Author: Michelle LaRiviere

Michelle is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and teacher. She is also a Reiki Master and life coach, specializing in guided soul work. Her art has been exhibited nationally in Canada, as well as in Italy, the UK, and the United States. Her practice includes traditional as well as digital media.

My New Shop: CoCo Delight

Well, I’m pretty excited to finally have my very own shop on Etsy — CoCo Delight — and the Grand Opening is today! Things are moving right along this year!

Up until recently, I never really paid much attention to making my art accessible in a consistent manner. Yes, I was a member of the downtown artists’ collective, Art on Main, for over four years, but while there, I became more interested in the operation and marketing of the organization rather than producing artwork and promoting myself. It was a bit distracting.

One of the most commercial things I’ve done to date was to participate in my very first outdoor show at Artist’s Garden at Ash Creek Pottery in Callander this past July. In fact, at the urging of a few artist friends, I finally took the plunge and had some blank cards made of my most recent artwork created on the iPhone — the raven series. Tom at Ricci’s Fine Printing has always done my printing for graphic design projects, and he did a fabulous job on the cards. The colours are amazing, and I actually sold 50 cards that weekend! Now, I’ve finally taken the next step, and opened a little shop to sell the other 400.

You might be wondering where the name CoCo Delight came from. Well, it was partially due to necessity. One of the things I always find shocking is that there are apparently dozens of people with the same name as me… which made naming my shop a bit complicated. I tried every possible combination, and finally settled on using my dog’s name, Coco. When I speak to her in French, she answers to Cocotte. My friend Kelly calls her Coquette. I like those two names, but when I googled them to check on the specific meaning, well… let’s just say that people would have gotten the wrong idea about what I was selling, hehe.

So that’s the story. I named the shop after my dear sweet canine companion (the English version of her name), and we’re open for business. Please drop in and tell your friends.

Shop CoCo Delight at Etsy

Cause and Effect

Emanation

It’s funny how life has a way of tossing unexpected opportunities at our feet. Lately, I’ve noticed that the biggies are directly linked to cause and effect circumstances. For example, participating in the international exhibition in Chianciano, Italy, in 2010 directly lead to my curating the recent Canadian debut of Pulitzer Prize winner Lonnie Schlein’s exhibition, “Editing the World,” at the WKP Kennedy Gallery. This in turn lead to Mr. Schlein asking me to continue working with him, which is a real honour for me.

In the past ten years, I’ve also managed to make a little splash in cyberspace by either creating and/or maintaining a number of websites. In March, I was asked by Brenda Dyack, founder and owner of ART MINE and design in Australia, to help redesign her website and launch a new promotional campaign, which we are currently working on. This in turn lead to an invitation to Canberra in 2013, as well as looking into several Artist Residency programs in the area. Australia? That’s what I mean by cause and effect.

When opportunity knocks, open the door!  You can be sure that something good is likely to happen, and that that something is likely to lead to something even better. The secret to a full and rewarding life is to generate positive energy, and to be open to what the universe has to give back.

Killing the Muse

Today, I had a conversation with Lonnie Schlein, and we talked about ideas for a lecture he is giving next month in Italy at an international art event. We have been preoccupied with the business of selling our art this past year — in my case, the raven series created on the iPhone, and in his case, the photographs in his touring exhibition.

I have many thoughts on the pitfalls of the commodification of art — which in my opinion has contaminated art, and exiled the muse.

It is detrimental to the creative process for artists to distract themselves with selling — what might sell, what won’t sell, what should sell, what would make something sellable, etc. Pure art comes from the soul, and its aroma is that of honesty and truth, no matter how sweet or pungent. The dollar is a false muse, the fruits of which have no scent at all, and her sister has become an endangered species.

I never realized before now the origin of the word MUSEUM — in Greek, mouseion literally means “seat of the Muses.” Hmmmm… I feel a project coming on…