Judy Tonelli-Brown, Worcester, Mass.

I just wanted to mention a local shop run by a fellow artist, Judy Tonelli Brown. Judy's a talented and versatile artist, who does beautiful watercolors including commissioned house (and people) portraits. Not only that she's a graphic designer. She's one of the many brave souls who's stuck their neck out to have a brick and mortar shop, so let's support her. You will love the beautiful beaded gift items she makes! Here is the web site:

http://www.tonellibrownart.com

Judy Tonelli-Brown
1062 Pleasant Street
Worcester, MA 01602
ph 508-304-1887
jutb@charter.net

No shows for me this year

Those of you who visit my web site will see that it's not a "commerce site." No buttons to click and buy things. That is because this year, I am focusing on wholesale. I've joined www.wholesalecrafts.com, and am getting my art (mainly my cards) into stores across the country.

I do have an Etsy site which is very small, and I am careful NOT to duplicate what I sell to my stores. What you see on Etsy is, for the time being, not available in stores, and vice versa. I don't want to compete with my retailers on the same items. In this economy, I want as many customers to buy my art through stores as possible, as it would be a terrible loss to Main Streets everywhere if the shops and galleries were to go away. So support your local store! And while you're there, why not ask them to visit WholesaleCrafts.com so they can start to carry my cards.

Etsy's a good spot for me to try out new products and see if people like them. If they become insanely popular, I will offer them wholesale.

So, for 2009, I don't plan on doing any retail art fairs. Maybe just one or two if the mood strikes me, because some shows are too fun to resist. But by & large, I will be focusing on wholesale this year. So if you have a local art shop that you absolutely LOVE and you think would do well with my cards, do let me know! I need eyes & ears all around the country on this one.

stART at the Station - Worcester, MA art fair

It's that time of year again! Time for the indoor, wintry version of stART on the Street known as stART at the Station (Worcester's Union Station, that is).

As they say on their web site:
A premiere holiday arts event with over 80 artists and crafters, food and more, just in time for all your holiday festivities! Hosted at historical Union Station, Worcester's renovated train station boasting soaring ceilings and marble floors. Click here for their site. Right now, as I write this, there is a minimum of information up about this show, but at some point they will put up artist "thumbnail images" and information about those of us taking part.
I will be there selling my paintings and cards. In fact, it's my last show (until further notice), because as I said in my previous post, I am now concentrating on wholesaling (and some consignment through several wonderful stores that currently carry my work). So if you like Jen Niles Art and you can get to Worcester on December 7th, I hope to see you there!

Heartfelt Designs by Trish - Paxton, MA

I wanted to let you know about my friend Trish and her business, Heartfelt Designs by Trish. She does great work, with lots of heart (no pun intended); her crafts really have a nice spirit to them. Click here for her web site.

In addition to all the great wool crafts on her web site, I have to put in a "plug" for her tiny wool animals. Trish hasn't photographed any of these yet (or should I say we've tried to photo them and our skills are somewhat lacking), but they are the cutest things! These tiny little fuzzy sheep, dogs, and more are tiny enough to fit in your hand and they're light as air, because they are made from something called "wool roving." Be sure to ask Trish about them. I know she takes custom orders...imagine giving someone a gift of a tiny wool version of their pet. To honor pets who have passed away, Trish can add little wings to the animal.

I've been away too long

It has happened again! Life has gotten in the way of blogging. So sorry for my prolonged absence. This is the time of year where buying local and handmade is the most important, so I really feel I've dropped the ball!

Some changes: I have had to pare down my Etsy site, which had gotten quite large, actually. That's because I joined www.WholesaleCrafts.com and I am focusing on selling to retailers now. That's not to say I don't sell to individual humans any more, but it just means I have less time to work on getting my work "out there". Wholesaling makes the most sense at this time of my life. And I've found out that retailers don't much care for competing with artists' Etsy sites for retail business! So I removed (from Etsy) all items that I'm selling wholesale through Wholesale Crafts.com.

Any people who would like to buy Jen Niles Art cards (individual or boxed), can do so by emailing me directly. Shopping this way is still easy, because once your order is totaled up, I can send you a PayPal invoice for the total....you can click and pay the total with credit card, even if you are not a PayPal member. Not bad!

Etsy shop

I now have an Etsy shop! Well actually I started it back in 2006 but closed it because I could not devote sufficient time to maintaining it. It's been reopened (this month) and so far it's looking good. My shop name, should you want to look it up at www.etsy.com is "jennilesart". Or you can click here for the link.

I also made my first Etsy purchase recently and it was very cool! The Etsy shop name is "lulaballou" and she makes the cutest little fabric handbags. Etsy also has a way you can shop locally because they can sort the offerings by location, which is a great way to buy handmade AND shop locally, at the same time.

Urban gardening & Youth employment program

I heard about this local program here in Worcester, Mass., and am mentioning it here because it sounds very worthwhile. I hope you will read on... (this is a condensed version of the writeup I received):

"Pernet Family Health Services is a neighborhood-based home health and
social service agency with a commitment to supporting families to be
physically, socially, psychologically, and spiritually whole. The
agency has been serving the Green Island region of Worcester, MA since
1968. This summer, Pernet received funding to create part-time
summer jobs for underprivileged youth. Pernet has decided to use its
youth employment program to fund the creation of a community garden
and install container flower beds throughout the area's small business
district.

Why Youth Gardening?

Pernet chose to create The Green Island Garden because...

1. The garden will bring healthy, affordable, organic food to the
people of Green Island, helping to eradicate food insecurity and
malnourishment.
2. Community gardens offer space for citizens to socialize and bond
with one another, fostering a stronger and healthier social fabric.
3. Community gardens localize the food industry, reducing both the
price of people's food and the city's carbon footprint created by
imported products.

The Youth Program

Pernet's youth employment program is one piece of a city-wide
initiative to give underprivileged youth access to part-time summer
jobs. Any youth (ages 14-21) that qualifies for free school lunch or,
for those youth not in school, meets other income-based requirements,
is eligible for the program. Various organizations throughout the city
have been given the responsibility of placing youth into employment
situations.

Pernet seeks to involve the Green Island neighborhood in this project
as much as possible. We will be selling low-cost shares in the
community garden to its neighbors, guaranteeing them a portion of the
harvest throughout the summer. We will also be sponsoring community
events. The first such event will be on Saturday, June 21st from
8am-3pm, during which time we will be raising the garden beds while
enjoying live music from Melo-Deego and free food from local
restaurants."

I've edited the writeup because the information provided to me was quite lengthy. But it sounds terrific and that is why I wanted to put in a good word here. For More Information, call Lizzy Fox at (508) 755-1228 or email her at lfox@pernetfamilyhealth.org