The 2009 American Glass Guild Conference
July 16-20, 2009
Buffalo, New York
2009 Conference
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Tom Krepcio
Stained Glass in the Internet Age
How might emerging internet technologies affect the prospects for stained glass artists and studios in the future? How can the field of stained glass benefit in terms of training, education, information sharing, scholarship, marketing and, maybe even, perhaps, direct sales? In what is referred to as “web 2.0” there are such a dizzying array of new options available for selling, promoting and marketing both your work and stained glass in general - what to make of it? Some of the questions to be explored:
- What is a blog, anyway? And how might this curious phenomenon help the art of stained glass?
- Do social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, or LinkedIn have any value for the stained glass studio or artist?
- Can photo sharing sites like Flickr or Picasa replace or enhance having a website?
- There are already dozens, perhaps hundreds, of stained glass training videos on YouTube. Do they help or hinder the training of future stained glass artisans?
- Will there be any positive impact from direct sales sites like Etsy.com or Guild.com?
- Can you really make money or is the internet only good for general marketing?
- The talk will end with concrete suggestions on how current web technology could advance exposure of the art of stained glass, for individual artists, studios and the stained glass community in general.
About Tom Krepcio
Tom Krepcio began working with stained glass in 1971, starting as a hobbyist at the age of 11. He has been a stained glass professional since 1980. In his work with a variety of stained glass studios, Tom has designed, fabricated or restored hundreds of stained glass panels over the past 28 years. He has displayed his own work at prestigious venues such as the Smithsonian Craft Fair, demonstrated at the Glass Art Society Conference, and exhibited widely. In 1987, Krepcio won the Best of Show - Judges Award and Highest Technical Excellence at the SGAA "Open International Competition & Exhibition" at The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY.
Tom is a pioneer in the use of computer technology for designing and fabricating stained glass, incorporating computer related technology starting in 1992. Since 2004, Tom has written a blog called Vitreosity, devoted solely to the topic of stained glass. He has recently created a channel on YouTube and a photostream on Flickr to complement his blog.
Website - www.krepcio.com
Blog - Vitreosity
YouTube channel - VitreosityInMotion
Flickr Photostream - VitreosityPictures
