April Baird Interview - Future Glitterati

April Baird is the boss lady of April M Designs, a creative studio based in Halifax and I met her a few years back when she helped me with some graphic design projects. April’s self-described, “girly and cute” artwork that she executes across a number of mediums is dope and I’m a big fan. Something that I get really excited about is seeing people create lanes for themselves when there isn’t one and April has been doing just that. She recently hosted and organized the 2^nd annual Art vs Craft, craft show that featured over 50 vendors. Be Glitterati had the opportunity to be one of the vendors at Art vs Craft this year and I had a blast meeting the creative’s and craft enthusiasts who attended.

Where did you grow up?

Green Hill, Nova Scotia which is in Pictou County. It’s a small farming community. I love and hate it.

How would you describe your work?

It’s kind of like a mix between comics, retro pinups, cute and sweet with some sexy thrown in and a dash of Japanese anime style. I love playing with color, so most of my work, if not all of it, looks like rainbow throw-up with boobs.

What do you do for inspiration?

I look at some of my favorite artists work. Sometimes I just wonder around on sites like Tumblr and Pinertest. If I’m really in a pickle and looking for inspiration, I dig out my old sketch books to look at what I did back then and see if I can improve it.

Cool. I love going through my old sketch books for ideas too. I recently wrote a blog post about which kind of work can be called art, and which can be called design. Where do you stand on this topic? Do you think that there is a fundamental difference between art and design?

I don’t really know. There is and then there isn’t. I find both worlds can be combined, and sometimes they are worlds apart. Design is mostly used for communication, it has an objective and art is a visual piece created for the creator and for others to enjoy. Art and design are different, but can both get along and sometimes can be classified as both. Like graphic illustration. I stand right in the middle and everything can be put together under one roof.

Where did you get your creative training?

Well it all started when I was young. My grade 6 teacher was a local artist, and she saw something in me that other teachers didn’t. She lent me art books, drawing books and how to books. She gave me pointers and was harder on my work, which I learned from that. Then I took an art class in high school and a “design” course. Out of high school I took a Digital Animation program at the local community college. I really got into the character design and illustration part of it. Once out of college, I took a few oil painting and water color lessons from a local artist. I went back to college and took Graphic Design. And now, I just wing it and teach myself new stuff.

If you could work in any other field besides this. What would you do?

Probably culinary arts. I applied to culinary arts and animation when I was in high school and figured it would be one or the other I would get accepted to. To this day I still kind of wish I went into that field. I love cooking and I enjoy cooking for others. Maybe in the future I’ll go back to college and do that!

So. I recently lost my “vending virginity” by selling my work in your 2^nd annual Art vs Craft show. I really enjoy seeing creative types taking their destiny into their own hands and going after work rather than waiting for work to come to them. What motivated you to start Art vs Craft?

LOTS. Seriously though, I started it because I was new to selling my own work, and every time I came across a craft fair or a show I wanted to sell at, it was like crazy expensive to rent a table, or they didn’t like my work (because some fairs are judged and are bias assholes). After not finding anything, I thought, I need to do my own fair! And then I did.

Art vs Craft 2012

I also really wanted to help out other people who were new to selling their work. They needed to have someone be there for them instead of like, “I want your money first, and then maybe we will have you at our show”. Ugh. First time sellers don’t have an extra $100 or so lying around to spend on renting a table for a weekend. They have no idea how their work is going to sell, so why waste money? With me, I try so hard to keep the table cost low, so that it will be easy to make that money back for other vendors. But yah, that was one of my main reasons, is to have a local craft fair at a low cost, so that new vendors (like me) will have a chance to sell and promote their work.

How often do you participate in craft shows outside of your own? 

I really just started selling my work at shows. My first show was in 2010 in the summer. That year I sold at two events, the little day craft fair and Hal-Con (I was totally in over my head!). Last year I sold at three different events, included my own, and this year I have so far sold at three events, plus I have three more coming up (everything comes in threes for some reason, that’s a good thing, right?). I’m still a newbie. Aha. I would love to be able to participate in more shows, but it all comes down to how much is it, is the venue right for me, and do I have time to create new work for it? I already know of a few events going on next year that I am planning on selling at. So I will probably be doing more than the past years combine. Pretty exciting stuff!

What have you learned by hosting this event and what would you do differently?

I learned so much, I don’t know where to begin. I know now why Halifax doesn’t have a lot (if any!) of craft fairs in the summer time, and that’s because Halifax is one happening place in the summer. There’s just too much going on to compete with. I also learned that I should have signed contracts with the crafters, so that no one packs up early, because not only does that make me look bad, it hurts the other crafters. So I guess that’s what I’ll be doing differently next year. I also found out, not a lot of people are really into the whole Christmas in July thing, and I probably won’t do themed fairs again. Next year I plan on doing *hopefully* two craft fairs, and am planning them in the winter and in the fall, where more people are willing to participate and there will be more shoppers around to take in the local talent. I am also planning on using a different venue, so that we can get more foot traffic in and be easier for local shoppers to get to. So I learned a lot and will be changing things. One major thing I learned is that some people are awesome, and some are not so much. It’s the awesome people that make me want to keep doing this.


One of the pins I bought from April. If you guessed that this is Ariel and Flounder from The Little Mermaid you would be correct!

What’s next for April M Designs?

I have no idea really. I have a few series of illustrations I’m working on for events coming up, and then in the New Year, I have to start planning the next craft fair(s). What I really want to start doing is more design work, and maybe trying my hand at t-shirt designs and tattoos.

Where can people find your work?

People can find my work on various websites, aprilmdesigns.com, facebook, flickr. To buy my work, go to Plan B on Gottingen Street, and right around the counter you’ll see my cubby hole of paintings, prints and little things. You can also find my work now at Flying Cloud Boutique out in Ellershouse. Or you can buy online, if you’re not a local, on society6.com/AprilMDesigns. Or you can do it the old fashion way and email me asking to buy something or to say heeeey. I like those kinds of emails. Chances are, if you see April M Designs on the web, it’s me. Not on Etsy though, that’s not me. I don’t sell pads.