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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Back Road BearsHey everybody.... your friendly artist bear promoter here wondering how it's going with your efforts to build and promote awareness of artist bears and our fabulous work to the general and unsuspecting public!?!?! 
I'll admit that because of my work with making the bunny for the movie "The Last Mimzy" it's been fairly easy for me (though still requires time and effort). I've been written up in local newspapers and magazines.. in every article I'm sure to keep the focus on my artist bears... not just Mimzy. I've done a TV interview that aired last week and generated a lot of interest, phone calls and hits to my website by folks who didn't know artist bears existed but many were bear collectors. And I'm putting on a Teddy Bear Show this weekend in an area that has never had a teddy bear show before. I've been advertising the show to death and all the recent publicity I've gotten has given me plenty of opportunity to talk up the show too. I'll admit this is all local (with in the state of NH) campainging I've done but with the internet I'm sure I've generated some new collectors who will be surfing the internet for new bears to add to their collection.
I believe I'd set a challenge deadline of June or July but really there is no deadline... this should be an ongoing effort to bring new folks to our furry world. It's in the best interest of every artist out there to do a little bit of promoting outside the teddy bear industry, bring new collectors in, keep sales of our work going strong. Many collectors have already moved on to other things, current collectors will eventually move on too... if we don't spread the word and keep bringing new collectors in then what?
Any success stories out there you'd like to share? Any great ideas you plan to try?
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy BearsThis weekend I'm the guest speaker for a Mother Daughter Banquet at a local church. The theme of the banquet is Teddy Bear's Picnic. I will have a table displaying my bears and materials and such, and I have created a PowerPoint slide show entitled "The Art of the Teddy Bear" to use as well. The PowerPoint presentation is an assignment for my "Computers in Education" class so I will be presenting it to my college classmates as well.
I'm so excited! When I tell my husband I'm nervous he says, "No, you're not! You LOVE to talk about bears!"
So true! (I am a little nervous though...)
I also took one bear (Honeypaws) to show some of my new friends in my drawing class. Of course I think there are always some artists who cannot see the Teddy Bear as "true art", many were impressed with the artistry in the bear.
Flying Fur StudiosWell, besides promoting a show that I'm doing I'm also waiting for an article to come out about me, my bears and the Bear show in a popular magazine.
it's not tonnes, but it's something.
Glad you're still keeping us on our toes Daph!
Back Road BearsActual, Heather, Ellen B. is keeping me on MY toes!!! She'd emailed me about things that she is up to to help promote artist bears and that made me realize I haven't posted about it lately. I've been too busy promoting artist bears to my little corner of the world I guess!
:crackup:
Tami - I'd love to see your Power Point presentation some time!!! I'm sure you'll do a great job at the picinic and with class!
Well, I haven't done anything major, but I did leave bear magazines at the dentist and doctor's office. While I was in the waiting area 3 people flipped through the magazine. On a return, visit 2 weeks later, a little girl was making her mom go through the magazine over and over- she loved seeing the bears pics- too cute. I am also donating a bear for an auction at my daughter's school fair in June, and have been asked to do a write-up to go with it explaining my business.
That's about it from me., other than submitting pics to magazines. I'm still trying to get up the nerve to approach the local newspaper. :redface:
Back Road BearsEllen, SOMEONE needs to keep me on my toes! And I'm glad to be surrounded by people who do just that!! :hug:
q.D.paToOtieSI donate new books to the library on bear making. I started the cybercubscafe.com as a way to raise awareness and help new artists. Mmm. That's all I can think of right now!
Posts: 280We've decided to offer free admission to our Albuquerque Bear Show for all members of Teddy Talk. I'm extending the free admission to non-member friends of Teddy Talkers as well, but do want to encourage everyone to join Teddy Talk. I've extended this same invitation to members on the Edinburgh site, and a couple of the Yahoo bear groups I'm on.
Hopefully, we can bring a new awareness of bears to people who have never been to a show before. I'd like for everyone to bring a friend and show them how much fun the bear world is!
We've also contacted several sewing shops and emphasized that sewing doesn't just mean clothing - there is so much more that can be made with fabrics (mohair). Hopefully, this will result in the sewing shops offering bear classes, and sparking new interests in bears and their own business at the same time.
Luann
I'm glad you issued the challenge, Daphne, aka movie star!
I have a store now and a lot of people have come in that didn't know about artist bears before they came in. They left knowing. I also maintain I Love Teddies and have been for years. And it's free for artists to have stuff on it. I'm working on trying to do other stuff.
Back Road BearsHere's an idea I don't think I've discussed, at least not in depth.
TRUNK SHOWS!
The idea behind a trunk show is that, in this case, a bear artist would go to a shop with a "trunk" full of bears to display, sell and sign. It would be a one day event with set hours, advertised by the store and the artist in effort to get as many to attend as possible. This is a great event to have at a fabric shop, quilt shop, collectibles shop, doll store, etc. It's a way to introduce folks with similar interests to the world of artist bears. The artist doing the trunk show could also do demonstrations on various parts of the bear making process throughout the day. Perhaps have a few pieces reserved just to sell at this show and let your collectors know. It's like a one person show, it should be relaxed and fun and an opportunity to promote and sell your bears.
The pros of doing a trunk show:
You can contact the shops you are willing to travel to to set up a show, essentially chosing your own venue.
There are no other artists there... the spotlight is on you
You can introduce your work and artist bears to new people.
You can educate them on the creation process.
You can have your bears there to sell.
If you teach workshops you can gain new students.
If you have a bear show coming up that you are participating in you can bring postcards for it and promote it.
I'm doing my first one as a bear artist on June 2 at a quilt shop. I'll let you know how it goes! I've done others when I worked for an educational toy rep but showing and selling my own creations will be a little different. I'm really excited about it!
My recent efforts to build awareness.... with Dad's help every nurse on the Vascular Surgery floor at Massachusetts General Hospital now knows about them and I even got an order! Leave it to my Dad to brag about his daughter even when he's undergoing very serious surgery! 
You all have some great ideas and I hope you realize that even reaching out to ONE new person can make a difference! On behalf of all bear artists...... THANK YOU and keep up the great work!
