Jon Stuart Anderson is polymer clay master, one of the most accomplished artists working in fimo today. His work sells itself. When people can actually see it. Though Jon cringes when I call him a master, I can sense his pride. He has devoted his life to being a fimo artist, and has to feel satisfaction that his fimo creations, fimo animals are collected all over the world. But as handmade objects, created using a milefiore technique to achieve improbable detail, can these tactile 3-dimensional art objects sell themselves in photos alone? It’s being able to hold them, to follow his hallucinatory design narratives that, usually, sell his work.
Often, I’m told, people purchase Jon Anderson fimocreations online because they’ve seen his work in person. Held it. But what of the work Jon hasn’t released anywhere but online, the one-of-a-kind art he only offers on his website? As an artist, Jon has no desire to rest on his laurels. He’s constantly innovating. So how does that new work find its way into patrons’ hands?
I created a facebook fan page, and with the help of a fresh web designer, Jon Stuart Anderson’s artist website. When Jon created shoes using a groundbreaking polymer clay image transfer technique he developed, I posted the shoes on both his facebook page and website. Someone shared this post, explaining, with authority, that the fimo design had been ‘photocopied’. Had she have been able to touch the shoes, she would have understood by the texture that the fimo had been transferred directly onto the canvas.
Last week I suddenly got several inquiries about Jon’s fimo design shoes. Was facebook outreach working? Not exactly. Cynthia Tinapple had written an article about Jon’s image transfer technique in her publication, Polymer Clay Daily.
Maybe I’m not such a dinosaur after all. We still need the press, though it has taken on other forms. Thank you Cynthia Tinapple, and all the other journalists writing about art and polymer clay who do a large part in keeping us informed and connected.
