Around the store... April

A brief glimpse of View Point Handmade Gallery during April - a snapshot of what we were stocking and tunes you probably heard in store...

Owl & Sparrow sent along a huge restock

Amor Amor, Clay & Clasp and Badger & Coyote all restocked

So many new stockists came in - stay tuned for their Stockist Spotlight features in the coming weeks

The top three albums played for the month were:

Anatomy Art Show: Media Release

Let's get PHYSICAL, PHYSICAL!

View Point Handmade Gallery (VPHG) encourages artists to explore the physiological for a group art exhibition centred around the theme of ANATOMY

“Works submitted run the gamut of mediums – from life drawing studies through to 3D sculptural pieces. It's a really strong show and the View Point team can't wait to share it with Bendigo!”

- Curator, Jess Cola

Included will be works by talented Bendigo artists such as Isabelle Kawai Vincent, Julie Proudfoot and Peter Fountain (as seen in the images above) and many others.

“Detail studies of the anatomy of the figure, especially the bone and muscle structure of the arms and hands was a focus to create emotional expressions ”

- Exhibiting Artist, Isabelle Kawai Vincent

The official opening will be held on Friday the 10th of May from 7pm – 9pm upstairs at View Point Handmade Gallery, 13 View Point, Bendigo.

The gallery and artists are encouraging all locals and visitors to come down to the opening and enjoy a glass of wine and experience some fabulous art.

The exhibition will be on display from May 10th – May 24th during VPHG opening hours. 

 

Queer Country: Art Show

Jess from VPHG - Mini House Tour

View Point Handmade Gallery fans may have noticed a familiar face in the Bendigo Advertiser over the weekend, when my home was featured in the 'We Nest' section.

The response to the feature has been lovely! I was a little LOT nervous about the idea of inviting a photographer & journalist into my home. We've only recently stopped living out of boxes (even though we moved in around 8 months ago!) and I still have a long way to go, but I am happy with where it is at the moment. I thought I'd share a few more images of the space, while it's looking 'magazine worthy', with not a clothes horse in sight haha!

Updates, busyness & school holidays

Here's a brief snapshot of VPHG's adventures over the past week - new signage, new shelves, new stock... NEW NEW NEW!

I've also included a panorama shot of the main gallery room and our Texture exhibition, courtesy of one of the exhibiting artists, Julie Proudfoot. This weekend is your final chance to see the show, so be sure to pop in if you're about town.

On that note, tomorrow our 'caturday girl' Ivy will be manning the store - be sure to pop by and say hello!

Must dash, just wanted to drop in for a brief update from the team before the weekend is upon us.

Have a most excellent weekend,
Jess & the VPHG team

VPHG's Cat Burglar (Introducing our new 'Caturday Girl')

 If you've visited VPHG on a Saturday you may have noticed a new face at the counter - Ivy has come on board as our new regular Saturday staff, I hope y'all will make her feel super welcome!

She couldn't wait until next Saturday to sneak a peek of our fancy new shelving set up, so she snuck into VPHG after dark - here's what happened next...

From now on I think I'll call her our CATurday girl!

Dukeo Review: Online Marketing Blog (Contest Entry)

A little known fact about me is that I'm mad keen for entering competitions, before I got super busy with running the gallery I would have classed it as a hobby of mine. This little hobby has paid off in spades for me - I've won overseas trips, concert tickets, a years supply of toilet paper (actually a really handy prize!) and all manner of lotions and potions. It's not something I have a huge amount of time for these days, so I don't often come across a competition that's worth fitting into my daily schedule.

A little while ago my sister sent me a link to Dukeo - an online marketing blog run by Stephane Kerwer. I added it to the 'list of sites to check out' and promptly forgot about it. Then she kept sending me links to specific blog posts that she thought related to what I'm doing, such as:

185 Creative Billboard Ads when we were talking about creative marketing. We spent a lot of time giggling about some of these and it more than sparked a few ideas of our own.
10 ways to increase traffic to your website we both liked that this post was not talking about a 'hard sell', more around building your readership through connecting with people that actually WANT to read what you have to say.

I am still working my way through the posts but I like what I'm reading! If you have a blog or are thinking of starting one I'd definitely recommend having a look at the content.

But... What does this have to do with competitions? Well, turns out Dukeo is running a competition, review their blog for a chance to win $1000  - That's a prize worth writing about! A blog I'd like to share with my readers ANYWAY with the chance to get some cash for doing so? SURE!

So, for my list of likes about Dukeo:

• Easy to navigate once you get the hang of it.
• Simple content with some real gems about improving your online presence.
• Lists! I loves me a list!! '5 ways to improve....', '8 tips for....', '3 rules for....' 

And some dislikes:

•  Heavy on the 'sign up to newsletter' and 'buy this e-book' links - something I understand is a necessary 'evil' when you make your living from online affiliate marketing, but can turn off the first time visitor.
• It took me a little while to get the hang of finding the information I was after (see dot point one for 'likes').

To wrap it up, I'd suggest anyone who has a blog or website give Dukeo a whirl and see if Ste's writing style and content works for you. The content isn't ground breaking (we've all read a blog on blogging!) but it IS presented in a format that is easy to digest and apply to your situation.