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Jan 30, 2010

IDADA First Friday February 5th 2010

For many Artists and Galleries this is the first First Friday of the year. For those who do not know, in the Indianapolis Area most Galleries, Studios, etc., have opening receptions on the first Friday of the month. Most of them open around 5-6p.m. and close at 9,10, or midnight. Most of the events are listed on IDADA's (Indianapolis Downtown Artists and Dealers Association) website. On the homepage you can find a very handy map of where the galleries and studios are as well as a listing of hours and who will be featured in what galleries. If you cannot attend First Friday or simply cannot visit as many as you would like in the few short hours, most are open during business hours throughout the month. The hours of operation are also listed on the map. I plan on attending:


• Open studios in the Stutz Building from 12-5

• The Murphy Building including the Big Car Gallery, the new home of IMOCA, AND the Mt. Comfort Gallery (A space for Champions)

• The Harrison Center for the Arts

• LCi Gallery

• Herron School of Art Galleries



Jan 26, 2010

Seak Peak - New Year, New Work

I am now out of school, the holidays are over, and all studio buildings are full. I have started my next project which will hopefully end in a show in October called Amazonomachy. The theme of this show is related to a previous work I had made for a show for Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis. The piece entailed linking the ancient stories of the Greek Amazon women who were rumored to remove a breast in order to better shoot their arrows to modern day breast cancer.

Since the studio buildings are full I have started out with sketches, drawings, and a few small watercolors. I am now onto some oil paintings which should be posted on the website by the beginning of February! Now that some of the work has been started I am currently looking for venue. While the traditional gallery is fine I am also looking into hospitals and centers for women. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In the meantime here are a few clippings from my sketchbook:






Jan 19, 2010

Double Shot

Two similar but very different books on making it as an artist.


The first book is "How to Make Living as a Painter" by Kenneth Harris. I found this book in the Herron library my freshman or sophomore year by chance. It was one of those really really old books that have thick hard covers painted in those very odd colors (usually mustard yellow or baby poop green). It is a shorter book under 150 pages. The book tells about a man painting and selling his pieces out of a log cabin on the side of the road during tourist season (before the Internet). The book starts off with:

"A painter, like everyone else who does useful work, should expect to make a living from that work. Potato farmers, piccolo players and pathologists follow their vocations because they like the soil, or music, or studying tissues - but all of them anticipate also that their efforts will bring them enough money to live on. painters are just about the only people who have given up on the idea. And yet they need not have." (Harris , 11)


He also believes that not everybody can afford $1000 paintings but many more can afford to buy %50 or $250 paintings that they really love. He also states that you do not need to live in New York, Paris, Chicago, Etc. to become a good artist or make money from it. He covers just about everything in the book; pricing, selling, managers/agents, publicity, shows, how the public views the artist,commissions, and more. Overall it is a great book filled with great tips (including how to build a wooden crate for shipping!) which is old but not yet outdated. Since it was fist published in the 60's, this book is now out of print. I had to find my copy at a used book store in Texas.


The second book, "Living the Artist's Life" by Paul Dorrell is just under 175 pages and a very quick read. It is written by a man who was once an artist and then ran a gallery. I picked it up at Half Price Books for about five dollars. Written in 2004 it is more up to date then the Kennith Harris book and is focused more on any artist rather than just painters. (Not to knock on Kennith Harris he was just writing about what he knew and his experiences.) I easily read this in one day and it covers resumes, biographies, artists statements, portfolios, pricing, where to show your work, press releases, getting into galleries, commissions, contracts, copyright, reproductions, grants, and more. This book is avilable on Google books Here. It is also available on Amazon for $12.

I cannot even begin to explain how valuable theses books are to people like me who are starting out or thinking about becoming an artist or gallery owner and making a living off of it.

Jan 15, 2010

IndyArts E-Newsletter 1/12/2010

I was recently featured on the most recent Indy Arts Newsletter that is sent out about every two weeks by the Indianapolis Arts council. Click here To view the most recent newsletter. For those that are not familiar with the Indianapolis Arts council you can sign up to receive this newsletter, and another one that lists artistic opportunities. They also have a list of past issues of the newsletter on their website www.indyarts.org . You can also request a IndyArts Card which can get you discounts on events in the Indianapolis area. I was extremely thrilled to see my work in the newsletter after just signing up for the database a few days before.

Jan 7, 2010

Women and Art: Contested Territory

WOMEN AND ART - CONTESTED TERRITORY


This book written by Judy Chicago and Edward Lucie-Smith. It has been the most influential book so far on my artwork. All women, artists, art historians, and anyone who just enjoys artwork should read this book!


"Thanks in large part to the efforts of female art historians, the problematic subject of rape has been introduced into the art dialogue, though not yet at the level of discourse which seems appropriate for such a significant subject, especially given the way in which images of rape – particularly those reproduced in the mass media- continue to impact upon many ordinary women’s consciousness. I once heard a story about a graduate art history class during the late 1970’s, when feminist awareness was just beginning to develop among female art practitioners. The professor was discussing a Rubens painting which featured abduction and implied rape. His focus, however, was upon the brushwork, which he was rhapsodically praising. Quietly, one female student murmured to another, ’but isn’t that a rape?’, a question which quickly started circulating around the room at an increasingly audible level until one of the students burst out: ’Isn’t that a rape?’, followed by her outraged cry: ’If that’s a rape, how can you sit there, discussing the brushstrokes?” (Chicago, 95-96) “Certainly it seems important to acknowledge that one reason this art is so troublesome is that the subject matter is presented in what might be best described as beautiful packaging, which I suppose helps to explain how the aforementioned professor could be seduced into ignoring the content in favor of the brushwork.” (Chicago, 96)


Many of my pieces have since been about unwrapping the 'beautiful packaging'.

Color and Jewels

I started with the book Color: A natural History of the Palette Victoria Finlay a few years ago and I cannot explain how amazing this book is. It goes though colors by chapter explaining where the pigments in paints, dyes, glazes and more come from throughout history and throughout the world (Eastern and western). Not only is it an informative well written book but it also goes through this woman's travels in order to find out this information. In many cases she is the first woman to be in some of the quarries and caves that stones are mined from. The book goes from Australia, Afghanistan to the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Chartes Cathedral in France, and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul just to name a few. It is a great book for artists, Art historians, and anyone interested in travel. A similar book, Jewels: a Secret History, is a search for where the 10 rarest gemstones come from. Did you know that Sapphires, Emeralds, Rubys, and Diamonds are just atomically only different by 1 carbon molecule? Also that in the past years they have found 4x the amount of diamonds but the price continues to rise? Both books are on Google books for free and only $11 on Amazon.

Indianapolis Art Council

You can now find me on the Indianapolis Art Council's website http://www.indyarts.org . The website contains listing of events in the Indianapolis area as well as a database of local artists. There are also helpful resources for artists like how to do your taxes.


Jan 4, 2010