Handmade Tile Association May 2011 Newsletter

Handmade Tile Association Newsletter

May
2011

12th Year

Greetings!

The next meeting on May 2^nd is a important one and I have some info to relay to everyone.

Woodland Stoves is making Pizza at the meeting don't miss out

First I made a mistake in the last newsletter on the day of the meeting at Woodland Stoves it is still on May 2nd (and that is a Monday) at 6 pm not a Tuesday as it said in the last newsletter.

Second we have a very special guest Mpls.St.Paul Magazine senior editor Melinda Nelson. Mpls.St.Paul Magazine is one of three sponsors of the Minnesota Tile Festival. Melinda is interested in meeting us and finding out more about the artists of the HTA. Trebuchet Marketing who set up the opportunity has devised a concept that we have a "Thank You Sample Bag" to give to Melinda to highlight all of the great work the HTA members create. We will be asking interested member artists to submit one tile no bigger than 6" x 6" with a business card taped to the back of your tile. You can also submit a brochure or postcard. Many of the members have already submitted literature for the NKBA event in March so we can also pull from that stock if you wish. You can bring your tile to the event or bring it to Clay Squared to Infinity anytime before May 2^nd and we will bring it to the meeting.

Third we want members to attend!!!! If there is a meeting that you should be at this is the one. We will get a great tour of the Woodland Stoves showroom. Peter from Woodland Stoves wants to talk to the HTA artists to see how he can collaborate with all of us to offer your services and products. We also want to make a great impression on Melinda and her staff on how we are excited and engaged with our sponsor. Woodland Stoves is going to fire up its pizza oven and make some awesome wood fired pizzas for us. This will not be pot luck so you do not need to bring any food. We ask those in attendance to please dress professionally. We need you to RSVP so we know how much food we need to have.

This being the last scheduled meeting before the MN Tile Festival this is our chance to brain storm as a group. Lots of great ideas came from the last meeting and we want members' input on the main marketing thrust. Please RSVP so we know how much food to have.

In This Issue

Early registration saves money at Minnesota Tile Festival.

Congratulations HTA Grant Winner

Art A Whirl

Join us on Facebook

Welcome New and Renewing Membership

May Jobs

Featured Article

Spotlight on Artist Schedule

Deadline April 30th for Minnesota Tile Festival registration

Tile Festival postcards now are available

The HTA want you to be RICH and get EXPOSURE! The MN Tile Festival deadline for early registration is May 1st. You can save over $25 per booth space by registering early. Members save more.

If you know you are going to do the show but have a cash crunch tell the HTA and we will RSVP you at the discounted rate! Then we can plan for how many vendors we are going to have.

Click here to purchase your space on line.

Click here to download a printable application.

The Pitch
Most trade shows and arts festivals cost $300 to $2500 and have hundreds of booths and a few thousand attendants. We have space for 60 vendors and 3000 - 6000 guaranteed visitors. MN Tile Festival booths are only $185 for a two day show. That is a DEAL for the exposure you get! If you make tiles, mosaics, design with tile, set tile, sell tile tools or have any tile service or product that people should you should have a booth at this show. Sign up today!

Artist and trade registered for the show
Kuilema Pottery, inc
Duluth Pottery
Christine Nelson Design
Stephanie Kaczrowski
Mad Zebra Tile
Clay Squared to Infinity
Pearson Artworks
Stone Hollow Tile
SoMi Tileworks
Mercury Mosaics
Margy Jean Balwierz
Linda Taylor
Lea Way Designs
Hohn and Hohn Tile Setting

Brainstorming on Tile Festival

Midtown Global Market

At our meeting we had a fun and over the top brainstorming session. The goal was to throw out any idea that people could think of that might lead to a great PR concept. Here are some of the ideas from the meeting.

Mosaic a car, Fashion show, mosaic a bike , stripping (Yes it was Christine Neslon idea) tile on bathing suits, mosaic manikins, heart of the beast puppets, large-big-outrageous, Tall hats, give free, foot steps o the ground, tile play house, round the world, flags.

At a committee meeting We worked on a concept of the Friends and Family night with a special coupon concept for Friday night and one for Saturday. The Friday night one we want to ask the vendor to offer special discounts for Friends and Family.

On Saturday we are also thinking of a flyer concept to help foster the idea of spending more money than buying one tile. The idea is to ask vendors to offer 10% off any sale over $100.

Attendance at the meeting:

Host: Lori Green of Mosaic on a Stick

Leann Johnson, Rebecca Ryman, Stephanie Kaczrowski, Jan Hohn, Lisa Trnka, Christine Nelson, Nancy and Sheryl Froseth, Alex and Phenolope Chin, Kathy Grubbs, Josh Blanc.

Art A Whirl Set up

Mercedes Austin and Sheryl VanderPol have been busy meeting and communicating with the 12 artists who will be putting together an HTA display at Art A Whirl. This event will be the biggest showing of HTA member outside of the MN Tile Festival. There are five other artists that have their permanent studios in the NE Minneapolis Arts District showing 17 tile artists in four major buildings during AAW. With 20,000 visitors attending they will see tile at every turn.

Mercedes will be at the next meeting to discuss time slots, display materials needed and overall goals of the event. AAW catalogs will be available for pick up at the meeting.

Artist Participating in AAW

Mad Zebras
Lea Way Designs
Stone Hollow Tile
Emily Dyer Ceramics
Miriam Shuros Ceramics
North Prairie Tileworks
Tierney's Tile
Somi Tileworks
Clay Squared
Untapped Resource
Mercury Mosaics
Deb L'Air Ceramics
Hjelle Studio
Sheryl Tuorila

Potek Glass

InPlain Sight

Emily Dyer

Join us on Facebook

The Handmade Tile Association is doing regular updates and we invite our members to post new projects and artwork they have completed. We also invite you to "like" the page as well so you can follow the group and keep up with updates between newsletters.

To join the Handmade Tile Association fan page click this icon

Handmade Tile Association Meeting

May 2nd
When - Tuesday 6:00
Where - Woodland Stoves
2901 East Franklin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55406-1128
(612) 338-6606

Tour of Woodland Stoves and wood fired pizza
Meet Melinda Nelson of Mpls/St.Paul Magazine
Art A Whirl final info

Tile Festival brainstorm and update

mosaic of the americas Ben Smith the owner of Glaciers Café at Lake and Minnehaha. This casual café is housed in the Resource Center of the Americas also called the Mosaic Building because the South facing exterior wall is a tile mosaic. He is planning an exterior fireplace and we were discussing facings and we thought of tile to complement the building. It occurs to me this might be a good venue for a member or vendors to display their tile on a working fireplace in a public space.

This is our last meeting before the summer. Don't miss out on great tile conversation, get to meet other tile artists

We are looking for venues to have meetings in 2012. If you would like to host a meeting please contact the HTA to set one up. info@handmadetileassociation.org

If you are not in the Minnesota region consider creating a meeting of tile and mosaic artists in your area. The HTA can promote your meeting through this newsletter and on the website, Facebook, and Linked in. It is a great way to learn and promote tile ideas.

Sincerely,

Josh Blanc
Handmade Tile Association.LLC

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