Saturday, May 1, 2010

Major Announcement



Hi everyone,

So the big announcement here is that I will no longer be offering custom silhouettes via my website, etsy, and any other venue. I will be finishing all requests received recently, and will be making arrangements with several clients with whom I have long-term multi-piece orders and projects.

As this business has grown, and grown in ways that has surprised no one more than myself, I have had opportunities to show my non-custom work at galleries and museums across the country. The 2010 list includes Terminal 22, High Wire Arts, and future shows at ACQUIRE Boutique, Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and The Wilson Gallery so far.

The custom silhouettes have become incredibly popular, and the attention given to my work from sites and folk from around the world has been amazing. Unfortunately, the popularity of these has resulted in absolutely no time to create any new non-custom art. I would love to continue to push myself and the envelope further exploring new ideas for this ever more popular medium, and to cut some of the exciting design ideas I’ve had floating around in my head.

I have removed all custom listings from my etsy store, and will create new listings for those current customers who have put in requests for designs.

With this increase in “free time” I will be unveiling a new and exciting body of work, and I expect my etsy shop to grow dramatically in the coming weeks. This is by no means an end, but a beginning. Most importantly, I am excited about my art in a way that I have not felt for months, and I hope this shows in my new work. Some of these new pieces as well as many others already in my shop will be around the price of my custom silhouettes ($55), and I encourage anyone interested in paper anniversary gifts to consider my entire body of work, every single piece of which is made of paper.

Again, I am truly excited to make this announcement. I hope these new pieces will help bring both my artwork and my art career to places I believe I’m ready to go.

Thank you all for your understanding and support, and for everyone who has purchased a custom silhouette from me, I cannot express the gratitude I have for your interest and support, and I hope you continue to follow my journey, experiments, adventure-- whatever you want to call it. Regardless it will be awesome!

~Joe Bagley (Joe)


8 comments:

DreaBunny said...

I'm so glad for your new opportunity and wish you much luck! I'm glad I got to give a custom papercut of yours last year! It is a fantastic masterpiece and you're a wonderful artist! Can't wait to see what you come up with... =)

Anonymous said...

Having purchased original pieces from you, I am wishing you all the success that you deserve for this impressive mix of crafstmanship and artistry.

Greetings from Germany,
Marc

Anonymous said...

This IS totally awesome news - congratulations!!

Sarah Holbrook said...

Congratulations Joe! This is exciting news. I can't wait to see the direction your work takes :).

Stephanie said...

I am so sad that you are not doing customs, as I have a couple pictures that I have wanted done. How exciting for you though to grow and expand your work. You are amazing at what you do! Truly, one of a kind!

Emily Elizabeth Stevenson said...

Though I fully support your decision to cease custom work, I do have a suggestion as to how you can have your cake and eat it too.

If demand is so high that you cannot keep up, instead of eliminating the product raise your prices. As in, try doubling it. That way you will not looose customers who are drawn to the idea of custom silhouettes; they will still stumble upon you and your work. But there will not be as many buyers and hence you will have more time while keeping the revenue flowing.

Or maybe instead of merely doubling it, calculate what cost would make doing a custom silhouette worth it for you. Right now, if someone offered you $55 for a custom papercutting, it would not be worth it to you. But what if they offered $110? $250? $550? I'm sure that at some point it would still be worth it to you.

At least keep it as an option. That's what I would suggest.

Artsnark said...

congrats on your successes, Joe. Glad to hear your business is doing so well

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