{"id":7590,"date":"2014-01-03T17:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T22:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/?p=7590"},"modified":"2014-01-03T17:00:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T22:00:38","slug":"my-top-10-2013-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/archives\/2014\/01\/my-top-10-2013-review\/","title":{"rendered":"My top 10 2013 review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>the above photo has nothing to do with this post or the weather today. I just thought it was pretty :)<\/em><\/p>\n

I know, I know, time to move on! But stay with me, I need to do these reviews to think about where I want to go this new year. I’m just a little bit late.<\/p>\n

2013 has been pretty awesome over here in my public art life. There have been a few blips (some kind of major) in the private life, but in general it has been a surprisingly good year. Here are my top 10 of 2013!<\/p>\n

#1 is Teaching<\/strong>. I decided that 2013 was going to be the year I pushed myself out of the house and did more teaching. I threw myself into the fire at Gather Here<\/a> where I was the January artist-in-residence<\/a>. I taught<\/a> 4 classes on 6 consecutive days. By the end of that week I felt like I’d run a marathon, exhausted but so proud of myself. I taught there again in April<\/a>, then in San Francisco<\/a>, at ArtRetreat<\/a> in New Hampshire, and twice at the New England Quilt Museum<\/a>. So far this year I am scheduled to teach the Tiny Worlds <\/a>at Gather Here next weekend, The Makerie\/Sweet Paul Retreat<\/a> in March, and ArtRetreat<\/a> in August again. I’m so excited!<\/p>\n

#2 is Dolls<\/strong>. Wow- 144 dolls<\/a>– The most ever! And my new line<\/a> of friends at Land Of Nod<\/a>. Yes, those are my cover dogs<\/a>!<\/p>\n

#3 is all the Selling. <\/strong> I did 3 in-person Markets in 2013- Renegade San Francisco<\/a>, Renegade Chicago<\/a>, and Crafty Bastards Washington, DC<\/a>. My online sales are mostly through Etsy<\/a> but this year I did a flash sale<\/a> on One Kings Lane. Amazing- sold out in under 2 hours!<\/p>\n

#4 is direct sales<\/strong>. Because I sell directly to customers, I get a lot of wonderful emails with stories and compliments. Among the best of this year- A tattooed man is hanging in the office of someone who works at the fabric manufacturer of the toile, a tiny world was part of a marriage proposal, one of the man dolls accompanied someone to their chemo treatments. I get to know that I am a special part of a lot of peoples’ gift-giving- even when they are buying that gift for themselves! Makes me happy.<\/p>\n

#5 is Instagram<\/strong>. I love it. It has made me much more active about posting process photos and also posting on Facebook. Follow me if you want- I’m mimikirchner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#6 is Patterns<\/strong>. I only got one new one<\/a> out this year (hey- I got kinda busy!) but they continue to sell and give me a passive income which help me do this crazy doll thing that I love.<\/p>\n

#7 is the Eyes of the Internet<\/strong>. I’m referring to this<\/a>. The bad, sad, angry-making, frustrating thing. I strongly believe that by putting my work out for the world to see, I am safer than if I kept it under wraps and private. I will always hear from you all if someone is copying my artwork. I am so grateful. And sometimes the bad times can have a happy ending.<\/a><\/p>\n

#8 is Putting Myself Out There<\/strong>. I was in Sweet Paul Magazine<\/a> (here)<\/a>, Make Art That Sells<\/a>, and Crescendoh.com where I wrote an essay for the Art Saves<\/a> column. I had 2 pieces in a show of tattoo art in France. I also joined the fun<\/a> with my friend Liz <\/a>and was interviewed<\/a> on her show, Makers in Business.<\/p>\n

#9 is Doing the Hard Things<\/strong>. I leaped right out of my comfort zone and said yes to doing the Holiday window<\/a> at Gather Here<\/a> (still there if you are local to Cambridge, MA). I made 15 Tiny Worlds for it including some that pushed the boundaries of anything I’ve tried before. I took a weekend intensive class in Illustrator. Hopefully something sunk in and it will show up in a pattern or 2 this year. I said yes to some things this year and no to other things. Both\/either can be scary.<\/p>\n

#10 is Friends<\/strong>. That is you, all my blog readers. And my Crafty Biz meet-up buds who I see (at least) once a month and we talk about all the biz stuff. And Lilla<\/a>, my so generous, meet for coffee and talk about the important design stuff, friend. And all the people I’ve “known” online and met in person this year- Betz<\/a>, Mati<\/a>, Lisa<\/a>. The those that I’ve known online and in-real-life and got to see again this year- Susan<\/a>, Sonya<\/a>. And the friends on Twitter<\/a>, Facebook and Instagram.<\/p>\n

Yes, a very good year. I stretched myself in good directions and feel stronger for it. Bring on 2014- I am ready!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

the above photo has nothing to do with this post or the weather today. I just thought it was pretty :) I know, I know, time to move on! But stay with me, I need to do these reviews to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7590"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7594,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7590\/revisions\/7594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mimikirchner.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}