Joyce Owens: Artist On Art

Call for Artists: Mixed Mediums

I look for calls for artists on a regular basis. Many times it is so I can share with my students on our Facebook wall, and with artists who may be interested. Most calls require some kind of payment for entry regardless of whether you make the show. Yes, that fee is not usually returned if you are not accepted.

Every year nationwide artists apply to the annual Black Creativity juried exhibition at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It is a show that artists across the country of African descent look forward to each year. The top prize is currently $3,000.00.

Paul Benjamin, prize winner left-Yashua Klos, right 1st Prize

In the late 90's when I won First Prize it was half that, $1500.00. No, the museum has not increased the prizes across the board, they created a larger cash prize by cutting back on the number of cash awards, now giving three and a small $250.00 award for a youth artist. For as long as I can remember the total cash awards have been $6,000.00 although the fees have increased from about $15.00 in the 1980's to, currently, $50.00.

Invitationals sometimes ask for a fee as well.  In this case, it's never quite clear what you are paying for. It's often described as a "hanging fee", but usually each artist submits one or two average to small works that could hang on a nail or rest on a pedestal. I think I would rather pay a  "curator fee " for the person putting the exhibition together. I often produce exhibitions that I don't get paid for, and think I may start charging that fee.

These open calls for art allow artists opportunities to build their resume, offer a chance to win some cash, and get a critique from a particular judge who indicates that they respond to what you submitted when they select your work. Of course there are many reasons for not getting into a show. That could include the judges preferential tastes in art (she likes abstracts) or sometimes, unfortunately, their limited knowledge...of course sometimes the work an artist submits is just bad, or the digital images submitted are bad.

OK, here's my pet peeve, and I implore everyone who posts a Call-For Art to pay attention to this. I have to search too long and arduously to find requirements and restrictions for these exhibtions.

I would like to request that all "calls-for-art" show requirements AND restrictions in the first lines of the call so we artists don't spend so much time uncovering this vital information, only to eventually find out that we don't qualify for some reason. Arts organizations, museums, galleries, art centers and artists/curators, please show the same information all good journalists include in a report:

WHO: Age, gender and race limitations, if any, whether students can submit, etc.

WHAT: include eligible media, scale, date completed limitations, fees and prizes

WHERE: include the city, state and country as well as the name of the venue. I don't know where some of these towns are.

WHEN: deadline for submissions, notification of inclusion dates, date artists should deliver or mail by, the duration of the exhibition

WHY: to showcase certain media, to honor a month such as Black History or Women's Month, etc.

Thanks!

Every minute counts!

 

 "American Landscape" 30" x 40", acrylic and paper and fabric collage on canvas is at Koehnline Museum until March 23, 2012.

Juried exhibitions: Pay to Play

So, you find out about a great juried exhibition. Your work is clearly meant for it.

I won Best of Show at this Chicago gallery and a solo exhibition.

My work is on the back wall. I entered because of the juror.

The juror (who will judge YOUR art) is a nationally recognized curator at a major museum. You can just see this accomplishment on your resume/bio/cv!

So you enter work that was produced within the timeframe designated, only work produced during the last 2 years or maybe 3 years is eligible. You are the age required and NOT currently enrolled in a college or university as a student and you reside whereever the exhibition requires. Could be local, regional, national or international...could be women only, could be victims of something or people with certain ideas that they are examining through their work, could be photography only or sculpture...

"My Own Eve" by Joyce Owens won a First Prize from Faith Ringgold

You learn to read the small print.

Your work can be rejected if you do not follow the guidelines. Now jpeg size is also an issue, 72 dpi, 300 dpi, size in inches and pixels needs to be adhered to and labelling is a big deal. Last name with initial, title of art, numbered, thumbnail list and on and on...I don't think there are consistent guidelines and requirements. Each time you have to resize, reformat and retitle your images for internet submission or by mail on a CD. 

If you are not technologically contemporary you may not even be abe to apply without some help.

One more thing:

After all the work and prep and following of guidelines you have to cough up some cash!

You might pay one fee for several submissions. You might pay one fee for the first entry and another fee for each additional entry.

Should you enter juried shows, and if you do, what is the money used for? These are tricky questions with a range of answers.  Especially when the galleries also take a commission on sold works. Some answers: Jurors usually get honoraria. That may come out of the fees. Cash prizes may. Not always. Receptions, print material and maybe a gift to the institution that holds the event may come out of the fees...The staff preparators and those processing paperwork and moving the art work gets paid.

But artists often ask for money when they curate exhibitions, galleries sometimes ask for hanging fees...There are all kinds of ways that monies are accrued by galleries and artists. How much do people now pay to be in the Chicago Artists Coaltion's Art Open? I know they have made it more desirable, but it is a sizable fee for a large group show (yes there are other useful benefits through membership). Co-op and artist run galleries charge fees for exhibitiors. I once won a first prize at a gallery that insisted I pay a fee to insure I would prepare the walls after the exhibition. The walls were not prepared BEFORE my show! I did them!

Recently I was included in a competition that I had not entered. The "rules" were vague and not applied to all the artists. The judges were not curators or art historians or art critics or artists.

"Life Support" by Joyce Owens, 2010 did not win at Gallery Guichard last week

Most of us will take a chance on our art and sometimes the outcome is worth the risk! I think that is what drove artists to compete on the BravoTV art show.  Just in case!

But remember, artists, you always have the option of saying 'No thanks'.

 

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!

American Idol (type) Art Competition

I called for it January 2009. Now I will get the chance to see if I made a mistake! The show airs tonight on Bravo TV called "Work of Art".

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This is what I said back then:

The most easily accessible connection to current culture is television and computers. Where are the TV shows  about  visual  art; how about an American Idol-type Visual Artist show??  The scouts could find the next art star who is not an elephant, a "savant" or a child.

You know things are bad when we can rarely find shows about art on public TV!  Oh sure you can still find shows with the guy who completes a painting during a one-hour show and a great show called Art21 that features internationally known artists and more than on commercial TV, no doubt. Locally, ArtBeat features the arts in some segments during that daily "Chicago Tonight". There are wonderful travel shows that include the art of the region and do a nice job of explaining ancient treasures.

I have never seen a TV award shows  featuring  visual  artists, have you?  We get the Grammys, and The Country Music Awards. We have been hearing about the The Golden Globes, and the Oscars as the producers gear up the the awards season. The various Emmy awards programs honor day and primetime TV.

What about fine arts? Do we get dissed because we don't have unions?

Art publications, the few we have, are mostly national and only fleetingly acknowledge local artists...thank goodness Olga Stephen and the CAC got "Prompt" published.  Otherwise there is not much. Art critics are a disappearing breed, but sports writers abound!

Even the print version of The Chicago Reader, a free paper that we could count on for art has an "Arts and Entertainment"  section that  excludes visual art.  Those listings are  found in "Galleries and Museums".

Oh, yeah, everybody knows P-Diddy. Everybody knows Paris. And that's great, and a part of our contemporary culture. I am surprised by how many people have NOT heard of Kerry James Marshall, Preston Jackson, Faith Ringgold, and others.

If we want people to develop a need for art, a need to visit art institutions, to care about what artists think, the way folks care about Will Smith, Angelina Joli and Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Oprah (who I wish would switch from promoting only authors to including us righteous artists), we have to find a way for people to know about art and realize we are pretty interesting, too.  Even more than that, we are reflections of them! They can know themselves better by knowing us!

AND, that's why we need schools to teach art to all students from preschool through 12th grade!  If you talk to President-elect Obama's new education guy, Arnie Duncan, please let him know that we are ready and willing to teach! Let's resolve to honor our culture, better educate our students  and build artists bank accounts.

"American Landscape" detail, Joyce Owens 2010

What Do Women Artists Want, Anyway?

Do women want more, and/or better quality exhibitions?

Do women want fame?

Do women want wealth?

Aren't women artists already achieving these goals? If so, what's still missing for women artists that suggests this conversation holds merit? Why are some women still complaining that the art world is not fair to us? 

After all, Faith Ringgold, Judy Chicago, Camille Billops, Louise Nevelson and a slew of other women paved the way and fought these same battles ALREADY back in the 1960's and 1970's. What should we have in 2010 that we don't have yet and why does the fighting continue?

Hey, maybe we just don't deserve more attention.

Is our work good enough?

Do we work hard enough?

Maybe we work hard enough on our art, but not hard enough on networking and schmoozing people who can help us! Maybe we just don't have the right connections!

Maybe we don't help each other when we get those connections!I Often I hear that African American artists segregate ourselves, not going to the "right" discussions, panels, and openings. Not sure this is true, but if so, do women do the same thing?

Sometimes I am told that African American artists are behind the trends; we are mostly working in traditional, figurative styles from the past, and are not contemporary, so our work is not as challenging.

I think this is crap and a lame excuse for excluding segments of artists from a sometimes, lucrative but highly competitive endeavor, especially when I see artists doing figurative work who are not considered not contemporary.

Is this what's holding back women artists? Is the work cliched and traditional?

I don't think so!

The top women artists don't get the money at auction or in gallery sales male artists get, not to mention the fame! 

More and more women's traditional arts are in play on the contemporary scene, from crocheting to quilting to collage and other forms of handmade items that women historically have made...so, it should follow that women would be in the forefront of recognition around this trend. 

Right?

Let's look at another possibility. It's NOT the work but the opportunities to exhibit that work that keeps women artists on the back of the bus.

Should we cast our eyes towards being in charge of the mainstream venues, instead of women only venues and bringing in women artists?

here are some top international museums. How many women run them? National Museums Directors (Smithsonian, etc.), Guggenheim Foundation and Museums director, Tate Modern director, Vicente Todoldi judged this 2009 competition.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in L.A recently chose a new director  for their facility. The Art Institute of Chicago's director is male.

OK I am now looking at random museums. Found my first women director in Minneapolis . We know the director of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art is a woman as well. 

So should the women who run museums and galleries be approached with this concern about leveling the playing field for women artists?

Where is our Michelangelo, our Leonardo, our Kerry James Marshall, our Lucien Freud, our VanderZee?  Yes, the work they produced is undeniably amazing, but women artists are on par both then and now.

The women-only institutions have been around for 40 or 50 years, already. When will this job be done?

Want to be a museum director? Job listings here; check often: http://www.museum-employment.com/jobdir.html

Here is panel member for the CAA conversation on women artists.

Beate Minkovski 

Beate Minkovski is co-founder and Executive Director of Woman Made Gallery.
From 1992 through 2010 WMG has organized 163 group shows, 104
invitational/solo shows, 36 Artisan Gallery exhibitions, and eight off-site
shows. More than 6500 women artists have exhibited their work since WMG was
established. Active with neighboring arts organizations, Intuit and ARC
Minkovski has served on the Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP) Panel
for the Chicago Cultural Center from 2005 to 2008. She is part of the
Special Service Area (SSA) #29 Commission jury panel for public art in
Chicago's Westtown, and has curated exhibitions for various arts
organizations including the CWCA, The Women's Art Registry of Minnesota,
Women's Work in Woodstock, Illinois, and The Art Center in Highland Park,

Illinois. She is the 2006 CWCA award recipient for achievements in the arts.

Amy Galpin

Amy Galpin is Project Curator for American Art at the San Diego Museum of Art. She worked with Woman Made Gallery for three years as Gallery Coordinator and served as the Illinois Regional Coordinator for the Feminist Art Project. She received her B.A. from Texas Christian University and a M.A. in Latin American Studies from San Diego State University. She is currently finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Her recent and upcoming exhibitions include: Translating Revolution: U.S. Artists Interpret Mexican Muralism (at the National Museum of Mexican Art), Women Imaging Women: A Study of Female Portraiture (at Robert Morris University), and Brutal Beauty: Drawings by Hugo Crosthwaite (at the San Diego Museum of Art).

The Panel

Women's Caucus for Art

Investigating the Need for Women's Art Galleries, Exhibitions, and Organizations: From Our Center

Thursday, February 11, 5:30 PM–7:00 PM

Regency B, Gold Level, West Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago

• Chair: Janice Nesser-Chu, Women's Caucus for Art and Florissant Valley College
• Melissa H. Potter, Columbia College Chicago
• Amy Galpin, San Diego Museum of Art and Woman Made Gallery
• Joanna Gardner-Huggett, DePaul University
• Beate Minkovski, Woman Made Gallery
• Dena Muller, ArtTable
• Joyce Owens, Chicago State University and Sapphire and Crystals Artist Collective

Haiti fundraiser @ Nicole Gallery Chicago benefits Haitian artists

"In Haiti, Art Feeds Millions ” - Tiga (Jean Claude Garoute-Haitian Painter, Saint-Soleil School)

"Mirielle" by Arthur Wright expressly for this benefit; acrylic on canvas: 16" x 20"

Candace Hunter (Chlee) sent this information as she and others organize a fundraiser at Nicole Gallery in Chicago for the benefit of Haitian artists...

Dear Friend,

The Nicole Gallery, the oldest self-sustaining Black-owned gallery in Chicago, is coordinating a weekend-long benefit for the Centre d'Art Port au Prince, January 29 - 31, 2010.

Nicole Smith, the proprietor of Nicole Gallery, Chicago gained her knowledge and thirst for art from Le Centre when she was a young woman in Haiti.

Friday, January 29 - 4 until 8 pm

LIVE AUCTION/Entertainment/SALE...Nicole will be auction, "The Wash" by Haitian born and celebrated artist, Fritz Millevoix and "Two Kids and a Dog" by Chicago collage artist, Allen Stringfellow (died, 2005) and other art.

LIVE auction at 6:30!

Art for sale by some of Chicago's most loved artists, including: Joyce Owens, Shyvette Williams, Dayo, Candace Hunter (with Kendall Glover), Arthur Wright, Juarez Hawkins, Melvin King, Felicia Grant Preston, Marva Jolly, Sonja Henderson, Jesus Macarena-Avila, Gamiel Ramirez, Shahar Caren Weaver, Laurend Doumba, Nicole Malcolm, Efram Beltran, Greg Bray, Rose Blouin, Fabio Rodriguez and more!!!    Most of the art for the benefit is priced at or under $1,000.00 - savings of up to 50% off gallery prices.

SATURDAY, January 30     Viewing and Sale    11 - 5pm

SUNDAY,  January 31    Viewing and Sale    2 - 6 pm    Special Guest Artist

Make a party of it and bring your friends!!!!!

 

Nicole Gallery

230 W. Huron

Chicago, IL 60654

www.nicolegallery.com

312-787-7716

[email protected]
 

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more info on Le Centre...

The pressures that threaten survival also produce extraordinary creative talents, evidence of the determination that is in the human spirit. Haiti exemplifies this truth. Her tremendous creativity is evident in many ways - music, performance, crafts and writing - but above all painting and the visual arts. Haitian art first began to influence world culture in the 1940’s when exhibitions of Haitian “naïf” school painters were unveiled in the US and France. Today, Haitian art is found in the world’s great collections and is the subject of scholarly study. But its greatest meaning is the economic miracle art performs for the Haitian people. The Creole proverb “In Haiti art feeds millions” points to the parable of humanity’s need for beauty and ideas to triumph over misery.

The modern movement in Haitian art, often referred to as the Haitian Renaissance, arose in the 1940’s. More precisely it can be dated to May 14th, 1944, when DeWitt Peters, an American painter then teaching in Haiti opened an art center, Le Centre d’Art, in an old house in the center of Port-au-Prince. The Centre provided exhibition space and art instruction for the full range of Haitian artists - from completely untrained peasant artists to educated artists of the Haitian elite. The first exhibition was of twenty-five trained artists, but increasingly the center drew artists who were completely self-taught and worked in the 'naive' style for which Haitian art was to become known. The first of the ‘naive’ Haitian artists to bring his work to the Centre was Philomé Obin, who had actually been painting images of Haitian history and life in his home town of Cap Haitien since 1908! Certainly the most celebrated of Haitian artists was the hougan, Hector Hyppolite. He attracted Peters' notice in 1943 for the intriguing paintings on the doors of a roadside bar prophetically named "Ici la Renaissance" in the seaside village of Montrouis. Other notable early members were Rigaud Benoit, Wilson Bigaud, Prefete Duffaut, Micius Stephane, Montas Antoine and Castera Bazile. The Centre d’Art was an immediate critical, if not financial, success. It has weathered the many storms of Haiti’s politics and history.
Without pretending to a comprehensive synopsis of modern Haitian art history, some other landmark events in modern Haitian art history are as follows: 1945 - The visits to Haiti by French surrealist Andre Breton with Cuban painter Wilfredo Lam, each of whom bought several paintings by Hector Hyppolite. While somewhat self-servingly claiming the Haitian artists as fellow surrealists, Breton did a geat deal to legitimize and promote Haitian art in Europe and Latin America. That same year the Pan American Union hosted the first museum show of Haitian art in the United States. 1947 - The first purchase of a work by a Haitian naive' painter by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Museum president René d'Harnoncourt had first taken notice of the Haitian work in 1944. 1948-1949 - The painting of the magnificent murals at Port-au-Prince’s Episcopal cathedral of Sainte Trinité by Wilson Bigaud, Philome Obin, Gabriel Leveque, Castera Bazile and others, directed by Peters and the late American artist/poet/critic Selden Rodman.
The early 1950's saw the emergence of the uniquely Haitian art form of steel drum sculpture. A blacksmith named George Liautaud hammered out wrought-iron grave crosses for a living until Peters and others encouraged him to try his hand at figurative sculpture. His students and followers, including today's masters, Serge Jolimeau and Gabriel Bien-Aimé, further refined the art of hammering sculpture out of recycled oil drums. 1957 - The accession to power of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. For the next decade he and his tonton macoutes terrorized Haiti. Most tourists and buyers of Haitian art stayed away. In spite of this several fresh artists emerged, including André Pierre, Gerard Valcin and Salnave Philippe-Auguste. 1972 - The opening of the Musée d’Art Haitien in Port-au-Prince, the first museum devoted to Haitian Art. It was dedicated tthe memory of Dewitt Peters, who had died in 1966. The death of Papa Doc Duvalier and the succession of his marginally less repressive son "Baby Doc" encouraged a new era of tourism to Haiti and greater exposure for Haitian artists. 1975 - The visit of French writer, critic and Minister of Culture, André Malraux, to the mystical artists’ community of Saint-Soleil. He became a champion of this group which included Prosper Pierre-Louis, Dieuseul Paul and Louisiane St. Fleurant. Another artist who began to work in this period was the ever-playful pastry chef turned painter, Gerard Fortuné. The 1980's brought the wider recognition of the art of the sequinned "voodoo flag" or vodou banner (dwapo in Kreyol). Previously regarded as a relatively obscure liturgical art it came into its own with such innovative artists as the late Antoine Oleyant and Josef Oldof Pierre. These and more traditional artists such as Clotaire Bazile, Sylva Joseph, and Yves Telemac were celebrated in the seminal 1995 touring exhibition The Sacred Arts of Haitan Vodou organized by UCLA's Fowler Museum of Cultural History. In the last decade the innovation has been led by woman sequin artists as Myrlande Constant and the late Amina Simeon. 1986 - The departure from Haiti of the dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc" Duvalier which unleashed forces in Haitian art as well as society which have yet to settle down. The 1990's brought the inspiring rise of slum priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the presidency in Haiti's first free election in 1991, followed by his overthrow by a military junta. His reinstallation by the US and the UN in 1994, and his recent ignominious fall are the latest chapters in this period of turmoil. ...and then came 2010 and the earthquake...the Centre is now broken bits of brick...and yet the story of Haiti will continue victoriously through Her artists and those who love 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 Make New Rules in the 21st Century

Once upon a time the main goal for any artist who went to art school was to find gallery representation.

"Joy" series by Joyce Owens series were acquired by a Sinai Hospital clinic.

Many artists are by-passing galleries these days.

The artists who skipped art school seem to have a natural entrepreneurial gift that some of the art school artists don't. My friend Marva Jolly has had sales in her Mudpeoples studio for years, some people leaving with 4 or 5 ceramic art works every time she has one of her open studios. She shows in galleries, too!

More and more these days ALL artists are trying new ways to sell their art. Some prefer studio sales where they can control everything and keep all their profits. Of course they must pay for the studio space. Artists are showing in boutiques and restaurants, not new, but some artists who now do so are new to this trend. I recently exhibited  two sculptures at Eye Emporium, an eye wear store on North Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago that has a very cool exhibition space. Tony Fitzpatrick, a noted Chicago artist followed my 3-person exhibition titled "The Dolls of J" and artist Wesley Kimler's art works graced the walls of the gallery even while the other exhibition I was a part of was up!  Wesley's largescale drawings and paintings are magnificent. He and Tony can, and have shown in very important art venues and they also exhibited at Eye Emporium, a place that features artists as a secondary purpose for their space. You get it? This is a significant change!

Artists have shown their work in art fairs for a long time; the profits are better if they sell, although it is hard work to sit and wait for customers, gather all the equipment such as tents and tables, and transport and set up for a weekend that could be unpredictable. They  pay the sometimes hefty entry fees and oh, hope no one gives them a bad check!

So times (and methods) of displaying and selling art are changing.

I think it is time for the gallery system to change, too, rearranging the balance of power so the artists get more say (input), and in some cases, more respect, and perhaps a bigger cut of the sales. . .The galleries hold the power, if you are an artist who craves the gallery system. The gallery is the "decider" and gets to choose their artists and not vice versa. Even in those "pay to play" galleries, aka cooperative galleries, where monthly fees ensure your spot to exhibit, artists may not fare too well monetarily.  I know artists who put up with worse treatment than they ever would, in any other situation, to be represented by a gallery, almost any gallery! And don't I understand that!

What is the alternative? If artists simply promote and sell their own work it becomes hard to establish pedigree. Somehow, no matter how wonderful the work is we still require "stamps of approval" from art critics, feature writers, collectors and yes, gallerists!

Here I am (2nd from right) with some of my friends at Eye Emporium, who are also beautiful dolls. (l to r, close up of "A Girl Like Me" doll, Lilian, Madeline, me and Carolyn. Wesley Kimler's work is behind us on the wall.

Let me stop here to ask some questions:

Is there a vetting system for gallery owners? I know there are local and national organizations of art dealers. If a gallery is not a member, who oversees commercial galleries to ensure they run fair establishments, requires them to pay artists on time and establishes general protocol and responsibilities for the gallery owners?And if they are a member, do these organizations check for problems?

Do gallery owners need the equivalent to the M.F.A., or any proof of professional training that is often a requirement for "serious" visual artists? I found this when I searched "gallery owners + training".

Can anybody open a gallery?

Does anybody open a gallery?

Will artists flock to anybody's gallery?

uh huh!

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.

Fundraiser auctions: promotion for artists?

How many times have you been asked to donate work to a not-for-profit annual gala and auction?

I personally cannot count them.

How many times have you been contacted AFTER  the event  because someone saw your work and wants to add a piece to their art collection?

I'd say  NEVER to that.

I have had people tell me that they really like my work in an auction; the work does sell, usually for my  established price point, but nothing else has ever happened. 

Does fine art  mix with spa and travel?

I am fed up with donating one-of-a-kind art to fund raisers that position the art on a table next to a spa weekend from a hotel or a two round trip tickets to Las Vegas package or a trip to London! (Art needs to be displayed well, also!) The art work may sell into the hundreds but the Vegas trip makes $1,000.00. The London trip goes for $5,000.00 and some other artist's work doesn't make the $50.00 opening bid!

The work is undervalued and  you  don't even get a portion of the sale.

So this is what I decided:

1. I give to charities I would give to anyway.

2. I ask for a portion of the money, if possible, to pay my expenses.

3. If I don't support the charity I won't give unless the representative has  already purchased my work.

4. If I will get a portion  of the sale price I will probably be willing to donate  a larger work that will bring in more money than a small work for the charity and for me.

Most important, I am  starting to ask if it is an art only auction.

If not,  I  regretfully decline the new requests.

If I do not honor my own work, who will?

"Young Lois" (above) a tribute to Lois Mailou Jones, by Joyce Owens was in a gallery auction and sold at 4 times the opening bid.

BEYOND the BLUES: Taking art to the street

WHERE can artists present their work besides a gallery?

We have Lowell showing up  after the Barack Obama interview with CNN at the tail end of the recent Unity Convention in Chicago's McCormick Place to exhibit his work and make contacts with the working press. I trust we will get updates on this from L.T.

Turtel, you have created your own way for years, doing the comic book convention and more.

ARC,  an alternative space in Chicago that has been around for about 34 years, established for and operated collectively by women to exhibit, educate and promote mainly  women artists. Nancy Charak (a regular commenter)  is a member.

I am a member of  Sapphire and Crystals, a collective that has been nomadic for the past 20 years and put on our own exhibitions in spaces where we are invited. Our goal is to promote professional African American women artists. Twice we were featured during Chicago Artists Month.

Traditionally artist salons were hosted in the homes of collectors.  We know about Gertrude and Leo Stein, for  example.

Open studios are routine for many artists. Artists have been rejected from major venues and made their own way for at least 150 years, sometimes coming out on  top!

Do we really need the cachet some high end galleries afford us?

STUDIO SHOW: If I show my work in my studio it might sell at one price point to a friend or acquaintance. If I show  it in a reputable, established gallery, it might sell at a different price point to someone I don't know, and get a review. 

GALLERY SHOW: Same work, why not the same authority? Because of human nature.  Some people want to be assured that they have good taste.  Not quite mob action, but similar. EVERYBODY loves ...fill in the blank. Could be the thing everybody loves is actually the BEST thing.  Could be everybody was kinda brainwashed.  Could be many people don't trust their own taste. That's one reason Martha Stewart, Oprah and  others  have become rich, telling people what they should like.  People  need someone to tell  them what is GOOD. HOW about an art guru TV program?  Art offers all the  stuff Oprah offers and lasts  a lot longer, I bet!

TRUST: Collectors trust June Kelly, George and Jumaane N'Namdi, Norman Parrish,  Mary Boone, Susan Woodson, Isobel Neal, Ann Nathan and other gallerists in Chicago and around  the  country. Collectors believe these folks assure the work has guaranteed value. Critics believe these galleries have the education and experience to select the best artists for their reviews. I insist my student study artists on line by seeking out websites that are not the artists'.

ART DEALERS: Paul Klein, who no longer operates a standing gallery, has more clout than just about anybody else in Chicago through his Artletter, preceded by his extensive experience with art and artists. (click on Paul's name to hear a recent "Hello Beautiful" interview.) So, if Klein or Madeline Rabb like your work, neither of whom run a traditional gallery space, but both of whom are often asked to place art in major collections, you could have it made in  the shade. Well, sort of. You may have to do abstract art to get into most collections or be such a big name that they are buying your signature as much as your art.   

painting above by Joyce Owens

 

Artist exposed: Shahar Caren Weaver

Just want you to see a few examples Shahar Caren Weaver's work.

"Kente Church"

Shahar is showing her work in Hyde Park at the Catholic Theological Union at 5401 S. Cornell and you can park in their garage for free if you say you are going to see the exhibition that is on the 4th floor in this new and gorgeous building. Their hours are 9am to 4:30pm weekdays

773-371-5415.

The Veeck Gallery features art by Chicago area artists. Curator Janis Pozzi-Johnson curated the exhibition but her son died suddenly and she had to have some others install the show that also features fabulous Chicago artist Rhonda Wheatley, represented by Flatfile. Two other very interesting artists are also in  the show.

Shahar and Rhonda are members of the collective of African American women artists called Sapphire and Crystals.

Yes, I did go to see the show and met a lovely artist in the exhibition from India that I did not know. She explained her painting process and how it was based on a ritual that she engaged in when she was a child. Reminded me of Barbara Koenen's work with herbs and seasonings because the artist made meditation pieces as a little girl using natural items.. I agree that we should try to support other artists. I also hope we can share information. I don't know about everything that goes on in the city.

"Cosmic Sisters"

Please email ([email protected] with art event or art opportunity indicated in the subject line so I don't think it's spam.) or post upcoming events on the blog, please.