#PortlandPressHerald

 I just registered for the RiverArts® Studio Tour 2018 and had to update my artist statement, resume and website in the process. Notably absent was my summer 2017 solo Maine show, You CAN Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!, at the Michael Good Gallery in Rockport, ME. So I have some work to do.

How time flies! I need a better plan – my first lesson learned. The next time I come across an outdated art website, I’ll have more sympathy for the artist. 

My friend Lori, who was in charge of Maine public relations (PR), did a phenomenal job of getting press coverage for this show. Her outreach to the press resulted in my having two stimulating and fun phone interviews for newspaper articles. Both far exceeded my expectations!  The first awesome article, Shipko Shares Her “Sweet Revenge” was by Dagney C. Ernest, appeared in the Arts and Entertainment sections of The Courrier-Gazette and Camden Herald. The lively phone interview comes through in her writing, and she included our discussion on how my work has evolved because of technology.

The second interview was with Bob Keyes, arts writer from the Portland Press Herald, the closest large city to Rockport. Bob’s thought provoking phone interview somehow managed to cover almost my entire artistic life in 45 minutes. It turned into an extensive, insightful feature article with a shoutout on the front page! Here I am, the proud artist, right after buying the paper in Cape Neddick Light, ME.

Webmaster Laura is always reminding me to insert links. Laura – I’m listening! Being a conscientious student, I decided to put a link to this feature on my resume and website. This morning when I googled the article, I discovered the newspaper wanted $2.95 to download it.

One of the reasons I decided to write this particular blog today was to post the article so you can read it for free. Just click on the following link. 

PORTLAND HERALD PRESS PDF 7/4/2017 FEATURE ON BEVERLY SHIPKO 

 I was lucky enough to have a friend who was a Portland Press Herald subscriber and put a pdf together for me. Thank you Gary!

Being a former business school newspaper editor and high school yearbook editor, I was delighted to find my Strawberry Kiwi Blueberry painting in the masthead! Totally unexpected. A true honor. And I was pleasantly surprised (an understatement) that coverage dominated the front page of the Food and Dining section, with more on an inside page.

My strong presence in the Food & Dining section changed how I view my work, opening the door to new possibilities. As a former marketing person, I am embarrassed to admit that I had never approached food editors. Nor had I seriously considered the fact that Portland, ME is such a foodie town. Luckily Lori did! 

There were several lessons learned for fellow artists:

1. The Story. Have one. Talking to Bob and Dagney helped me clarify my story in my head. Because of these two phone interviews, I researched my grandfather’s gourmet grocery store in Michigan, got more details, and realized how much more of an impact it had on my psyche as a young kid than I thought. The experiences helped me take a step back and reconsider my work in a broader context, first autobiographical and then art historical.
2. Be Open. Don’t limit yourself. Be positive. Get rid of your preconceptions about your art. That’s what Lori did – she realized Portland was a foodie town and went for it. It paid off in with great exposure to a larger audience, in an unexpected section of the newspaper.
3. Maintain your website. Just do it! Be more vigilant about this. From now on, I’m going to put regular check-ins on my calendar. Somehow this got away from me. And don’t forget to ask for digital copies of all PR! You never know when you want to post them in your blog…

I wasn’t the only person who learned something from this PR experience. Chef Bonnie (whose day job is teaching) realized that it was time for her to do something with her own dining experiences, whether in restaurants or in her own kitchen. She and I tentatively played with the idea of collaborating together in the future. Maybe one day Bonnie and I will be on the Today show as a mother-daughter duo…. Or maybe it will be a trio with Laura talking about promoting the book with a new algorithm she developed. We can dream, can’t we? As a first step, Bonnie decided to separate her personal Instagram posts from her foodie posts. And so @BonniesBitesOfLife on Instagram was born in Rockport, ME.

As I look back on last summer, I realize there were some big lessons learned, with implications for years to come. I shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, isn’t every new experience a potential learning experience?