Art Is My Job

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by Mary Farmer
on Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Twenty-five fabulous new paintings all ready to go, they are so glorious in my studio. What shall I do now? I'm waiting by the phone, checking my email every few minutes, checking the hits on my web site. What else can I do?

It's one thing to make art, it's quite another to show and sell art. Where do you start?

First, make the best work you possibly can, set your personal sights high and work diligently to that end. Artists face fierce competition in today's global art marketplace. There is no room for poorly executed, half thought, or mostly derivative work. It all begins with you.

In getting your work ready to show, there are some fairly standard steps each artist must take. Do not skimp here, the presentation of your work is just as important as its production. Your materials should really shine as you want your work to yell, "I care, I am thorough, I am competent and I am committed!"

Now that the body of work is ready for the outside world you need to sit down and consider where you want to show this work. What matters most to you? Are you looking at local venues, juried shows, retail galleries, museums, or art fairs.

You need to prepare a presentation packet. Most include the same basic info about you and your work. A packet will contain 20 images of your best work, a one-page biography, an exhibition history, and an artist's statement. Your packet is tailored to the specific needs of each venue you have selected as appropriate for your work.

Wait a minute, appropriate, you ask? Yes. It is important for you to carefully review each venue to be sure your work fits within their program. If you are working abstractly don't select the gallery whose focus is figurative or whose artists are limited to "blue chip" names. This will waste your time and good money. Look carefully at the work shown in any venue under consideration and make sure there is some connection between the work you see there and the work you make. Also, take some time to get to know their program.

Many gallery owners express complete exasperation with artists who send packets of work that does not fit their gallery. Try this, in your cover letter write two paragraphs on why your work is a fit for the gallery. If you can write convincingly you'll have a much better chance. This means you must do some investigation into what goes on at that particular gallery.

Many galleries claim to receive 25-50 packets from artists seeking representation per month; I've been on juries where we reviewed up to 400 entries. Understand that your packet must have some reason for even the slightest consideration; be selective and choose your submission sites with care.

Now that you have completed the best body of work possible, edited and reviewed the work to ensure you have a cohesive body of work, it is time to make a permanent record of each piece. You need to photograph each piece of work. Please make the photos the very best you can afford.

The photographs, slides, or digital images submitted by you are the only representation of you work a juror, prospective gallery committee, or other voting body will ever see. If you flub the photography, forget the rest. I can't caution you enough, if your work does not "shine" in its presentation packet you will have no chance at showing.

Do not be fooled by the cute little digital camera you have; it is highly unlikely that you will be able to capture a sterling image of your work. I know, I tried and tried to get great images of my work, hey I took Photography in college. I was very embarrassed when a portfolio review came back with the suggestion to "get better photographs" of my work. I have not made that mistake again.

I make a ritual of the photo process, I send 7-10 pieces out to the photographer and while I await their return, I begin the process of selecting titles and inputting each piece into my inventory list. It is so important to keep an active list of your work, its size, media, date completed and location. After 20 or so paintings it was impossible for me to keep a mental record of where my work was located, what was sold, and when to expect work back from certain shows.

I use a Filemaker based inventory program called, eArtist. There are several more available and it is a good idea to research as many as possible so you can select the one that you can and will utilize.

My photographer will shoot each piece and provide a CD with images in high (300 dpi) and low (72 dpi) resolution. This is important as low resolution images are used in your website and in email submissions. You never know when you will need high resolution images for use in magazines and other publications, it's best to have them on hand. A word of caution, submit the high resolution images only when absolutely necessary, in this day of easy imaging, you cannot imagine all the places your work could show up.

Once I have completed the work and made a permanent record of each piece, it is time to think about sending them out into the world. Experience has shown me that I will not be in shows nor will I sell any work if it merely hangs out in my studio.

This involves a fair amount of paper work. UGH, you say. Ugh, I say. I keep a running list of my show history, my personal biography, an artist's statement and a pricelist of my work. The pricelist is the easiest as it is generated by my inventory program. The "by date" record of my shows is easy to update, preparing and completing the very first one was a real brain picker. I suggest you start this as early in your career as possible. It is never to soon to get that exhibition history in order.

You biography will run in a narrative format, keep it as close to one page as you can. It is meant to give a glimpse of who you are and what you are doing. If a more detailed piece is needed you may provide that later. You want to entice the reader, make him/her want more.

It is fair to say many artists dislike writing artist's statements. I can, with great certainty assure you, the day of "let the work speak for itself" is over. If you don't care enough about your work to write a statement, why should I care enough to look? It's that simple.

My process for writing a statement involves answering several questions:

• Who am I?
• What am I doing/saying/questioning?
• How do I do it?
• Why did I do it? or What brought me to this point of doing?
• What influenced me to do this work?
• What do I want people to take away from my work?
• What would I like them to say?

I find this an easy way to get into the written statement. I must take the needs of my viewers into account and provide a basis and a reason(s) for looking at Mary Farmer's artwork. I care and I want my work seen, you will find an up to date statement with any work I submit.

Are you wondering when I have time to paint? Some days, so do I. Please disabuse yourselves of the notion of "artist's as slackers". We are not! In fact, artists are very hard working individuals. My schedule requires much discipline or else I don't get it all done. I am in the studio 6-8 hours most days. Marketing requires about half as much time as the actual making of artwork. Yes, I spend 3-4 hours each day marketing my work.

Daily action is my mantra; I have to tend to all aspects of my career daily. Even when I decided to write this article, I made a plan to write everyday. By making a small effort each day, the overwhelming part of any task is taken away. It helps me to stay in the moment, calmly approach and complete my work, and it saves wear and tear on my family and friends. For me, working in a frantic state is very counter-productive and keeps me in an agitated state where I cannot work or think creatively. Now that (my inability to work creatively) is a sad, sad state. I'm a visual artist for goodness sake!

Let's see, I have completed 25+ pieces of art, written my bio, exhibition history and artist's statement, had good quality photographs of my work made, and have burned those images onto a CD. Now what? Ohmigod, I've got to find someplace to show this work.

While I was still in art school, I sought out every opportunity I could find to show my work. It hung in coffee shops, restaurants, student shows, outdoor festivals and friend's homes. I was very conscious of establishing an exhibition history. Artists come and go, anyone looking seriously at representing your work will want to know that you are for real and that you have staying power; an exhibition history is part of that.

After completely my BFA, I sought juried shows, local art league venues, group shows with themes appropriate to my work, and retail galley representation. I looked to move from coffee shops and restaurants as I wanted to show my work in more art centric settings.

Making art requires a certain amount of dedicated time; it also requires me to have materials on hand so I can execute the creative inspiration dancing in my head. Making time for the inspiration part is just as important as the making part. If I am unable to get clear on what I'm doing, it will be impossible for me to execute the artwork I want to make. Art is my job.

Generally, I have a whole rant about how little time we spend with just our thoughts and in quiet space. I'm talking about plain old day-dreaming; day dreaming is an integral part of my creative process, it requires more focus than most other "things" I do. Look around, everyone is busy, but what are they really doing?

Our world is now filled with images and sounds, we are bombarded daily; just try to get away from it. Consider how many products you use in the bathroom each morning or evening. Count them, seriously, count how many different products you use to get dressed each day. It starts there, the bold toothpaste wrapper, the shampoo label, the scent of your soap, the hair brush/comb graphics, etc. Now you can understand what I mean about fiercely guarding your quiet, thinking space. Make and take time for your creative thoughts right now. Then, defend it furiously, never skimp or let other things eat up you time.

Also, join peer groups. I am a member of the International Encaustic Artists, http://www.international-encaustic-artists.org. You cannot image how helpful it has been to have other painters working in beeswax available for questions and problem solving. This group is rich with talent and insight and each member freely gives advice and counsel. Attending workshops will expand your skill set and is important not only for the skill sharpening, but also, for the connections to others working in your particular medium.

Collaboration is a really nice part of art making as we artists tend to spend so much time alone. Working in conjunction with another artist provides sharing of your aesthetic, creative decision-making, and exposure to new ways of working. I am currently involved with a diptych project, The Diptych Project: A Collaboration in Waxartists of the International Encaustic Artists (IEA) have paired up with artists of New England Wax (NEW) to create collaborative works in encaustic. Each artist in the pairings created one half of a two-panel painting or "diptych" and then completed the dialogue, by each sending their artwork to the partner artist to create the other half. The Diptych Project has shown in several venues across the country and has a handsome catalog (http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/242524) available.

My toe has been entered into the Social Network Marketing fray: this is what we call Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc. The impact of these tools cannot be overstated. Currently, there are 150,000,000 active Facebook members; that number will swell to 500,000,000 by 2011. We, as visual artists, cannot ignore this media. What does it mean for us? How do we best use it? I can't quite say. Im going to hang in there and find out where its value lies.

What I do know is this, now, in this time of great uncertainty it is very important for artists to maintain vigilance. Keep making and marketing your work; there will be a great shake out and many will fall to the wayside. Stay on top of things and you will survive this upheaval.

What is my work day like? As soon as I get up, I turn on the wax, I work with encaustic, beeswax, pigment and resin, and depending upon the season some heat or a fan as is required for my personal comfort. I have a good breakfast and read the morning news. I check my emails to see if anything has come in over night and then get to. A special note here, I only check the inbox of my email. The net is very seductive. We can burn hours sitting here surfing the info highway. Don't do it, get to work.

My creative energy is highest in the early part of the day, you may be a night person, just choose a working time and stick to it. I have a "production" schedule that I try to maintain. I'm working with several galleries and a print dealer; all of these entities make requests for my work. I can assure you if I don't produce and can't meet the need, those carefully sought venues won't be calling for long. I have to accept 100% responsibility for meeting production needs; excuses will not get me very far. My husband says I am rather unpleasant if I don't spend enough time in my studio.

My medium is encaustic, that's beeswax and damar resin, and it is less well known than oil or acrylic work. People are fascinated by the surface and depth that can be achieved in this medium and I work on several pieces at one time. You will find pieces in various stages of completion lining my studio walls and floor. Creation of art is a contemplative process as well. I spend a good deal of time looking at each piece during the phases of its development. It can be difficult to decide when a piece is truly done. Occasionally, near the end of the process, I will ask other trusted art friends into the studio to help me ascertain whether or not a work is indeed finished. The decision to end your conversation with a piece of your artwork can be profoundly difficult. Then, there are times when I am certain; I just know the work is complete.

It's important to have a recognized style. We use our style as our identity to the art world. My best advice on developing your style is to work on what inspires you the most. Working within this context will keep you and your work focused and on track.

Artists seem to have a business critic in their head. This critic convinces us that we are not any good at business or marketing and that we should just ignore those tasks. Hogwash! Selling is part of our creative process. Get rid of that business critic so you can share your dream with others. Art and beauty give hope and we need a big dose of hope right now. This is an important time for art.

To start the marketing ball rolling, we have to get out of the studio and into the world. We've got to meet people and make connections. A wonderful show opportunity came my way because I made a connection with someone who curates shows here in Asheville.

I had to put down my butane torch, clean up and hit the mean streets of Asheville.

Pretty much, this is the life of a working artist.

Related Resources

Books:

Art and Fear, Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, David Bayler and Ted Orland
What Painting Is, James Elkins
Learning to Look at Paintings, Mary Action
I'd Rather Be in the Studio, Alyson B. Stanfield
A Manuel of Painting Materials and Techniques, Mark D. Gottsegen
The Painter's Handbook, Mark D. Gottsegen

Internet Sources:

Smartist Teleseminar: www.smartist-telesummit.com
Art Biz Coach: www.artbizcoach.com
Mary Farmer: www.maryfarmer.com | Facebook
Who Knows Art? Wendy H. Outland:

Art In America, especially the August issue. www.artinamericamagazine.com
Modern Painters www.modernpainters.co.uk
ARTnews www.artnewsonline.com

Content Source: www.wnc-woman.com

Comments

Debi Drecksler - Tuesday, May 12, 2009 @ 5:16:12 pm

Great Article. Very informative and interesting! I really enjoyed it!

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About the Author - Mary Farmer

Contact Mary Farmer:
Mary Farmer
828.712.3786
www.maryfarmer.com

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