Skin the New Living Canvas

I read an article in the February 5^th 2010 edition of the Baltimore Sun about artists turning to skin as their canvas. Around here my wife and fellow artist Barbara Guran-Eubank figured out Tattooing was a good fit for her skills as an artist years ago.

Increasingly, art school graduates are making a fine art of tattooing

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/bal-tattoo-0207,0,4715295.story

When it all started Barbara wasn’t a skate freak or really any other kind of freak, well except she was an artist Freak. She was a classically trained artist who was trying to make art and earn a living. Like most artists she had to have a day job to provide the income to support her artwork and living expenses for herself and family. I can testify that Tattooing was the furthest occupation from her mind being married to her for thirty years now. But suddenly that changed. At first when she told me she was going to become a Tattoo Artist I didn’t know if she had lost her mind or was having a major midlife crisis. She was forty-something and had never even had a tattoo until about two months before she broke the news to me.

All I could think about at the time was, “This is my fault” and how is this decision going to affect me and our family. I remained calm in the face of fear and urged her forward offering my support. Believe me when I tell you my creative mind was imagining every negative idea you can think about Tattooing, I kept my fears to myself. I secretly hoped this midlife crisis would pass while Barbara and I discussed her plan.

Her motivation was a direct result of my own big idea. I spilled the beans one morning in an innocent conversation about a story I had read about women who had undergone breast surgery opting to get beautiful tattoos to cover the scars of mastectomy’s. The story focused on the healing properties of beautiful images on damaged parts of the body, healing designs. Barbara had suffered an industrial back injury ten years before this time that left her more mentally than physically scarred and in pain. The accident ruptured a disc in her lower back which required surgery and rehabilitation. The real damage was caused by the worker compensation process to treat the injury. Without saying more about that; the whole process sucked big time. Her treatment by the system left deep wounds that didn’t heal as her body did. If you have ever been there you know what I mean.

So I suggested that she consider getting a beautiful Tattoo to heal those wounds. She was quiet as she is when she is thinking. I didn’t hear anything else about the tattoos for a couple weeks; Barbara thinks important things through before she talks or makes decisions. One day she showed me a simple elegant design a beautiful design she thought about getting tattooed over the surgical scar on her lower back. I knew this was a big deal for her and I wanted to support her, which was easy. First because it was a beautiful design of her own that was privately and intimately important to her. I said go for it. I work out of town most of the year and when I came home one day she said, “Look”. Yep! A very nicely done simple and beautiful tramp-stamp tattooed on her lower back. I loved it and I told her I thought it was sexy.  I could see the power of this symbol in her face and through her eyes; it was a look of healing of happiness. That simple symbolic act, that tattoo was a major turning point that helped restore confidence and completed the much needed healing process Barbara needed.

I asked where she got the tattoo done. She told me she went to Charlie, a kid I knew and our son had gotten a tattoo from and recommended. Charlie is a walking canvas who worked in a local shop now gone who is of the skate, or punk rock generation. He’s a kid that if you take the time to talk to him you will find out he’s a guy you will immediately like and he is a fantastic and creative artist.

Back to the moment of truth when Barbara told me she was going to be a Tattooist. She said, “I have thought about this and I think tattooing is something I can do and want to try. I said, “How are you going to do it, learn to tattoo”?  Most tattoo artists are trained through apprenticeships some go to tattoo schools and others figure it out on their own. Barbara had already done the research; remember I told you she thinks things through before she makes a decision. She had looked into getting a local apprenticeship and none were available. We live in a small community. The option of moving to get an apprenticeship was not realistic. Neither was the option of just figuring it out learning to tattoo on her own.  She found a tattoo school in Spokane Washington only five hundred miles away she liked. Lady Luck Tattoo was created by Kristi Kilbourne in 1997. http://www.ladylucktattoo.com Kristi offers training at her Spokane shop, Pacific Northwest Tattoo Seminars in which tattoo techniques are taught to those who love to learn.

Barbara went, learned and has never looked back. The course Kristi offers is first of all practical, hands on and covers tattooing, the business of tattooing and business itself. One thing I can add is there is no pie in the sky claims; Kristi is serious about tattooing and the business of tattooing. She fully covers the reality of being a tattoo business and what you can expect. Bluntly she tells students, the bank is not going to loan you start up capital. The SBA isn’t going to help you with financing you are on your own, tattooing is an alternative business outside of what is considered main stream. Kristi prepares her students to expect to pay as you go and finance yourself or work for someone else until you can. Barbara tells me that Kristi has been a dependable mentor and friend, who is always there for her, for support and answer any question or to give advice when needed.

Today five years later Barbara has built a good business following those principles. She started with a small tattoo shop in our house where she still works today. I think it is important to point out we have an ideally located property with appropriate zoning. Barbara started small and slow at first keeping her day job and tattooing by appointment. Six months in she was able to go full time and quit her day job. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing as Kristi warned in the beginning. Almost immediately our insurance agent who we had done business with for years and insured our home without warning cancelled our homeowners insurance. When I called him he said that the tattoo business was an uninsurable risk even though his company did not insure the business. His opinion was that Tattoo Shops were dirty slimy places. That was the end of the discussion which is fit to print. The fact is it took a while and a lot of work to find property insurance, but we did. In fact we found an agent who really worked hard for us and he also got all of our other insurance and our adult children’s insurance business. We also recommend him to anyone who asks.  That’s how it works. We do have to pay a much higher insurance premium because we have a business on the property. Fair enough.

Our old insurance agent couldn’t be more wrong about Barbara’s business or about Tattoo businesses in Montana as a whole. First she is licensed by the State of Montana. That means she passes mandatory inspections and complies with all state rules and regulations under state licensure for tattoo businesses. The benefits of being licensed are many. One of the most important is your customer knows you’re regulated and that you follow safe working procedures designed to protect the health and safety of your client. The state helps facilitate training in blood born pathogens; there is blood present in tattooing. They also help with direction to provide a clean sterile work space. I would describe Barbara’s work space much the same as your Dentists. Also instruments and touchable surfaces are covered with one time use medical grade protective covers. All needles and setups are sterilized just like surgical instruments. An autoclave is used to sterilize instruments and every sterilization session is tested for safety by a medical testing company. Even though the state only requires the test on the sterilization equipment once every 90 days Barbara tests each time. The cost of the additional testing is insignificant about one hundred dollars per year. What is significant is Barbara knows her tools of the trade are safe.

Needles are never re-used nor are inks. Anybody who believes they can clean and re-use needles or ink is a fool. You need to stay away from them for your own health and welfare. If a tattooist isn’t following a medically accepted sterilization program using approved equipment again stay away from them. You cannot boil instruments on the stove and achieve consistent safe sterilization regardless of what anybody says. After each session all surfaces are cleaned with medical grade antibacterial soap and readied for the next client with new materials just like your Dentist does.

If you plan on going into the business you need to learn about these procedures and make them part of your practice. Yes to buy an autoclave and medical grade setups is expensive, but it is also essential according to Barbara. If you have to skimp find some place else in your budget. Most states have their own rules find them, read them, ask questions before you start. Knowledge is power and protection.

Merging the Artist into a Tattooist

Now the fun part of the story, First Barbara says she gets to make a living doing what she loves; making art. She uses all of the skills she learned in art school. Design composition, color, drawing, painting, sculpture, graphic design, metalsmithing, photography, ceramics and glass.  A really good tattoo uses layers of color just like a painting. The skin is attached to the human body which is a living breathing, moving 3 dimensional surface.  Arms, legs, torsos and every Body is different. Creating two dimensional deigns for the body is a lot like sculpture. You have to consider size shape proportion, movement and volume of each body part in relation to the design. I know it’s cool.

Barbara makes her own needles instead of buying them pre-made. She is particular how the needles attach to the needle bar of the tattoo machine and how the needle or needles are arranged to create the different types of needles used from lining to shading. Her experience metalsmithing makes this necessity a snap. Working in ceramics and glass developed skills in mixing formulas for glazes and glass frits. Now these skills are used to make inks. You can buy ready made inks but if you really want to make killer tats learn how to make your own. You can buy the approved specialized pigments from various sources. You will find that most of this information is somewhat secret. Check with the National Tattoo Association for resources. Another benefit from ceramics and glass is learning to work with equipment, monitoring kilns and annealing ovens. Your new autoclave won’t be much of a foreign beast to you.

Drawing and Graphic Design skills are essential. Tattooing uses traditional methods still today. In fact tattoo artists rely on old school graphic design methods and principles. Tattooists may be the only practicing artists in the future who do. These skills are used to create transferable stencils and layout of designs on the skin and much more. All of those core curriculum courses you maybe hated but had to take are full of transferable skills merging the artist into a tattooist.

I asked Barbara what she liked about being a tattoo artists and she sent me some interview notes from and interview for 406 Woman Magazine http://www.406woman.com that comes out in the February March 2010 issue of the magazine to answer the question.

Question:  What’s your favorite thing about tattooing people?

Barbara’s Answer: Talking to them and enjoying the diversity of my clients. I believe that in life we meet people for reasons and sometimes it’s that I need to share
something with them, and sometimes it’s that they have something that they
need to share with me. I love to talk to people and try to discover what we
have to offer each other! I’ve had many long talks on books, philosophy, you
name it! People come from such different backgrounds, but I usually can find
some commonality between us despite our differences! I also love being able
to empower people and give them a beautiful image that can give them strength, forgiveness, or some other kind of healing or personal inspiration.

Question: How many tattoos do you have?

Barbara’s Answer: Eleven, although I have the art done for four-six more (four big florals, then a background lace pattern) that will complete my leg sleeves. Just need
to be able to coordinate time with my daughter to have them put on! Right
now all of my tattoos are easily coverable, but can show when I want them to
(or in the summer). I used to work a job where you couldn’t have any visible
tattoos, so I’m sensitive to the fact that tattoos are still not accepted by
all people, so if I need to ‘fit in’ then I can cover them and not have the repercussions of immediate prejudice. That way also, if people find out they like me and THEN find out I have tattoos, it sort of softens them up and changes their attitude against tattoos a tiny bit. Life is about planting seeds of change and watching them grow!

Question: What makes your shop different from other shops

Barbara’s Answer: Oh, and on the question of what makes me different than other tattoo shops-I was an artist for about 25 years before I became a tattoo artist. So I feel
that with my education (4 years- no degree-heavy arts background, as well as science!), I have a pretty well-rounded knowledge of different cultures, art styles and such, so can offer people a more diverse approach to their tattoo desires. I think that’s why I don’t think of any style as my specialty per se… Whatever I am doing for someone at the moment is my specialty! I believe in being mindful and in the moment whenever I’m working, so I try to immerse myself in the style or period of whatever I am working on at the time, so that I can fully devote myself to making whatever it is be the best it can possibly be.

Question: How do you think as a woman, that your tattoo shop differs from a man’s
shop?

Barbara’s Answer: I think that I am more sensitive and patient than most men are. I wanted to have a shop that was different than the usual offering of tattoo shops– Not
a biker kind of place with someone being rude or intimidating, nor a ‘head shop’ atmosphere with scary tattoos and zillions of piercings. I wanted someplace that has a good vibration and spirit, that is aesthetically pleasing and also thought provoking, and a place that each individual is respected, regardless of their appearance or belief systems. I felt out of place when I went to get my first tattoo (at 43) and wanted people to be
able to come to a place with no judgment, no guilt, and with empowerment for
the greater good!

Question: As a woman, what can you offer your clients that men cannot?

Barbara’s Answer: I don’t know whether it’s that men cannot, or just don’t usually. For one, I am sensitive to women or men’s self consciousness of undressing themselves
and showing private areas to be tattooed. I try to respond to individual needs in a caring and loving way without any guilt associated with it. Sometimes people feel guilty for being picky about what they want and having me either re-draw something or put the stencil on several times to get it in just the right place– I don’t want them to feel guilty about it. After all, tattooing is a permanent procedure, so you SHOULD get what you want! AND you should think about it and have some kind of spiritual or emotional
connection with what you get. I also tattoo with a spiritual bent—if someone wants me to design something for them, I often meditate about it and ask my higher power to give me an answer as to what I should draw. Most often people are quite amazed at how what I’ve designed really fits a deeper meaning for them. I think that I am a better listener to people than most men. I try to hear not only what they are saying, but also what they aren’t saying.

If you are thinking about merging your artist into a Tattooist it can be a rewarding and lucrative enterprise.

About the enterprise thing, business is business and in the current economic climate business is hard, even for established tattooists. I think you really have to look at where you are located geographically and ask yourself some important questions. What is your local economy like right now today? How will it potentially change in the future? What is the size of the population, big small? How many tattoo shops exist in your area? Will you work for someone or start your own business? Are you ready to work very hard to be successful?

Visit Barbara’s website: http://dancingbonesinkinc.com

Just a note, when Barbara read this article she noted several typo’s. This isn’t unusual for me to make a typo, it is pretty much the way it is. I told her I work with what I ‘ve got. She said you mean your brain. Yeah I answered. Barbara is also a very good speller and has very solid skills in English. She won the sixth grade spelling bee at her school. This too is a strong transferable skill especially when tattooing words on people. Always check the spelling. When it comes to names make the client verify the spelling. I remember a guy who tattooed mom on his own arm, it read WOW!

Filed under: American Folk Art, Art, Art News, Culture Economey, How to, How to survive as a Working Artists, Ink, On Art, Tattoo, Tattooing, Uncategorized , How to be a Tattoo Artist. Tattoo Business, how to survie as an Artist, Skin Art

Is the Art Market Back

Well it would appear to be; after an all time record sale of Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man” in London for $102 million dollars U.S.. According to Sotheby’s there is a shortage of premium artworks available to collectors in today’s market. Owners or sellers have been holding their treasures fearful the current art market would bring lower prices. That seems to be changing. The current trend appears to be bringing higher than expected prices for artworks that are of established importance and value.  Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture “L’homme qui marche”, which this week became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction, was, for the last 30 years the property of Dresdner Bank, now part of Commerzbank. One fear that is still troubling the art market is former corporate bank owned art will flood the market when the price is right and drive prices down. So far that has not happened.

Why the music is still playing for the merry dance between bankers and art

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/tracycorrigan/7158893/Why-the-music-is-still-playing-for-the-merry-dance-between-bankers-and-art.html

Highlights from the Sotheby’s sale included

Gustav Klimt’s leafy 1913 landscape, “Church in Cassone (Landscape with Cypresses),” which sold for $43.2 million.

Paul Cézanne’s smoky-colored still life, “Pichet et fruits sur une table,” sold for $18.9 million.

Henri Matisse’s portrait of a woman draped in a lacey shawl and lying on a sofa, “Femme couchée” sold to an unnamed American collector for $7 million.

Christie’s this week reported that Picasso’s Tête de Femme (Jacqueline) sold for £8.1m – more than double its highest estimate of £4m

Picasso portrait fetches £8.1m at Christie’s auction

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8494809.stm

Read More

Art Market Revives in London

After the record $102 million sale of a Giacometti sculpture this week, auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s signaled that wealthy buyers are coming back

By Arifa Akbar The Independent, Bloomberg.com-Business Week

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2010/gb2010024_323847.htm

By Arifa Akbar The Independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/pound47m–the-average-auction-lot-as-art-bounces-back-1889767.html

Sotheby’s Sells Giacometti for Record $104.3 Million

A 1960 Alberto Giacometti sculpture sold for £65 million ($104.3 million) at Sotheby’s, setting a record price for a work of art at auction and signaling a potential resurgence in the art market.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043482913970608.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_LifestyleArtEnt

Who is Alberto Giacometti?

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI 1901–1966

Swiss, active in France

Alberto Giacometti is considered the premier sculptor of the Surrealist movement of the early 1930s, the Swiss artist is best known for the tall, thin figures he produced after World War II… more… http://www.routledge-ny.com/ref/sculpture/giacometti.pdf

More Giacometti online… http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/giacometti_alberto.html

Filed under: Art, Art Auction, Art Market, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, Investing, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, art sales , Alberto Giacometti, Christie's auction, Gustav Klimt, Paul Cézanne'.Henri Matisse.Picasso, Sotheby’s

Art 2.0 Social Networking the Arts 2010…

Art 2.0 Social Networking the Arts 2010…

There is little debate on the fact technology has changed the world and the Arts in 2010.

The question is can the current models of how art is delivered be sustained Today. While the number of mainstream arts organizations has grown; attendance and audience is declining.

National Arts Index Finding:

Attendance at mainstream nonprofit arts organizations is in a steady decline. Market data gathered by Scarborough Research (200,000 surveys annually in the largest 81 metropolitan areas) indicate the percentage of the population attending museums and performing arts events (symphony, dance, opera, theater) decreased 13 percent and 17 percent, respectively, between 2003-2008.

This statistic is puzzling because more Americans are participating in the arts than ever before. Where is the Audience?

National Arts Index Finding:

The percentage of the American public personally creating art (e.g., photography, music making, and drawing) is growing slightly ahead of the growth rate of the U.S. population, up from 18.5 to 19.5 percent between 2003 and 2008.

A greater percentage of total personal consumption was spent on arts and culture (e.g., theater, books, movies), growing from 1.78 to 1.83 percent.

Community-based and culturally specific arts organizations are driving participation and vitality. The number of these organizations has grown faster than the rate of growth for all nonprofit arts organizations—and even faster than the rate of the minority population in the U.S. Additional analysis of their financial data reveals that they are more likely to complete their fiscal year with a surplus than the remaining universe of nonprofit arts organizations.

Again, this statistic is puzzling because according to the NAI one third of nonprofit arts organizations fail to meet or balance their budgets and continue to lose ground. We have seen art museums, operas, theaters, orchestras and all traditional types of art organizations cut back on services or close in 2009. It is clear that the audience is changing how they participate in the arts and in how they want the arts delivered to them.

The days of the stand-alone geographic specific arts organization may be limited or not? Community based and culturally specific mean to me, I want to be involved, I want to be hands on in some way and I want my involvement to be of specific interest to me.

National Arts Index Finding:

Technology is changing both how the arts are accessed and consumed. The number of CD and record stores has been reduced by half in five years, while online downloads of singles and albums have grown four-fold in three years. This not only provides consumers with access to a vastly larger catalogue, but greater control of when and how to access their music. More arts organizations use the Internet to share program content with their audiences or market using social networking. For instance, the Metropolitan Opera has had great success with movie theater simulcasts. Arts Memphis, a local arts agency, has created an app for iPhone users providing instant access to an interactive cultural calendar. Even within technology, there is variation (public radio listenership is up, while public TV viewership is down).

What this suggests to me is that the audience also wants to control how they engage, access and consume art.  The audience also wants to control when they engage in the arts. In addition to the music industry’s decline, the movies and television are also experiencing serious falling numbers. 50 percent of video rental stores have closed in the last five years and mainstream television is in real trouble. In fact, free network TV may soon be gone. The reason is I think simply about when the consumer wants to engage. No longer does the audience want to be tethered to a fixed schedule. Technology has changed the dynamic and freed the audience. You can watch TV on your personal schedule now with websites like HuLu, cable programming like On-Demand. You can also access movies without leaving home or late fees when you want them through Net Flex and iTunes. You can watch when and where you choose. This changes the geographic nature of delivering arts programming. However most mainstream arts organizations are slow to recognize the shift in American culture and consumerism. They are too busy looking for their audience to find them or they are simply just unable to get out of the box.

These cultural changes are also affecting how visual artists engage their audience. The exhibition and sales of artwork are changing. While I do not believe the internet replaces the experience of actually viewing art in person, it is a second best choice, especially if the audience is located in a different geographic location than the exhibit, gallery or museum. Today technology is again changing the rules. As an artist, you can get your work seen in New York or anywhere else on the planet in a number of significant ways. You can engage and build an audience on your own.

Social Networking may become a significant resource in the process of building a career as an artist and it may offer life to a dying arts organization.

So, what is a social network. A social network is a group of people sharing specific interests via available technology. What is the available technology, facebook, twitter, ning, You Tube and more? I think the best way to explain social networking is to show you.

Art Review was a leader in this new revolution. As a print magazine, they found themselves in trouble and decided to abandon the mainstream delivery of their product. An online magazine combined with a social Network supplemented the print version of the magazine. Art review gives the content away in the virtual format and still sells advertising. They galvanized and built their audience through a social networking component that is specifically interested in their content and content related advertising. Smart. The Art Review social network opened up a dialogue to artists around the world who can now look at each other’s work and discuss ideas. In addition, it is free.

Art Review: http://www.artreview.com/

Another successful social network for artists is the Brooklyn Art Project. They host actual art events in Brooklyn and offer availability to artists not geographically located in the New York area the ability to participate via the social network.

http://www.brooklynartproject.com

Art for Arts Sake another site created by Roger Povey a writer and now network creator located in Hastings Untied Kingdom has brought artists from around the world together, even those like me located in Montana.

http://artsforartssake.ning.com/

I became a network creator in just a few minutes creating the Montana Artists Network on Ning.

http://montanaartistsnetwork.ning.com/

Ning is the social platform for the world’s interests and passions online. Millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to explore and express their interests, discover new passions, and meet new people around shared pursuits.

http://www.ning.com

These networks are collaborations between artists located in different geographic locations that otherwise might never know or meet each other. The networks are available when you want to participate and are available to you regardless of where you are located.

Many artists and many art organizations are behind the curve when it comes to new technology. They are slow to recognize the changes and opportunity it brings. When the internet began to take off and websites were new, many organizations were stuck in the brochure, catalog and direct mailing mode. They had little knowledge of what a website could do for their budgets and programs. Print and direct mail are expensive and are major budget items in small and large organizations.

One Mainstream Art Organization that seems to, always be first into the murky water is the Brooklyn Art Museum. Today in no exception, they are using social networking to build audience participation and non-geographically located memberships. Through an innovative approach, they are including their new social network audience in the museums activities.

1stfans: a socially networked museum membership.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/join/1stfans/

They have even curated an exhibit “Click!” with the help of their social network. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click

Brooklyn Art Museum Home Page

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org

I would love to be able to, physically go to the BAM but I live in Montana. I can’t get to Brooklyn often, but I can participate when I want too, 24/7 from home.

Other museums are also using social networks but I have not found the type of memberships Brooklyn offers anywhere else but they will be coming soon.

The Cleveland Museum of Art has a feature that I like http://www.clemusart.com/explore/collectionLogin.asp

Personal Collections

This facility can be used to: assemble collections save collections for later study create presentations with your own notes.

The Whitney Museum of American Art also offers personal collections along with expanded social networking both museums offer the service free.  http://www.whitney.org/Login

So now, I can have a personal, Virtual art collection of major works of art. I can choose the art; I can view the art when I want to form wherever I am located. That is smart innovation and I believe extended audiences would pay for reduced cost internet membership at most major museums with interactive benefits especially if it included a limited admission should the member ever get to New York, Paris or Spain.

It is 2010 and the technology is here. Technology is only going to expand its influence on the arts audience. The question remains how we artists will learn to use it to our benefit.

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, How to, How to survive as a Working Artists, Media, On Art, Uncategorized , Art Business, Brooklyn Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Montana Artists Network, Social Networking, Social Networking for Artists, Social Networking the Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art

Art 2010, Time and the Evolution of the Artist Today

Art 2010, Time and the Evolution of the Artist Today

The First Installment

As an Artist, do you ever wonder where in the world art is today? Is there a new Art Movement going on now and are you part of it. We had Modern Art then Post Modern with all of the associated subcategories. What do we have now in 2010? Maybe the art experts were too quick to name those movements. It seems to me that the word Modern is a moving target, it moves with time. What is contemporary art? Is that art you made yesterday or are making today? These labels add to the confusion we all have about art and where art is at any specific moment in time. As an artist have you ever been asked, “What kind of artist are you” or ‘What kind of painter are you’, watercolor, and oil’? If you are not an artist have you ever asked the question? Labels are important is spite of what you have been told. Why should we care? It is about communication, the communication of ideas and information. The label adds a visual to the discussion based on learned information. The label helps us zero in on important facts while weeding out irrelevant information.

The art market today is as confusing as art for most of us. Where is the market as a whole and where do we the artist or patron fit into the market. A bigger question you may have is what is the current State of the Arts today?

A new study released January 2010 by the Americans for the Arts gives us a glimpse of where artists and markets in America are in 2010. The report, called the “National Arts Index” http://www.americansforthearts.org/information_services/arts_index/001.asp

…can be compared to the Dow Jones Average used to measure stocks, as a tool to measure the Arts. The index measures 76 prime areas of the arts to establish the data used in the index. Data was collect over a ten-year period and compiled into the index.

However as much as I find the index interesting and full of important information it falls short of answering many of the questions I have about, specifically visual art. Market trends and business information is good and helpful to all of us as we try to make a living as an artist. But, I am after something more. Why you ask? Because I am an artist and I am, just curious about the profession I have chosen. I want answers so that I can understand what it is we do just as much as non-artists want to know.

I can hardly answer any one of the questions I asked. So I began looking for the answer to where are we today, yesterday seems easy compared to the now. There are so many artists working the world over today it is I think nearly impossible to pin down a single modern  movement except possibly that artists have turned inward into their own personalities for insight and inspiration in an attempt make sense of everything.

2010, is the starting place where I am going to try to figure some of this stuff out. I do not claim that I have an answer, I just have an opinion that I hope is based, on facts relevant to the questions.

So for the rest of 2010 I am going to try and look at art, trends and markets that I find interesting and try to add perspective to make sense of everything.

Fame regardless of what we as individuals think about it is an important driver of art and the market. After all fame is what elevates art to a noticeable level of interest.

I think most artists dream of fame at one time or another. We dream of recognition for the importance of our work. We want to be part of something important something new.

Did you ever stop and think about a famous artist and how long it took them to become famous or how short a period they actually created that famous art in, perhaps only a brief moment out of a full life’s work?

Picasso surely gained fame for his contribution to Cubism a sub-movement of modern art. He seemed to live and work forever after that breakthrough in the early years of the 20^th century. As art history goes that was really it, Cubism for Picasso. Then of course, Salvador Dali came along and became one of the most famous surrealists. As art, history suggests that was it for him too. He also lived forever and worked his whole life. Then there are that Van Gogh’s of art history that never knew he was famous or important. In fact, according to history he only sold one painting in his entire career. Today he is one of the top selling artists of all time. I have wondered what he would think if he knew the collective values of his paintings today are worth more than the gross national product of Dutch Empire, give or take a few million when he was alive.  A million was a million back then. Maybe he wouldn’t have been so depressed. Imagine if you could go back in time and talk to Vincent. Imagine if you told him about his future success as it is today.  I think he would say with a mood of desperation like Kirk Douglas as he played Vincent in the 1950s movie “Lust for Life” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049456 ,

“And they say I am crazy”

You have to grit your teeth as you say it. See how it works Kirk Douglas is a visual label.

One thing that these great artists did not have is most of everything we do have today. Information the internet and the absolute numbers of artists making art today did not exist back in the day. The National Arts Index reports that more than Two Million Artists are working today in America. The report does not really tell us how many painters, sculptors; photographers and so on are counted in these numbers. The report does tell us that more than seven hundred thousand solo artists are at work today. May of the artists counted work in a plethora of industries, like advertising, film, design firms and so on.

Another important statistic is most of these artists have other jobs, full or part time and unemployment among artists is excessively high when compared to other professions. Well maybe not in 2010, but 1 thing for sure is this. If you as an artist depends on your day job to make ends meet you may be in trouble today if you lost that part time job and with current Art market trends in a downward motion. That is sales and other funding. More on that later.

Refer to page of the report:

21. Independent Artists, Writers and Performers

While much of the attention paid to the arts in the public arena is to established arts organizations and institutions, individuals also enter the arts as entrepreneurs and proprietors. Individual arts entrepreneurs or soloists are active as poets, painters,

musicians, dancers, actors and in many other artistic disciplines. The solo artist who works without employees is one such entrepreneur. Many independent artists ply their cultural trade on a part-time basis, combining arts entrepreneurship

with other jobs and work. Data on the number of “non-employers” in business are kept by the Census Bureau.

This indicator measures the total number of individual artists in NAICS 7115 who are not employers, labeled “Independent artists, writers, and performers.” This figure grew every year between 2000 and 2007, from 509,000 to 679,000. Of these,

more than 97 percent are sole proprietors, with small numbers of corporations and partnerships. The steady growth in proprietor numbers —an increase of one-third during a seven-year period— is a mark of continuing interest, and shows enthusiasm on the part of individual artists to be commercial competitors…NAI

The report also tells us that 25 million students received education in the visual and performing arts over the last ten years. In 2007, 120,470 art degrees were conferred at various levels from associates to PhD’s.

Refer to page of the report:

55. Visual and Performing Arts Share of Higher Education Degrees

In total, more than 25 million degrees —from associate to doctoral level— were conferred between 1998 and 2007. Students pick their major from a range of subjects. Successive cohorts of college students have evolving interests, resulting in shifts

in which majors end up being more or less popular to students as time goes on.

This indicator measures the share of those degrees that were in visual and performing arts. This indicator uses data from the

National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education. Starting at 3.6 percent in 1998, the share of visual

and performing arts degrees among all degrees peaked at 4.3 percent in 2004 —capping several years of steady increase.

Even though the total number of arts degrees continued to rise, its growth was not as high as the growth in the number of total degrees…NAI

That’s a lot of competition is an understatement.

The numbers do not answer the question what are these artists doing.

1.         What kind of art are they making?

The answer is everything they; the artists can imagine and turn into reality and non-reality. I would describe the visual arts today like a Symphony made up of the individual playing their personal and unique instrument an instrument of their own making. I do think there are current trends and extensions of past trends. Realism, Surrealism, every other ism and I think most of all the new movement in art is IDISM.

Derived from Freud’s explanation of the ID

“ It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learnt from our study of the dream-work and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of this is of a negative character and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We all approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron full of seething excitations… It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organisation, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle.

[Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933)]

I may be out of my league here, to attempt to make my point and expand upon the art movement of IDISM. The artists that are working on the edge today are synthesizing the modern world through their own ID in relation to the physical world they live in. Art has now become even more personal and individualized than ever before. We are in an age of a New Renascence a Modern Renascence driven by information and technology managed through the eyes, mind and action of the artist.

Take a look at Ben Tolman’ work

http://www.slowart.com/limner/htm/gall-art/tolman/index.htm

“I think about death a lot. I’m very aware of the fact that I only have so much time to get this stuff done before the game is over. In the big picture our lives are so short and our perspective is so narrow. I just want to communicate what my experience of being alive was like and add my tiny piece to the cultural pool. Art can be a signpost in time, giving a way to communicate with the future. I just hope I can make something meaningful enough to people that it will continue to be passed on”… Ben Tolman

Take a look at Michael Reedy’s work

http://www.mikereedy.com

What I find interesting about Reedy’s work is how he combines visual science with the human form. Somehow takes me back to Da Vinci’s exploration of the body. Read more at Slow Art  http://www.slowart.com/articles/pdf/reed15.pdf

2.         What are artists making art with?

While many artists are still debating, what art is or what art is really made with, those artists working on the edge are making art with everything they can get their hands on. While some artists are still asking if photography is really art, others are dissecting cows and various other animals and assembling the parts into million dollar artworks.

Like Damian Hirst http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst And to add bizarre to bizarre recently when Hirst abandoned his old methods, working as a Zoologist or Butcher and returned to painting, doing the actual work himself he has been largely panned by the art critics. Go figure.

Today no rules apply to what is considered art thanks to Marcel Duchamp http://www.marcelduchamp.net giving artists the permission to do what ever they want with what ever they want to use as a medium or material. Argument settled. Well apparently not, maybe, I don’t know. Depends on whom you ask.  One thing for sure new technologies are emerging as art mediums and if you are bogged down in the debate of what is or isn’t art you maybe missing the new renaissance. Going back to IDISM today we use material we like and right material and wrong material are not necessarily going to be dictated to artists working in 2010. And neither is how images are viewed or delivered to the public. Who out there has their art on an iPhone app? http://theteachingpalette.com/2009/08/03/30-best-iphone-apps-for-art-teachers

Take a look at Jeremy Eagles work

http://www.slowart.com/limner/htm/gall-art/eagle/index.htm

The sculptor Jeremy Eagle currently lives and works in both Manhattan and Berlin, Germany. His work has been described as three dimensional political cartoon. Borrowing from Surrealist and Dada tradition, he combines handmade and found objects, often bringing together incongruous items to deliver his messages. In addition to Limner his work has been exhibited at the Frumkin Gallery and George Adams Gallery in NYC.

Take a look at Toby Berthold’s work

http://www.tvoxx.com

RIPPLES IN THE NARCISSISTIC POOL

“This work is meant as a reflection on Mans philosophical and sociological constructions to define himself in life, his identity and his place in, “The Natural Order of the Universe”. Of the alternative titles that could apply to this body of work such as; “A Separate Reality”,” A Room Full of Mirrors ” or”

Peeking Behind the Curtain of the Universe” the story of Narcissus serves to comment with a certain clarity of the irony in the work.

Narcissus probably had a clear calm pool to gaze at his reflection. We do not ;…And so…

the ripples. Using elements of theater to speak in metaphors of the explorations of man’s self perception and perceptions of reality, I create images to whitness the complications and contradictions of the popular concepts of the times. The images are meant to encourage reflection and meditation of the actual events and consequences of the past leading to where we find ourselves today. To engage the mind and stir the soul. With the future in mind, along with our increasing

power to affect the planet and all life on this planet, I feel that reflection of the view points of the past should be examined in order to temper our actions and beliefs in motion as we continue to

progress through our development into what we may become”.

Toby

Is great art achieved through hard work or luck, being at the right place at the right time doing the right stuff? Is the next great art movement being made right now, at this moment in time. Are you part of it? On the other hand, is the next great art movement going to be ignored for art that fits the needs of a commodity driven art market.  How do we as artists evolve? How do we as artists find our way to the future?  Is it even possible for us to focus on the art made today long enough to figure out where we are now in the evolution of everything?

The new National Arts Index”… http://www.americansforthearts.org/information_services/arts_index/001.asp

…gives us a current picture of the Arts, Market and Business. I am going to work at discovering what art is today.

Filed under: American Folk Art, Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Art Prints, Culture Economey, Earth Sculpture, Environment, How to, How to survive as a Working Artists, Ink, Investing, Journalism, Media, Movies, News, On Art, Painting, Photography, Video Art, african art , art history, How to Survive as an Artist, Art Business, American Art, National Arts Index, Art 2010, Michael Reedy, Ben Tolman, Toby Berthold, Jeremy Eagle, Art movements, Art Today, How to be an artist

Helping Haiti and the Whitehouse Blog

In the aftermath of the Haiti Disaster looking for information I went to the Whitehouse blog.

I found a resource full of current and important information about the Haiti disaster as well as current information about other national topics. I signed up for Whitehouse email some time ago and get regular updates of important issues like the Haiti disaster.

What I have found is today’s Whitehouse gone modern, and is working very hard to use the latest communication technology available to communicate important information to the  public.  I have included the rss feed in the sidebar on my blog. You can add the feed to your browser or blog too.

The White House Blog

I like getting the information from the source. I find it useful to read content in whole rather than receive the information in whatever edited form the main stream media decides to present it. Information is power and it is also essential to democratic freedom.

Current updates on the Haiti crisis are available on the blog. Information on how to help are also available. Click on HELP for HAITI the link will take you to a site with important information.

CLINTON BUSH HAITI FUND was established to help the people of Haiti. The two former presidents are working together to build immediate and a long term support program to aid the people of Haiti.

ABOUT THE FUND

The earthquake that rocked the coast of Haiti killed or injured a devastating number of people. Even more were left in need of aid, making this is one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. In the aftermath of the disaster, President Barack Obama asked President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush to raise funds for immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts to help those who are most in need of food, water, shelter, medical care, and support. In response, the two Presidents established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) to identify and fulfill unmet needs in the region, foster economic opportunity, improve the quality of life of those affected over the long term, and assist the people of Haiti as they rebuild their lives and country. Presidents Clinton and Bush oversee the CBHF through their respective nonprofit organizations, the William J. Clinton Foundation and Communities Foundation of Texas.

One hundred percent of the donations made to the Clinton Foundation go directly to relief efforts. Ninety-nine percent of the donations made to the Communities Foundation of Texas go directly to relief efforts.

The links provided by the White House are direct links to legitimate charities working to help the Haitian people.

These links are safe and offer you an opportunity to help!

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Filed under: Art, Art News, Media, News, On Art, Politics, Trash , Bush, Clinton, Haiti, Haiti disaster, Help Haiti, White House Blog

Ok so the Art Market is down, what are we going to do?

Ok so the Art Market is down, what are we going to do?

Sotheby’s and Christie’s suffer 75% revenue decline for major art auctions

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/12/16/sothebys-and-christies-suffer-75-revenue-decline-for-major-ar/

The sad truth is many Investors over paid for the art they invested in over the past several years. The well-oiled professional marketers at big auction houses created an un-sustainable price bubble that has slowly deflated. In the 80’s it was the Bronze market. Although that market was small in comparison to today’s market, American, specifically western art bronzes were being sold to investor’s, like hotcakes at a pancake breakfast. Perhaps in part because of the Savings and Loan failure of the mid-1980’s investors wanted to raise capital and shed their art investments, and values plummeted for Western Bronzes. More likely investors were convinced by shrewd salespersons that the art they were investing in had more value than it really did. Most of the work sold, never regained value. Even the better artwork suffered in devaluation because of the whole art market scheme of the day. Many of the bronzes sold were re-strikes of retired molds and really did not have the value of the first runs. However, they were represented as the same in many circumstances.

Jumping forward to our current situation the same kinds of misrepresentation and manipulations of the art market has been a standard business practice that has now left the investor holding the bag.

Big Art Big Theft;

The Lawrence B. Salander Indictment

Lawrence B. Salander of O’Reilly Galleries LLC was arrested on a 100 count indictment. Below, is a news release from the New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau about the case?

The indictment outlines how Salander built one of the most powerful art empires on fraud and deceit while he lived life as large as any Wall Street mogul did. Salander’s built an empire built based on illusion and manipulation of those who trusted him. He has pled not guilty to all charges. I predict that if Salander goes to trial that it will be the first time the secret details of how the Big Art Market functions will come to light and we will all learn the truth behind closed doors.

Link to NYC District Attorney Website

Read the Indictment: http://manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2009-03-26.shtml

Read the original post:

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/big-art-big-theft-the-lawrence-b-salander-indictment/

This is the kind of art market manipulation I am referring to; a market practice that is solely based on the monetary investment value of art. While that may seem like the point of investing to an eager investor that hopes to make money, it is a dangerous approach to investing in art.  The Art Market is really a Social Status Investment Market and the dealers work that angle on the crowds at every auction.

Motivated by potentially big profits, investors are often just as motivated by the elevation of their social status because they bought a significant work of art. Does that sound familiar? You the investor go to the big auction and are surrounded by the spectacle of the event, combined with the social evaluation of just being there and a few glasses of wine and the money starts to flow. Ask yourself if you were an objective buyer, investor when you bought that art investment. I suspect that if you answered yourself truthfully and you were objective. You did OK with your investment. If not you may have made an investment mistake. As I have said before you the investor, need to be armed with information. And if the stakes are really high you need to have a trustworthy objective investment advisor before you buy.

As a living artist, I find the current market practices counter productive to my success. Most artists never see the kind of money that is today invested in art. There are the exceptions but they are very few. The more powerful market is the deceased artist market where the artist is now dead and their work has become a commodity. Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali come to mind. Their work is plentiful and has been manipulated to the degree only well-trained experts can tell the difference between a good buy and a bad investment.

What are you suppose to do now that the market has deflated. I hope that you can still afford your purchase. I know many of us today cannot, because what we can afford today declined with the market of yesterday. For many of us we are in an entirely different place economically.

If you can afford to hold onto the artwork you bought and if the work merited the value assigned to it because of it’s artistic or historical significance you will see your investment hold value in the future. If you need to raise cash then you are possibly going to take a loss. If on the other hand you are still buying, there are some fantastic deals today. Use your social network to get together maybe someone you know is selling something you want and you can help each other out of a tight spot.

Consider pawning your artwork for immediate cash. Several dealers out there provide this service. You get the money now and you can keep your artwork providing you can meet the obligations of the pawn agreement when the note is due. Art Capital Group http://www.artcapitalgroup.com/Questions.html provides this high-end service.

Keep in mind they are in business to make money and are not your best friends doing you a favor. So if you go this route pay close attention to the details of any agreement you sign.

Read: The Artist and Debt, Annie Leibovitz Images and Nightmares

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/the-artist-and-debt-annie-leibovitz-images-and-nightmares/

My advice is to wait if you can still afford too, to resell your investment.

If you buy art because you love to collect, consider buying more work from living artists. You can build a wonderful collection based on ideas that are more contemporary and live with art you love and for far less risk. You can also get to know the artists and establish a completely new social network of exciting people who you can interact with and own their work. Just imagine the fun you will have if you can get some of your friends to go along with you. You could change the whole market for not only yourself as a collector and investor, but also for the living artists, you support. And if those artists begin to sell, well your early investment will pay off. If you buy from many artists, you will diversify your investments too. But if you buy art that you like, art that is important to you as a person, art that you want in your home so you can live with it, you won’t be to concerned about its potential monetary value. You will be happy.

I am sorry if you were one of the loser’s in today’s art market. Truthfully, we have all lost some measure of our wealth I know I have. I also know that worry and angst over our person finances can create tremendous unhappiness. I also know that being happy at least for me is far more important than money, although it helps. So take a little time now before the New Year and re-think your art investing and ask yourself why you really buy art. If it is just for the money then you can still do very well. If you find you have other motivations that are more personal to you as a human being, and I hope you do. Then think about changing how you buy art and give a struggling artist a step up. It just might pay off big in the end.

Read: The Postman Delivers

For 45 years, the New Yorker’s used Dorothy’s librarian salary for daily expenses and Herbert’s pay as a postman to buy art from then-unknown artists.

The underlying theme: Art collection isn’t only for the rich and élite.

“With very modest salaries, they created one of the most significant contemporary art collections,” Brosius said. “The story has such resonance that anybody can collect art.”

Herbert, 85, and Dorothy, 73, amassed a collection of more than 4,000 pieces.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/165/story/1063135.html

More on the Postman:

The love of art and a gift for Montclair

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2008/05/the_love_of_art_and_a_gift_for.html

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Culture Economey, Investing, Uncategorized , Art Auctions, Art Collecting, Investing in Art, Lawrence B. Salander

Shepard Fairey Admits “He Lied” About Obama Poster Image.

Shepard Fairey Admits “He Lied” About Obama Poster Image.

A new twist in the controversial case of Shepard Fairey and the copyright infringement case filed against him by the Associated Press has taken on a new dimension. Fairey admits he lied about which image he used to create the now famous Obama poster. He has also admitted to attempting to conceal the truth by submitting false evidence to the court and his attorney.

“In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images,” Mr. Fairey said in a statement, released on his Web site. “I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone.” Shepard Fairey

Read More Here

Artist Admits Using Other Photo for ‘Hope’ Poster

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/arts/design/18fairey.html?_r=1

Fairey who has been represented by Attorney Anthony Falzone of the Stanford University Fair Use Project is now looking for a new lawyer. Falzone has said it would be effectively impossible to represent a client in this situation. Falzone is withdrawing from the case.

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/3136

The big disappoint here is that Fairey has taken the stance that he intended to pursue the right of an artist to use an image as a source under the Fair Use and Transformation  factor of copyright law to create a new and unique work of art. Which I believe is a very important issue today given the growth of modern media.

Before you get your back up stop and ask yourself the question, is there anything really new in the world of creating images that does not reference some historical source?

The whole issue is a Can of Worms that Fairey opened under false pretenses when he decided to lie and create false documents. I guess the question is why? Because under the Fair Use rule it would not have made any difference to his case according to his attorney Anthony Falzone. The fact that Fairey lied about which image he used however does change the issue. Now he is not an Artist who used a source image to create a new work of art; he is a, perjure, a liar. That changes the focus of his defense from Fair Use to Perjury.

Shepard Fairey has stepped up now, has taken full responsibility for his actions, and admitted his mistake. As disappointed as I am that he lied I have to give him credit for now telling the truth.

The truth is today it is far more complicated to make images than every before and it is just going to get more complex in the future. Just look at just about any TV commercial and you will see a reference to familiar imagery. The same is true in modern image making. We have all been assaulted with the imagery of the past. Because we are human, we react to the familiar. I think recognizing the fact that we individually do retain an image vocabulary of our own, built upon a history of images of the past; we need to be truthful to our audience and ourselves and give credit to the source, the influence. This may not help you as far as the Law is concerned but it will help you be truthful about your work and your influences and inspiration. It may help you make more honest art.

We only need to look back in time a short way to the DaDa and Pop Art movements to reference the obvious. Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans or DaDa collages. It is not about the source it is about the truth. We are not even close to figuring out the complexities of modern image making. What we have to decide as artists is, are we going to pursue the question or are we going to allow the courts to decide for us? If you never achieve fame, it is probably not a very important issue, but if you do, it might be. Guess Shepard Fairey found out.

An Important Footnote to the Story and the AP Case

Manny Garcia the Photographer who took the Obama image has filed his own suit against the Associated Press AP. Garcia stated in court documents that AP has never owned the copyright to the image in question. Garcia stated he was hired to photograph George Clooney and that he never assigned the copyrights of the Obama image to AP. Garcia contends he alone owns the copyright to the Obama image, which Fairey used.

Read my original post here:

Copyright Fair Use and the Transformative Factor, by David Eubank

http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/copyright-fair-use-and-the-transformative-factor/

Check it out for Yourself

Resource: Stanford University Library Copyright and Fair Use

CHAPTER 9. Fair Use

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html

B. Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-b.html#1

Filed under: Art, Art News, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, Shepard Fairey, Trash, Uncategorized , http://davideubank.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=771#, http://davideubank.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=771&message=1#, Shepard Fairey, Shepard Fairey Associated Press Lawsuit, Shepard Fairey Lied

Buky Schwartz (1932–2009)

Buky Schwartz (1932–2009)

Sculptor and video artist Buky (pronounced “Bookie”) Schwartz died on Wednesday September 2, 2009 He was 77.

I met Buky in 1979 and assisted him with his video installation Color Bars at the Akron Art Institute where I worked as an exhibit builder. I was also an art student at the University of Akron at the time and had limited experience in the visual concepts that Buky so patiently attempted to explain to me as we began the work of building the installation.

He wanted to build a wall in the middle of the gallery floor shaped like a triangle. Then we would plot out lines across the space and paint the video color bar across the gallery floor, walls and over top of the triangle. He told me when we were done that the sculptural space of the installation would appear on the video monitor as the traditional color bars used at the beginning of a video. I understood what the color bars were but still didn’t get how we were going to accomplish the task of compressing the visual space of the gallery that would become a visual burst of color and three dimensional form into a controlled two dimensional square when viewed on the video monitor.

I didn’t have to understand I just needed to build the triangle wall and prepare the gallery for the installation. I was an experience carpenter and exhibit builder I had worked on numerous conceptual installations. John Coplans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coplans was the Director of the Institute and he liked Conceptual Art and installations. I had worked with artists like Vito Acconci http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vito_Acconci and Robert Morris http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morris_(artist) and many others on their installations and Buky’s  request was simple and right in line with what I did all the time.

So, I got to work building the triangle wall, two by fours, drywall and mud. With the triangle wall up and the first coat of mud (Plaster or Joint Compound) applied and drying Buky said it was time to start installing the video camera. The process of mounting the video camera seemed to take as long as it did for the mud to dry. After careful positioning of the camera, Buky began taping, not with the camera but with tape. He taped a grid on the TV monitor where the color bars would appear when we were finished with the painting. As he did that, I applied another coat of mud to the wall.  The day was done, I worked late to finish the wall and coated it with primer.

In the morning is when things got interesting maybe even mind blowing. We began to plot out the positions for the painted stripes that would cover the floor and walls of the gallery. Buky working from the monitor directed me to the points in the gallery that would be our references. Wild lines radiating out from a central point running across the triangle and all over the gallery compressed the 3D space into 2D on the TV monitor. Even without the color applied, I could now see what was going to happen. We began painting the stripes of the color bar on the floors and walls. Hours later, a multi-colored square appeared on the TV monitor. After adjusting the light and the camera all the viewer could see on the TV monitor was a color bar. The gallery space though was a dynamic combination of sculptural form and color.

The viewer participated in the installation by walking through the gallery space while viewing himself or herself on the TV monitor. As the viewer walked through the gallery, they would appear to disappear behind the triangle wall and reappear as they walked past the wall. On the TV monitor, it looked like the viewer was walking through the color bars disappearing and reappearing through an invisible triangle shape.

What Buky did was define the three dimensional space by showing the abstraction of two-dimensional perspective that the camera sees and artists try to duplicate when they draw. What was so mind blowing is that the two-dimensional references now existed in real three-dimensional space? The viewer could now interact simultaneously between the two dimensions and see or experience the visual and perceptual abstractions that were taking place. Buky was explaining three-point perspective http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspective_(graphical) in an interactive setting that was cutting edge and in real time. Buky would have blown Masaccio’s mind. Masaccio the renaissance painter is credited with the invention of scientific perspective or three-dimensional perspective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaccio

Color Bars wasn’t the last time I assisted Buky. A year or so later I was President of the Student art League at the University of Akron. The Student Union wanted to fund an art exhibition. They wanted something current and innovative; they wanted something that would rock. I discussed the request with a professor of mine Don Harvey. He suggested I call Buky to see if he would do one of his installations in the Student union. Even though I had developed a good friendship with Buky during our time working together, I thought he would never agree to do an installation. We had no budget to speak of, just expenses and a very modest stipend, hardly worth a major artists time, in fact the money we had was hardly worth anybody’s time. But I called Buky anyway and he immediately said yes. He said he had a piece in mind and would call me with the details later.

Buky called and wanted to know if I could get some logs, I could. I had a little firewood business and had plenty of logs, but he wanted log rounds of different sizes and lengths. I can do that I told him. Buky showed up as planned and I showed up with a truck full of assorted logs. I got to haul all of the logs up to the second floor of the Student Union while Buky surveyed the space. Well that was my job I certainly wasn’t the brains and I was young. If I had, had any brains I would have gotten volunteers from the Student art League to carry all of those logs upstairs and then back down after the exhibit ended.

Buky explained what he was going to do, this time I had an idea of what he was talking about after working on the Color Bars installation.

He arranged the log rounds according to the random shapes and sizes. He explained that he was going to paint random yellow lines across the logs to create a divided rectangle on the TV monitor. A similar installation can be seen in this video narrated by John Hanhardt Whitney Film and Video Curator 1974-1996.

Watch Video Here: http://blog1.videoart.net/?m=200706

During the building of the installation, Buky pestered me to show him slides of my Senior Show. I was intimidated, I felt self-conscious about my work, after all, here was a Master who I respected and admired. What if he said my work was crap what would I do?

So after we finished work on the installation we went over to the school of art. I got my slides. Buky and I went into the art history projection room. I loaded my slides into the projector and reached the moment of truth. I clicked through the slides one by one; Buky was silent and studied each one intently. I thought, he thinks my work sucks but that wasn’t the case. He was genuinely interested in the work and wanted to know why and how I had made the decisions I had made creating the work.

I had built three zig zaging steel walls in the gallery and poured coke slag against the sides of each walls. The slag like little hillsides sloughed down the sides of the walls and spread across the floor. I used the coke slag a by-product of making steel as a natural element in the installation. As the slag sloughed down the sides of the wall, it created a natural path. As would dirt or rock as it sloughs off a hillside or riverbank. However, I had neat paths sweep up between the steel walls, paths where people could walk.

Buky asked me why I had created these neat paths. I told him that the gallery director was concerned that people might trip on the rock like slag, so I made the paths to put the director at ease.

Buky was silent for a moment; I could tell he was thinking about what he would next say. He was very intent and very direct, he said, “Don’t make excuses, make decisions and understand why you make them and take responsibility for those decisions. Never do that again, never let anyone force you to change your mind about your decisions or your art”.

His advice stuck and it was some of the best advice I was ever given. What Buky explained was that I had made what would have been a great artwork just good by allowing the director to influence my decision-making. The decision to create paths instead allowing the material to take its natural form altered my intent my idea my art.

Buky was a sincere friend a friend who will tell you the truth and stand by you he was a true mentor. That was the last time I saw him. He went back to New York and I went to Graduate School. He later returned to Israel and I moved west. I don’t think that Buky ever really received the credit he deserved for his pioneering work in video in America. He was truly a Master and he was a visual genius. Buky broke new uncharted ground in the visual arts with his work. He was a giant among his peers and has earned his place in history and he was a friend, I will miss him even more now that he has passed.

Visit Buky Schwartz website:  http://www.bukyschwartz.com/main.htm

Watch Videos of Buky Schwartz at work:  http://www.videoart.net/home/Artists/ArtistPage.cfm?Artist_ID=1431

Read more about buky’s life:

Video art pioneer passes away at 77 By Ellie Armon Azoulay

Sculptor and video artist Buky Schwartz passed away yesterday. He was 77. Schwartz was born in Jerusalem in 1932, studied at the Avni Institute in Tel Aviv, worked as an assistant to Itzhak Danziger and studied at Saint Martins College of Art in London with Anthony Caro. In 1965, Schwartz was among the founders of the local 10+ Group, along with sculptors Pinhas Eshet, Uri Lifshitz, Ika Braun and other artists, including Raffi Lavie and Ziona Shimshi. In 2007, the Tel Aviv Museum displayed a comprehensive exhibition on the vivacious group, which held scores of shows throughout the course of its activity. More…http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112390.html

Filed under: Art, Art News, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, Photography, Video Art , Buky Schwartz, Video Art

The Artist and Debt, Annie Leibovitz Images and Nightmares

The Artist and Debt, Annie Leibovitz Images and Nightmares

The Repo-man knocks at the door. “Let me in Let me in”! Not by the hair of my Chinnie Chin Chin is Annie’s reply to Art Capital Group. Today the old wolf at the door nightmare torments one of the most gifted artists in America; Photographer Annie Leibovitz who made a deal with a Company of Wolves with the hope of saving her home, her life’s work and her family.

Annie owes Art Capital Group 24 Million Dollars. To secure her 24 million dollar loan she used her real estate, her art collection and the rights to her artwork as collateral. Why she needed, such a large loan is at the heart of a story in the New York Times written by Allen Salkin about Leibovitz’s struggle with Taxes, Real Estate and Debt Management.

For Annie Leibovitz, a Fuzzy Financial Picture NYTIMES July31, 2009 by Allen Salkin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/fashion/02annie.html?_r=1&ref=business

Annie’s struggle with debt was compounded by the recent deaths in the past five years of her long time partner Susan Sontag, the writer and her Father and Mother.  She also has children and recently added two giving birth to twins. At the same time of all of her personal issues, Leibovitz was managing the renovation of her three Greenwich Village properties, which alone was a source of enormous personal stress, controversy and a major financial impact on her personal fortune.

Who is Annie Leibovitz and how did she become a character in a nightmarish bedtime story?  In the beginning of her career Annie was I think simply in the right place at the right time combined with a genius talent to capture life on film. She became the staff Photographer for Rolling Stone Magazine when Rolling Stone was just another hopeful grassroots publication. Annie’s images dominated the cover with inside images of Rock and Rolls Greatest Artists. Her images sold copy and many believe were the catapult for the success for Rolling Stone Magazine. Along with fame came fortune and opportunity. Annie signed with Vanity Fair for a seven-figure salary estimated to be 3 million dollars a year with millions more in expenses for outrageously fantastic photo shoots where she made many of her trademark images. Annie was living the Artists dream of endless opportunity and budget to create her work.

Along the way, though she partied too much and developed a pattern of financial mismanagement. Just because a person is, an artistic genius does not make them good with money or debt management. Leibovitz’s ability to make money through her work offset her inability to manage money and debt until now.

Now is another moment of being in the right place but at the wrong time. Before Annie went to the Art Capital Group, who by the way is best described as a high end Pawnshop for the art worlds, Top Artist’s, Collector’s and Dealer’s, she arranged to sell limited portfolios of her work through the auction house Phillips de Pury. The auction that might have bailed her out fell short of the mark when the Art Bubble Burst in October of 2008. That left Annie in a real bind. She had spent millions on the renovations of her New York property and had to buy out a neighbor because of a lawsuit that added several million dollars to the cost. Then the taxman rang and wanted 1.5 million in taxes. With the economy and the art, market is shambles the wolf offered a deal that Annie gambled would save her.

Learn more about Art Capital Group and how it works.

That Old Master? It’s at the Pawnshop NYTIMES by Allen Salkin

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/arts/design/24artloans.html?fta=y

The fact remains that Annie Leibovitz has tremendous earning power and she may yet overcome this nightmare. Her photographic negative archive held by Getty Images is alone estimated to be worth 50 million dollars. That is why Art Capital is so aggressively after the rights to her images.

In fact, Annie still has time to pay them back because full repayment isn’t due until September 8^th, 2009. Never mind that fact Art Capital isn’t waiting they have filed several lawsuits against Leibovitz with the most recent this past week to gain access to her assets now. The prior suit was dismissed in part was to stop Annie from working for Getty Images because Art Capital alleged that it would make it more difficult for them to sell her Archive if she was working for Getty. The court ruled against Art Capital Group.

You may be saying to yourself that this story is outrageous and that Leibovitz is unique, but not so. In fact, in a city like New York where a one-bedroom apartment can cost a million plus she is in the small time real-estate market. When you combine renovation costs in New York City with the cost of property it is easy to spend a lot more money that you bargained for. I am sure that when Annie started this adventure the sky seemed to be the limit in the Art Market until the bust of 2008. Combined with the downfall of the economy and tight lending by banks Art Capital Group was in a great position to reap a profit.

Art Capital Group http://www.artcapitalgroup.com/Questions.html

The real enemy in this story is DEBT! Debt is the ball and chain that has hobbled Annie and it will do the same to you as an Artist. In fact, debt will stop you faster than a speeding bullet from achieving success as an artist.

Many artists are finished before they even get started because of debt. Yes, those student loans will sink you faster than the Titanic. You will find that the nice banker isn’t so nice and will tie you up in knots that you will struggle against for 20 years or more.

Even if you have overcome that obstacle and have achieved success, you still maybe burdened with the debt of a mortgage, car loan, credit cards and studio expenses like rent. All of the debt most American have, and when the economy goes south you still got that debt to pay back.

If this isn’t the reason most artists never make it; it has to be a close second and I don’t know what the first is. One thing I know for sure you as an Artist need to manage your money and debt in the most conservative way possible. Never count your chickens before they hatch. Pay as you go as far as you possibly can. And for god sake live in the Mid-West or Western States and stay off the coasts. New York City may be the Art Hub of the world but visit don’t buy.

You also need to understand contracts and the results of signing contracts not only with lenders but with galleries and dealers. If you don’t understand contracts then find someone who does like a lawyer so you can root out any fine print in the deal before you commit. You also need to use contracts when you are hired to do work or sell work so that your rights and the rights of the buyer or employer are clearly spelled out. What are the terms of ownership and who owns the rights to the image, painting or whatever?

The business of art is complex as is the business of money and they are equally the same. While your vision as an artist may be limited to your creative, genius the business of your art is all about the money and wolves are not endangered in the Art World environment.

Debt is food for the wolf and the wolf is always hungry and eager to make a profit or a meal out of your mistakes. Regardless of how outrageous your creative ideas are, keep your financial ideas conservative. The fact is most of us have to have steady paying jobs of some sort to just enjoy the basics in life, homes, cars, children. If you can limit your debt, you will in the long run enjoy more freedom to create your art.

If your lucky enough to make a lot of money spend wisely and pay cash when you can, never incur debt you absolutely do not have too. I know this isn’t what we have been taught but unless you want to be a slave shed the ball and chain of debt or better yet never let them shackle you to begin with. If you have to make a deal to get what you want be sure to very carefully weigh the all of the possible outcomes, good, bad and ugly. Is the risk worth the possible payoff?

I guess the other side of the story is as artists we all like the live on the edge. Risk seems to feed our creative nature. Somehow, we need to keep the benefits of life on the edge and maintain some control over our financial security. When economic times like today come the balance is tipped and we are, always going to have days like these sooner or later. Therefore, we have to plan for the reality while we are creating the impossible dream.

As for Annie, I am confident she will emerge from this crisis and continue to be successful. Art Capital will continue to find wholesome meals and Annie will earn more money in the next year than most of us will earn in our lifetime even after the wolves feed. She will also earn some profound lessons and they will serve her well as will the lesson of her bedtime story. When the Wolf came a Knocking.

Filed under: Art, Art News, Art Prints, Culture Economey, How to, How to survive as a Working Artists, Investing, Media, News, On Art, Photography, Uncategorized , Annie Leibovitz, Art Business, Art Capital Group, Art Loans, Art Pawnshops, Artists and Debt, Debt, Famous Photographers, Rolling Stone Magazine, Student Loans

So you want to be a Visual Artist, The Real Truth About a Life in the Arts After Graduation!

So you want to be a Visual Artist, The Real Truth About a Life in the Arts After Graduation!

As you spend your summer dreaming that you will be the next Picasso or who ever your favorite artists is, if you even have one. Here are some truths about Art Schools and a life in the Arts you need to know before you begin your education, your career.

First not all Artists are created equal. Artists come in all shapes and sizes and create in every conceivable medium. There are painters, sculptors, printmakers, ceramists, glass blowers, graphic designers, computers animators, photographers, filmmakers, those who work in multiple mediums, and those who invent new mediums. The list is endless and changes continuously with the advent of technology and interest related to the societies and time we live in and our personal experience. Just get on the internet and look around at what artists are doing all over the world. A life in the arts can be a great adventure depending on your perspective toward art and your point of view.

Many of you have been told that you have real talent for drawing, because you draw all the time and that you should study art.

Maybe you even paint or sculpt, take photographs or made a movie in high school. Maybe you are good on the computer and you have made some animations with Photoshop.  Regardless of what talent you have or what idea you have about art or what art is or isn’t, you are headed to art school.

Most Art Schools are not I repeat Are Not going to prepare you to make a sustainable living as a visual artist after graduation. You are going to have to sell a lot of what ever Art you make to earn a living.

You will hear a lot about the MFA programs you need to get into after you have your BFA. In fact, you may spend your junior and senior year in a four-year college building your portfolio so you can apply for a MFA program. Why? So you can teach Art to earn a living.

That is why your professors are standing in the classroom or studio teaching you art. They could not or have yet to make a sustainable living from their artwork. That does not mean they do not have talent and skill, it is just a real, fact of life in the art market.

In fact, less than 5% of all visual artists make a living from the art they want to create, their personal art.  To earn the salary of an art college professor making $40,000 a year you will have to sell about $100,000 worth of art every year. Whatever you hope to earn after graduation add 60% and that is your target goal for yearly sales. Even the best of the best art schools are bullshit when it comes to post graduate earnings and job placement for the visual artist who has pursued a traditional career in the arts.

Don’t let the “that’s not really art” line of bullshit derail you from pursuing new technical innovation either. Today art is far more than drawing, painting, sculpting, ceramics, textiles and photography. I listed photography last because photographers hear that photography is still not really art, still today after nearly 200 years after its invention.  You will hear the same about electronic art mediums too. Art can be created with anything, any medium your creative mind can conceive from garbage (that’s real trash from the dump) to megabytes and anything else you can lay you hands on.

Check out Chris Jordan’s work “Running the Numbers” http://www.chrisjordan.com/

Now when you and your parents are sitting in the guidance office with an academic adviser and they tell you how great the schools job placement is for the traditional visual artist. Call BULLSHIT.

If you are talking to an adviser at the Art Institutes of America, (they have city names in front of Institute like the Seattle Art Institute) or whatever city they are located in call BULLSHIT twice. Schools from Harvard to the Art Institute of (you fill in the blank) are there to sell you an education. They will sell you on what you believe you want to buy and for as much money as they can get out of you or your parents.

The question you have to ask right now, is what you are buying worth the price. Again, another Fact of Life you need to learn right now before you rake up a big bill or worse yet a big debt that isn’t worth what it cost you.

I guess if your parents are willing to pay the bill for you to pursue your dreams then go for it. You won’t have the burden of excessive debt to subjugate you to a life of poverty.

If you have to barrow money (student loans) to go to school you really, need to think about what you are buying.

You cannot discharge student loans in bankruptcy. In fact Federal Subsidized students loans can dog you until the end of your life if you default. The government can and will seize your income tax returns, your property, your pay check and they can prevent you from obtaining federal employment and prevent you from getting any type of home mortgage that has anything to do with government lending or guarantee programs.

Defaulting on any Government loan can create a life of financial and economic nightmares that just won’t go away until you pay the money back.

So you better be prepared to earn a living that will allow you to pay the money you barrow back. That is another reason your professor is teaching. He or she spent $100,000 plus to get an MFA and off to work they go because I owe I owe as the seven dwarfs sang as they went to work in pursuit of their dreams.

Art is still burning in your blood like a fever that just won’t let go.

This creative fever is the torment that all true artists endure. I can tell you that if Art and a creative life are truly in your blood then there is nothing you can do except give in and pursue a Life in the Arts. It will never let you rest regardless of what you do for a living.

In fact many Artists were side tracked into other professions like medicine, law, business and many others where they made enough money to retire and then pursued their art because of the fever that runs in the blood of a true creative.

How do you know if you are a true creative, well you will just know, the creative fever won’t let you alone. The desire will always be there, you are just a creative junkie.

Your creativity can be satisfied though in many different ways and that is what we are going to talk about now, Survival for Creative’s.

Regardless of what you chose Doctor, Painter or Art Program Director creativity is really a mental thing. Creativity is about ideas and taking those ideas and turning them into some form of reality. Combined with the mental or intellectual side of creativity is the physical part of what you enjoy doing. As Artists, we tend to work in mediums that we enjoy, like paint, pencils, clay the computer, whatever. We tend to focus on details of the medium that stimulate us. For some of us it is working in realism for others it is abstractions. Still focusing further, some of us love color, form, sunsets or intellectual problem solving.

What you have to do is figure out as an artist what elements of art you like then find a commercial application that fits your likes with as few dislikes as possible. This is your fall back job if you do not make it into the 5% margin of artists who are lucky enough to earn a living from their work.

Your fall back position could be the MFA and teaching, but MFA’s are a dime a dozen today and teaching may not be your second calling.

You need to research right now jobs in the creative fields that are in demand. Then make sure you get training in the one with the most employable opportunities you will enjoy doing for a long time or at least a job with the least objectionable insults to your artistic being, a job that will allow you to earn a living and pursue your dreams as an Artist.

Here are some tips on what your school needs to provide to you as a Creative as an Artist.

First, let me explain what I mean when I call you a Creative. I believe that we were born as Creative’s. We are a splinter group of the population as a whole and we just have creative DNA or spirit. When we take aptitude tests, we score dominantly on the creative side of the scale. We are also sometimes called intuitive thinkers but we can also be analytical by nature too. I think there are the “Creative’s” and then there is the rest of the population. Creative’s exist in all vocations and in all occupations. The largest numbers of Creative’s are drawn into the Arts because as a vocation the Arts satisfy our basic needs as creative beings. Painters, Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Film Makers to name just a few of the many vocations we dominate.

No School and No Teacher can teach you how to make Your Art. What they can teach you is a set of skills that will enable you to make your art. Your art is yours, you have to find your art yourself. A good teacher is a mentor that will help you find your way, will help you find your voice and teach you the skills you need to make your voice heard.

As a creative you need to learn as many skills as you can so you can turn your ideas into some form of reality for the non-creative’s.

Your school needs to offer a curriculum that helps you build a diversified set of skills, skills that will enable you to make art and a living.  One of the worst inventions of the academic system today is the core curriculum. Although this system might offer you a wide range of skills in traditional art, it may not offer you the skills you need to earn a living. Much of the core curriculum programs are too grounded in traditional skills to allow you the student to broaden the needed skills you will need to make a living.

Aside from learning how to paint, you need to learn some marketable skills like for instance computer graphic design. Don’t like the computer well get over it. You may not want to be a graphic designer but you are going to need solid computer skills to self-market your work until you make it and can afford to hire someone else to market you.

You are also going to need business training including courses in marketing because you as a traditional artist are going to be in business for yourself and you need to know business and the business of art.

You are also going to have to learn how to write so you need to take writing courses. You don’t like to write or were never good at it, well you still need to learn. If you are, still no good at it then get a good editor. You are going to have to be able to talk and write about your work. You may find as you mature as a creative that you really like writing. In fact, maybe you are dyslexic many artists are. You don’t write because it has always been hard and you failed in school, well that is what editors are for. Some of the most creative writers in history had really good editors to correct their English.

If you think, you might like to teach then take teaching courses in addition to the standard MFA course work because to teach in public schools you will need those education courses to be certified to teach.

My point is you have to go to a school that helps you build the skills you need to earn a living while you pursue your art career. If the curriculum is too restrictive to allow you to pursue a subset of secondary skills, find another school. At most, four-year schools you can always combine art with a minor in a related field that is of interest to you.

The more skills you have the better prepared you will be for the real world.

Here are some art vocations that have a high demand, pay well and may keep your creative genius alive and well. However, you are not limited to my list. Do your own research and create your own list of possible secondary vocations.

Arts Management and Development.

http://artsmanagement.net/

http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/majors/50.0704.html

If you think you might like to manage an art organization like the NEA then an advanced degree in Arts Management might be for you in addition to your degree in Painting.

If you think you would like to raise money for the arts learn development because people who can successfully raise money are always in demand.

Museum and Gallery Management.

http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/muse/internet.htm

http://www.museumsassociation.org/home

http://www.aam-us.org/

If you like great art and want to work in a place that has great art look into museum and gallery management. You could learn to be a curator, exhibit designer, registrar, conservator or museum director.

If you like detail work you could become an art conservator or preservationist.

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/

http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/muse/internet.htm

Today there is a real shortage of Painting Conservators and these jobs pay very well and require well-developed artistic skills. Conservators and preservationist work in all types of areas from architecture to film.

You could become and appraiser if you like studying artists and art as a hobby, combined with your desire to make your own art you can make a good living appraising art.

If you like working on the computer, then learn every professional Adobe program available. Savoy computer designers and Photoshop experts can earn a good living. In addition, learn how to build websites along with the most innovative skills need to be competitive today.

Again, my point is simple. Broaden your knowledge of the jobs in the arts and your skills. The more skills and diversification you have the better able you will be at earning a living. A broad range of skills will also open up new and unlooked for ways to make art, allow your creative voice sing, and be heard.

Some other things to consider

Talk to artists you know about their career. If you don’t know any go out and meet some.

Look for successful artists and not so successful artists where you live. Look in the phone book or on the internet. Call them up and ask if you can talk to them about a career in art or about their career in art. Artists are people and like to talk about their achievements just like you. The more artists you talk to about art and career the more you will learn.

Go to museums and galleries, in fact volunteer at your local museum or art organization for anything. You will find out a whole lot about art organizations.

If that doesn’t work call up the curator and ask for a interview to talk to them about a career in museum management.

Call anybody in any arts position you want to know more about and schedule an interview. This is not an interview for a job. This is an interview for you to find out about a job or vocation. You are the interviewer, ask them what you want to know about what they do for a living and how they got their job. Find out about their background, what lead them to choose this vocation. Have your questions ready when you call. I bet you find some visual artists working in every imaginable place in the arts you look.

Yes, your high school guidance counselor should have told you to do this and so should have your college academic advisor. Just remember they are in the business to sell you an education. You get what you pay for so buyers beware. Also, remember you are the customer and you are going to pay big money for your education so you had better buy the education you need and want.

One other thing you can do as you study art or an arts related field is look for internships. Find out if your school offers assistance with internships as part of the curriculum. Internships will give you hands on experience that you can use on a job resume once you graduate. Take advantage of every opportunity even if your not sure its for you because you will learn something of value and find out what you really like and dislike to do for a living.

Before you barrow all that money be sure you are going to be armed with a diversity of jobs skills when you graduate that will enable you to earn a living and pay back those student loans.

A Life in the Arts is a wonderful thing for Creative’s so use your creative ability to get the life you want. Good Luck.

The statistics that colleges hate to share

http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/07/12/the-statistics-that-colleges-hate-to-share/

Art Job Resources

http://www.artjob.org/cgi-local/displayPage.pl?page=index.html

http://art.nmu.edu/department/AD_Career-Jobs.html

http://www.artinfo.com/job/

http://www.nga.gov/education/internvol.shtm

http://www.rfag.org/Education/Apprenticeships/tabid/235/Default.aspx

http://www.communityarts.net/training/archivefiles/apprenticeshipinternship/

Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, On Art, Uncategorized , Art education, Art Jobs, Art Resources, Art Schools, become and artists, Chosing an Art School, How to become an artist, Study Art, You want to be an artist