NY Now

NY Now (formerly the Gift Show) opens today/tomorrow at the Javits Center in NYC. Once a regular participant, I took a break from this mammoth (and exhausting) trade fair in the hope that my stellar work would carry the day. Well, I have been lucky, but business demands one remain in the game. Thank God for Janet McKean. Janet and I worked together back in the day through the gift show and she has been instrumental in getting my work into the window on Madison Avenue at the Whitney Store Next Door, on Broadway when the Guggenheim Museum had its store there and loads of other cool shops nationwide. She has also been instrumental in getting me tons of press including a clip in the New York Times, the cover of What's Hot in Elle Decor and the "O List" to name a few.
I have no doubt we will again win the hearts and minds of our new and old friends and buyers with our thoughtful and steady vision. Do come and check us out! Booth #7654 

Optimism

New cat and mouse images on small oval dishes

Thinking positively often gets a bad rap. A method for keeping the mind above the fray, positive thinking and doing according to a belief in a positive outcome can help establish a routine of thought that in the long run will do more to advance the human condition than its opposite. When I am focused on what is wrong in the world or in my life, looking at how things haven’t gone exactly the way I had hoped or dreamed, I am doing myself a profound disservice. For every critical voice in my head, seeing what isn’t there, I am missing what is there. If instead of the critique, I enlist gratitude, my head is suddenly taking a backseat to that which has more power anyway – my heart. Love is the antidote to the ails of the world, even if the world that I implore is my little corner of the world. My backyard.

James, Sage and Carrie wrapping dishes to ship

In my backyard, the studio is preparing for the New York Gift Show, now known as New York Now, as we wrap the fruits of our labors from these past few weeks. Deeply imbedded in the new work are images of animals and words of inspiration that remind me, for one, of my commitment to keeping my head up, or at least when I look up from my work, I am reminded to chose to see the beautiful clouds in the sky, a bird in flight or hear wind rustling in the trees. I am grateful.