Artist gets Martha Stewart stamp of approval

By Lori McKay - The Weekly News
Michelle SaintOnge's website was so busy after her appearance on The Martha Stewart Show, her host server had to shut it down temporarily.
"I had calls from all over from people that saw me on the show," said SaintOnge.
The Portland Estates textile artist travelled to New York to do a live 10-minute appearance with Stewart on Feb. 11.
Her task was to show viewers how to make a screen print frame and print a handbag, developed from one of SaintOnge's animal silkscreens, in just a few easy steps.
"I wasn't really nervous," said the artist. "I was excited. For me, it doesn't really get any better than 10 minutes just me and Martha Stewart. To have her endorsement is worth so much. It opened up this international exposure."
One of the artist's well-known works from a previous art show, The Private Lives of Cats and Dogs, was also featured on the segment. The piece shows a dog watching his owners' feet in a "private bedroom moment."
"Apparently Martha hates Valentine's Day and doesn't like the dinky crafts. But she liked the picture of the people's feet, so that's probably why I was invited to the show a few days before Valentine's Day. I don't think much of Valentine's Day myself, so I was all for that."
SaintOnge spent two days in the studio before filming the segment live.
The first day was spent doing swaps to make each stage ready to go. Most of her time was spent with the studio's head crafter. Overall, she said it was a great experience and Stewart has invited her to come back.
"Martha was very professional. She wasn't overly talkative, but was really nice. Her producer told me she loved the episode and asked me to let them know if I had any other ideas and to come back again."
She hopes to go back in the spring and is working on her next pitch, including ideas for Martha's weddings magazine.
To get on the show, SaintOnge said she contacted a producer last September and left a message explaining what she did, then sent a press release. One of the producers liked the idea and got back to her.
After she put together a video and they had lots of samples of her work, that producer pitched the idea to Martha, saying they'd be in touch with her soon.
"They got back to me the next day and said, 'Can you come in two weeks?'"
SaintOnge paid for her own trip to New York, but said there's no way she could put a dollar value on the exposure she received from the show.
She said a friend of hers had been on The Tyra Banks Show before and had a terrible experience, so she didn't know what to expect when she got there.
"The second I got there they were helpful and complimentary. They answered all my questions. They even told me I could run around and take photos, so I did. Somehow I managed to get myself locked out and they even let me back in," she said with a laugh.
SaintOnge, who has a degree in animal behaviour psychology as well as textiles, has her own product line of hand-silkscreened custom artwork and handbags. She says she makes a lot of original silkscreens of people's pets and children.
Recently, she launched a new blog with easy-to-understand tutorials on screen printing.
All SaintOnge's work is sold via her website.
lmckay@hfxnews.ca
To find out more, visit www.printcutsew.com