As the effects of humanity on this planet show themselves more and more, we have to think about what we do and how we can lessen our negative impact. The art we create is what we love to make, but we want to minimize the impact of our business and so we have done a few things to hopefully help.

We are enrolled in the Blue Sky program which means we pay a small extra fee on our electricity bill to help fund green and alternative energy developement so that the energy we use (power tools, lighting, music, computers, etc.) has less of an impact on the environment. We also purchased a small solar generator to help with a few things like booth lighting and maybe being able to power or recharge some power tools. We do not have the money or the sunshine at our location to make a full solar commitment worth while financially or environmentally.

We joined Ridwell, the recycling service. While we try to be concious of what we get and what we send out into the world, it is hard to not end up with some waste. By using Ridwell we get to recycle a bit of stuff that is not easy to recycle, including shipping packaging (plastic bags, multi-layer plastic, and styrofoam) along with a few other items that seem to change throughout the year. They are very informative about where the stuff goes, how it is recycled, and they are a B Corp certified company.

Avoiding using A.I. type stuff and trying to avoid using data centers. As technology gets more advanced and computer related things push more towards automation and "in the cloud", all these new data centers are popping up everywhere. They suck up huge amounts of water, energy that is usually not clean energy, put a strain on surrounding areas resources, are noisy, and in the end, not really benefitting anyone but the richest people. I have been deleting unnecessary online data, unsubscribing from irrelevant e-mail lists, and avoiding using any A.I. type stuff as much as possible. I realize that because the term is applied across such a broad spectrum of applications that there are some rare instances where it is truly useful to science, most of it is just more tech garbage that seems to suck people's time and brains into the void while wasting resources or creating new ways to remove humans and/or humanity from jobs and automate them at again, a cost to society that only benefits the richest people.

Keep loving art, nature, and each other and maybe we can start to heal the earth. Thank you for reading.

-Brent 

Making stuff by hand is not easy. Coming up with ideas, learning the skills to make those ideas a reality, the limits of what tools you have or can access at the time, even the limits of time itself. As artists running a small business there is a lot of non-art stuff to do also. So much work...

Maybe if we got this automated tool or used that new technology, we could save a lot of time and it would be a lot easier to focus on the parts we love to do. Perhaps we could even focus on selling more stuff and expanding our market so we could make more money. Who doesn't want to make more money?

What if it is those difficulties and restrictions that force us to think and be creative, to put that extra effort into what we do because we don't get all the time, and when you have to work at something, you want it to matter, not necessarily to be perfect, but to be the best you can do.

Even the parts that are not really the "fun stuff" are still important to the process. Learning about anything helps the brain expand, which allows new ideas and new ways of thinking. Things that are not fun to do, when you finish them, there is still a feeling of accomplishement in that too.

In the end, we enjoy what we do and how we do it. The process is part a big part of it. When we share our art and someone connects with it, that makes magical. It is not the easy way, but it is what works for us, keeping us realtively sane and feeling human.

The holidays have passed, it is a new year, and we have time to reflect and catch up.  It is time to finalize accounting for last year, reflect on what we did and what we would like to do.  But it is still a busy time to make, the artistic urge does not rest.  So many ideas and not enough time to make them all. We have also been pretty busy with work at Artistic Portland Gallery, which seems like it's own fulltime job sometimes. It is a co-op business, but it has seen a transitional period of artists and the overall feel.

After a slow year, trying new things that sometimes didn't pan out and changes in what marketplaces we qualified for, we still did ok in the fact that we made lots of people happy and got to share our art with a lot of people. We will be looking for new places to vend this year, so if you know of anything where we would be good fit, let us know. We will be with the Portland Indigenous Marketplace, the Waterfront Blues Festival and likely a few markets at the Vancouver Historical Society.  Beyond that, now is the time when we wait for sign ups to open so we can start planning our year.

We will be working on all the usual stuff that we make, but expanding to bring new stuff.  More wool paintings from Astrid, acoustic instruments from Brent (including ukuleles, guitars, and more) and more art from the "not so little anymore" one.

The co-op gallery Artistic Portland Gallery on NE Fremont St. has gone through a few changes as it has come to the end of it's current lease.  It seems like a lot of artists wanted it to close, but there were a few of us who saw it as finally getting established, building community and becoming more than just a place to buy art, so we fought to sign a new lease (five years) and to figure out how not just to keep the doors open, but to make it an even more welcoming and inclusive space for all. We will be focusing on having more classes and events, with a variety of art that is reasonably priced, including lots of stuff that is great if you are looking for small gifts or like us, have a small home with limited space and want some smaller scale art to decorate it.  Of course, some of the artists also have larger scale art if you have a larger home or are looking to decorate a larger space.

We also hope to make it feel like a third place, one of those places you can just hang out for a bit, be social, drink some coffee or tea, talk to an artist or fellow art lovers, make your own art, or just enjoy the vibe.

For those of you who live near the gallery, many of the artists there are also your neighbors. Many of the business owners on Fremont St. also live around the area, so while Portland is a pretty big city, it is stuff like that which make it feel like a small community. By supporting each other locally, we can keep this place growing into something nice for everyone.

Thank you for reading, and hope to see you at some point this year.

In order to help with the musical instrument side of things (we can't make every part), we have developed a few accounts with manufacturers of musical instrument parts and accessories, that if not fully, at least as much as possible, reflect our values.  Because of this, we are also able to offer items from these companies to our customers.

Check out our sales site for current inventory or contact us if there is something we don't have in stock or maybe just not listed.  We also have lots of parts from trading, repairs, upgrades, etc.

We currently carry Gator cases, Levy's straps, Frallin pickups, and Allparts parts and accesories.

Like most small businesses, we don't have room to keep a large inventory, buy in bulk, or just dropship items from the manufacturer.  Our margins are small when it comes to reselling.  While you may be able to find it cheaper somewhere else (online), get free shipping, or some other way to financially sweeten your purchase from another sales avenue, or just find a cheaper alternative to what we offer, we feel there are some good reasons to purchase from us.

Every time you buy something from us, you support a family that gives back to the community, your community.  We prioritze buying products from other makers and small businesses when possible. We volunteer, donate to causes that support the environment and social justice, to people in need, pay taxes locally to support the local infrastructure (we pay more taxes per year than some of the biggest companies in the world, and our donations when put in proper financial perpective to what we earn, are absolutely epic in comparison).  Most of the time these things go unrecognized, but we do it because we hope that by making the world around us better, it will spread like a shockwave and maybe even eventually come back around to us.

We are also conscious of the environment and think about the materials we use, the things we order, and the companies we order from.  The items we resell are curated by us with the same intentions as the things we make.  There is more to value than just the monetary price, we choose things that will last, that were created with minimal impact, and will minimze their impact at end of the product life.  Fix it, upcycle it, recycle it.  If it outlasts your needs, pass it on to someone else. Consume, but do it consciously.

Thank you for reading this and thinking of us.

Spring is a busy time for us, working to schedule events where we will share our stuff, signing up for classes to build and refine our skills, and planning time to be able to take a break from it all.  If you check our events page regularly, we will be adding new events as we apply and get confirmed for them.

Of course we are also working on making lots of new stuff.  It is tough to market your work when everything you make is one of a kind and hand made.  Updating websites, sales channels, and maximizing profits is great for businesses, but also time consuming.  There is also ordering supplies, accounting, taxes, and all the other non-creative part to having an artistic/maker type business.  It is a lot of work and skill sets that come into play when running a business and it is only the three of us, and one of us is mostly busy enjoying being a kid (as she should be.)

The best way to see our stuff is to check it out at an event we are vending at.  You can find a small selection of Astrid's art hanging in Artistic Portland Gallery on NE Fremont St.  You can also check our square site, we really do try to keep it up to date with what we have availiable outside of the gallery.  If you check out our Instagram account @atrumarte,  there are often pictures of what we are working on too.  Remember, each piece is unique, so if you see something you like....