Micro Enterprise

One of the thoughts that occupies my mind is making a living as an artist. While this enterprise has propelled my studio practice for over 10 years (before that, I was content to make abstract sculpture/painting and hope to be "discovered")I am only recently beginning to see the possibilty of success. That is, becoming self-sufficient through my studio output. Many years of training, post art school, in business, marketing and developing production skills have gone into making this theory a reality. It has been far from easy and a huge obstacle is a general sense that art should not be sullied by the market. Well, I argue that art IS in the market and the artist who looks this reality in the eye stands a better chance of financial freedom.

Art for sale. Any artist in their right mind is eager to sell their work. An artist who relies on grants and funding through non-profits is no better than a mendicant and therefore beholden to the limits the funding provides. Government suppport, ie NEA funding became a joke in the 90's as some of the most provacative art funded through that office was censored and raised moral outrage (Robert Mapplethorp, Andre Serrano).

This short piece is the start of what I hope will evolve into a larger conversation, and ultimately a book. While I continue to pursue my studio practice full time, I would like to dedicate a large part of this blog to these ideas. I invite comment and emails. Like Chris Anderson's "The Long Tail" I see writing a book on line an exciting and bracing enterprise. Peer review is tough in a non-academic setting so it is here that a peer review becomes possible.

technorati tags: microenterprise, art, nea

Berkshire Craft Fair

1) Barbara and Robert Matthews, shoemakers extraordinaire


2) Peggy and Julian at Iro, lovely hand painted fabrics turned into clothes, bags and table linens


3) Natasha Wozniak and Jun, amazing jeweler


4) Ellen Grenadier, Berkshire County potter


5) Diana Fayt, blogging potter


6) Caudia Mills, weaver


7) Jim Holohan metals

I visited the Berkshire Craft Fair this past weekend and said hello to many friends and wonderful artists bravely standing in booths, selling their work. Here is a sampling of my favorites.

I wish I knew how to make this look better, but I have to go make my own pottery now! :)

technorati tags: art, craft, berkshires,

Betty Woodman at the Met

I finally saw the Betty Woodman show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last week, during the final week there. Seeing this show was remarkable on several levels. First, Woodman's show is the first one of its kind; a one person show of American ceramics at the Met. Her work is mature, confident and beautiful. Influenced by many historic ceramic styles, Etruscan, Greek, and others as well as architectural fragments, which she combines in relief and sculptural forms based on the vase. As an artist who has embraced painting in ceramics, I am moved and inspired by her work and inovation.

The second important factor, for me, is my relationship with Woodman. I worked for her in 1986 while I was a graduate student at the School of Visual Arts in New York and as such had the opportunity to get to know her and her husband George, also an accomplished artist. The Woodmans are amazing people - inspiring, committed, traveled and enlightened.

I am thrilled to have been a part of their lives and to have seen this exhibition, a tribute to an American master.

technorati tags: bettywoodman, ceramics, met, metropolitanmuseum, clay, pottery,

Sustainability

What is sustainability? What does a thriving human race look like on this planet? How can we shift to a more responsible way of being, budgeting natural resources and becoming more environmentally and socially conscious? One aspect of living gently on the earth includes making in artisinal studios. Crafts, art. Our stuff is important. Where we get it, how it is made and by whom, impact not only our homes, but our neighbors as well. If we look to acquire new things from the local potter, weaver, quilter, painter, woodworker, basket maker, we not only live in a more unique environment formed by discreet choices, we also affect the economy in a gentler way. Buying goods from small makers, small in scale yet big in concept, then the social aspect of acquiring takes on a different tone. Seth Godin's new book, Small is the New Big is worth a look to understand how this idea can truly impact business and a curated life. So many levels, so much possibility...

technorati tags: sustainable, sethgodin, art, craft,

and now, for something completely different...