Our Designer of the Week this week is Kate Nagel, owner of the hub of creative activity that is Bird On A Wire Creations. This amazing space not only hosts the work of more than 225 local artists, they also host a Friday Night Crafting Night and have bi-monthly needle felting classes with fellow Makie Yuki Nickolichuk of Honey Canada. Every couple of months Bird On A Wire “spotlights” three artists for a 2-month show, and they kick off the event with a Private View art opening (don’t let the name fool you -the openings are open to everyone!). In the middle of all this activity, Kate found a few minutes to answer our Designer of the Week questions.
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What’s your personal story?
Hello, my name is Kate, and this is a little about me…..
I love my children
I love my family
I love my friends
I believe in the arts and crafts as an integral part of our lives
I must be challenged
I have more ideas than time
I want to change the paradigm of ‘starving artist’ to ‘thriving artist’
I love to play…
What else is there?
OK, I guess there is a bit more. I was a stay at home Momma of 3 amazing children Lucas, Lauren, and EsaBella. Creativity has been a lifelong insatiable passion and I’ve picked up many skills along the way. I was taught to knit, embroider, and cross stitch at young age by my Oma, as a teen I would sew my own clothes (or what we now call up-cycled – reinvent my clothes), was an honours grad in high school with an arts major.
Fast forward to 1996 – 2000 I owned and operated my first business: a paint-your-own ceramic studio in Squamish where I taught classes, had arranged for Emily Carr College to teach classes in my studio, and was president of the Squamish Arts Council…busy times.
Fast forward one more time to 2009, and as I witness the erosion of support for the arts I make a decision to create a place to not only support the arts but to connect community through the arts. This is what I am meant to do. I am a creative catalyst and a great promoter…so let’s see what we can all create!
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What’s the store’s backstory? How did you start, how have you grown?
I was motivated by the financial changes and cutbacks in grants to festivals and artist run not-for-profits that occurred around the end of 2009.
I was listening to the radio and found that I was experiencing frustration by what I was hearing, and I thought I need to use this angry energy and create something good. A short while later I came across a magazine called Where Women Create and the moment I opened the magazine I knew that I wanted to work in the arts, with artists, and create a space for them to sell their work all year long.
I knew then that I wanted to change the paradigm of ‘starving artist’ to ‘thriving artist, so that they were no longer dependent on grants and/or handouts. I knew that if I was able to change the perception of artists to our society, even if it was just by asking a question to start a dialogue around how we view artists in general, then I was honoring what I feel I was called to do.
I opened the store in October 2010 with only 40 artists and a strong desire to succeed, we have grown to over 225 artists and built a strong following. In the past 4 years Bird on a Wire Creations has won Second Place 4 times in the Georgia Straights Best of Vancouver in the category of Best Sustainable Gifts & Goods store. For the last 3 years Bird has partnered with PaperGirl Vancouver – an inclusive, non-commercial art project that brings people together in celebration of art and community in an unconventional way: through the spirit of altruism – as well as participate in the yearly Make It Vancouver.
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What is your favourite part about being a small business owner? Your least favourite part?
The thing I enjoy most about being the owner of Bird on a Wire Creations is the satisfaction I have knowing that I am supporting our artists/crafters in the best way I know how. I love what I do and am inspired by all of the amazing artists/crafters I am able to meet on a daily basis.
I also really enjoy connecting people who are looking for extraordinary, one-of-a-kind gifts for someone special, with the perfect gift. That is so much fun!
My least favourite is all the necessary admin work that takes away from the things I really enjoy doing. My biggest challenge is giving myself permission to have ‘play’ or down time. I was raised with a strong work ethic and if there is work to be done that is completed first before leisure time can take place. The challenge is my to-do list is never ending.
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How else does this passion for art manifest in your life? Where does it come from?
I have always felt akin to art and creating beauty for as long as I can remember. My parents taught us to appreciate the beauty that was around us, to truly see it, and appreciate it. Creating, of any sort, was a strong influence when I grew up. Both my parents are amazing cooks, and in turn we all learned to enjoy cooking, that included presentation. I do know that on both sides of my family there are well known artists and I had a great Uncle Wim in Holland that work as art restoration artist at the National Museum of Art. I do not remember a time when art/craft or creating wasn’t a very big part of my life.
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What does the future hold for you?
Who knows what the future holds, but I do have goals and they include public speaking and sharing my story, my beliefs around art, artists, and crafters. I think it’s time that we honour and respect artists the same way we would any other career choice. I think it is time to move away from either/or thinking and consider a both/and belief around what career choices hold value… one is not better than the other. What is more important is to respect the career choice of an artist.
What are you bringing to Make It this year?
You know, it is so difficult to make the choice as to which artists’ work to bring – there is so much to choose from! Having said that though, I will bring 3 card/print artists’ work (Kathleen Tennant, RabbitRabbit, Sarah Clement), a jeweller’s goodies (Juliet925), an upcycler’s work (The Uncommon Good), zip bags (LoLo Products), Bird on a Wire mugs (produced by Just Potters), and tea (York & Sons) -and probably a few more!
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What is it about Make It that attracts you as a vendor? What are you looking forward to the most?
I love working with Jenna and Chandler! We have many things in common, but most importantly we see the importance of supporting local! Having the opportunity to be a part of Make It allows me to connect with all the other vendors and visitors in a way I don’t get to do at the store (mainly because I am doing admin work) and have fun doing what I love… building community by supporting locals and getting to connect with the customer to share the artist’s stories – I love that… ok, I’ll admit it -I love to talk, and don’t be surprised if you end up with a hug as well!
