We feel so lucky to have the support of Bird on a Wire's owner, and champion of local artists, Kate Nagel. To celebrate how awesome she is and kick-off our month, Michele, our Project Manager, and Julie, our Photographer, met with Kate to talk about supporting artists and building community. Read our interview below to find out how the store and our wonderful partnership came to be!
Kate: The idea for Bird on a Wire came to me in February 2009 - I had purchased a magazine called Where Women Create and it made me realize how much I missed having a store. I had previously owned a Paint Your Own Ceramics studio in Squamish that I sold in 2000, and I missed supporting artists. Also at the time hundreds of thousands of dollars were cut from the arts, and I clearly remember that I was driving and feeling so mad about it when I realized that I could do something instead of feeling powerless. Once I said "Yes" to the idea everything started to fall into place. I took a class in self-employment in January 2010 and by the time October came around the store was open.
PG: What was your idea for the store you wanted to open?
Kate: My desire was to open a lifestyle store that supports our local artisans who work within a hundred mile radius of Vancouver. At the time the 100 Mile Diet was becoming more and more popular, and I also had in mind the store Ten Thousand Villages – Bird on a Wire is my Ten Thousand Villages!
PG: Why is supporting local artists important to you?
Kate: I really believe that if we support our local artists and businesses that we are investing in each other. I really want all chosen professions to be considered a viable and valuable career choice - not just a lawyer or a doctor or a policeman but ALL of them, including artists.
PG: How do you connect with the artists that are featured in your store?
Kate: When I first opened the store I knew some of the artists from going to markets and craft fairs. I knew others from traveling throughout B.C., and others are my friends. It began with me reaching out to artists but now they are coming to me! I receive about 100 emails a day from artists who want to be in the store. I also get referrals from artists who are already in the store -- it makes me realize that I am doing something right!
PG: What are some of the things that you do at Bird on a Wire that are aimed towards building community and helping artists connect with their audience?
Kate: I really feel a sense of community on Main street and I'm trying to support that by bridging the gap between artists and potential owner. Making art accessible is really important to me so I wanted my store to feel accessible as well. Something I have had from the opening of the store is Artist in the Window. I think it's really important for people to be able to witness an artist creating in situ, for two reasons - to see the process of creating their work as well as connecting with the artists. I think that sometimes people see art and have the attitude that "oh, I can do that" but really, could you? For Artist in the Window we have their artwork in our smaller window for one week leading up the artist doing a live demo in the window on the Saturday. We have all kind of artists who have participated - letter press artists, leather workers, wood workers and painters. And, of course, for the month of July we are going to have a Papergirl contributing artist in the window every Saturday!
We also have the Friday night knitting club and fibre classes. Kim Werker, the creator of Mighty Ugly Dolls, will be teaching a workshop in August, and we've also just partnered with the former owners of Plush who are going to teach felting. We also have weaving and embroidery classes as well!
The third way is to spotlight two artists every two months and have their work featured in our big window.
PG: How did Bird on a Wire and Papergirl connect?
Michele: Connecting with Kate had always been on my radar because some of the artists who have contributed to the project sell work in her store. At Christmas I went to the store because I wanted to get my husband a gift and I saw that Kate was there so I introduced myself and we hit it off immediately I wanted to talk to her because I knew about the work she is doing supporting local artists and I've always thought that it's really important to connect the arts with business.
Kate: I actually knew about Papergirl because in the first year my mom received a gift from one of the cyclists that is now framed in her house. When she told me about the project I thought 'I love this!' I wanted to support Papergirl because in a lot of ways we are saying the same message, and I encourage working together in order to achieve community goals.
Michele: It's a bit serendipitous! We're both really passionate about connecting artists with their community.
PG: Kate, why is it so important to you to support the local artistic community?
Kate: I wanted to be an artist when I graduated from high school, and the message I received was that only the really talented succeed as artists. But who is to say that wasn't possible for me? I want to show that it is possible for anyone who has the strong desire to be an artist to succeed.
Michele: I think that a lot of the lack of support for artists has to do with the way that we as a society measure and value success. We've put a lot of constraints on ourselves and there is a social concept that success equals financial income. When we hear the word artist we don't equate it with financial success.
Kate: I'm so dedicated to supporting the arts that the youngest artist I have in my store is 7 ! He makes crayons, and is being a crafter in order to earn enough money to buy a house so that he can get a dog.
PG: One of the challenges of Papergirl has often been the "what is in it for the artist factor". What do you think artists can get out of our project?
Kate: Exposure. Awareness. The joy of gifting your artwork to someone else and have them appreciate it.
Michele: Something we try to get artists to understand is that they don't have to necessarily create something new to contribute. I think we tend to judge ourselves and not want other people to see the artwork we did three years ago, and Papergirl is trying to challenge that by saying that someone else may really love and enjoy something you don't necessarily value. We're not trying to take advantage of artists -- we know that a lot of artists are struggling but we are trying to build the idea that if you give a little something to the community it may come back to you, whether it is in the form of commissioned work or just the nice feeling of knowing that someone got your gift and have it hanging on their wall.
PG: Kate, going forward what are your goals?
Kate: I feel like I have more ideas than time! Right now I'm focused on securing my store and making sure that I have a very solid base of artists in the window and spotlight artists. We already have a strong collection of artists but I want to keep building it. I'd also like to bring in more workshops and classes.
Eventually I would love to open more stores like Bird on the Wire, and carry my message across Canada. I want to challenge the paradigm of the starving artists. I think we need to no longer pay homage to it, and instead think of artists as thriving.