Bizz Buzz - Life Without Etsy Part Deux

I had another post written for today, I bumped it to next week because I wanted to write this post about my amazing Daughter Poppy.

About a year ago, Etsy made an unfair decision to shut down Poppy's shop. She had been on Etsy for years and was a top supporter and a top seller of handmade original clothing designs. She also reconstructed shirts and there was where the problem lay. While she sells reconstructed shirts on other sites without problem, Etsy chose to remove her and all of her shops including one we shared, because of excessive flagging, even though her items were legally made and the flagging not valid. Etsy didn't listen to reason. You can read more about the incident in these past posts. Etsy Shop Closings

Poppy's clothes are beautiful, original and wonderfully comfortable and well constructed. She's amazing at her craft. Watching her design is a treat. She gets an idea in her head, lays out fabric and just cuts it. She takes her pieces to the machine and just like magic it's perfect. No patterns, no measuring and she can reproduce it over and over without pattern, in any size. I could never sew for her when she was in the hospital, because her patterns are all in her head. When she was on Etsy, she was on the front page regularly. You remember her adorable Poppy Longstockings I'm sure.

This month Poppy is Clearing out her Poppy shop on Artfire at ridiculously low prices as she prepares to close shop. She has to go back the the Genre fashion that brought her to Etsy from eBay. It makes me very sad, and I'm sure it makes her even sadder to see all of that wonderful work sold for practically nothing. But Artfire and eBay are a different animal than Etsy was.

Poppy will still have her genre shop, Poppy's Wicked Garden but that's her cash cow, not her heart and soul. I know how she feels, because I'm not selling my beloved product either, but I chose to try another path with it. Poppy has a new baby and doesn't have the time to try other markets, when she has product that sells.

So if you get a chance, stop by Poppy and pick up a great deal, or tell Poppy how great you think her designs are. She'll appreciate that.

Thank You Poppy for Making the world a prettier place.

The Art of Art - Lesson Three - A Passion for Life

I met Bernard Pfriem while attending Lacoste school of the Arts in France, while the man was still alive. He was remarkable. I knew him near the end of his life, but he had such an amazing passion for life.

Bernard started Lacoste School of the Arts in Lacoste, France. I understand that he purchased the Boulengerie (bakery) in 1958, where my very good friend Hank stayed while we were there, for the cost of one refrigerator. The School itself was a collection of buildings and an old limestone quarry.

Bernard was just 80, and had recently suffered several severe strokes. He had a soft spot in his head where a piece of skull was removed, and he spoked in a muffled tone from his half paralyzed mouth. He dragged his one foot a bit and had an awkward gait, but when we went on field trips to Aix or Arle, Bernard was always ahead of us somehow. He went on every field trip and moved faster than the youngest of students.

He was engrossed in life and engrossing to listen too. There were weekly lectures in his courtyard and some of the students stayed and talked with him till all hours of the night.

Bernard had lived a wonderfully full and active life and continued to do his art and oversee many aspects of his school until he passed away in 1996.

I will never forget trying to keep up with him as he breezed his way up the steep mountainside to our rooms in Lacoste. His passion for life, people and Art, brought him through even the most adverse conditions, and he lived his life with complete passion and joy.

Bernard's good friends were people like Henry Miller, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Gustaf Sobin as well as his many students

Bernard's passion for life has inspired me to think that there are no limits to what you can achieve in life. Age or disability can't stop the forward motion of an unstoppable force. There is something about the spark in certain people, the joy they see in every day life. There is something about joy, and a passion for art and living, that seems to make one as close to immortal as any human can get.