On a personal note it was Teesha who really gave me my start in this biz…hounding me…and hounding me…and, yes hounding me…until I agreed to teach for her. When I finally said "yes", it forever changed the trajectory of my life. Thanks for that. I am sad to see ArtFest go but as Joseph Campbell said: Follow your Bliss.
I just wanted to let Teesha and Tracy know that I and many many others truly appreciate all that you have done. Happy New Adventures!
cheers
M
Here is the note Teesha sent out yesterday:
Those of you who have known me for most of my art life, have seen a progression from my first little rubber stamp company called Ornamentum (which I sold less than a year later even though it had grown 500%), then onto organizing the MARS Guild (mail artists & rubber stampers) to plan a convention in seattle, then starting Zettiology and getting involved all over the country teaching art and selling our designs. Soon after, we held our first art retreat for 50 people at Dumas Bay, a life changing event for me. We rented an art studio in Snoqualmie and continued to do our weekend art retreats while doing rubber stamp shows, planning my first of 2 Artfests in Bellevue and starting a new magazine called "The Studio". This then all led to starting a new type of retreat that focused more on workshops and less on the vendor show. It was also called Artfest and was held at Fort Worden State Park in the year 2000. In the past 12 years, I finished out 21 issues of The Studio Zine, 4 issues of The Studio Reloaded, 4 Issues of PLAY and then 12 issues of Art & Life. This finally gave way to doing more events which included PLAY-the retreat, ArtFiberfest and Journalfest. All the while I was following my gut...even when it was taking me into scary territory. But each thing was a step higher, a part of my evolution, and an ever increasing way of helping more people in their creative journeys. In that vein of following my intuition wherever it takes me, I was surprised when I sat down to fill out my 2013 Fort Worden reservation that something didn't feel right. Up to that point, I really had never given it any thought, but suddenly I was thinking along a different path. Trust me when I say that I had many many sleepless nights over this dilemma/decision but in the end, my gut was saying that I needed to be ready for the next big thing I was going to do without any future commitments in 2013. So I have made the decision to make Artfest 2012 the last big event for awhile. I am feeling an overwhelming "knowing" that this is the right decision...I just wish I knew what the next BIG thing was as it would make this decision easier to swallow for my friends and family. I still feel a strong need to continue renting our Artfest Annex in Seattle and inviting teachers to come do weekend retreats. I am also feeling like I need to step up my own teaching schedule. I feel open and inclined to plan some smaller art events down the road at new venues. But there is something on the horizon that I think will reveal itself to me as soon as Artfest 2012 has come and gone. So before the rumor mill gets going, I wanted you all to know where I am coming from with my decision, what the REAL skinny is and also to thank you all for your part in my crazy and amazing art journey I'm still on. So, to clarify. At this date, we have canceled plans for Journalfest 2012. "PLAY-the retreat" is still on for jan. 2012 (5 spots left) and Artfest 2012 (about 100 spots left) will be the biggest send-off party....ever! Stay tuned as the mystery reveals itself. ;)
