ONLINE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Mckenna Hallett: Practicing "the Four R's" of Art and Life REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, RETHINK
by Noelle Backer

Mckenna Hallett

Unlike many craftspeople, Mckenna Hallett was driven to her craft by money -- she needed extra money to publish more than 100 songs she had written. She had intended it to be temporary, but a few months later she abandoned her "day job" in sales to pursue her craft full time.

As a passionate environmentalist, this Maui artist "had to find something she could reuse." She was led to found objects, including rocks, old copper generator windings and radiator core, and to using only hand tools.

Eight years later, Hallett's work is selling in shops around the country, and was recently picked up by Neiman Marcus in Honolulu, where she had to convince the merchandisers that national exposure was not an option for her one-of-a-kind pieces. Along the way she has not wavered from her environmentalist beliefs, and she looks for stores that will sell "the three Rs" (reduce, reuse, recycle) along with her work.

Captured Series: Moonrise "I have promised myself that if I ever find another piece of beach glass in this form, that I would consider selling one of the two finished pieces. I have even set aside a chunk of this incredibly thick-gauge aluminum to wrap the future found glass. Well, it has been seven years. ... It just goes to show how rare some of my finds are."

TCR: How did you get involved in working with recycled materials?

MH: It began in 1992 as a way to fund another art project. I write music, and I wanted to publish the [100-plus] songs I have sitting at my piano. I had a great job [selling antique products like paper and maps] and a good income. I have been an environmentalist since my early teens -- over 30 years. I could not justify peddling some product that required a factory to spew its chemicals. I had to find something I could reuse. So when I considered extra income, I had to consider the impact of this enterprise. After all, this was additional income to be used to fund a very ethereal and self-indulgent project. This was not a second job in the sense of trying to feed a family or some other essentials.

I went through so many scenarios. I thought about re-finishing old furniture -- for a nano-second. Then I thought about going to my local Salvation Army and buying clothing and turning it into pillows, but I would [still] be buying the pillow fillings. I had dozens of ideas brewing for many weeks.

One day, I picked up a lovely stone. I wrapped it in some old wire, attached an old shoestring ... and voilá. I thought it was cool, but I would have never guessed the reactions [I got] as I wore it around for the next several days. A call came in one day: "Can you make me one?" Then another. Then someone called and said she wanted earrings to match. What a challenge! I started wrapping up all kinds of things. It felt limiting, however, and [I thought], "What if I drilled these flat stones?"

I love power tools, so imagine my surprise when one day experimenting with a Dremel tool, and slowly drilling a hole in a rock, I had an overwhelming sense of disgust. I looked at this half-drilled stone and truly felt ashamed. I cannot describe this moment, but ... it was an amazing turning point.

"We all must learn the three R's: Reduce, reuse, and then recycle. I must make this point very clear. I am not recycling. I am reusing. As helpful as recycling is, reusing uses no fossil fuels, and reducing the buying of new items is the ultimate green act and goal. Albeit, not a message that gets into print too often, but it is all part of a growing need for our planet's long-term health. I go into greater detail at my Web site and encourage everyone to visit these thoughts in more depth." --Mckenna Hallett

TCR: How did you pursue it?

MH: I am self-taught. In fact, I tried to figure out where I could go to learn more about making "stuff from stuff" without burning fossil fuels, but no one else was doing things the way I wanted to do them, and I was unable to take advantage of the knowledge around me. I tried. I love learning. ... I spent hours on the Internet and at the library studying metal sculpture and jewelry, [but it was] no good. Alas, they all relied on power, power tools, annealing, soldering, and the like. Sure, I picked up a thing or two along the way; but it was when I began looking at other crafts, like woodworking, especially furniture makers using metal-free techniques, and fell back on my old college days of sewing my own wardrobe that inventiveness began to conquer the challenges of not using power.

My main problem was how to connect things and make them wearable, durable and comfortable. In some ways, I was blessed because I was forced out of the "box" of traditional jewelry construction, which led to this uniquely post-industrial look. It has been described in other feature articles as spanning two centuries. Of course, that was last year, so now I must be spanning three centuries!

Preserving Pottery "On foraging excursions I am always on the look-out for old pottery pieces. So rare are usable fragments that after over seven years of searching, I have barely enough pieces to fill my cupped hands. When a material is this hard to come by, I often designate its use with deep consideration and reverence for its rarity. Bamboo, by the very nature of the cross-cultural admiration for its simplicity, utility, abundance and beauty, just made sense as a design element for this rare fragment of pottery."

TCR: When did you begin selling your work, and through what venues?

MH: This was supposed to be a supplemental and temporary income maker. I just wanted to fund my music. But, in 1992, at the end of a six-week Christmas mall show -- I had [decided to take] a leave of absence from my "day job" in sales -- I had a stack of business cards from store owners who wanted to carry my work. In those six weeks of the Christmas season I had experimented wildly and intentionally.

After the show, I went back to my sales position, but by then I had decided to open a few accounts.

As a former window dresser, I put special emphasis on my display. The first store that wanted my work was a local gallery that represented some of the finest artists, but the work was very poorly displayed. I insisted that my work be displayed using props I designed. The owner refused. I offered consignment for a 60-day trial to hopefully offset [in the gallery owner's mind] the demand for my specific display and keep my foot in the door. Looking back, [I realize] it was pretty brazen, but I just really believed in my display and its marketing capability. Now this standard method of operations is set in stone. The few cases where I have [wavered], I have seen very poor sales.

TCR: What challenges did you face in the beginning?

MH: It was and is a continuing challenge to find raw materials. Even more challenging is figuring out what properties these raw materials offer for the construction of designs.

For example, I use a lot of old copper generator windings. The wire can be anywhere from 30-gauge to sizes I can't even cut with my cutters and must be cut with a hacksaw. One day, I found some square wire equivalent to about 18-gauge brass in terms of its tensile strength and diameter. I was so excited and wanted to make earring designs with serious angles to emphasize the square nature of the wire. That is when I learned about the protonation of metals. I would bend one design and go to make a matching pair, and the metal would fail. It was protonated from all the years that electricity had coursed through it, making the brittle areas very brittle and other parts of the wire act like salt water taffy. In fact, the biggest challenge was [forcing myself] to put my drawings and perfectionism aside; the old metals were way too unpredictable. Serendipity rules in my studio.

So, here I was, trying to construct wearable items with no road maps and no background knowledge of engineering. To top it off, I was using metals that had a mind of their own. This coupled with living on a small island and having very few industrial waste sources was very difficult -- still is. But my address book is filled with construction crews now. I have a growing number of roofing companies and plumbers to call on.

Totem Series "This is a favorite design of mine because the combinations of metals is so endless. The combination/contrasting of the highly textural aluminum (from the back panel of a solar panel that was on route to the dump until I spotted it!) with the softly mottled, bronze-looking aluminum (from the cane fields of Kauai). The color is actually the soil, 'Red Dirt,' that has stained the surface of the aluminum."

TCR: How did you overcome them?

MH: To some degree, I am still trying to overcome the challenge of using found objects. My big worry is making sure that when I find a strip of some metal, that I am conserving as much as possible as I experiment. I have some metals that have such remarkable surfaces that I cannot bear to cut into them. And if the section [of metal] is only going to allow for a few dozen pieces, I get very nervous about the prototype work. ... Then I do time studies to see if I have a viable product at a viable price. So, you can see that I can do a lot of work only to discover that [what I think is a] great idea can lead nowhere. This will always be a challenge.

TCR: Who is the market for your work?

MH: My immediate peers are the top of the list. Women who were flower children or had wished they had been, or still are to this day -- like me. Women who are confident and desirous of expressing that confidence. Women who are embracing the principles of "low-impact life" and wanting to remove facades and start nourishing and honoring nature and this beleaguered planet. Women who are activists and want to wear symbols of their activism.

I have letters from women who have sold off their "high impact" jewelry, wear my work exclusively and now buy only used clothing. The money they save goes into contributions to earth-friendly non-profits. They get great satisfaction from the knowledge that they are doing something proactive by buying and wearing my work.

I also have some work that is worn by men. It is very exciting to see men wearing my designs. That is one area I want to explore more fully.

Voyager Series "This was designed for Neiman Marcus. The 'driftwood' is actually found on the ocean bottom; I go diving to make sure no critters live inside. It requires very elaborate preparation: long soaks in re-freshed fresh water and then long days spent in the sun to dry out. It is eventually added to the aluminum (called aluminum flume) backdrop, which was originally used to channel water for over 60 years in the cane fields of Kauai. The center of attention goes to my dearly revered Pohaku Ala (dense water worn basalt), the true voyager! How many eons has this stone endured, and how did this perfection come to be? Only Mother Nature has the complete story of this voyage."

TCR: How do you reach your target market?

MH: Promoting my work is complex. I am in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so doing the big craft shows -- wholesale or retail -- is very expensive. (I am so grateful to The Crafts Report for the Gallery [Profiles]! Please don't ever stop that feature.)

On the other hand, I am fortunate to live in a community for which tourism is a major industry. My work was sold for many years in a store located in a shopping center smack in the middle of several large, high-end resorts.

Ceremonial Kimono "This demonstrates the incredible artistry of Mother Nature. This is a perfect example of the lovely corrosion that can only be achieved through decades of natural exposure to the elements. This copper came from a roofing contractor and was originally part of roof flashing."

I also organized a weekly craft show at the same shopping center, so each week I had the opportunity to meet and greet people who had bought from the store. I made additional sales sometimes, but more importantly, I made sure that each person who stopped at my display learned about the store's location. These clients would return to the resorts wearing my work and refer interested people back to the store.

[I've tried direct sales on the Internet} but my work is so one-of-a-kind that my Web site is useless to me -- [order] fulfillment is a nightmare. Even [with an expensive, high-quality] digital camera, I cannot control the color that the client's monitor displays. Ditto color catalogs or other mail offerings. By the time it is printed and mailed, the work shown is long gone.

I am ultimately looking for businesses that will sell "the three R's" along with the jewelry. I also require my accounts to use my hand-made packaging, which has my tri-fold business card inside it with my Web site and other contact information. All but two of my accounts do this without hesitation. They know that I have no interest in selling directly and "stealing" sales from them. They are encouraged and believe that they are perpetuating my collection of ideals.

TCR: You promote your work as being made without burning fossil fuels ... can you explain more about what this means and about the "VS movement," which you refer to extensively on your Web site?

MH: Well, using no fossil fuels means no heat, no electricity, and therefore no solder, no flame or torches. Nothing but a shop light, a fan and a radio are plugged in during the construction phases of my pieces.

Voluntary Simplicity is a widespread philosophy driven by the goal of improving quality of life for all. It is sometimes referred to as the Simple Living Movement, and promotes a conscious, healthy and restorative lifestyle through frugal consumption and environmental awareness. An Internet search for "Voluntary Simplicity" will provide links to many sites about the movement. An informative site to start with is http://www.simpleliving.net. Books on the subject are also available in many book stores.

Voluntary Simplicity Movement [promotes] sustainability and lowering one's impact [on our planet]. In using what I find and minimizing [the amount of] new stuff [I buy], I am lowering my impact and helping the public lower theirs, too. I could go one step further and do only sculpture or wall works, which would do away with my purchase of cord and earring findings, etc., but I love that somewhere right now a conversation about conservation is taking place because someone was asked about a piece of mine they are wearing.

Voluntary Simplicity also guides my packaging and presentation. Cereal cartons get reused (and the torn-off bits recycled) for earring cards. Brown paper grocery bags are my packaging. This reuse of these materials is always met with glee and admiration. Even in my wholesale shipments I use egg cartons and toilet paper rolls, etc., instead of Styrofoam peanuts. Any packaging that I am forced to buy with my own purchases is reused by me as filler.

Voluntary Simplicity also encourages that one's financial needs be reevaluated. It encourages simplifying ones life by reducing dependency on living outside of ones means. Is driving a brand-new car as important as taking a month's leave of absence to tour Indian historical sites with your children this summer? Down-sizing one's daily life brings immense joy because it brings control. I have a sign at my desk that keeps me focused when I am looking through tool catalogs (my weak spot): "Happiness is not about getting what one wants -- it is about enjoying what you've already got."

DETAILS

TCR: Do you have health or studio insurance? Who is your provider? MH: The state of Hawaii requires all employees to be insured. Lucky for me, my husband is employed and secured a plan for me. I was rejected (probably my arthritis) when I tried to secure my own plan. No studio insurance -- just a bunch of junk laying around anyway! TCR: Where do you get your materials? MH: The few items I buy usually come from Rio Grande. I really respect the level of service they provide. They have helped me through some very complex equipment purchases and are extremely professional. (800) 545-6566; http://www.riogrande.com. TCR: What other resources have been helpful to your career? MH: Most recently, I spend a fair amount of time monitoring and occasionally participating in The Crafts Report's online discussion group. This delightful community is so quick to help with solutions to everyday problems. In general, the Internet is very important -- likely more important to me because of my isolation on Maui. I can't drive to my nearby big city of Honolulu -- and the airfare alone is $100 or more, so the Internet brings me what I need if I have exhausted my local sources.

TCR: Have there been major turning points throughout your career?

MH: This interview is certainly a turning point! There have been many more than I can list, often self-generated. For example, I was just featured on a local TV program in January. It is similar to, and comes on right after "60 Minutes," but with lighter fare -- it is all about Hawaiian residents who in some way have a "wow, isn't that something" personality/ability. They had done a story on me a few years earlier, so when I was asked to do a public appearance at the Honolulu Neiman Marcus, I knew they would be interested. I called the producer myself.

Later that month, I was at another store here in Maui, and because of that TV story, a reporter for a local newspaper came and interviewed me. None of these situations are turning points unless you recognize them and are proactive in squeezing every possible benefit out of them. You must turn at that point.

Another example: Since my first experimental mall show, people have said things like, you should be in Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus or Bloomingdales, but I felt that my work was too personal, too one-of-a-kind to fit into such corporate scenes. When Neiman Marcus opened in Honolulu several months back, I inquired about setting up an appointment, thinking I should a least investigate since they were sort of in my back yard. I was instructed to send photos. This past fall -- a year later -- I sent my regular catalog with a cover letter that had photos of my more unique works embedded in the borders. The merchandising manager went into a three-minute praise session on my answering machine! It took a lot to convince them that national exposure was not an option. They now understand that my work is not abundantly available.

MCKENNA HALLETT'S INSIGHT FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Use your marketing mind at all times. If you don't have a marketing mind, then hire one. Make it easy for people to say yes. Stay true to your goals. Identify your weaknesses. Seek answers and solutions to questions in areas of your business where you have weaknesses by using professionals from all corners of industry as needed. Pay attention to details. Enjoy every moment you spend as a self-employed artist and remind yourself daily how very fortunate you are. Don't be too critical of yourself -- you will get plenty of rejection to keep you busy. Don't over-reach your abilities. If you don't know how to draw faces, stick to landscapes. Don't undervalue your work; that can kill a sale just as fast as overpricing. Learn everything you can about cost-of-goods sold; poor pricing/valuing hurts you with every sale (or lack of sale). Don't get distracted by some trend if it means compromising your expression. The trendy work will not reflect inner joy or honesty, and that distance will be translated in the finished piece.

TCR: What has been the most difficult thing you have encountered in your line of work?

MH: I have experienced one unique problem: My work and its message can be very intimidating to retailers. A recent screening at a co-op gallery is an example. I was privy to the discourse that led to my rejection. Other jewelry artists did not want their work to be examined [alongside] my low-impact work. They feared that their work would be considered offensive to the planet if someone was to look at my work first. Apparently, even a potter felt the use of a kiln might take a hit because of my no-heat principles. I have come to accept that this plays a big part in my rejections, and I accept that their concerns are real. Happily, it is a big world, and I just move to the next opportunity.

TCR: Has your Web site affected your business? How?

MH: As I mentioned earlier, I have withdrawn the option of direct sales because of fulfillment impracticalities. However, I am very pleased to have this mechanism available to my retail clients who I hope will continue to investigate the principles of RRR and VS.

But what I always assumed would be of even more value is the ease of introducing my work to store and gallery owners. The Web is so non-invasive. Click when you want. No photos to return. No phone calls that add even more costs at a time when neither party has evidence of a return on investment. In fact, I have added to my criteria that new accounts must be e-mail savvy.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Mckenna Hallett Currents, Low-impact jewelry Box 1118 Pu'unene, Maui, HI 96784 Ph: (808) 874-7649 E-mail: mckenna@tiki.net Web site: http://www.lowerimpact.com

TCR: Where will your career go from here?

MH: Is this the million-dollar question? I don't have a final answer!

I must admit to being very concerned about my physical ability. I suffer with severe arthritis, and not using power requires lots of strength. I do have days when certain designs simply cannot be made.

Having said that, I none-the-less assume that I will adapt and learn to make pieces that are less taxing. I may also push into higher-end retailer locations and begin to raise prices to lower demand. My prices are remarkably low, and I have tried to keep them near the nearly impulse-buying range. My occasional dabbling with high-end retailers has shown that prices can get much higher with little impact on sales.

Noelle Backer is senior editor of The Crafts Report.

JUNE 2000: TABLE OF CONTENTS