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Handmade Tile Association Newsletter

September
2008

Greetings!

This issue will focus on the Minnesota Tile Festival and give information on the 2009 directory.
The tile festival is our biggest event of the year to promote handmade tile and mosaics. We hope you are planning on attending and bring your friends and family to the most surprising arts festival in the country!

tile festival image

Saturday September, 20th 2008
10 am to 5 pm
$5 Gate (HTA and ASID members are free)
The American Swedish Institute
2600 Park Ave South, Minneapolis, MN 55407
www.handmadetileassociation.org

In This Issue
The Goal 1000 Plus!
What PR has been done!
Twin Cities Tile Tours
2009 Directory advertising
Next Meeting October 14th
Our Artists for the 2008 Tile Festival
Speaker of the Day
Commemorative Tile
Coupons
Featured Article
Featured Article
The Goal 1000 Plus!
Our goal is to get to over 1000 people in attendance. line of people at tile festival
We need your help! By sending out e -  mails to your friends with the information about the who, what, why, where, and when of the MN Tile Festival.   Tell people about the event on your favorite internet social networks, pick up postcards and posters and distribute them to your favorite hang outs and places people might pick them up. Suggestions: your local Coop, doctor's offices, coffee shops, where you work, and even an airport. If you need postcards and can't stop in at the HTA office please call or email and we will send you out as many as you would like.  You can stop in and pick them up.
If you have a website please consider listing the event.  You can copy and paste the tile festival image from this e mail or click this link


What PR has been done!

We are down to the final minutes to prepare for the 7th Annual MN Tile Festival.  Artists have been sent out set up packets.  All the press has been notified around the county since January. We have seen listings in American Bungalow Magazine, Twin City Bungalow Club, and Arts and Crafts Homes.  We have posted listings on the social network YELP.com.  2500 post cards will be mailed on September 11th, and e mail reminders will be sent out at least two times in September. 
The HTA has purchased a print ad in Arts and Crafts Homes.  We have purchased 19 radio ads on WCCO 830 and 30 ads on their website.  The tile festival has a month long streaming ad on Minnesota Public Radio MP3 downloads.  MPR has told us we should expect 140,000 downloads in the month long period running a 12 second ad while people wait to listen to their favorite show online.  We have coupon ads in the Blue Sky Guide buy one get one free admission.  The American Swedish Institute is running 20 to 30 ads on MPR Station 99.5 classic station the week before the festival.  The American Swedish Institute is also, for the first time, not charging their members to attend the festival! 

asi

September 20th
American Swedish Institute
2600 Park Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Directions to the Minnesota Tile Festival


Click here for Hotel Options


Register for Twin Cities Tile Tour at the MN Tile Festival

Norma Hanlon and Kirsten Walstead of SoMi Tileworks have put together a tour of historic and contemporary tile and mosaic installation sites throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.  Norma will be at the Handmade Tile Association table for people to register for the festival.

The tour will feature visits to Lakewood Cemetery Chapel which has a magnificent interior of Italian glass mosaic installed in 1910, the American Swedish Institute with its historic Swedish tile stoves, the College of St. Catherine Chapel which features amazing arts and crafts style tiles made by Ernest Batchelder and various other tile and mosaic installation sites. This tour will be a benefit to help create a scholarship fund to aid new and emerging tile and mosaic artists become an active part of  the Handmade Tile Association.


lakewoodTwin Cities Tile Tour
Saturday October 25, 2008  
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

As part of the tour participants will go to the SoMi Tileworks Studio for a hands-on tile making experience.  You will learn about the studio's tile production methods and have the opportunity to make a bas-relief tile of your very own.  The tiles will be fired and glazed and mailed to you approximately two weeks following the tour day. 
 
A box-lunch will be furnished for each participant.  The cost of the Tile Tour will be $135.  HTA members receive 10% off.  To register, please call Norma Hanlon, SoMi Tileworks at 612-824-3325.  You may also register by email at [email protected].  Payment can be made by check or credit card.  Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover cards can be accepted.  Invite your friends and spread the word this is a great educational program that will help create new tile aficionados. 


2009 Directory Ad Rates and Deadlines

The Handmade Tile Association is making changes to its advertising system in the 2009 directory.  These changes will financially help those who contribute to the Handmade Tile Association.  With so many of our artists not living close by it has been hard for them to volunteer for the organization. This year we have created a new program where members can contribute to the development of the organization and save money too!  

Here is how we did it in the past
All artist advertisers got an at cost 1/2 page ad and a web link on the HTA website.  Now we are still going to give every artist an at cost 1/2 page print ad and a way to earn a free year of advertising on the website by writing articles about the world of tile in all of its glory.  If you do not write an article or volunteer five hours a year we will charge $180 for the web link.  

The Goal
The Handmade Tile Association is dedicated to nurturing tile in all its facets and experiences. We have created a new link on our website called "LEARN" where we will archive our articles written for the program. When people are surfing the Handmade Tile Association website they can read a comprehensive grouping of articles on handmade tile, mosaics, how to guides, historical tile information, marketing concepts, and many other ideas to review and study, from people just like you. We currently have many on the site from previous years.  We want you to consider writing about your skills or observations. For each article you write we will give you a free year on www.handmadetileassociation.org website. This is a $180 value.

The at cost price
Since you have supported the HTA in 2008 either as an advertiser, or as a member, we have kept the pricing scale the same as last year.  Pay only the at cost price for all the services you receive. This price can be kept from year to year if you participate in our new program.  This year it is $180 plus your $35 business membership  If you are a $50 super member you will receive a 15% discount.

Article specs 300 to 800 words
Articles written for the website have no word limit but are encouraged to be under 800 words. Images are highly recommended. If an article is under 300 words it will be consider for the annual print directory as well as for the website. If selected you will receive and extra $100 credit or cash for the selection.  Submit by October 15th annually.
All articles selected on the website will receive a free year link on our website in two places. One by your article as the author. Second as a link where you would like to advertise on the website ie: if you are an artist you can get in the artist section. A tile setter would get a link under the resource and so forth.

Next year
We will be going to a combined service price of $300 for both a print ad and web link.  Each advertiser will have the option of an Ala Carte advertising of $180 for a print ad only and $180 for a web link only.  Save $60 by doing the combined service.  Of course if you write the article you will get a $180 credit.

Ads must be in by October 15th.

 
 
Next Meeting October 14th
Next meeting will be at Clay Squared to Infinity.
34 13th Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413
612-781-6409
www.claysquared.com for directions

When - October 14th
Time - 6 pm to 8 pm
Pot Luck

Agenda
OSHA standards - review of how to get your studio up to par
Review of MN Tile Festival
Second to last day to submit for the 2009 Directory.
Review survey
Talk about HTA's 10th annual show
Other
We are looking for venues to have meetings for 2008.  If you would like to host a meeting please contact the HTA to set one up.  [email protected]
 
Sincerely,
 

Josh Blanc
Handmade Tile Association.LLC
Quick Links
Our Artists for the 2008 Tile Festival

Outside Booths
Tierneys Tile
Swan Tile, Inc
Felice Amato
Duluth Pottery
Stone Hollow Pottery
All Home Tileworks
Clay Squared
Cabin Fever Pottery
Mercury Mosaics
Illuminating Designs

Inside Booths
Margy Jean Balwierz
Stephanie Kaczrowski
SoMi Tileworks
Lea-Way Designs
Martye Allen
Ione M Roland
Joan Molloy Slack
Miriam Shuros
David Aichinger
B.A. Schmidt Arts
Bon Ton Designs
North Prairie Tile Inc
Christine Nelson Design
Minnesota Mosaic Guild
Laura McCaul
Sharra Frank


Speaker of the Day

 karen hovde Karen Hovde of Interior Vision out of Seattle Washington will lecture on "The Importance of Tile in the Craftsman Home" 

Interior Vision in the Craftsman Style is a historic interior design service. She has over a two decades of experience in Arts & Crafts interior design.

She is making this trip special just for the Tile Festival make sure to invite your bungalow loving friends and thank her for her contribution to our event.

Commemorative Tile
commemorative tile
Nancy Froseth has made a stunning commemorative tile that is getting rave reviews.  Only  50 are ever made. Many have been pre-sold and we are hoping to break all our records of sales this year. 
Reserve yours today and we will have one with your name on it ready to pick up at the MN Tile Festival.  Can't attend but you want one?  Contact the HTA office and order one. 612-781-6409
or email

commemorative tile link
Coupons
dollor off coupon
Bring a friend or three.  There are dollar off coupons on the website. 
All HTA and American Swedish Institute members get in free!

We will have a list at the door of our current membership.  It is going to be a great event and we look forward to seeing everyone and enjoying a Swedish Meatball and great Tile!

 
ASI logo
 

Visit Our Sponsor
Join Our Mailing List!
Edina Art Center

The Edina Art Center will be demo a tile how to make a tile mold.  Brad Benn will have molds in all the stages and have wet clay for people to make a tile from a mold.


 
Mosaic Demos
mosaic on a stick
Mosaic on a Stick will be demo mosaics and have interactive mosaic projects for all ages. 
 
Northern Clay Center
lucy making tiles
The Northern Clay Center will be conduct ing a hands-on tile making
project from 10 am - 1 pm.