Let's Learn Together: The Studio Source with Allie Dattilio and Suite One Studio (That's Me!)
Omg guys, this announcement has been giving me butterflies! Today's the day to finally share the news, I've partnered with my friend and incredible painter, Allie Dattilio to create a community for artists selling online called, The Studio Source. This project has been a longtime coming. Allie and I met seven-ish years ago online (Twitter? Etsy? Not sure. The internet was smaller and we somehow found each other.) We immediately began sharing emails and Etsy convos about our experiences as new artists on the scene. We didn't realize then exactly what those conversations could become, but we kept up those meaningful exchanges over the years.
Periodically we'd check in with each other; reaching out to troubleshoot, cheering each other on through the hurdles, celebrating those big business moments, and even collaborating on #TheChiaroscuroCollection back in 2017. Fast forward to today and we've collaborated once again to launch The Studio Source! This group is starting over on Facebook and is designed for artists in any medium selling their work online-- or if you're not quite at the selling online part as long as that's an active goal for you, this group is made for you.
One of my favorite things about The Studio Source right here on day one is how organically Allie and I arrived at this idea. We've been big fans of each other's work over the years and it's been amazing to witness the growth of another artist from those very early days until now. Over the last several months Allie and I both independently began talking on instagram (I'm over @suiteonestudio and Allie is @alliedattilio) with our fans about creating some sort of workshop or learning course to share what we've learned and to learn from other artists out there in the big, vast internet. That's the thing when you own your own creative business, you know in theory others are having these same challenges and celebrations, but it can be hard to really tap into that sense of community; most of us work alone or in tiny studio teams!
The lightbulbs flashed. It was serendipity! At the same moment in time we were ready to venture into teaching and creating a community for artists selling online.
Side note: out of curiosity I just dug through my email archives and found our first detailed exchange from 2011 right after Allie had her first sale on Etsy! I was still baby Etsy seller myself, not quite two years into the online selling game. In that email we chatted about the importance of blogging (I lamented that I was too infrequent-- I've gotten better but still working on that one, lol), why it's important to connect to other artists within the community for support, and how we price our work. Wow. So much has changed since then, yet we still have these sameconversations... just a little more evolved to the stage our businesses are in now.
Our goal is that The Studio Source will become the online community we wish we'd had back when we first started, and the network of encouragers we still need today.
If you're an artist selling online and you're looking to connect with others on this same wild, wonderful ride then The Studio Source is for you. There's a brief questionnaire that'll help us provide meaningful framework for discussions within the group. We hope you'll join us!
xoxo Lindsay