The Art of Shawna Apps
Can I just say how good it is to be back doing festivals again?!??
Okay, so I was severely out of practice preparing for the festival. I couldn’t find my packing list so I couldn’t remember everything I needed to bring, things had to be deep cleaned, and set up took forever because I’m so out of routine. Granted, it’s been three years since I had done a festival so I should cut myself some slack, but it. was. hard.
The New:
Continue reading “Brockport Arts Festival 2022”Its going to be a busy summer and fall! Here are my upcoming event schedule as of right now:
The Works of Your Hands
Visiting Artist Solo Exhibit at The Gallery in the Valley, Geneseo NY
August, entire month
Brockport Arts Festival
August 13-14
10am – 5pm both days
Letchworth Arts & Crafts Show
October 8-10
10am – 5pm Saturday & Sunday
10am – 4pm Monday
There are still a couple places I might be applying to, I just need to sit down and figure out how busy I want to be this fall!
This past weekend I participated in the Brockport Arts Festival! It was my third year being a vendor at this show.
I didn’t know how to mentally prepare for the festival this year, partly because I haven’t really worked on my art business lately, but mostly because I was so uncertain about how it was going to go because this show was going to be so different: I wasn’t bringing my jewelry, which is hands down my top seller. Instead, I was bringing only originals and prints. I’ve only ever sold a few prints at any festival, even the two day ones. I was taking a big risk, and with this being one of the more expensive shows that I do, I was really nervous that it was going to be a big flop.
Little did I know how unprepared for the weekend I actually was…
Can I let you guys in on a little secret?
I hate public speaking.
Okay, so maybe hate is too strong of a word….how about I thoroughly dislike public speaking?
Being in front of people and having them look at me gives me the heebie jeebies. I break out into splotchy hives under my neck like this:
I’m always afraid I’m going to say something wrong and make a fool out of myself, and being the center of attention is not my cup of tea.
But I love my job and Boathouse Mouse more than I hate speaking in front of people. So when my son’s fourth grade teacher asked if I’d be willing to come in and talk to them and the fifth graders about being an illustrator, I jumped at the chance!
It was a lot of fun visiting with the kids this morning. I spoke for about 40 minutes (which flew by!) and then there was Q&A time for about 10 – 15 minutes afterwards.
Some things we talked about were:
I had to be careful about what pictures I included; I wish I could include some pictures of the kids getting excited about Book 2, but I don’t have permission to include any kiddos in my blog. I do have permission to include the boy’s head in some of these pictures, but it also helps he belongs to me 😉 My eldest was also at the presentation, but she was my photographer extraordinaire (aka she took over 1,200 pictures!).
I had such a great time that when the fourth grade teacher asked if she could tell other teachers about the presentation and see if any of them want me to come talk to their classes, I of course said yes 🙂
Maybe public speaking isn’t so bad after all? Or maybe it’s not so bad because it’s over and I don’t have another engagement lined up at the moment 😉
Do you like public speaking? Give me your best tips for feeling comfortable in front of a group! And let me know if you have any questions about the illustrating/book making process!
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