A little case of mistaken identity has been brought to my attention.
I am not Diane Tessman. I am Marian Crane, when I wear my art hat.
As a fiber artist, I periodically create sets of award ribbons for the Tempe Festival of the Arts, held twice-yearly in Tempe, AZ. These are generally sixteen category ribbons 15″ x 4″, and one Best of Show ribbon 20″ x 5″. I am paid for this, but it’s a relatively low rate I grandfathered in because I love the Festival and its staff. And I’m crazy.
Each year I get to see the chosen Guest Artists’ work chosen as a Festival logo/poster piece, and work up a design based on or complementary to that work. I’m told that the artists love my ribbons, are happy to frame the awards as artworks in their own right, and that the unique pieces are a small part of the marketing and cachet of the Festival. That, and the great portfolio images I get, are wonderful recompense for the insane two-week effort to build each set of ribbons.
This involves creating digital sketches for Festival approval, and material sourcing if I don’t have it. I then assemble backgrounds of constructed fabric from layers of cotton batik and/or dye-painted linen, accent images of appliqued fabric, digitally-printed labels and topical background fabric, accent beads hand-sewn in place, and bias tape or selvage edgings. Finishing touches include a ribbon tie/metal pinback combo so artists can more effectively display their ribbons in their booths during the Festival. Each piece is signed and dated on the back.
I am not at this time looking to expand this service to other regional or local arts festivals. I have enough fiber art to do already, between wall art and book arts pieces. I’d have to substantially raise my award ribbon prices for that new workload: to around $60 to $100 per ribbon, I’m afraid, depending on complexity.
Someone recently mistook one of my Spring fiber art award ribbons for those made by Diane Tessman, of My Artzy Ribbons. I’d like to rectify that by posting a link to her site, which feature her own charming and intricate take on fiber award ribbons. http://www.myartzyribbons.com/index.htm
Diane’s richly-textured fiber art awards deserve plenty of second and third looks, believe me.
Glad to have that cleared up. On with our regular programming.