Here’s the catalogue entry from Artwalk with his contact information, both online right now and his booth at California’s largest outdoor art event this April 24 & 25– (click the image to seem more of his work on the ArtWalk web site.)
 

Again we are indebted to Mike Brown for documenting Sunday at ArtWalk not just for The Frame Maker, but for many of the ArtWalk artists, too. Check out this link to Mike’s account on Flickr, Mike Brown Photo Booth and see more about our booth and the rest of ArtWalk, too, including great shots of our Business of Art scholarship winner doing her TV spot with KUSI’s Lena Lewis.

Here’s the first pictures:

Actually, owner Steve Atlas moved the business up State Street north of Laurel, technically into Mission Hills. Buying up a converted warehouse building and converting it into another beautiful showroom has proven a pretty smart move since then for The Frame Maker despite the perceptual disconnect with its previous neighborhood.

Now that Little Italy has become one of the most dynamic neighborhoods for art in San Diego county year round, and especially ArtWalk weekend, it seemed only logical to try and bring The Frame Maker showroom “back” to Little Italy.

Since The Frame Maker is staffed by professional artists and people who care deeply about the art & design community in San Diego, the booth was also conceived to let those people and personalities percolate through to the surface. After all, ArtWalk is all about art & artists, and we feel that our staff of artists and their combined knowledge and experience is one of the business’ current core strengths.

Again it seemed only logical to time the next show of staff work with ArtWalk, so not only does the custom framing part of our booth feature the staff, the gallery part of the booth features their work.

Our booth has only become a reality with the assistance of two new friends and partners, both small businesses with deep roots in San Diego that we are ecstatic to support and be supported by as we work together to strengthen our local economy.

The Frame Maker was introduced to Moebius Color by photographer Maire Scharpegge, who has been featured at The Frame Maker (along with glass artist Lea de Wit) in the show “Echoes”. Moebius’ arsenal of innovative technologies for digital printing suggested a host of possibilities to The Frame Maker staff, and the first collaborative results will be on full display in both parts of The Frame Maker booth (details in next posts).

Robert Noble of Noble Environmental Technologies and his visionary staff brought a new product they have developed to our attention this spring, and much like with Moebius, lightning struck. After some discussion Robert and Manufacturing Director Tim Newburn agreed to lend us a batch of their new “green” construction panels to experiement with, both for art-making and booth-building.

Check out this incredible 100%-post-consumer-waste building product online at www.ecorglobal.com and check back here for more posts on The Frame Maker booth.

All six of the artists working at The Frame Maker right now agree that practical business & marketing skills are nowhere to be found in the curriculum of any art school program, so very few people enter the professional art world with a clue as to how it works, what to expect, and most importantly, what tools & strategies emerging artists have available to make the kind of career they (and their audience) want to see happen. (Five of the six artists went to an art school or through an art program.)

Under the guidance of programming director John Hiemstra, The Frame Maker is now pleased to host San Diego Artist Services, an access point for professional visual artists to the best and most complete range of San Diego’s professional art services.

Five San Diego small businesses working together now provide a prepared, informed, and expert service network for professional artists. With an emphasis on consistent, timeless presentation and marketing strategies based on high production values and modern technologies, San Diego Artist Services covers all the bases:

• Artist branding, identity, and niche market identification
• Consistent graphic identity
• Online portfolios and marketing strategies
• Digital imaging for archive and print reproduction
• Advanced modern printing technologies for fine art, print collateral
• Full range of custom framing, mounting and presentation options
• Professional shipping, crating, delivery and installation of all kinds of artwork
• Trade show/ art fair presentation, booth design, graphics, strategies

We’ll be putting up posts specific to all of the contributors over the next few weeks, but the first full fruition of the project will be on full display this coming weekend in San Diego’s Little Italy for ArtWalk. Come down and see two shows suggesting the potential of the collaborative effort, one a show of experimental digital printing by The Frame Maker artists, the second our new “Business of Art” scholarship program in collaboration with John and ArtWalk director Sandi Cottrell.

The Frame Maker booth will be fun, too, so come visit us this Saturday and Sunday at Fir and India in Little Italy across from the fountain at Piazza Basilone.

In addition to sponsoring the event with some of the needed cash for tents, permits, printing and other details, TFM Programming Director John Hiemstra has taken the initiative with ArtWalk Director Sandi Cottrell to create “The Business of Art Scholarship”, a program designed to take a student from the San Diego State Art Department through the trajectory of participating in the ArtWalk experience while building the basic set of marketing tools that all artists need in general: a clear identity, conmsistent branding, print collateral for the weekend itself, and an evolving web presence to both build and communicate with her audience.

The first recipient of this scholarship is Jessica Siemens, finishing her junior year in the SDSU drawing & painting program. This is her painting “Face”, which won the Provost’s purchase award this spring as well as helping Jessica be selected for the “Business of Art” scholarship.

This painting is now part of the San Diego State University permanent collection, but will be on display at Mission Federal ArtWalk in San Diego’s Little Italy the weekend of April 25 & 26, 2009. Come down and see Jessica’s phenomenal work in person, and fins out more about San Diego Artist Services, a new program sponsored by The Frame Maker making its debut with Jessica at ArtWalk (and in these posts!) this April as well.