Why I love Handmade Galleries (& my Miley Cyrus story!)!

Ana Araujo gave me a shout out from my space at Handmade Galleries!

This was the coolest surprise EVER! Ana Araujo from When Creativity Knocks visited one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles – Handmade Galleries!

Patrick and I have had a space there for several years now and we love it. Owner Andrea Spyros is an amazing businesswoman who has the goal of helping each artist flourish into a larger, broader career with their art. She has certainly helped us. We’ve had several A, B and C list celebrity clients, our art space has been featured as the backdrop to several kooky reality shows, plus numerous other connections and artsy opps, all thanks to this wonderful art space!

My sewing book on display in the front windows!

Okay, since we’re on the topic of Handmade Galleries, let me tell you my Miley Cyrus story…sigh…

Remember the giant photo shrine I made for CHA a few years back?

After the show, we sent the piece to Handmade Galleries and they displayed it in a prime juicy spot. One day in summer 2011, I received a phone call that Miley Cyrus was standing right there, admiring the shrine I made and wanted to know if I could make one for her new home, for her sanctuary room. I was so excited! Of course I would!

Throughout that summer, Miley TEXTED me what she wanted on her shrine, the glitter color, and even snapped inspiration pictures from her travels in Australia and sent them my way from her iPhone. She was very sweet and friendly. I loved how excited and serious about this piece because she wanted happiness and peace in her new house. I was so honored she wanted my work to be a part of that!

Now comes the part where you’ll want to smack me in the back of my head. This is VERY unlike me, you guys KNOW me, right? I normally would be all over this. At the time this was happening, Maya was going through her first love drama – lots of drama.

ME: Mom Worry Overload! I hung on to the string of the emotional yo-yo by the tips of non-glittered fingernails. Dealing with her moods and everything that was going on during the break-up, I lost all my inspiration. Just like that, it vanished. I had zero motivation to make anything, to write anything, to blog, to leave the house, to travel, etc. The only work I did was for my daytime job, no energy leftover. In all my life and career, I’d never had that happen!

Bottom line? I never followed through for Miley. I did make a doodle sketch according to what she asked for, but…never sent it.

You know I had to be in a not-so-sparkly place to drop the ball on such an exciting order, right? I did apologize and by the time I tried to redeem myself (oh, like, eight months later), it was too late. She must have thought I was a jerk!

Argghh! So frustrating. Wasn’t meant to be, life goes on, live and learn and all that. I moved on. I’m soooo happy that era ended and I got my mojo back! The silver lining is that I now have a fun story to share about how I almost made an art piece for Miley Cyrus!

Here’s a question for all of you. Do you have a story about a missed opportunity? If so, please share in the comments!

Let me steer this back on track…here is the wonderful video Ana made about Handmade Galleries! If you are ever in Los Angeles, check out the space. It’s bursting with cool, handmade art!

Here is the link!

I have two, quick ones. Back in my twenties I was defiant and had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. My childhood was not idyllic and I had a few big disappointments after moving to California. I was in many ways my own worst enemy. Looking back, I can see that I was more afraid of success than failure. So it was easy to sabotage opportunities making up a litany of excuses.

The first story takes place in Sacramento. I had moved there with the intention of getting residency and studying theater. Back then you could attend college for free if you were a California resident. Promises made were broken and things got kinda tough for me, but I was determined to keep pursuing my acting career.

I started breaking into the local music scene and things were beginning to look up for me. My best friend helped me prepare for a local talent show, I sang Rizzo’s song from Grease. Kind of funny, because I was much more of a Sandy back then! I won the show, and it was pretty exciting because the competition was stiff.

One of the judges was a local news anchor, she approached me later with an offer. The folks from Miss America were interested in grooming me for the pageant. They’d send me to school, work on my pageant skills…it was a huge opportunity. Yet I, stubborn quasi-punk rock Madge, was not interested in being in a dorky pageant. So I declined.

A few years later, after moving to San Jose, I started fronting rockabilly, country swing bands in the emerging “cowpunk” Bay Area music scene. My first band, Big Hair, had a huge following. People loved us, but behind the scenes there was endless drama. Still we were starting to play in San Francisco and LA, it was going really well. A friend of the band who was very well connected in the Bay Area music scene tossed my name into the hat to audition for Big Brother and the Holding Company. At the time they were looking for a new vocalist.

She set up an audition for me, but I decided at the last minute not to attend. I didn’t want to be a Janis Joplin impersonator. Mind you, no one asked me to impersonate Janis, I just made this up in my head. Looking back, I realize that I was afraid of blowing the audition or getting the gig and not being able to make my own stamp on those songs. In some ways, I think it was wise, but on the other hand, opportunities are what you make of them.

You know, life happens. Maybe Miley will read your post and realize that you’re human and a fantastic mom who loves her daughter fiercely. That’s powerful good stuff. I think being there for Maya in the final analysis was definitely the best choice.

We can’t beat ourselves up over this stuff, we can only march bravely forward and know that new opportunities will unfold. Then when they do, we’ll be more prepared to meet them!

Love you like sliced bread!

Madge

1 thought on “Why I love Handmade Galleries (& my Miley Cyrus story!)!”

Margot Potter

January 24, 2013 at 1:01 pm

I have two, quick ones. Back in my twenties I was defiant and had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. My childhood was not idyllic and I had a few big disappointments after moving to California. I was in many ways my own worst enemy. Looking back, I can see that I was more afraid of success than failure. So it was easy to sabotage opportunities making up a litany of excuses.

The first story takes place in Sacramento. I had moved there with the intention of getting residency and studying theater. Back then you could attend college for free if you were a California resident. Promises made were broken and things got kinda tough for me, but I was determined to keep pursuing my acting career.

I started breaking into the local music scene and things were beginning to look up for me. My best friend helped me prepare for a local talent show, I sang Rizzo’s song from Grease. Kind of funny, because I was much more of a Sandy back then! I won the show, and it was pretty exciting because the competition was stiff.

One of the judges was a local news anchor, she approached me later with an offer. The folks from Miss America were interested in grooming me for the pageant. They’d send me to school, work on my pageant skills…it was a huge opportunity. Yet I, stubborn quasi-punk rock Madge, was not interested in being in a dorky pageant. So I declined.

A few years later, after moving to San Jose, I started fronting rockabilly, country swing bands in the emerging “cowpunk” Bay Area music scene. My first band, Big Hair, had a huge following. People loved us, but behind the scenes there was endless drama. Still we were starting to play in San Francisco and LA, it was going really well. A friend of the band who was very well connected in the Bay Area music scene tossed my name into the hat to audition for Big Brother and the Holding Company. At the time they were looking for a new vocalist.

She set up an audition for me, but I decided at the last minute not to attend. I didn’t want to be a Janis Joplin impersonator. Mind you, no one asked me to impersonate Janis, I just made this up in my head. Looking back, I realize that I was afraid of blowing the audition or getting the gig and not being able to make my own stamp on those songs. In some ways, I think it was wise, but on the other hand, opportunities are what you make of them.

You know, life happens. Maybe Miley will read your post and realize that you’re human and a fantastic mom who loves her daughter fiercely. That’s powerful good stuff. I think being there for Maya in the final analysis was definitely the best choice.

We can’t beat ourselves up over this stuff, we can only march bravely forward and know that new opportunities will unfold. Then when they do, we’ll be more prepared to meet them!

Love you like sliced bread!

Madge