Holiday Show!

Victoria sewing in the Hanna-Dyed sweat shop

2. Publicity doesn’t Hurt – We sent out almost 300 postcards invites and an email invite to over 500 people.  We also were interviewed by our local paper for an article about the studio tour, specifically on what it’s like to be two artists living together and also sharing studios in our home.  It was a 3 page article with front page/multiple photos.  There were several visitors who said they came just because they had seen the article in the paper.

Me at work in my studio (photo credit: Dawn Madura / The Coloradoan)

4. Parking Lot – Parking space is at a premium on our street, so a diagonal “lot” drawn on our driveway and specific directions helped make best use of our driveway.

3. Sign Stands – We had 7 signs to be strategically placed throughout the neighborhood to help direct visitors to our studios.  Last year we fussed with trying to get those little metal rods to stick in the rocky ground and it didn’t work too well.  This year, Barbara made these awesome wood stands and they worked great – plus we’ll be able to re-use them for our signs for our Holiday show too.

check out that sign stand

5. Demo Info – I set up an Eco-dye demo as well as left the printmaking part of the studio set up for deconstructed screen-printing to show visitors how I dye the fabrics I use in my work.  Both helped visitors feel at ease with asking questions and understanding more about my processes.

Now that it’s over, I’m glad we rallied and put in the work to make this our best open studio event yet.  And I’m thankful to all our friends who helped make it possible and our visitors that made it worthwhile.  Slowly but surely we continue to build our art practices and local following, one event and one visitor at a time.