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Welcome to International Decorative Artisans League Founded in 1984, the International Decorative Artisans League (IDAL) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the art of stenciling and related decorative painting. Membership provides opportunities for artistic and professional growth through: education, certification, public awareness, and networking. Most IDAL members belong to local or on-line chapters. They take classes, share advice or just have a place to meet people with common interests. The local chapters usually meet once a month. There is a social time and then a class on some decorative art form. Attending a meeting is free the first two times you go, to help you test out the chapter. Click here to find a chapter near you.
IDAL Membership Drive
That’s IDAL’s goal for the coming year, and we’re counting on you. We can advertise, we can send out mailings—but the very best way to spread the word is by good old fashioned word of mouth. Nothing’s more personal or effective. So, to attain our goal, your IDAL Board has launched a Membership Drive, with great prizes for the individual members and the Chapter that attract the most new members. Keep reading to for the unbelievable prizes you can win. So get out there and spread the word about IDAL and all it has to offer!
"You read my mind!” “That is exactly what I was trying to describe!” These are the words an artist always likes to hear when presenting a client with the preliminary sketch for their mural. The job has really only just begun, but one feels the first hurdle in the road has been successfully passed. The “mind reading” that brings you to this point, however, takes time, attention, thought, and research. It is an area of my work into which I put a great deal of effort, because communicating verbally with people does not come easily or naturally to me. Fortunately, I have come to realize that, as a visual artist, my main focus when interacting with a client is to listen and observe. Now that I can do!
At the initial meeting, I bring my portfolio, camera, tape measure, paint fan deck, blank paper, and an open mind. The client has usually described what they want in general terms: “a Mediterranean view above the bathtub.” So the typical procedure would be to look at and discuss the space to be painted, take photos and measurements, then review my portfolio. During this time, however, there is a lot of information to be absorbed, directly and indirectly. I feel that it is very important to meet with the client personally. Occasionally, I have worked with designers who never introduced me to the client. It is more difficult in such cases, I think, to “get it right the first time,” because you are missing important clues. The way a client appears, speaks, and describes things will reveal much about their taste.
When I am in a client’s house, I look at the décor and especially the artworks they have chosen. While we are talking about the project, I take notes of anything specific they mention, such as “I don’t like orange,” “I love peonies,” or “Could we fit a whale in there?” And as we are looking through photos in my portfolio, I pay attention to their reactions and comments, noting what they especially like. I don’t usually ask a lot of questions, unless it is to clarify some technical detail...
Philanthropic Project Design Contest Participants The mural painted by IDAL members at the 2009 Convention will be a lovely and lasting artistic addition at the Wings Cancer Foundation in Memphis. In the previous issue of Artisphere we unveiled the winning design: “Flight Begins with One Feather” by Pam Cobb. But as project chair Lori Wilson noted earlier, “This year we had the most number of beautiful entries to choose from!” Because choosing a winner from these entries was no easy task, we felt it appropriate to share with you the other design entries. You’ll see why judging is a tough job. Next year’s philanthropic mural project recipient will be announced after the 2009 Convention in Memphis. It’s not too early to let your creative synapses take flight!
Arlene used watercolor pencils and marker for her design. Her web site is www.arlenemurals.com.
More Artisans mentioned in the Members Only area.
This summer will bring wonderful opportunities to travel and paint: Vigini in Mexico, Vartan in Italy, and of course IDAL Convention in Memphis. While you’re drooling over the thought of luscious cuisine, historic vistas, amazing finishes and great teachers, and wondering what clothes you should pack (the black jeans or the blue overalls with coordinating once-white t-shirt), consider your luggage. Yes, consider the humble suitcase (as if you even owned a suit you could still get into)! Is it black? Is it small enough to fit on the plane? Is it one of a million small black bags in the dark hold of the ship? Perhaps you’ve tied a yellow ribbon on the handle. Or have you strapped a fluorescent green band around its waist? All this done in hopes of identifying it more easily as yours on the other end. Or maybe to foil inattentive fellow passengers from inadvertently grabbing your property, thinking it was their own. Or did you think to make it easier to describe to the bored desk clerk in the lost luggage office?
I remember seeing a photo in long past issue of The Artistic Stenciler of a suitcase with a string of pearls and a glove slipping out of a zippered closure, a la trompe l’oeil. That image probably went straight into my subconscious right-brain stew. It simmered there until traveling with some Costco suitcases made me realize their popularity with other travelers and the difficulty of picking them out of the luggage-belt line-up. My faux painter/real friend, Kari Barron, has a belt-stopping trompe l’oeil on her bag: a bra dangles out of the side. No guy would try to walk off with that one! The pictures accompanying this article give you other options for different sizes and subject matter for your luggage. Traveling to Europe
this summer? Traveling
to Tennessee? Don’t
miss the opportunity to
show off your stuff and
have foolproof
identification.
“This organization has meant so much to me in the development of life long friends, skills and the successful business I developed.”
We hear this from new members all the time. The decorative arts are a unique art form with extraordinary members and that means extraordinary needs. That is where IDAL comes in... What’s in it for you? Artisans Businesses Educators “IDAL was my first introduction into the decorative arts. Intrigued? Read on to learn even more about what being a member of IDAL can do for you. All IDAL members have access to chapters, a monthly e-newsletter, our yearly convention and a quarterly full color magazine. But, that is just the beginning...
Become a member today! Go to our Membership Page to learn even more about member benefits and to join to now.
Find your IDAL membership number and membership renewal date |
ARLENE MCLOUGHLIN: “My submission is the
butterfly of Hope. I designed this with the idea that
some butterflies can cover 400 miles in a single
flight! Although these creatures are so fragile and
beautiful, they are persevering survivors; thus my
connection to the Wings of Hope theme. I designed
the butterfly in a mosaic pattern and incorporated
the word Hope because I love mosaics and thought that this design would be colorful and pleasing to
look at for the project.”
COLLEEN DREW: “My design is a water lily with
three doves. In preparing for this project I wanted
to keep the design very simple. The images I used
represent several things. First, the three doves
symbolize the mind, body, and spirit of healing.
Secondly, the way in which they are flying up and
away symbolizes hope and strength. The water lily
or lotus represents...
Your bag deserves more, you know. It has served
you well and suffered much. Not only that, but realize
that you are a professional artisan. You have the
creativity and the tools—the stencils—to give your
luggage the dignity it deserves. May I humbly submit
a few visual and verbal options to spark your thinking?
They are modest attempts to use the skills we’ve
been trained in to identify us (marketing!) as artisans
and at the same time make it really obvious that this
is our luggage and no one else’s!
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