Vintage Postcard Kiosks: Now available for placement in retail establishments
Attn: Retail Small Business Owner / Manager:At first glance it might seem a bit nostalgic to find a postcard rack in a store or cafe, in an age where now even email seems hopelessly verbose and slow. But postcards have kept their charm even as other communication technologies have gone though dozens of generations of development and refinement. There's the heavy stock; the image - surprising, maybe, or a photograph better than you could've taken, even if you had a helicopter, as well. There's the intention of writing furthered by the purchase, or maybe, after use, a message from the past, along with indicia, clues like stamp and postmark, addresses, and even minutae like publishers' name and often a code, identifying the card. Examining a postcard from the past is like getting a little glimpse of how life was lived in different times, even down to the styles of clothing or transportation.
But there's also a small pleasure in having cards that depict the contemporary landscape (literally), or current bands, humor, fashion and art. It's been 100 years since the Golden Age of Postcards, but a postcard received in the mail still creates more interest than yet another email or facebook posting. Ironically, while it is considered to be "ephemera", it is more long-lasting in some ways than many online postings, subject as they are to hosting arrangements and lapses in domain names. And, of course, postcards are very easily collectible in that they require no special storage (a shoe box works great), and a collection of hundreds could be comparable in size and volume to a book.
So, yes, it might seem a bit nostalgic having a rack of postcards to choose from, but what's wrong with a little nostalgia? Especially how we do it at Portland Arts and Crafts.
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At Portland Arts and Crafts and at Instant-Postcard-Collection.com, we've proven it works. At the Friends of the Library pop-up store in NW Portland, we started off selling hundreds of postcards the first month, and sales volume increased every month following, until the store was closed to allow the landlord to renovate the space. Another kiosk, at the Dollar Scholar sells hundreds of our postcards every month.
A spinning rack, or kiosk, can fit in as few as 3 square feet, but can bring in hundreds in sales. One of the reasons for our kiosk's success has been variety. Each rack holds 3-6,000 *different* cards. Most racks you find around town (if you can even find them) have a dozen slots, and each slot is filled with more copies of the same card, the same tourist card in every rack in every store. Our racks are different. We specialize in out of print, vintage and antique, ready-to-use postcards. Most of our postcard racks have 30-70 different slots, and nearly every card in every slot is different, giving a great variety to choose from. Another reason for our success is "categorization". Each slot is filled with cards in a different "category" (Portland, Hot Air Balloons, Cats, Whales, Sunsets and Sailing Ships, Statue of Liberty, Pumpkins, Ireland, Michigan, etc.).
We keep the kiosk lively, by adding new cards as needed, and adding in new categories: postcards of dancers of different ethnic traditions, Disney, artists whose names with the letter "R", Columbia River Gorge, Paris, etc.). We make it simple. Sorted into categories or locations. One price. We make it clear. All postcards are ready to use. We make it worthwhile. Great variety of appealing postcard images across a variety of topics - some even have stamps! What's not to like?
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In November, we hope to place Postcard Kiosks in multiple retail locations. We can customize the mix of postcards to match what works best for your location and your business. By allocating just a few square feet of your store's space, you could bring in an extra income to support your bottom line, and give customers another reason to visit your store. Please contact us directly if you want to see whether having a postcard kiosk in your store will work for you. We will meet with you to see what works best for you and your business.
Portland Arts and Crafts visits NYC / Brooklyn in September
We checked out the arts and crafts scene in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and did a bit of promoting photos by our newest favorite Portland photographer, Mike Crocker. Mike's photographs combine gritty realism with ethereal abstraction, tied together by a twist of allegory. At a recent talk he gave, I found myself zeroing in on what was so special about these images. The remarkable thing is that the answer to this question seemed different for each of the folks attending.
Weather permitting, I'll be at this coming Saturday's "Portland Flea". 9/17/2011
I'll be selling antique and vintage postcards, and other ephemera, including large art magnets made from old paper goods. Hope you can make it!
Photographer Mike Crocker to have gallery show 9/2/2011-10/29/2011 at I Witness Gallery in NW Portland
I've been an admirer of Mike's photography for nearly a year now, so I'm very excited to have a chance to see a great variety of his photographs, in a large format. I'm also excited for Mike, to have his work in such a great gallery space.
I've written about Mike's photography elsewhere, so I'll be brief here. Aside from the craftsmanship and attention to detail evident in these photographs, I've always been struck by the "abstract" quality that many of his images have. Although we're seeing in his images the reality that we all could see, if we only knew to look, his eye has captured something that is utterly unrecognizable about what we see, how the abstract hides in the mundane world around us. My favorite images of his remind me of abstract paintings, but without the preciousness and self-consciousness.
These are some of the best photographic images I've seen in Portland. I hope you'll get a chance to visit Mike's showing!
September 8, 2011: WE JUST CONTRIBUTED TO THE "An evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer" KICKSTARTER PROJECT. WHY NOT CHECK EM OUT?
Close-in Southeast Portland Bookstore, "Mother Foucault", is now carrying a selection of our ready-to-use, historic, vintage postcards, for sale at $1 apiece.
For those who haven't been there yet, Mother Foucault bookstore, at 523 SE Morrison, is a welcome antidote to the corporate big box bookstore. You might call it the "anti-Borders" and start preparing a list of all the ways that this phrase might be apposite. The small store manages to pack a punch not from the quantity or diversity of books in stock, but in their quality. As importantly, in the times I've been there, owner Craig Florence has blissfully presided over some of the best impromptu conversations I've had in a commercial establishment for several years. He's not in a hurry to sell a book, and he believes in his project enough to put his own personal collection on the shelves, and at prices that are quite fair for books of such good quality. Since it is such a personal collection, I get the sense that when I buy a book, I'm also (somehow) buying the books to either side of it on the shelf. In other words, his shelves are like a one-man brick and mortar "search engine" of great books in their respective areas. I've been noticing literature, history, art, and philosophy, but I know I've only scratched the surface.
The shelving and other interior touches, built by the owner and a friend, suggest the library of a well-to-do gentleman scholar of an earlier era, complete with running ladder for reaching those highest shelves. It would be enough to make a book lover jealous, except Mr. Florence's pleasant toleration of non-business-related talk is enough to make those sentiments dissolve, and to draw to him customers who seem as eager for a good chat as they are to find that heretofore unknown African author, a diary of an influential artist, or manifesto of that erstwhile underground polemicist.
Portland-Arts-and-Crafts is proud to announce that we've added another reason to visit, as we've started supplying Mother Foucault with a selection of fine postcards. Along with postcards of London and France, Mother Foucault is the sole Portland distributor of our postcards in the categories of Stratford-on-Avon, and "Famous People (& writers)". Cards are ready-to-use, and sell for $1. With such a congenial, salon-like atmosphere, I'm surprised Mr. Florence is not charging admission. I highly recommend you stop by, buy a book, and have a stimulating conversation about the whole thing. You might find a postcard to collect or to send to a friend, too. Postcard postage is 28 cents. Maybe we can talk Craig into keeping stamps in stock.
JULy 14, 2011: WE JUST CONTRIBUTED TO THE Craphound "KICKSTARTER" PROJECT. WHY NOT CHECK EM OUT?
Vintage Postcard Kiosk now at Multnomah County Library, Friends of the Library "Pop-up" store in NW Portland
With a selection that is hard to match (5,000 cards in 60+ categories, updated regularly), the Friends of the Library pop-up store joins the Dollar Scholar store on SE Hawthorne as a great source of ready-to-use / collectible postcards in Portland Oregon. More information is available at our postcard-related website, Instant-Postcard-Collection.com.
June 9, 2011: We just contributed to the Joshua Light Show "kickstarter" project. Why not check em out?
Finding alternatives to the Art Gallery: Distributing your Art
Having your art in a gallery is the equivalent of winning a tournament, but what about all the others who didn't win? Does art need to have this winner-take-all quality? Isn't it possible for some of the other 99% of unknown artists to also gain an income from their work?
After years of collecting and selling small art prints, I've come to recognize that distribution is the key to transforming an artwork into a "paying gig". That means access to online and brick and mortar sales venues. It also means being prepared to put your images on different products: plain sheets, suitable for framing, notecards, postcards, or even t-shirts or mugs. With today's technology, you can put your images onto cakes, and jigsaw puzzles, as well as keychains or refrigerator magnets. Each kind of product might require a different distribution channel and method: specialty stores, online sites, booths at local events, etc. But who'se got time for all that? You want to make your art. That's why you're an artist. And does it really make sense to carry your artwork all around town? No matter how good your art, you'll be hearing more "No's" than "Yes's". A lot more.
I'm DIY, just like you. Every day, I'm working at expanding distribution channels for small prints and for "magnetic art". At the same time, I'm exploring different kinds of channels, and different kinds of products.
I want to help artists get through the processes of scanning, uploading, copyrighting, archiving, watermarking and licensing. Then, get on with it -- make the choices that turn images into products and put those products where they need to be to generate a stream of sales, and income for the artist.
If you want to add some distribution channels for your art, I recommend you contact me, likewise if you want my help to turn your images into products that could be sold.
Encouragement from family and friends is great, but what would it mean to you if you could turn your original art into a stream of income, say, $100 per month? Small change? You bet. Does small change add up? Seeing your artworks printed onto a variety of products, selling in local shops, and producing an income - that's what they call "positive reinforcement".
DIY plus plus:
Turning your art / craft into an income stream
Dateline: Portland, Oregon, April 2011The first thing you should know is that we are a business, registered as art dealers in the State of Oregon. Our focus is on the working artists, the freelance commercial artists, the crafters, and craftspeople living and working in the city of Portland, Oregon. Our goal is to help you find and put together the puzzle pieces you need in order to turn your work into a stream of income.
The process of making art has its own rewards, and the custom, manual manufacturing of useful or decorative objects (crafting) can also be very satisfying. But most people don't have the luxury of these pursuits unless they can convert their efforts into income. It might seem more noble for an artist not to care if his or her art sells, but not being able to sell one's art means one is dependent on other sources of income, which can be distracting, at the least.
Arts and crafts workers need income, sure, but they also need support. Not neccesarily the cry-on-your-shoulder type of support, but people and businesses, services and organizations they can turn to to help them develop their handiwork into an income source. That means (working backwards): distribution, advertising, online promotion, licensing, product customization (mugs and tshirts, framing, etc.), and finally, an online "community" that shares its enthusiasm for small-scale, DIY, microbusiness formation.
You could give us a little positive reinforcement!
Or a lot... (we're just sayin')
Click here to donate to Portland-Arts-and-Crafts.com! Thanks!
Better yet, register as a member!
We'll be adding "hooks" to let you describe and show your artworks, and to advertise to the community the kinds of gigs (screen painting, logo design, professional photography, etc) that you can do for your fellow artists.
Comments:
Nice website!
