I come across various articles on why artists should not donate their art to charities. The reasons vary from…
– it brings down the value of art in general
– a lot of artists already live at the poverty line and it is unfair
– donating your art doesn’t get you the exposure you think it will
– etc, etc, etc
Personally I believe that if the only reason you are donating art to charity is for the exposure then you are doing it for the wrong reason.
Personally I believe that if you are donating art to charity it should be for a cause you actually believe in.
Generally, working artists don’t have a lot of extra cash hanging around so donating an artwork is one way for them to help charities they believe in.
Personally I believe that charities think that artists are an easy group to exploit for a means to their end. Is this not like robbing Peter to support Paul? AND What artist doesn’t want exposure for their work?
Personally I believe that exposure has nothing what so ever to do with it. Donate because you believe and truly want to help. Is it not a bit self serving to donate art to charity solely for exposure?
Don’t be fooled that you’ll get discovered this way because when you’re not you’ll feel worse or that your work isn’t good enough. Don’t prostitute yourself! No, wait, even the prostitute gets paid.
This is only my opinion, yours may be different. Feel free to express it in the comments below.
Pajaro Valley Arts Council, PVAC, and the Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Art, SCICA, along with guest curator Rose Sellery present an exhibit which explores the realm of apparel and goes beyond the conventional limitations of fabric, needle and thread.
Expect the unexpected in this exhibit of curious, intriguing, narrative garments and accessories that utilize traditional methods, as well as experimentation with unusual materials, tools and techniques that create surprising, witty and thought provoking conceptual pieces and installations.
The exhibition will be held simultaneously in two galleries, at the Pajaro Valley Arts Council PVAC and the Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Art (SCICA) at the Tannery Arts Center.
Work being exhibited
Installation shot – Linda Cordy – “You Give Me Fever” (painting on back wall). Hat sculpture artist unknown. Kim Bruce – encaustic shoe sculptures
It has been said that contemporary art is about the statement or meaning of the art and not about the artist’s process and technique to create it.
I have also heard that artists’ need to be cautious about being seduced by their medium. This means that working with any one medium becomes more important than what the art is suppose to be about. That you are more interested to see what you can do with the medium.
Is it therefore fair to say that art process demonstrations given at a gallery demean the meaning of the art? Furthermore does it reduce the art to technique which takes attention from the idea and focus it squarely on the how-to?
I would really like to know what your thoughts on this are. All comments are welcome.
These are the pieces that will be shown at Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport CT. Jan 21 to Feb 20, 2014
Reception: Thursday, Feb. 6th, 5 – 7 pm. Free and open to the public
Kim Bruce gratefully acknowledges the grant support from the A.F.A. to produce the work in the Heels series. 4 pieces from the series will be shown in this exhibition.
My father has had a great influence on my life like most parents. He taught me a work ethic that lead to self employment at an early age, I was 26. But more than that he influenced how I look at the world and interpret that with my unique visual language. This is how my dad influenced my art practice.
Alan David Henigman was born in Saskatoon in 1928. He settled in Calgary in the 1950’s and bought a lot in the community of Millican Ogden in the south east. The land already had the foundation of a house and that’s it.
Not being wealthy man and no house plans he did his own design build. The story goes that he would purchase building materials pay cheque to pay cheque. He would problem solve as he went along.
Being an appliance repair man for General Electric, he also moonlighted by reconditioning old washers, dryers, fridges, and the like. His work shop was in the basement and attached garage and he was always picking up broken appliances to fix and resell. Word spread because his repairs lasted. What he couldn’t fix he recycled, used for parts or as my list below mentions, repurposed.
Some of my favourite examples of his repurposing are…
Using copper tubing, more than likely left over from the plumbing, for the kitchen cupboard pulls.
Salvaging and using old oven doors from his appliance repairs and construction a window for our back porch.
The ceiling in the living room was a wood vaulted ceiling made from salvaged wood doors.
The towel rack in the bathroom was a salvaged oven door pull.
The front stairs to our home was a design of his own and he constructed and pored the concrete himself.
Not having enough siding to complete the length of the front porch railing he cut a detail to finish the shortage.
My Dad and me at the BBQ slash fire pit he designed and built in the 60’s well before it was fashionable to have an outdoor cookery.
My Dad is the very definition of “function before form”. The most important thing to him was that it work. The ascetic of our home was my Mother’s territory. My Dad taught me to look at my surroundings and the objects in it with new eyes. It’s not just a piece of copper tubing, it’s a door pull. It not just a window for an oven door, it’s actually a window for anything.
So when you see objects used in my work now you know why.
Do you have an unsung person that influenced your art? Who was it and how did they influence you?
It is a brave new world with the internet being so instrumental in an artists’ career. I think that it is only reasonable that artists should add online collections to CV.
This does need qualifying though. What exactly constitutes an online collection?
Grant it there are 100’s of sites that artists can submit their work to for free. These are portfolio sites that have 1000’s of searchable artists that anyone can become a member of. I’m not referring to these sites.
Websites that jury the artist submissions carry weight in the arts community. Not just anyone will be accepted. Just like submitting to a live gallery, an online gallery reviews your work and exhibition history to ensure you meet their curatorial vision.
For example:
A few years ago I submitted my Heels series to the “Virtual Shoe Museum”. They are strictly online, until recently (I’ll explain in a bit). Anyway, I sent images and a few months later they accepted a few of my pieces to be displayed on an artist page with my name. Cool!
I also submitted to “This is Colossal” which is a very popular arts site with a large readership. I would be very excited if they showed my work, but I haven’t heard back yet. And like most galleries, they state they will only contact me if interested.
I believe that it is VERY WORTH WHILE for artists to seek out these types of opportunities. Here’s why…
1. Exposure Exposure Exposure
2. Could lead to other opportunities.
Did I say “other opportunities”? YES!
Shortly after I was accepted into the Virtual Museum online collection, I was approached by the website curator Liza Snook. She was working on a major exhibition of shoe designers and artists for a six month show at the Grassi Museum in Leipzig Germany. Was I interested in sending “Step Lightly” to Germany? ABSOLUTELY!
How to list virtual collections in your CV
Listing online collections in your CV should be in a category of their own. They should not be included in the typical list of collections. This is because it is not an actual sale, no one purchased your work. But I believe that online collections are valid as it demonstrates that you are active in the arts community and the arts community now includes the internet.
You can see it here on my CV. Notice I kept it under the main Collections title but separated from the main list.
Do you agree that artists should add online collections to their CV?
Also I would (and every other artist) like to know if you have resources to share on reputable online collection websites that you have submitted to. Please leave a link to your online collections.
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Canadian Artists for the Poor put out a call for 25 artists for a really fun project. The project consists of one artist painting one of the letters in their name — Canadian Artists for the Poor. The format is 11″ x 14″ portrait orientation. They’re going to put them all together and have an amazing display of different colours, styles and fonts at Calgary Art Walk.
About One “O” in Poor…
There’s a lot going on in this simple little piece called “O”, which is one of the o’s in the word Poor.
The work is a collage of foreign currency (the real thing not colour copies) in a bed of encaustic. The wax was built up and scraped back to only slightly reveal the bills below. You know there is something below the surface but it is inaccessible.
I cut out the center of the “O” as a metaphor for nothing or zero, with torn bits of the international currencies touching the border. Visually and physically stopped at the edge going nowhere.
One could make note that I used money that could have otherwise have helped the poor. A waste? Perhaps. But maybe someone will appreciate the irony of this piece and contribute to the cause.
I am a reluctant feminist mainly because I don’t think there should be such a thing. I have always considered myself and everyone else as people first. Gender never really enters the equation, at least not for me. The word feminist to me means believing that all people to be people is not a natural state.
I am a product of the 50’s and grew up at the height of the women’s movement. Did I participate, no, not really.
What I did do is make my own way. I became self employed at the age of 26. I owned a design firm for nearly 20 years and employed up to 12 people. When my passion for art could no longer be ignored, I sold my firm to pursue my art full time.
When I realized that I needed a website, well, I learnt how to do that. Now I have a thriving online business where I help other artists create an online presence. My point…
I had choices
With the advent of the internet and coaches like ArtbizCoach.com, there is help for the artist entrepreneur who wants to develop marketing skills and take control of their careers.
Artists now have choices
Shamsia Hassani, ‘Dreaming Graffiti with Banksy’, 2012. Image courtesy the artist. Shamsia Hassani, Afghanistan’s first female street artist, emerges as a spokesperson for women’s rights in Kabul.
Since I have the internet and a choice, I have an idea.
Here’s the idea
Since the fundamental component of all my series revolves around women’s issues I would like to see my work help those that need it the most.
Malala Yousafzai was shot when returning from school for going to school. She survived
I was lucky, I had a college education, I was able to chose. I can not for one minute imagine NOT HAVING A CHOICE!
But there are so many girls (and boys too), but mostly girls, that due to tradition or religion don’t get to chose. They are married off as soon as they hit puberty and are often left having to fend for themselves and their children because of war, strife or circumstance.
As much as I would prefer to live with my ideals; gender inequality exists. It exists in Canada, the USA, throughout the western world and as that fight continues there are still girls, children, in developing nations that may never have the same choices that we have.
I believe in choice.
Since I have a choice, I choose to: SUPPORT EDUCATION FOR GIRLS.
To facilitate this I have created an online shop to sell work from the “Open Book” series. This series speaks specifically to the education for girls movement.
With your generous purchase of my art, I am able to donate to Education for Girls charities.
Why am I doing this?
Because I have a choice, so I choose to Support Education of Girls then maybe someday they too will have a choice.
Kim Bruce gratefully acknowledges the grant support from the A.F.A. to produce the work in the Heels series.
Step Lightly, Cast encasutic, pins & needles,vintage dressmaker pattern, 5″ x 2.5″ x 7.5″
The Grassi museum presents: Over a 100 fascinating and surprising footwear creations from around the world. The selection shows the architecture in miniature shoes, shoes with socio- critical potential, with historical referenced shoes or shoes that are not obvious at first glance. The exhibition is complemented by photos and videos of shoe performances.
World renowned artists, architects and designers such as Keith Haring and Zaha Hadid have rediscovered the shoe itself. They present the amazing and bizarre, and provide a variety of aesthetic and cultural aspects. The range of materials used is far reaching: futuristic high-tech fabrics, ceramics, wood, glass, elephant dung, paper and of course leather and fabric were used as the starting material. Portable or not? The original and ingenious designs are unlimited. It’s all about the shoe as an art form, to be reshaped as sculpture.
As I get to know more artists I’m finding that not only do some have day jobs but another passion outside of their art.
I have found doctors, engineers, welders and technical drafts-people. What’s fascinating to me is that these disciplines are considered left brain while art on a whole is consider right. You know, math and science.
Personally I don’t think that creativity is limited to one brain hemisphere. Einstein was very creative.
I wonder if by keeping these other careers private we are trying to live up to the artistic mystic. When in fact they may add credibility to another wise known flaky artist. OR is it the other way around? Admitting the you are a doctor, lawyer or an accountant means you’re not a serious artist?
Well these are points to ponder and I imagine you have good arguments for both.
As for me, I freely admit that I LIKE COMPUTER CODE! As they say in the WordPress world “code is poetry”. My other passion is over at Artbiz.ca
SO DO YOU THINK IT A BAD CAREER MOVE AS AN ARTIST TO EMBRACE YOUR OTHER SIDE AND COME OUT OF THE PROVERBIAL CLOSET?
Thanks to Lori Zebier whose admission inspired this post.
