Ok, we admit it. It has been quite a long time since we’ve updated our blog. This year, we’ve set a goal to do better about that, so let us start with a recap of 2024. We’re going to ignore the fact that we were completely absent in 2023, and vanished midway through 2022. I know some people would say that we shouldn’t even bother acknowledging that, but that just isn’t who we are, ok! We’re human, and sometimes it gets a little hard juggling all of the things!
In February, we started hosting our own artist meet ups each month in our studio. The first meeting was a discussion about the arts industry as a whole, challenges we’ve faced as artists, and the things we’d love to see and do at future meetings. Each meeting after that has been an artist coworking meeting, where each artist has brought along their own art materials to work on their own project. The only meeting that was a bit different was the one in October, which was Halloween themed. We decorated masks, then we worked on our projects while watching horror movies and eating popcorn. The meet ups have been great! We’re hoping to have more consistent attendance in 2025, but we’re so appreciative of everyone who has taken time out of their busy schedules to come join us on a Saturday morning to work on art. There is always good conversation, lots of encouragement, collaboration, and set time to focus on something creative. As artists who also have full-time jobs, we understand how difficult it can be carving out time to dedicate to your art, which was the catalyst for us starting this group.
The Summer was honestly pretty busy for us. We had an uptick in client inquiries, which is always nice! Also, we diligently prepped for our 4-hour long photography workshop that we presented in July. A ton of work went into developing this class, which was initially designed to be a 2 hour course that we taught in 2023. Photography is such a vast topic, that the class in 2023 actually ran over despite all the times we ran through it at home, so switching it up to a workshop with a lunch hour built in worked out perfectly! The updated workshop took place on July 13th, 2024, and we had at least 20 people in attendance. This was a pretty big change from our class last year, which only had 4 people! We’ve already been invited back to teach the workshop again this Summer, so be on the lookout for us on the BCPL June 2025 event calendar!
Last June, we went to an Arts Summit hosted by the Maryland State Arts Council. It just so happens that this took place at the university I graduated from, UMBC, and it was truly was so wonderful being in a place that really nurtured my skills as a young artist while also giving us an opportunity to learn more about current artist opportunities. It was a really great experience and we got to meet some truly fantastic people. We’ve already decided that we have to go every year moving forward.
Anthony worked on some amazing illustrations for a children’s book series called "The Adventures of TJ and Ty." It is still in development at the moment, but I wanted you to see just how cool the Youtube banner is!
In December, we were lucky enough to be selected for the Baltimore County Public Library’s holiday pop up show. Anthony had stickers and illustrations for sale, and I had prints for sale. We made way more sales than we expected, and it was our first time ever actually selling my prints or Anthony’s stickers. Everyone was so incredibly kind!
Speaking of stickers, we also launched an Etsy shop at the end of last year. So far, there are only a few of Anthony’s completed sticker designs housed on it, but he actually has a ton of designs already cut and ready to be listed and packaged. We have to work out a better system for photographing them at home, as that is where we’re running the Etsy shop from. Over Winter break, Anthony also branched out and started making adorable magnetic bookmarks that we plan to also list on the Etsy shop. By the way, the shop is www.etsy.com/shop/ZombieStash.
So, that was a recap of last year. We’re really going to try to do better about updating this blog, as well as our social media accounts this year. Truthfully though, even when we’re not super active on social media, we’re still more active there than we are on the blog, so please make sure that you’re following us on Instagram and Facebook. We’re @2oddravens on both platforms.
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