November 2018 Newsletter
 By Helen Buck   

These notes are from Big Medium’s Creative Standards Seminar in October. This is what I heard and interpreted and may not be completely accurate. If you attended this or other sessions during the event, please share your notes.
 
SESSION: How to Get into Galleries
Presenter: Chris Cowden, Exec Director at Women and Their Work
Mentioned several times: Sharing your work for free does a disservice to the art community.

1.    Research space / range and type of work/ gallery history / who has shown at this gallery and what is their experience.  
2.    Pace yourself: make note of the shows and galleries to submit your work and remember it takes from 5 to 10 hours to complete a submission if done well
3.    DO NOT cold call or just show up and do not mail. Waste of time and money
4.    You can call and ask “what is your process” / note, many galleries already have their process noted on their web site.
5.    The # 1 most important thing is submitting OUTSTANDING visual images. It’s worth spending the money. If you find a detail within your piece important, you might be able to provide a second image with a close up. Don’t expect the judge to blow up your digital image 
6.    Artist Statement: don’t overthink/ just be yourself/ talk about your work / keep it to a few well-crafted sentences.  Focus on what brings you to work in your craft and how this work is produced 
7.    Do not denigrate your work or yourself/ be proud of you and your work
8.    If the call is for 10 great pieces and you have 4 or 5 / Wait to apply until you have the 10 needed even if it’s next year
9.    Don’t get burned out applying everywhere. Be judicious
10.    Rejection is part of it. Make it a mind game: ie. I get accepted to 1 out of 10 I apply for therefore 1 rejection brings me closer to acceptance.
11.    Yes a website is needed. Make it good and keep it updated. All other social media may help. But beware the time you spend with it.
12.     Consistent Authentic Investigation: Chris spoke to honesty when dealing with galleries (Proposal should specify if the work presented are examples and there will be new work in the show or is the submitted work what the gallery can expect)
13.    You can have one style. But if you have several styles make them consistently strong as you apply. If you present more than one style, group them with 4 or 5 like styles. (ie: 4 or 5 botanicals  and 4 or 5 portraits   / 4 or 5 acrylic paintings and 4 or 5 sculptures)
14.    Review your rejection letters and look for positive remarks. If you don’t get feedback when rejected you can respectfully ask for remarks. You may not get it but sometimes you will 
15.    Closing: have faith in your work and keep applying

February 2019 Newsletter
By Helen Buck


Note: This is what I heard and interpreted and may not be completely accurate. If you attended this or other sessions during the event, please share your notes.
 
Session: Artists Statement / Artist Talks
Presenter: Michael Manchaca, MFA (San Antonio, recently exhibited at McNey)

1. Remember that art is within the field of entertainment
2. Statement should be about 4 sentences
3. A good work of art is what you think of as your unique identity
4. Communicate with as wide an audience as possible. The wider your audience, the better your career.
5. Update your statement every few months: it should evolve and be relevant to current-day culture and terminology
6. Prepare more than one artist statement to communicate to different audiences (academic, professional art world/critics, johnqpublic, etc.)
7. Understand traditional and contemporary terminology

     Art Terminology

• a. Content: idea or concept (not exactly the subject matter/it is “outside” of the subject matter) know the theory behind your content
• b. Materials: what do you have unique access to that may add value to your content from which your art takes shape (What is the connection between Content and Material?)
• c. Subject: the main focus of your artwork
• d. Content / think in terms of poetic and Material / think in terms of Formal (what are the poetic and formal parts to your statement)

Session: Conducting a Studio Tour
Presenters: Jordan W Tucker / Valerie Chaussonnet

• Three points: preparation, flexibility, honesty
• Do not discount your work
• If you show in a gallery or have work priced anywhere else, keep your prices consistent at these studio tours. OK to offer a “to-the-trade” discount of 10 to 20% (interior designers) Discounting does a disservice to your own work and devalues all other art.
• You never know if a person who just pops in or spends two hours in your studio will contact you or see you in the future. Do not judge or anticipate. Just be authentic.