Thursday, June 25, 2009

Streetworks Auction



The auction for the banner pieces I mentioned a few posts ago was last Sunday and it was an amazing success.



The banners were hung all along Washington Street, and the auction took place on a blocked off section of Elizabeth Street next to Bluegrass Kitchen. All the pieces went for high prices, but the surprise of the night was that my piece went for a whopping $675, the highest price for a single piece lot at the auction. I was blown away, and still can only sort of believe the bidding war that took place.



Yes, that is a drag queen auctioneer. Her name is Ms. Vikki and she did an amazing job, and as it turns out also cuts my girlfriend's hair. I couldn't have been happier with the auction or the project as a whole, but more important to me is what it meant to my family and friends that could be there. They were all ecstatic when my piece went for such a high price, and I think it was because this was something to do with my art that they could really get excited about and participate in, rather than the usual "Hey, I designed some T-shirts and they sent me a check." I've been just as proud of many T-shirt designs as I was of this banner piece, and I've made plenty more money from shirts, but this just seemed to mean so much to everyone, almost like a validation of my career as a professional artist. I guess that just goes to show that it's all in the presentation.

Also, in what I consider a very Kyle Quinn move, I approached all the losing bidders for my piece and gave them my contact info, and I already have several orders for more prints. I think I'm going to only offer unframed prints, though, as that only seems fair to the gentleman who spent over half a grand on the first one.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Ernie gets published



This is a picture of a book called Play All Day: Design for Children that collects uniquely and creatively designed products for kids such as toys and furniture. Originally designed Cubees are featured, and among them is my Ernie Cubee. Chris asked me about this last year and it just sort of migrated to the back of my head in the meantime, so it's great to see that it came to fruition! I had to steal this image from him at the Cubeecraft blog as I don't have a copy yet. Maybe parents who only want to buy designer toys for their kids can afford to throw down $60 for a book without blinking, but I have to work up the nerve.