Indie Craft Parade - Accepted

"ICP", as the younger group casually refers to it (which triggers the older group to immediately think "Insane Clown Posse" - Google ICP and see what you get) is a pretty hip, well known local event that continues to grow and catch the eye of shoppers who want to take home something unique and functional and/or beautiful!  Also, check out the 2019 video below which should sell it pretty well and then meet me again below the video.  :) 

Are you sold on ICP?  Can Shelly and I count on seeing you there?  Great!

In the local group of artists I hang with, ICP is notoriously challenging to get into, at least for the photographers in the group.  I have applied several times in past years and because so much of it is handmade art, I really believed my "Liquid Glass" photography would get me accepted into the event but it did not.  Liquid Glass is an original photograph that I've taken, printed, mounted to wooden panels I've painted... and then poured resin over top, torched the bubbles out and then wired after a few days of curing.  It is a handmade labor of love but I believe I was rejected twice from ICP and decided to never, ever apply again.  That's sometimes the mentality of the artist - give up quickly.  We face a lot of rejection, what can I say?  :)

I was not intending on applying in 2021 until a friend of mine and fellow vendor suggested I do so using my latest photographs of minimalism.  Shout out to Kristen @ Makari Designs for the encouragement and if you want some kick ass, hand made furniture of the highest quality... seriously, check them out.  Mark created the wooden bin that holds my images at art shows.  

https://www.facebook.com/makaridesigns

The minimalism photos I've recently taken were spawned from the beautiful solitude I have experienced since the pandemic started in Feb of 2020.  Read more about that experience here:

https://hiltabidel.com/blogs/news/how-the-pandemic-impacted-my-artwork

It's a crazy shift to go from a world of colorful landscapes to isolated black and whites but that's 2020 for you.  I have to follow my passion, no matter where it takes me.  To be clear, they aren't all black and whites.  Here are the minimalism photos I've posted for sale so far:

https://hiltabidel.com/collections/minimalism

And here's a link to the Indie Craft Parade:  

http://www.makerscollective.org/indiecraftparade

So now we're preparing for Indie Craft Parade.  But we aren't preparing in the normal way we do by printing a bunch of stuff, matting it, sleeving it, packing up and so forth.  We're doing all of that, yes, but we are also setting up at this event with Pro Panels for the first time, more metal prints than we've ever exhibited and there is still more editing of images to do for Shelly's approval.  We need to order a test print of the new images on metal and we're also doing layouts in advance so we know exactly how we will setup our tent, walls and what images we will have placed where and at what size!  See below, subject to change. 

And printer ink has been delayed, probably due to covid, like every other manufacturer has experienced delays... still, we're going to pull it all together and present ICP with the very best we have to offer, which hopefully opens up other doors in the future.  We hope you'll join us out there to experience all the great creations Greenville has come to expect of this event!  Does being associated with "ICP" make me a Joeggalo?  Focus Joe, focus.