Joyce Owens: Artist On Art

Does "Bad" Behavior Help Artists Have Good Careers??

From the very beginning, as an art student, I had been told about the obstacles artists had to overcome to make their art. My mother insisted that I study art education if I wanted to major in art in college...I changed later when it became a choice between me completing my degree and dropping out. I found out that I could major in Painting!!!  I quizzed my professor asking what I could do to make a living with a degree in Painting!  I was sane and focused and from my experience there would be more than one obstacle to me making a living as an artist.  The art history books explained the physical and mental issues artists had to manage. The poverty they faced without outside support meant a lack of materials, space and maybe even food and housing. The artists I read about, or my professors told me about, had difficult relationships, were reclusive, were surrounded by death, had tragic accidents leaving them impaired, and they probably  did not earn much, if any, money. They were drunk, high or crazy! and relied on the whims of patrons, gallery owners, curators and collectors who could make or break their art careers! (They still can.)

"United" detail 55"h x 10.5"w, Joyce Owens

Picasso was doing pretty well until he showed people his  African art influenced Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting considered a seminal moment, ushering in modern art. One of his contemporaries declared he should commit suicide! Luckily collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein saw Les Demoiselles as revolutionary, if others in the contemporary art community at the time did not. But see????At the time, what he did was nuts!

"Retro-racing Picasso" series

 

"Retro-racing History: After Gainsborough" Joyce Owens

Neither this event, Picasso's infamous womanizing, etc. seemed to harm his career. As he and Georges Braque collaborated on Cubism the same gallery paid Picasso more for his work than Braque earned. 

If you can't do something crazy, being born with an affliction helps, too! I already wrote about the miniature artist who has microscopes to view his VERY pricey art. Can artists achieve monetary and critical sucess without being a carnival act like the bearded lady or the dwarf boy or the "Siamese" twins? I recently read about a young boy with autism, a serious issue, who was obsessed with making art! Well, I am, too, (obsessed with making art) as were both my sons who filled up sketchbooks and paper from the time they could hold a pencil and scribble! Kyle Anderson drawing.

They were "normal" kids, so no press for their art work. I am not saying these special people should not be noticed; I am saying other artists should be, too.

There are stories about so-called idiot savants who can't tie their shoes, but make art, or legends such as Lee Godie who hung out in front of Chicago's Art Institute selling work to those she liked for $25 or $30 dollars. I recently spoke to someone who had made one of those purchases, spending $25.00. After Godie died her works sell into the thousands at galleries such as Intuit and Carl Hammer in Chicago. 

Lee Godie left, her art, right on Art.net

So I still want to know why the "normal" artists don't get news stories and attention when they do good work, but don't act out! I make art because I love to. People say they purchase it because they feel what I put into it. According to Art Business we should all be able to make a living doing it - here's hoping you will be fine even if you don't feel like being crazy for your art!

An Artist's Pain: Being Judged and Juried

"Survivor Spirits" (Joyce Owens) sold out (except for one) at Concordia University...

Of course selling out is no guarantee that your work is good. It means that you touched a tender spot in people's hearts, and you, perhaps, should have asked for more money for the work!

"Familiarity breeds contempt", and other dilemmas artists wrestle with are many...submitting to exhibitions may be at the top of any top 10 list of things we hate to do, but know we must! I will tell you what I know that could save you from too much pain.

Here are a few of the dilemmas:

If your work is too familiar, it is not challenging.

If your work is too unfamiliar, then it does not fit the current discourse.

If there is no continuum, a dialogue with previous artists, then your work doesn't address art history. 

If your work is non-traditional then you may be  unskilled.

If your work is highly skilled then you may be too traditional.

If you work with new media, you may have no art skills.

If you avoid technology in your work may not be contemporary.

If your work fits too well, it is trendy.

If critiqued by a person who just doesn't like your style, then your work will not interest them.

Is your head spinning?

  "Retro-racing History" series (Joyce Owens)   AFROcentric feel to portraits, after Titian, Gainsborough...

How do you know your work is good? Each person who sees it will have a different opinion colored by the viewer's personal experience and knowledge. Should you be discouraged when you:

1.never get into juried shows

2. only sometimes get into juried shows

3. when you always get into juried shows (probably not!)

Many artists produce work that gets routinely rejected by the mainstream. It has famously happened, repeatedly, to artists who are now considered world class. Van Gogh is an easy example. And then there are the artists who are here today and gone tomorrow...those artists like Georges Roualt, who is still known, but not as well as he used to be, relegated frequently to the study of Biblical art...not a bad thing. Jacques Louis David was the cat's meow and got down-sized. Here are underrated artists in an Artnews article.

With art it is a damned if you do, and damned if you don't proposition, with the possibility that if you "do" today, in 20 years, you might be a "don't", and there are multiple variations on this theme.

Possible solutions to rejection, and bad, or no reviews:

1. develop a hard shell

2. take what you can from the comments

3. believe in yourself

4. believe in your work!

5. ask somebody else

6. keep working to improve

7. find like-minded artists and see what they do

8. look at good art! (tricky, but you can trust some galleries and museums...)

Google the juror before you submit to a show

If you are submitting to juried shows there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Jurors have preferences. If you know they make abstract work or are the curator of contemporary art at a museum and you're a realist portrait painter, you may not get chosen (not a rule, but a possibility).

2. So if you research the juror, you could be prepared if you are not accepted, and happily surprised if you are.

3. Jurors don't know everything. I have been on juries where I discovered one or more of the others were not familiar with some fairly common  techniques. 

4. Take chances! You never know when you might be chosen!

5. Make sure you submit good images of your work

6. Follow entry rules and deadlines

Good luck!

MFA is a bad word to some artists

There is a strong anti-grad school theme that I see emerging.

Perhaps it's always been there, but I have only rarely been around the people who express their true feelings about educated artists. Kerry James Marshall has made pronouncements about going to school in a Bad at Sports interview. He did go to art school and studied with artist Charles White, and I have never felt that he thought MFA artists did not work hard and encourage our students to become successful artists, another claim against trained artists I have read on Facebook.

Recent chats on Facebook expressly denigrate art schools, art teachers and artists who teach! According to the chats people with formal art education can only teach students to teach because that's all we know! We don't know how to make a living being an artist.

Damn!

It's hard enough to have to struggle with being an artist, figuring out what you can contribute that some other artist hasn't already done, developing skills and figuring out about getting exhibitions, etc. Not to mention the idea that much of the world seems to believe dead artists are better artists than living ones. But I never expected to be put down by artists who don't have degrees, specifically, MFA degrees. because I have one.

My first experience with this was minor, but memorable. 

In about 2005 Nicole Gallery wanted to do a series of Salons. I suggested they be called "A Month of Sundays" for obvious reasons, after she told me when they would be held. I asked several folks to participate for free, sharing their expertise with anyone attending. I spoke, too.

Among the participants I asked was a friend who is a professional framer and conservator, Melanie Janulis, a lawyer and art collector named Clarence Wilson (who has donated art to the Art Institute of Chicago), and Claudette Roper, a documentary filmmaker, writer and artist who teaches at Columbia College. 

During a discussion about what artists do, one of the artists attending said it was easy for me because I had gone to Yale!

Huh?

Other people, on rare occasions, indicate that they believe I have it easier because I have degrees and went to art school. In other posts I will try to explain the process from my perspective. Maybe that will help artists who care to hear from both sides of the issue.

The problem with not going to art school is that you don't know how it works! 

The result of lumping everybody into one thing is stereotyping.

Jim Alexander photo above:

After Yale graduation many years ago. My mother had been hit by a car and I wasn't even going, but my sister came to see me march and I was also chosen as class marshall and carried the class banner in the ceremony and enjoyed myself. Then I packed up and my brother moved back to Phila. to nurse my mother back to health. My parents were divorced and my sister and brother were married so I was the one "available" to help out. I was broke and as soon as she recovered I got a job. As a new graduate I would have had to win the lottery to NOT work.

American artists still face segregation...

I recently read about a gallery in Delaware that has a wonderful show up of American art.  I would love to see it, but being in Chicago I looked at the images on line. There's a lovely Mary Cassatt drawing of a mother and baby, a couple of Milton Avery's, reminding me why he had to grow on people, but when you get him, he sticks! and a variety of paintings by a variety of the Wyeth family, and much more, including Thomas Hart Benton and Georgia O'Keeffe. Many of these are my favorite artists. And I was certainly grateful that it wasn't another list of all male artists!

Georgia O'Keeffe

My issue: I keep finding books, articles and galleries that promote American art  produced by only one group of Americans. I know there are galleries that show specialized artists, African American, Haitian, Cuban, Latino, many of which also show artists of European descent. I understand a niche gallery. I don't understand saying a gallery is showing American art and then only shows a segment of American artists that seem to exclude artists on racial terms, probably without a second or even first thought about it.

Please go to the gallery website to see the work, but remember there were/are other American masters, such as Joshua Johnston, Henry O. Tanner, Edmonia Lewis, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Geraldine McCullough, Margaret Burroughs, Charles White, Faith Ringgold...not to mention all the current living artists like Kerry James Marshall, Dawoud Bey, Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley, and others too numerous to list! Why are these artists often excluded when mounting exhibitions featuring  American artists?

I don't see any evidence that this gallery thinks there were/are artists of color who are masters, or maybe they can't get their hands on the work. Not sure, but since this is no isolated incident, I wanted to just point it out. Wikipedia only lists Sam Gilliam and Martin Puryear, no Kerry James Marshall (MacArthur genius), Kara Walker,  Fred Wilson (Venice Bienale), Robert Colescott, Richard Hunt and on and on...Most of the time you probably don't think about who is left out, or do you?

Catlett's "Two Generations" is in my art collection.

Yale University teaches a course on American masters.

http://www.somervillemanning.com/exhibits/AmericanMasters.asp

 

ArtNet Online Inventory

101 Stone Block Row | Greenville, DE 19807 | 302.652.0271 | [email protected]
Copyright ©2009 Somerville Manning Gallery

Mickalene Thomas @ Columbia College

I met the artist, and fellow Yale graduate, Mickalene Thomas  at Columbia College Chicago.

Joyce Owens stealth photos, not wanting my flash to distract.

Dawoud Bey (above right), the photographer, has brought amazing, informative programs to the college for years, now. I was able to attend a Bearden Symposium a few years back and recently meet Deborah Willis, a MacArthur Fellow (who included my uncle Jack T. Franklin in her book on African American photographers),  and heard her and her son Hank.

I have been aware of Mickalene's work, of course. I saw examples of it at Art Chicago and was aware that Rhona Hoffman is her Chicago Gallery. And I had all kinds of ideas about Mickalene's work. It looked trashy, photography-based in a way I would tell my students is a no-no, and all that glitter and mix-mashed array of materials just freaked me out, to use a 70's term that fits her 1970' sensibility!!

Meet Qusuquzah (above). Mickalene Thomas accented this 2008 portrait of her with hundreds of rhinestones. "I'm always looking for strong, beautiful, and complex women to model for me," says Thomas. "Qusuquzah embodies the allure of glamour." Image from Unbeige Magazine.

She blew all my misgivings and criticisms out the window during her lecture. My friend Derrick Blakley called in the middle of writing this post. He and I talked a while and I eventually mentioned the lecture, and how my response to her work had changed! A veteran Chicago reporter, currently at CBS2 Chicago, he asked the reporter's question:

"Does it make the work better ?"

"Well yes", I answered, thinking "great question"!

He continued by asking how the back-story makes a difference. I have added my quick response here. Examples of how the passage of time plus changing points-of-view about art revised how the Impressionists, the Fauvists, Picasso's Les Demoiselles D'AVignon (below right) and other artists and art works were thought of by the majority at first, including critics and art collectors, and over time how the same works became iconic, making for blockbuster exhibitions, and winning top auction prices.

Well, I still think the hairy mass of glitter under the legs and arms of some of her images is off-putting, but that may be the point!

The woman is very successful. That alone is enough to admire her for, 'cause we all know that only a few rise to the top. It's not "talent".  Plenty of folks have that. It is based on trends, proximity to people who can help you, luck and clearly, hard work.  Mickalene discussed some of the surprising coincidences that occurred during her life relating to her going to Yale at the time she went, meeting master curator and fashion icon Thelma Golden and becoming a resident at the Studio Museum in Harlem after graduation from Yale.

Thomas has a compelling story. She is a lesbian who was estranged from her mother. 

Her mother has become her model and muse, the only person, according to Mickalene, who will pose fully nude for her. Thomas has the courage to work her stuff out in public through these canvases that include painting, photography and collage as her primary means of image-making. She has done installation and video.

Mickalene is a dark-skinned, nappy-haired, big thighed girl from New Jersey! 

Mickalene Thomas is a pretty woman

I wanted to cry when I heard her. I am tall, light skinned and kinky-haired, and always wanted the skinny-from-the-knees-to-the-crotch-no-touching-thighs the white girls had, I thought those thin thighs were a signifier of beauty, like straight hair and blue eyes.  Light, dark or medium most of us black women have felt inferior in America. Neither Ms. Thomas nor I saw ourselves as beautiful, and no one else said we were either, not that I knew of.

My mom and I were never estranged; she saved that for her three husbands. The other stuff is enough stuff. The other insecurities, many brought on simply because we are black is enough.  The pain felt by the sensitive girls like me and Mickalene is enough.

Thomas makes glaring, in your face pictures, co-opting and transforming historically famous images that artists such as Manet (a long line of other well-known artists produced similar images of white models), and Modigliani first made. It's a perfect choice. I hate that she had to react to racism and sexism at all! But I think Mickalene is making the perfect art in response to her life, and making a life that was not perfect, perfect. Hers is a body of work I respect.  I meant it when I told her I am proud of her!

21st Century: New Rules for Artists

Tom Lucas, Preston Jackson, collector Robert Derden, Joyce Owens, Barlow at our 2007opening, Nicole Gallery

No artists = No galleries!

Can you imagine? NO art on the walls. No sculptures on pedestals. No installation work or videos on display in an art gallery?

As a conceptual idea, OK. It could signify the death of art. Again! On various levels...suggesting various ideas...but that's not where I'm going with this. And even with much art being virtual, another possible implication that art (as we know it) is dead, I'm not going there, either.

ARC Gallery, my work on back wall.

Taking this out of the conceptual realm, I have noticed a dynamic between some artists and galleries that suggests there is a deep pathology that needs surgery, or at least, "meds" in order to stave off some sort of art gallery tragedy! As they close one after the other, now may be the time to think about what we can do to improve conditions and make them artist-friendly.

Artists have other choices, so I hope the galleries will listen up! Most artists I know do prefer to show in galleries, at least, sometimes!

I just don't get why some galleries persist in treating artists as if they are secondary and not the reason for a gallery's existence! Here is my partial list of the "how comes"  that artists (and galleries) can consider:

1. Why are artists made to quake in their boots when they approach some galleries?

2. Why don't all gallerists divulge the names of buyers to the artists?

3. Why don't all galleries consult with and/or respect the wishes of artists on how their work is displayed?

4. Why do some galleries discount from the artist's portion of the sale, too and not from the gallery commission?

5. Why do some galleries not publicize the exhibitions and promote artists they show?

6. Why do some galleries ask artists to pay for photography and publicity on top of the commissions?

7. Why are some galleries not run as other businesses are, keeping regular hours, etc.?

8. Why do some galleries delay paying their artists when work is sold? 

9. Why don't artists get paid interest on monies galleries have held back over 30 days?

We have established that anyone can open a gallery with no training in art or even business, so maybe we can address a couple of other questions:

1. Should galleries be rated on the care and handling of the art and artists they show ?

2. Should there be a system to rate galleries such as the Better Business Bureau or something like Angie's List or the equivalent of Rate Your Professor/teacher sites for college professors? Artists could then anonymously give galleries a thumbs up or down.  Services such as these would forewarn other artists if their brethren didn't get paid for sold work, were not treated well in general, had work damaged or stolen and other atrocities that have been reported in the press and shared word-of-mouth.

One game some galleries play is the same one that some mothers tell their children. If you miss one train (boyfriend/girlfriend) another one always comes along. Just wait. Galleries know that there will always be artists willing to put up with, and be grateful for, gallery exposure, so if one artist stomps out in anger and feeling mistreated, another artist is waiting to be next!

OH NO! Bad behaving artists?

This had to come up next! Difficult artists give gallerists and curators the blues. They should also be outed, although as we all know, difficult artists often get rewarded, not restrained. The "talent" is enough to make excuses for bad behavior and the audiences are mesmerized by behavior outside the so-called norm. That's why we fixate on these reality show folks and other train wrecks (don't want to get sued so I won't name names...) that we can't keep our eyes off...actors, politicians, golfers and others who misbehave mesmerize us!

Professionally run, artist-friendly galleries should be rewarded! And there are a lot of those; Parish Gallery in D.C. is one. Nicole Gallery in Chicago is one. Homewood Studios in Minneapolis is one, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago is one, and there are many others! I hear Packer Schopf is one and Ann Nathan, too. I know Robert Henry Adams, now closed, was one. June Kelly is one.

Collectors, you have the power to change this bad behavior as well. I know the artists tell people about the bad behavior. So supporting the "good" galleries to buy could help; artists look for representation at the good galleries and respectfully speak out when a gallery treats you or your work badly! Sometimes the ONLY education people running these places get is from their artists! 

So many guests at Richard Hunt's N'Namdi Gallery opening it was hard to see the art...

I wish I had a top ten artist-friendly galleries in every US city, if not globally. I found this post on Art business.com that explains the ideal gallery and artist/gallery relationship. If you're not getting this you may be getting the short end of the stick!

Artists' Stories Contribute to Bottom Lines

I have to Google "mall art" when I try to remember his name because I have a mental block about Thomas Kincaid and can only remember that he has galleries in malls and he had made so much money he was listed on the stock exchange, creating bucolic images of light houses and country cottages! I visited one of these mall galleries and I felt I had walked in on a cult of true believers. You may have seen stories about the people who buy tens and more of his works, even though they are not even all originals. Some only contain a few brush strokes of paint.

Nicole Smith, left, owner of Nicole Gallery with Wigan, center, and guests.

The latest guy who is attracting international attention makes microscopic art that fits on the head of a needle and must be seen through microscopes.

Fascinating and novel, Willard Wigan has a compelling back story about why he makes these tiny sculptures of the "The Incredible Hulk", "Wizard of Oz", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", Rodin's "The Thinker", a golfer, a line of camels heading toward the pyramids, "Peter Pan", and "Elvis"!

I thought about artist-as-carnival-performer after seeing a bit of the movie Pollack recently.  See Jackson Pollack abusing his wife, who has devoted herself to promoting his genius. See him sleeping with Peggy Guggenheim because he was falling down drunk. See him being late for his own career and being generally disorderly except when it came to his craft. Then when  his genius emerges he dies prematurely in a drunken crash. But he, like Basquiat and Warhol, is as much performer and (literal and figurative) car wreck as master artist.

Nicole Gallery features Willard Wigan, Art in the Eye of a Needle, in Chicago at 230 West Huron until October 1. This guy makes microscopic sculptures. I think that is an original idea.

 

The other original part of this event is the $3.00 admission fee the gallery is charging to see the exhibition after the opening night, which was free. At first I thought, "this is crazy", but only for a second. Then I thought, it's about time people pay to see us visual artists. The galleries don't pay us, except if we sell something and they get 50% of that. If they do pay, you probably are such a a big name, your income is fairly secure anyway. I have been asked, so many times I can't count, to display art for free to gain exposure, or opportunities, that rarely come to fruition. Getting some bucks up front is a new idea, and I think it's not so bad. Wigan also gives a portion of the sales of work during the reception to charity, according to my invitation. 

What else can you buy for $3.00? You certainly can't buy a ticket to the circus!

If you missed the exhibition you can catch the free closing reception:

Wednesday, September 30th, 5pm - 8pm

Nicole Gallery, 230 W. Huron Chicago, IL 60654

Please rsvp by Sept. 29 to [email protected] with your full name and number of guests.

Artists Want to Make it! In more ways than one.

One thing I know for sure: art is a competition.

Oh, you say, it isn't? Then, what is it?

Don't artists have to do the same things any professional in any field has to do? Make connections? Hope the "right" people know who you are? Getting written or verbal recommendations are the equivalent of good reviews, right?

I think artists hope that having something that is compelling in your work is what propels artists forward to broader audiences and SUCCESS. I am not so sure.

WHAT SCENARIOS = SUCCESS?

If you exhibit at a local co-operative gallery you have made it!

If you get selected for a national juried exhibition curated by the former lead curator at MOMA, you have arrived!

If you are the featured artist for a major, though non-art event, then WOW!

If your work is published in a catalog? YES!

If, if, if....

What is your "if"? What is the thing that lets you know an artist is successful?

If you do __________then you have made it as an artist!

I forgot to mention money...lots of artists expect to sell their work at high prices. That, of course indicates their success, right?

And what about the locale of your exhibitions? "I have a show in New York!", I've been told by artists more than once. I ask, "Where?" If your auntie hangs your work during her garage sale, then so? Or you hang your art in the studio of a friend who lives in Brooklyn. That's nice, but...

I  think most of us have goals.

I was in 3rd grade when I said I would become an artist and  had no idea what that meant.  I have concluded that being an artist means different things for each artist and I know I am still working at it.

When you get the M.F.A. from Yale, as I did, the expectation is that you teach at a university. I finally got around to doing that. And I have always produced art. But I have not always pursued exhibitions. I was an artist whether I had international name recognition or only my mother showed by work in her house. But that's me!

My goals were and are to make good art, and then make more good art and then make better art and show it as much  as I can! Yes, I want the New York show beyond the Black Fine Arts show. Yes, I want international venues. NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is great, (and the other countries where I have work now) but I would love to be included in international galleries and art expos.

So, the art is political. You have to get out there, and network, work the room, build relationships, contact the "right" people and make the "right" friends to succeed in the art world. We already know about the art "tiers": international artist, national artist, and local artist are a few. It's hard when you don't run in those circles. Like getting into the segregated country club, we can't all infiltrate those closed rooms.

We want reviews in Artnews and the New York Times reviews, but the reality is only a small minority of artists get that.

By the way, the new Venice Biennale artists have been revealed.... 

What does, "I have made it"  mean for you?

The paintings are from the "Out of the Box" series by Joyce Owens.

Time to Buy GOOD Art!

Renee Stout, "House Guest from Hell" installation (art)

With the economy tumbling, the bubbles burst, the air of frivolity contaminated, the money to buy the bad art that people have been pretending is good art  is drying up.

The multimillion dollar B.S. art market is falling, falling, falling.

In value. In popularity. For Real!

I'm talking about the kind of modern art, avant garde, ahead-of-its-time art, for-the- elite-only-art, the art-connoisseurs-art, the art-sought-by-some-of-the "well-educated", world-traveled, that-art-the-regular-folks-just-don't-get-and-aren't-capable-of-figuring-out, they're told.)

That tells me that ALL is not lost for most artists during these hard knocks times.

This is the time to cleanse our palettes (perhaps in more ways than one!!

Apparently, economists are calling this looming depression a "reset". That word actually rung right for me! I felt the air of understanding flow over me, and expelled a sigh of  relief when I heard it.  Yes! we are reevaluating, restructuring, reformulating the system.

What do you do when your computer just won't act right? You reset. You close it down and start again. When I discovered turning it off would make it work again I was thrilled! That seems to be what our economy is doing, purging the trouble areas so we will work again.

Many of the businesses that are folding need to go. As you know many seemed (and were) mismanaged.  We're lucky our entire country did not get shut down as a result of the shenanigans Pres. Bush's people engaged in. 

So, now we are in "reset" mode!

The car companies that are avoiding green technology still selling gas guzzlers and road hogs will have to reset! The fashion stores that are selling the same made-in-China items that Kohl's, Target and Walmart sell, at a fraction of the price, need to reset.

And yes!

The art market that went off the chart in the 1980's and 1990's and created the wealthy artists that are name brands, similar to the Hummer, have to reset and rethink the rationale for some of the work they have produced.

Some inane, for the sake of the times, installations are becoming as meaningless as we thought they were.  Move a library reading room to a gallery and KaZAM! IT'S ART!

Stick enough styrofoam cups together and give it a poetic title and KaPOW! IT'S ART!

Renee Stout (below) is an artist who creates meaningful installations.

Renee Stout's, Fatima's Room"  from a Washington Post interview, David Graham photo.

Listen, I love the lyrical non-objective sculpture that Judy Pfaff started producing years ago. Renee Stout is one of my favorite artists. I remember her pre-Katrina installations dealing with Voudou apothecary in New Orleans. She adds amazing touches of trompe l'oeil in her work that kills me because they're so gorgeous! !

Obviously I cannot name the "ugly art is good art" folks. They know who they are.

But, ding-dong! I think we are about  to "reset" the art market and with that, tastes, 'cause the buyers with the big bucks are thinking maybe they should think more about quality than art trends that may evaporate (literally).  Ephemeral art is fine, and has a place, but it may be a metaphor for our economy. It seemed good for the moment, but how much is it worth when it's gone?

GOOD NEWS from artist Bob Ragland! Artists Don't Have to Starve

It's not written anywhere that an artist should starve.

(Bob Ragland quote)

I heard about this guy, Bob Ragland, on NPR today (click on NPR link to hear the story). He was just mesmerizing to me. When people ask him "what  else he does, besides being an artist, to make a living" he answers he makes his living making art!

He promotes selling work at affordable prices, selling work on the payment plan and most of all, self-promotion.  He eschews galleries and is proud to have several works in a museum. He seems to have a range from portraits to landscapes to sculpture. Check out the links to see this guy. And yes, he teaches art.

He's not much of a blogger with only two entries that I found, but they are useful. I am thinking he found the blog did not help with sales so he is spending his time in other ways... here is his website. You can get to it from his blog. I did more research and found another blog by Bob here.

So I agree with Ragland that artists almost have to be outgoing! That is really hard for many artists. Tooting one's own horn is tough. My mother had to lecture me about both being outgoing and claiming my talent when I was growing up in Philadelphia. I struggled, and practiced, overcoming my shyness. A child of divorce I was confused about a lot. But over time I learned to speak out. 

I agree that artists have to know their market. When other artists gasp that such-and-such priced a work at say, $24,000.00, I usually reply "that's great, but did it sell?".

I have often sold for below what I thought my work is worth. When I look at my contemporaries and other works in the same size range, and other artists on my "level" (that's another blog to try to tease the concept of "artists levels"out!)...many artists, I think, price too high and some too low. I am usually on the lower end. Even collectors who purchase my work have told me that.  There are "newer" artists who have figured out that art is a business and they price pretty high for their experience and the quality of their work. Art has always been my passion that I did not consider my business. But I am learning! One's passion can blind one to one's business...

Paul Klein, a well-known and extremely knowledgeable arts advocate and Chicago-based artist Tony Fitzpatrick discussed pricing during a panel discussion convened by Paul Klein that included artist Juan Angel Chavez, and photographer Dawoud Bey and me.

The consensus about pricing was if you sell out you priced your work too low.

I have sold out only twice. I sold some pieces that I had been selling for around $600.00 to $1200.00 for $2100,00 to $2400.00 at an auction and realized I needed to adjust my pricing.

But the good thing about pricing low is more folks can find art they can afford. The other problem for artists is that some people consider art a luxury for rich  folks. The potential art collectors may come to your exhibition wearing exotic jewels and expensive clothing that they may throw out in 6 months and want you to come down on your $1200.00 painting.

I think it comes back to everyone getting educated about the arts and respecting our contemporary culture.

Mr. Ragland represents one set of thought that you may agree with. For sure he presents ideas around self-determination that are vital for anyone, not just artists!  

"Wonder Woman" mixed media by Joyce Owens, left, sold fast!

WHY MAKE ART?

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It's hard work, it's relentless work, it is financially draining, it robs you of friendships and other relationships, it is psychically wrenching, and often leaves you feeling totally naked and exposed and, it's addictive!

A little black girl growing up in Philadelphia, the youngest of three children, living with a twice-divorced mom and two siblings, 4 and 8 years older than I and the children of the previous marriage, I tried to understand the world around me.  I didn't know what it meant that I made pictures, I just did. Not on nice paper or in sketch books (no one purchased them for me), but in notebooks that were meant for other class work.  As time passed I took myself to the local playground where they offered some art. I even won a blue ribbon. No one in my house cared about this as long as I was not in  trouble. So I rolled along, being a "good  girl" but feeling I was also an  artist.

I am sharing a statement I wrote years ago because it struck me as pertinent, especially in these stressful times, to remember the choice we make in taking the title "artist" and in hopes that you will share your stories as well. 

Of course there are hundreds of books about the urge to be creative, but who can tell those stories best are those who live it. And as we know, there is not ONE WAY to be an  artist; artists are all different!

Think how much it might help a young kid or teenager or even a young adult to know that we all feel uncertain, we struggle everyday about whether what we do is worthwhile to ourselves, let alone anyone else! And that good results often take hard work. But hard work does not guarantee anything.

I would love for you to share your story so I can post it to my blog so please add your story to the comments. If you prefer, you can email me and I can put it on another post.

Here's mine:

As a little girl I just wanted to organize my mother's house. I desired beauty and did what I could to accomplish it. I would go into my mother's room and arrange the perfumes, makeup and jewelry that sat on her dresser. I dusted the perfumes and other items that were, then, set down using good spacing to show off their lovely forms and colors. In our living room, I would diligently fluff and carefully place the contrasting, brilliantly hued pillows that adorned my mother's golden couch - strategically. This couch sat before heavy red drapes and on a mid-value violet carpet. I wanted each of the pillows just so, the red one next to the green one and not the gold one. The ugly ones were hidden in the back. I opened the drapes a certain degree to allow in the right amount of light. My mother received the same scrutiny whenever possible.

I did all this by instinct with no supervision. A divorced parent of three, my mother worked as a city employee and as an opera singer! I am the youngest and was raised by committee. As I did not misbehave much, I was often left to my own devices. I made neat the garden's grass and trimmed the rose bushes. I swept the front steps and polished our silver plate. I moved the furniture (as much as I could) to achieve the balance I knew it needed.

My vow to become an artist was made to Linda Chambers, my best friend at the time, in her bedroom in Philadelphia when I was still in elementary school.

As an artist my quest remains organization and beauty. I think I have always had the need to understand the human soul. For me, a pictorial analysis is natural. The first major painting I made in college was in response to my grandmother's death. The toll taken on my mother and the grief thrust upon us all had to be transformed to a tangible existence. My grandmother's death was the impetus for the painting. I understood..., and I also understood that the work affected other people who had no connection with my grandmother. The loss was a universal experience.

The themes that I continue to investigate include death (loss), love, joy, trust and other human mysteries and relationships, how we work them out with each other and our environment.

I am also quite taken with human protective camouflage. I believe we wear many "faces" to help us cope with our lives. I think about our many masks (disguises) and through my work I am aware that the truth is just beneath the surface. I hope to help people think about that. I hope that visual articulation of these concepts will make a difference. I am compelled to do the work. My hope, aside from making credible, esthetically viable works is to gain insight and truth via the process.

This is a statement I no longer use. It was more for me than anyone else, I think. If you need help writing a statement here are two sources :

link one:  Molly  Gordon

Link two: at CAR, Chicago Artists Resource.

 

Above: "Imagined in Marble: Found Myself"

Top of page: "Imagined in Marble: Figure on Pointe"

 by Joyce Owens

Visual artists stepping out of our comfort level...

WE have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

For artists negotiating the route to international, national, local and even community exposure is all tough and it is not comfortable getting told "no" or "not yet" or "you are not ready".  Ask any artist.

In the new world order ...

 

Should artists expect an easier shake?

Should Chicago artists expect preferential treatment?

Above is photo of Chicago actor Harry Lennix with Pres.-elect Obama and his first lady Michelle at the N'Digo gala a couple of years ago. 

Can we expect a change from our new president who lives in the liberal Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, the same neighborhood where my Hyde Park Art Center talk took place on Nov.3. (I had to circumvent my usual route to the center because at a point, cop cars no longer allowed cars down 51st Street, keeping us away from the Obama home.) 

That was a change I didn't expect. But I turned right and just took another street, still making it to where I needed to go. Maybe we can't be prepared for change that is imposed on us, but we can learn to  ask for the change we want! 

Strategy may seem antithetical to creativity, but of course it is not.  We have to negotiate and maneuver,  struggle and prepare, and then we have to do more in order to make art, don't we? From the  process of producing a work to getting it shown, not to mention getting it into a collection of some sort takes a ton of work.  Most of us don't have assistants, publicists, managers or p.r. agencies, not to mention a dedicated gallery dealer. Most of us lug our work to exhibitions and art fairs.  We prep canvas or watercolor paper, go through all the steps for pulling an etching or linocut  and figure out where we might display the works. We set our price lists and write our bios and artists statements.

I think what sometimes stops me, when it comes to doing new tasks, is that I don't translate one way of working that I already know to the possibility of doing something else. For example, writing. I have always been a writer for my own satisfaction, and I love to read. I love books.

My Philadelphia home where I grew up, and later lived during holidays through my college years, always had books, periodicals and daily papers around. None of my family went to the Broad Street subway or the Chelten Avenue bus to go to school or work without something to read.

I don't know when I fell in love with words. I will read a passage and get stuck on a great sentence...turning it around in my head, savoring it like a rich dessert. I hate for the good books to end. I read through the terrible books to understand what in the world went wrong! For years I stayed away from novels but I am back. Finally read Audrey Niffenegger's "Time Traveler's Wife"  after winning the Ragdale. (She won one, too.)

I assume all my reading led to writing my own thoughts, just for my own consumption,  and as my way to think and figure out what I was doing. My mother told me I inherited my interest in writing from my grandmother, but my mother, Eloise Owens, wrote too, letters to the editors to the Philadelphia newspapers, letters to me when I was in college and probably to her friends and family.

In college I wrote in sketch books stating that I had no idea what I was doing or what an artist did, etc.  I anguished about my life, my relationships and my hopes that I would someday know who I was.

In recent years I  had a piece published about my uncle, Jack T. Franklin, on the Museum of the African Diaspora website because I really wanted his record to be clearer. After hearing his name in reference to a Smithsonian Museum exhibition mentioned on CBS Sunday morning I  Googled him and found misinformation. I wrote the website to try to get it corrected. They thanked me and didn't change anything.  So I took it upon myself to write a piece about him. The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco came along at the  right time.

I did not stop to think I could not do that. Only when I saw the level of professionalism the other writers had was I humbled that my little narrative had been accepted.

Allan Edmunds brought up a great set up ideas in his comments on a recent post. That artists need to take advantage of international opportunities during the Obama administration.

I can tell you, he's right!  The only way to find out what will happen is to try.  Artists in  the 21st Century have so many advantages. For one, the Internet!

So if  there is something you don't do because it is out of your comfort level, let that  go, and Just Do It!

Barack Obama did!!!!!

The photo above of my mother, Eloise Owens,  is a proof shot by Uncle Jack T. Franklin. The painting is one I felt uncomfortable making, "Imagined in Marble: Figure with Hand", my on-going attempt at abstraction turned into a figure!  Below is a small group of these works. I saw the images in the veins in marble.

Artists at Work: Think it, Make it, Critique it, Promote it, Show it, Sell it.

As we near the end of this year's annual Chicago Artists Month  I have tried to see as many exhibitions as possible, and there were, and still are some great ones to be seen... The card below is for Chicago State University's Chicago Artists Month program and Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month, in the President's Gallery.

I think back to 2001 when I was invited to join the Chicago Artists Month Advisory Committee.
I was gung-ho!
One of the first tasks the committee addressed was coming up with a theme for the month of artists exhibitions, discussions, tours, demonstrations, and more.
I really wanted to promote the idea that artists WORK, just as other professionals do. "Artists at Work" was what I proposed, but I thought it might get flushed out and made fancier.  It didn't. And that title has been used for Artists at Work forums convened by The Department of Cultural Affairs for artists since then.

I had hoped that exploring this theme would help to debunk some of the mysteries around art making, and also challenge artists and others to accept that it takes hard labor, physical and mental, to produce art, and is not an easy path for most of us.

I had hoped, too, the label of "work" would translate into the phrase "work for pay".

Professional artists are often asked to give away art for free, but if making art is work, shouldn't we always get paid?

Those who request the free art should really start to understand that you get better art when the artist shares in the profits, not because we don't want to support the cause but, simply because an artist cannot afford  to give away their income.

So, here I go again, describing what artists do, because I know most people love art and want to know more about  artists.

Artists think art:

It takes thought, introspection, experience  to find ideas and then figure out how to execute them.

I found this great list on Art Junction.  Yeah, we are different. We all knew that from when we were little kids. My grandmother thought I was weird!

Learning to think like an artist means:

• looking at things more closely than most people do.
• finding beauty in everyday things and situations.
• making new connections between different things and ideas.
• going beyond ordinary ways of thinking and doing things.
• looking at things in different ways in order to generate new perspectives.
• taking risks and exposing yourself to possible failure.
• arranging things in new and interesting ways.
• working hard and at the edge of your potential.
• persisting where others may give up.
• concentrating your effort and attention for long periods of time.
• dreaming and fantasizing about things.
• using old ideas to create new ideas and ways of seeing things.
• doing something simply because it's interesting and personally challenging to do.

Above: "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin, 1879-1889, Bronze.

Everyone has not been exposed to artists, and been to an artists home or studio.  My quote lately has been, "My art has eaten my house!". I have my work and other artists work everywhere and then there are books and magazine and more...people who like art love it. People who prefer conventional order are probably aghast!

Artists make art:
It's not only a gift from God, inherited from your uncle or mother; it takes HARD labor, aka practice and consistency, to develop abilities.

I am  really tired of hearing about  artist's "gifts", when it denies the other attributes.

Artists make art:
And artists then have to decide what materials will express their ideas best. 

Image left: from Kyle Anderson's sketch book. My son learned to draw by drawing.

Artists make art:
Well, some don't make it at all. Some conceptualize it through writing or drawing, perhaps photography, a fabricator may make it from a design. So artists have to plan ahead. It's not accidental. But it's still work.

Artists make art:
A separate studio is an ideal place to make art. That costs MONEY! One of the reasons artists need to be paid. (If you like it enough to ask for it for free, you should like it enough to pay for it!)

Artists critique art:
Some artists will say that all their work is good just because they say it is.
OK. Sometimes it is.
Some artists are NEVER self-critical?  Those artists may also believe their gift from God requires no additional work (studying, reading, learning how to use materials, etc.).

 

Collectors are educating themselves.  They can also ask someone else, who knows what they are talking about, who has seen lots of art, to confirm their choices, but make sure the person you ask knows what they  claim to know.

I feel the need to name some qualified folks; there are many in reputable galleries, museums, art centers, and universities; if you want names of art dealers, collectors, curators, and art historians, etc. please comment or email me.

Please comparison shop, just like you would for that designer bag or sports car. If you love it, you love it...I can't deny that feeling. But please don't fall for used car salesman tactics from folks that you would rebuff in any other forum.

Artists promote, exhibit and sell art:
Not only do artists make the art, they often have to promote it, and find a way to show it.  If you are very lucky you may be an artist who has gallery representation. If you are extremely lucky your gallery uses some of the 50% commission they get when they sell your work to help expose your work to new collectors, to important curators, place your work in important art fairs and include your art AND your name in promotional materials the gallery sends out.

Please check the links. Try to get to Chicago Artists Month events next week. It could take you mind off the election for a second!

Survivor Spirits by Joyce Owens, above, are at the Veeck Gallery in the Catholic Theological Union on 5416 S. Cornell opening November 13, 2008.

Chicago Artists Coalition Art Open and Prompt!

Besides the other events during Chicago Artists Month, the CAC has launched a new magazine called Prompt!

Olga Stefan, executive director of the Chicago Artists Coalition, Prompt editor, Jeremy  Biles and the rest of the staff did a great job addressing some issues on the minds of Chicago and other artists. You can get a free copy when you attend the Art Open at the Merchadise Mart until October 19. I am in an article in the Translations section called "Defining the Black Artist Today" by Dawoud Bey and Patric McCoy.

I am in the Art Open, too. My piece represents the South Side Community Art Center and is on this page.

If Not you, then WHO???? Artists & Self Promotion

Well, we could leave our art careers in the hands of a higher power...an art critic, reviewer, curator, juror or collector!

Most of us might have to wait awhile for those people to take notice.

Happened, famously, to Vincent Van Gogh.

Happened to Henry Darger (in his case, it was no biggie!).

Many artists have complained that it happened later than it  should.  Louise Nevelson "...recognition from the artistic community arrived eventually, though not until Nevelson was 60."  read more...) 

and Alice  Neel , born in 1900 seemed to feel she was ready for art notoriety earlier "Neel   painted in virtual obscurity for most of her life. To some extent   she rode the rise of the women's movement to fame in the 1970s   and '80s. She died in 1984." 

Some talented  artists never get noticed.

Maybe we have to learn from the masters: Picasso, Warhol, Koons, Christo, Whistler, Dali, Leroy Neiman, the Impressionists, that it's not just about making the art, but about self promoting the artist.

HOW MUCH OF YOUR TIME DO  YOU SPEND TOOTING YOUR OWN HORN?

Oh that is crass. Oh,  that is rude! Oh, that is self-centered! Oh,  #@!!!!, that is NOT what artists SHOULD do!!!!

OTHERS should shout your acclaim. OTHERS, like the aforementioned  art critics,writers, curators, jurors and collectors  SHOULD tell the world about your work!

Well, I admit to being a bit slow about some things. This is one.  When I was younger people would ask me if I was good (at art) I would just shrug. I knew I was pretty  good, but thought it was bad manners to say so (and I was also insecure). My mother tried to convince me I had to speak up. She said people would think I was stupid if I did not talk about my work.  And that if I did not think it was good, who would?

There is one artist I know and REALLY like a LOT! This person  sends out emails of  new work regularly so the artist is always on the minds of many folks! Presumably the art is worth seeing and aren't we lucky to get a preview.  Well we are and the artist is brilliant!

So think about making your own music about your own  art. If you don't, who will? This artist, Mark Staff Brandl  made a recent comment on this blog stating the  same encouragement.

What tips would you share for getting your work out there?
If you think artists should wait to be discovered, tell us why! We need to hear good reasons on both sides!

An important California collector told me when I asked if he and his wife would look at my website, "if you have to ask, you are not ready!" Never did understand why asking someone to look at a website is such an imposition! Other collectors I know like artists to let them know, first, when they are working on a new body of work.

What to do or not to do about self promotion?  Is it a yes! or a no!

To read newspaper review above please CLICK the article