By Kay Stephens / PenBay Pilot
Close to 200 people attended the Artists and Makers Conference, Friday, April 6, at Point Lookout in Northport. For artists and crafters in the creative economy, the Archipelago/Island Institute-sponsored event offered a full day of sessions.
Workshops focused on three different tracts of sessions: Foundational, for those just starting a business; Transformational, for those in the process of growing their business; and Inspirational, those who are established but looking for inspiration.
With more than 22 presenters from all over Maine, there were sessions for every level of a small, creative business from the business side of resources and opportunities for Maine artists to creating a successful living in Maine, as well as successful branding and how the arts are being used to strengthen Maine’s economies.
The keynote speaker was Peter Korn, founder and executive director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and author of Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman, which won the 2014 Maine Literary Award.
The crux of his speech centered on: “What is the nature of a good life? And how do we go about living one?”
Korn took the audience through his early years, when admittedly, he didn’t know what he wanted to do after college in 1972.
“All of the time I was in school, I felt like real life must be somewhere else,” he said. “That there must be a more vibrant, joyous and consequential way to live a life than that I saw modeled in the adult world that I was exposed to.”
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