Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide for Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, and Other Visual Artists PDF
Preview Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide for Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, and Other Visual Artists
More Praise for Starting Your Career as an Artist “Who says there is no clear path to becoming a successful artist? Starting Your Career as an Artist is an invaluable resource that demystifies the steps artists should take when starting out. Elegantly and straightforwardly written, Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller have left nothing out—goal setting, the myriad options for exhibiting work, effective networking, legal and safety issues, fundraising, earning income, and so much more. Along with an impressive group of top art world contributors, this book provides information and resources that can help any artist start or maintain a successful practice. This effective career planning guide will be highly recommended to the students and alumni I work with.” —Laura Daroca, Director of Career Services, Otis College of Art and Design “An inspiring and empowering resource for emerging artists. Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller have dispelled the myth of the lonely, suffering artist who is waiting to be discovered, once and for all. From setting up and maintaining a studio practice to career planning and job search, they present strategies for artists across disciplines to develop and sustain fulfilling careers and be successful on their own terms.” —Katharine Schutta, Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Starting Your Career as an Artist ANGIE WOJAK AND STACY MILLER Starting Your Career as an Artist A GUIDE FOR PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND OTHER VISUAL ARTISTS © 2011 by Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Allworth Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fundraising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected]. 15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1 Published by Allworth Press, Inc. an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. ® ® Allworth Press is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. , a Delaware corporation. www.allworth.com Cover concept by Stephen Viksjo Cover design by Mary Belibasakis ISBN: 978-1-58115-853-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wojak, Angie. Starting your career as an artist / by Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-58115-853-3 (alk. paper) 1. Art--Vocational guidance--United States. I. Miller, Stacy. II. Title. N6505.W644 2011 702.3--dc22 2011011628 Printed in the United States of America Dedicated with love to the memory of Kevin Massey and to our wonderful husbands, Scott Seaboldt and Joe Wojak Acknowledgments W e wish to express our deep appreciation to the artists, career counselors, colleagues, educators, entrepreneurs, family, friends, and gallerists who supported our work and generously gave us their time in the process of researching and writing this book. We would like to thank them for their ideas and enthusiasm, but mostly for their inspiration and shared desire to help guide the careers and lives of emerging artists. We want thank our husbands, Scott Seaboldt and Joe Wojak, for their love and support throughout this process. Your patience, technical expertise, and encouragement made this book possible! Our deepest appreciation goes to Don Porcaro, an artist and a gentleman, for his early and steadfast support of this book and the generous time he gave us. Thank you to Melissa Potter, for being a real role model, a woman of courage and perseverance, who even in a time of great challenge, gave generously of her time and expertise. We cannot thank the Guerrilla Girls and Kathe Kollwitz enough for their inspiration, words of wisdom, encouragement, and for sharing their story, all of which played an essential part in the early stages of this project. Thanks to Alexander Kohst for inspiring us to look outside the box for ways in which artists can truly live a life in the arts and for showing us that success is not about financial rewards alone. We are grateful to Ted Berger, who continues to push us to think in new and different ways about our field with unceasing clarity and rigor. For their guidance and support, we are grateful to Tad Crawford and Bob Porter. We want to express our gratitude to the following people who said “YES” without hesitation to our request for their words of wisdom, which were invaluable in the writing of this book: Tim Gunn, Claudine K. Brown, Thomas Wojak, Marsha Tonkins, Jean Mitsunaga, Misty L.Youmans, Jennifer Phillips, Robert Thill, Nate Fredenburg, Dennis Kaiser, Jeff Elliott, Jessica Murphy, Helene Lauer, Asha De Costa, Bill Barrett, Jason Goodman, Jerry Saltz, James Ramer, Simone Douglas, Craig Nutt, Carol Warner, David Terry, Kat Griefen, Sue Schear, Alyson Pou, Elizabeth Heskin, Erin Berkery, Angela Tsuei-Strause, Rod Berg, Brynna Tucker, Judy Nylen, Sharon M. Louden, Alexi Rutsch, Maryellen Schroeder, Olivia Martinez- Stewart, Monona Rossol, Laura Daroca, Radhika Subramaniam, Angela Ringo, Erin Donnelly, Carol Overby, Rhonda Schaller, Kay Takeda, Mia Villanueva, Pam Klein, Andrew Horton and Kate Evanishyn, Steve Viksjo, Angela Yeh, Jann Nunn, Noah Davis, Lester and Charlene Pannell, Troy Pannell, Eric Pannell, Alva Hazell, and all of our AICAD Career Services colleagues! Contents Acknowledgments PART I: SELF-ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPING A CAREER PLAN CHAPTER 1 Myths about Artists The Guerrilla Girls’ Guide to Behaving Badly CHAPTER 2 Assessing Your Goals as an Artist Take an Honest Inventory Using Your Inventory Taking Time to Reflect on Life and Work Interview with Jerry Saltz, Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine PART II: EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES AND COMMUNITY BUILDING CHAPTER 3 Galleries and Museums Galleries Interview with Elizabeth Heskin, Gallery Owner of Heskin Contemporary, New York Interview with Don Porcaro, Associate Professor in the Fine Arts Department at Parsons The New School for Design Juried Shows Art Fairs Museums Interview with Claudine K. Brown, Director of Education for the Smithsonian Institution, formerly Director of the Arts and Culture Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation Interview with Sharon Louden, Exhibiting Artist and Educator CHAPTER 4 Alternative Spaces: Breaking the Rules to Break Through Examples of Alternative Spaces Interview with Radhika Subramaniam, Director and Chief Curator, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design Alternative Funding Models Interview with Kat Griefen, Director,A.I.R. Gallery CHAPTER 5 Creating a Strategy for Exhibiting Your Work by Rhonda Schaller Embracing an Alternative Mind-set The Art World Is Changing Working with Dealers and Curators Alternative Models vs. Commercial Models Alternatives Venues that Use Commercial Models Online Galleries, Art Registries, Art Files, Juried Shows, and Open Calls Do You Want to Pursue an Alternative or Commercial Route? The Power of Creating Your Own Opportunities CHAPTER 6 Community Building and Networking for Artists Building Your Community Assessing Your Current Contacts Networking as a Mind-set Activating Your Network: An Artist’s Perspective Networking Basics Interview with Melissa Potter, Multimedia Artist and Educator Mentors
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