The Joy of Trashing Your Own Art

As mentioned in the last post, I am getting into my studio on a regular basis and loving it!   But it did not just happen on its own.

file image 1870s illustration

I thought it would be a great review(at least for me personally) to write about how this came about.  It was a confluence of several art resources that I regularly reference.  Prologue  of which is just getting my children out the door to school...

First is an amazing blog, ArtBizCoach.  Alyson Stanfield does a bang up job in helping me to refocus and push forward, both artistically and with my marketing. Bucket list item:  take one of her workshops with added bonus of visiting one of my favorite places on the planet-Colorado

In a post this summer she asks what do other artists do with the old inventory that no longer speaks to them and in true creative fashion, turns it into a fun contest.  Here is that post,  The Best Idea for Unloading for Unsold Art.  The winner has a party where she has a big bonfire and burns her excess work.

file image

Wow how freeing is that? 

(Okay a little creepy and destructive but also liberating.)

So I did just that a few weeks ago with out the fanfare.  In fact, I made sure no one else was home so I would not have to listen to any spousal protests or children's declarations of my weirdness.  My dogs did enjoy it so maybe I will expand my guest list next time.

It forced me to thoroughly clean my studio and added bonus:  student files were found that should have already been destroyed.  No I am not a pyromaniac in the making but it is incredibly cleansing to know this stuff is gone forever (except for digital files) and then have a blank slate to work with.

PS  I also added to the cleansing by taking down lot of the artist cards and even photo of special people and filed them away for the time being.  They are waaaay to precious to every consider burning but having blank studio walls helps with the creative flow and focus.

PPS The added extra bonus of finding gems like this underneath all the art clutter...

Learn to Draw the Human Figure with Mary Jo and Jon Gnagy

Which led to my next step in getting back into my art groove

Collaboration Madness!

I know most of us lament how the digital age has pulled everyone into their own little shells,

but I am fortunate enough to be involved in not one but two collaborative projects that would not have been possible without email.





First, I am lucky enough to be working with a very talented writer through the Richmond Writer’s Workshop.

She is a lovely 11 year old who is wrote her own fairy tale that I am currently illustrating.  And since we live about 40 minutes apart, the best way to confer is, you got it....

      BTW those are my working sketches in the bottle ;)

But the second collaboration is the big kahuna/mystery one.  It is called Art Rouellette and it is happening this fall.  Here is Artspace Gallery’s neato video explaining it.  

No working sketches yet since I have no idea who I am working with (that is the roulette part) and so also have no idea what we will be doing.  

How would you feel about doing a project like this?  Nervous?  Excited?  Then you are just like me.  The big hope is that this collaboration madness will take us all out of your shells.

Art, Beauty, Teaching, and Aging with Milton

Ever talk with someone who is so intelligent and yet so simply articulate it is more a pleasurable performance than actual conversation?

If you would like to have that experience now, just click on this link right here...

Really...Does Art and Beauty Matter? 

Prepare to be amazed by this man

Milton Glaser

How I would love to meet with and talk with this guy!  Like the opening notes say, while he is a virtual unknown to even most people in the art world, Glaser is probably this most influential art critic ever... oh and BTW also the graphic designer who created little things like the NY logo.

Happy watching!

Art Student Graduate Gift

Ever get asked the same off-the-wall question again and again?

As an art teacher, mine is, “What is a good graduation gift for an art student?"

Well $$$  always is nice but this book is a great way to give a little something that hopefully lasts a bit longer.

101 Things to Learn in Art School by Kit White

“But wait.” most people say “aren’t they supposed to know all of this already?” Well yes, but I like to  think of it as insurance against forgetting everything they learned in the next 10 years or so...

As those of you of a certain age, may remember Saturday Night Live’s Father Guido Sarducci explained this phenomenon and his solution to it in the 5 Minute University.

Tell It Like It Is Padre

I guess my idea is the $12.95 rebuttal to his, so I save you about $7.03 (after discounting initial college tuition of course) 

Happy Reading! (and viewing)

EarthDay Sale…People+Art=SUCCESS!!

This is now what our gallery storage space looks like! 

Real Photo of (some of our) Real Storage at our Real Gallery, Artspace

I am pleased as can be to report that we had a whopping 587 people visit our little gallery for the

  Pay-What-You-Wish Sale during the Manchester EarthDay celebrations.  Not completely sure, waiting for verification, but that may be a daily attendance record in the 26 year history of the gallery.  

This Bin Was a HUGE Abandoned Art Sale Hit!!

We made enough $ to help cover our rent this month and while that is of course a great thing to be able to do, this sale created many many other fantastic and touching moments that were not planned and will never make their presence known on any balance sheet...

(file image)

Like the father and 8 year old son discussing art, labor costs, fair market value and chore allowance. They later came back and the boy delightfully bought his “prize” while excitedly telling me all about how he came to his decision and the extra chore he is doing to earn the $.  Way to create a teachable moment Mr. IT job father with the music education background-

you sir, are one AWESOME parent!

(another file image)

Also, the woman who told me she only had $5 for her purchase.  I said that would be more than fine and then she returned from a special ATM trip to add another $10 more.  Thank you anonymous woman who bought the Bill Nelson prints for coming back.  You and your generosity ROCK!

Michael and new friend, the cool blue and pink haired chick*

Most touching moment- dear friend and mentor, Michael Pierce donated many works from his student days and also work from his grandmother.  They were the absolute hit of the sale and this girl was thrilled to meet the grandson of the artist who painted this work she had just purchased.  Of course it also goes without saying that you two also in your own special artist and patron ways, ROCK IT as well.

But then again I should not be surprised, connecting art and people with just a little preparation and planning is always a winning proposition.

Thank you so much RVA!

Kathy

(*BTW got permission from her to refer to her as such)

Awesome Art Sale-You Name the Price

Still obviously on that moving purge thing I talked about earlier in the year,  so when I was tripping over leftover artwork at the gallery’s storage area this idea sprang to mind...

Not the actual storage area for Artspace Gallery 

but gosh darn it is pretty close. You get the idea

It inspired me to have the first and probably only...

Graphic Design Credit John MacLellan

That’s right, we are selling artwork that has been kicking around that storage area for years.  It was not claimed by the artists after their shows came down.   This is either going to be a really neat event or big headache…time will tell!

Why the headache?  Well because trying to get all this artwork sorted and out there has taken a bit of planning and cleaning.  On the really neat side, this will create much needed room in our storage, bring people into our gallery and we have no sunk costs.   So, we thought it would be a great opportunity try something different.  

Isn’t that kinda our job as artists anyway?  

In this case a good read called, the Four Key Qualities of Pay-What-As-You-Wish Strategy. inspired me to try this experiment in commerce for Artspace Gallery 

How does that work? Well hopefully people will read about how art is priced and then if they are really interested in a piece, they will be willing to 

1. put some $ in a box

 and 

2. fill out a short survey explaining why they paid the amount they did.  

Then it is their art to take home!

We will see if practice follows theory tomorrow at the RVA Earthday Celebrations.  Come on out to Planet Zero  and Artspace galleries starting at 11am 

Wish me luck!!

Very special thanks to Micheal Pierce for the awesome  FB-like page, Jessica Sims for inventorying and poster making, as well as John MaClelland for the cool logo

The Dog Ate (well Licked) My Homework!!

Okay, so is this a sign of appreciation or harsh criticism? Probably just hunger...

My first attempt at reflective transparent surfaces in oil paint

          One of my dogs’ reaction to it about 30 minutes later…  (yum?)  

Oh well, it was back to the old drawing 

(or in this case, painting) board the next morning.

Final Vase

Doggie Protected Until Dry

Hmmm. I think that my dogs did me a favor after all. my second replacement vase turned out to be much more convincingly rendered.  

 
Isn't it just so cool when an accident actually makes things turn out better than before?  It’s one of my favorite things about making art.