Studio Tour # 31 - Meredith Dada (also Part 3 of her interview)

Love Doves beaded cake topper & jeweled nest by Meredith Dada

Got your traveling shoes on? Today we are off to California for a visit with the artist behind MeredithDada.Etsy.com.  (Most photos are courtesy of Meredith Dada, except her Etsy picks which belong to those artists)

My husband makes beer...we needed a bar to serve it on tap. Hey lets make one!

Did you catch Friday's interview with Meredith? If not, check it out by clicking here. My time machine is on the fritz (I think I burned out the thingamajig chasing Christmas Ghosts - fast little buggers) So if you want to go back to the first installment of this 3 part feature, a clickety here will take you to the Dec. 16th thought provoking post "Do The Work ....Stay out of the results." 

Meredith, thanks for inviting us into your creative space today. During our chat last Friday you mentioned  your the transition you made from mosaic tile work to bead mosaics. Do you have any images of your tile art that you would like to share?

MD: This table was my first serious mosaic project. I made the decision to start making work that may or may not sell anywhere. I made the leap!

MD: Here is my first mosaic table. When it sold I immediately started working on another.

What are your 3 favorite etsy shops?

Virgen de Guadalupe Nicho (Pendant) from PuebloFolkArt.Etsy.com

MD: PuebloFolkArt.Etsy.com - Larena makes beautiful and unique jewelry that I just love. I am hoping someone buys it for me soon!

Altitude Fine Art Nature Photo from Bomobob.Etsy.com

Bomobob.Etsy.com - I fell in love with Bob’s photography at first sight. I hope to have a whole collection on display in my bedroom, but right now I just have one beautiful photo.

French Beaded Hyancith Flower Plant from BuddingCreations.Etsy.com

BuddingCreations.Etsy.com - I love Danielle’s work. She makes the French beaded flowers just like my Grandmother made. She also just started a team on Etsy for bead and wire artists (BAWA) that I am a proud member of!

What are your 3 favorite websites?

MD: http://www.marthastewart.com/ - I look at Martha Stewart’s website almost daily because I secretly want to be like her!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ - I always see something interesting on apartment therapy.

http://www.anthropologie.com/ - I can’t afford it, but it is fun to look at!





MD: By the way, this is what you have to put up with when you live with a creative person... broken tile in the dining room and no place to eat. 

 

What do you like to do when you are not creating?

MD: Having a two year old keeps me pretty darn busy. We take trips to the park, and we try to take daily nature walks…the important things! Mostly we play, play, and play some more. With the little free time I have, I do yoga or I read, nothing terribly exciting.

MD: This photo shows the influence of my creative genes.... why buy candles when you can make them in your kitchen? I did decide to teach myself to cook this year. It became glaringly obvious when I got married, that I never really learned to cook. I made it by on simple, quick, and easy dishes when I had a full time day job. The last thing I wanted to do after a long workday, was cook a big meal! Now that I don’t work, I started watching the food network religiously, reading magazines, and cookbooks. It was my 2010 New Years resolution to cook, cook, cook! 

I started a food blog: http://www.dadadelicious.blogspot.com/ mostly to force myself to stick to my resolution and also to have a record of my more successful recipes. The year is almost over and I am still cooking!

Is there anything else you would like to share?

This nook in the garage is my studio space

MD: As you saw in the previous post about me, I shared a conversation I had with an artist friend of mine named David. His words struck a cord in many fellow Etsy sellers, and it helped me gain some perspective during the holiday madness. I was hoping to share a bit of advice from a different source with you today. This was a conversation I had a few months ago with my 93 year old Grandpa. I have shared it with a few Etsy sellers and it seemed to strike a similar cord. 

My Grandpa is still painting daily and even had an art show for his 93rd birthday a few months ago. Recently surrounded by my family full of artists I asked them all for the best advice they could offer right now when so many artists and crafters are struggling during these economic times. Everyone looked to Grandpa for the answer. This is what Grandpa Otis had to say:

"Darling, just because you make something don’t mean anyone is gonna buy it...but you make it anyway because you love it, or what the heck is the point? If you can say that you are proud of what you did at the end of the day, well then you are do'n alright, and if you gotta fix toilets to pay the bills (he was a plumber) and do what you love when you can...then fix the damn toilets!"

He made me re-think my definition of success, because to me, he is the most successful person I know.

After that conversation I posted this question on my studio wall:

“At the end of the day, are you proud?”

I try for a “yes” everyday! 

Magenta Moment hand beaded dish from MeredithDada.etsy.com

Meredith, your grandfather is a wise man. Thanks for the fantastic tour, eye candy and food for thought today.

And thanks to those of you who traveled with me to this creative space. Want to see more of Meredith's work and world? Here are a few links:

art blog http://meredithdada.blogspot.com

cooking blog  http://www.dadadelicious.blogspot.com/

twitter http://twitter.com/meredithdada

online shop http://meredithdada.etsy.com

Want more studio tours and interviews? Then be sure to leave a comment. The featured artists and I love the feedback. Also, if you leave your comment before 12/30 you will be entered in the random drawing for a 100 piece art set from Creatology. Click here for more info on the random drawing, including photo of prize.

A visit with artist Meredith Dada - Part 2

Beaded Bird Ornament from MeredithDada.Etsy.com

Glad you could drop by! Today I'm visiting with "fourth generation crafter/artist" Meredith Dada of MeredithDada.Etsy.com. Last week she authored a thought provoking piece on Etsy titled  "Do The Work ....Stay out of the results."  

Her post about art, identity & social marketing is worth a read. It is mostly a conversation she had with another artist, David, who is pretty much off the social networking grid (no website, twitter, Facebook or even a cell phone). Meredith kindly allowed me to reprint her post here last week. If you missed it, go ahead & click through. I'll wait for you (insert humming of random Christmas carols here)...

... So, Reader, what do think about David's advice? Are you a "little fish"? Can you get out of your own way & just create? Do you even want to?

I was intrigued by both of these artists and invited Meredith to stop by for a visit today. Go ahead put your feet up by my imaginary fire while this talented soul shares  her thoughts and  colorful creations with us. Just let me get these cookies out of the oven and then we can settle in for a nice chat. (By the way all  photos are courtesy of the artist. For more info on the art, click the captions that mention Etsy to visit the listing.) 

Meredith, when did you first become interested in art?

MD: I was born into it really. My family is full of creative people, artists, and general crafty folks. Art has always been a part of everyday life for me. My mom is a very talented artist, known mostly for her pottery and ceramic work.

Meredith's Mom, artist/teacher Meg Johnson

MD: She was also an art teacher for most of my life. Her mother was also a talented artist and avid crafter. She too was an art teacher, she held weekly China painting classes out of her home studio for years. They were teaching me the art “basics” from the start. I was playing in clay by age two in my mom’s studio. I was oil painting at five years old in my Grandma’s studio.



Meredith's Dad, photographer David Johnson

 
MD: My dad has always been interested in photography and had a darkroom built next to my Mom’s art studio in the backyard. I was shooting pictures and developing in the darkroom in elementary school. Artistic expression in our family was pretty much mandatory. When I was little I just assumed everyone had an art studio/darkroom/woodshop in the backyard!

What are your favorite materials & why?

MD: Since I grew up surrounded by all types of art, I worked with everything I could get my hands on. I have always loved working with ceramics, sculpting, and throwing pottery. I also loved to draw and paint. About ten years ago I combined my love for ceramics and my love of painting into mosaic work. I was essentially “painting” with my own custom tiles and ceramic pieces.

I had this butterfly ready to mosaic, but I needed more color, more detail...then it hit me, BEADS!

MD: About six years ago my Grandmother passed away and I was given her big plastic bins full of craft supplies. One of those bins was full of beads and rhinestones. We used to stay up late and watch old movies while beading Christmas ornaments or ball gowns for my Barbie dolls. When I saw all of those jars of colorful glass beads, they reminded me of little jars of paint. I immediately started “bead mosaics”. Suddenly everything fell into place for me. My process now combines all of my favorite materials. I get to sculpt with clay, draw and paint my designs, and mosaic with beads and rhinestones. 

Blue Lotus Flower hand beaded dish at MeredithDada.etsy.com

  
Where do you find inspiration?

MD: I consider myself very lucky. I live in beautiful Ojai, California. I am surrounded by nature, I live just a few blocks from the base of the mountains and we have the best weather! Sometimes a nice long walk with my son gives me all the inspiration I need.

MD: Occasionally I will find a piece of jewelry or a charm that I love and I will design a piece around that one component. Sometimes I just see a particular bead color and I want to make something to showcase it. I keep a small sketchbook with me and the camera phone is such an awesome invention! I always have my artwork in the back of my mind and I try to look at everything around me with an artistic eye. 

Meredith & her art at Olive Hyde Art Gallery

MD: Recently I had a gallery show in the bay area. My husband and I used it as an excuse to take a little mini vacation in San Francisco. I find if my creative well is running dry, a change in environment breaks open my artist eye and I see things with a different perspective. We don’t live that far from San Francisco, and we have been there before. That said, I always try to find the “new” in things, so we decided to stay in Japantown, and look at a city we have visited before in a new way. I feel it is essential to one’s creative flow to avoid the ordinary and experience things outside of your routine whenever possible. So don’t be surprised if my future work has subtle Japanese elements in it!

Do you listen to anything while creating? If so, who is on your current playlist?

MD: Music plays such an important role in my creative process. Certain songs, a particular musician or band can have very strong emotional ties, how can it not affect how I create? If I handed you my MP3 player and you scrolled through my music collection, you would probably think I was a total schizophrenic! You would see Tom Petty, then The Shins, and random 80’s Madonna, The Beatles, and then Weezer. I am all over the place but if we are just talking about my current playlist you will defiantly see a lot of Dave Matthews (the hippy girl in me has loved him forever). There is a lot of Death Cab For Cutie, Band of Horses, Guster, Cake, She and Him, and The Morning Benders.

The Morning Benders - "All Day Day Light" from Jack Ferry on Vimeo.

That last band was one I had never heard of, but while in San Francisco we found out they were playing near our hotel, so we decided to check them out. Again, it is about thinking outside your usual bubble. The worst that can happen…you see a lame show. The best that can happen…you find new inspiration!

How long have you been selling your art?

MD: I have a picture on my flickr page of me selling my “art” during one of my parent’s backyard art shows when I was about five years old.

MD: However, if we are speaking technically, I started selling my mosaic work about eight years ago. Since most of my work was large pieces of furniture, I sold it on consignment in galleries. With the encouragement of a few friends I opened my Etsy shop in August of 2009 for my beadwork. I didn’t get up the courage to start listing and selling until this year. I wish I started sooner! 

What is your favorite piece in your shop right now?

MD: My favorite piece in the shop in the shop is “Motherhood” mommy and baby bird.

Motherhood beaded birds & copper beaded nest at MeredithDada.Etsy.com

MD: Becoming a mother has changed me completely, and I will never be the same person I was before my son came into my life. I feel honored and lucky to be his mom and having him inspired me to take my art to the next level. Being a stay-at-home-mom has allowed me to focus fully on being an artist and a mom. I feel like I poured all of my emotions about being a new mom into this piece, and it holds a special place in my heart. 

Meredith, thank you for stopping by today. And thanks for the invite to your studio on Sunday. I'll be there with jingle bells on.

Reader, will you join me?  If you've enjoyed this conversation, pop back here 12/26  for a  visit to Meredith's studio. She has also promised to share her favorite Etsy shops - plus some excellent advice from her grandfather that made her  think about the true meaning of success.  C'mon it will be fun....I'll even bake more virtual cookies. What's your favorite?

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Before you go - have you entered the 12/30 random drawing for a 100 piece art supply set? Leave a comment on this blog before then & you are entered. Besides the visiting artists always enjoy your feedback. Want more info on the prize? Then click here.