United Arts Council of Collier County: A Resource for SW Floridians

The United Arts Council is designated by the State of Florida as the official local arts agency for Collier County. The council provides arts education to at-risk students and outreach services to those who might now otherwise have access to the arts.

In connecting arts organizations, artists, galleries and arts educators with one another and local audiences and tourism-related businesses, the UAC is able to propel the arts community, provide valuable resources and spread art throughout the county.

The organization advocates for more arts education in schools, more funding for the arts, and more art in public places, providing assistance to arts organizations, galleries and artists.

In addition to state funding, the UAC relies on membership fees to function. Single memberships for "friends" and "artists" begin at $65 (while family, gallery, arts and cultural group, business or corporate partner memberships are higher). Click here to become a member and see how you can help the UAC succeed.

The UAC's "What's Happening" section of their website lists an extensive calendar of local events - ranging from activities at the Naples Botanical Garden to Performance Pieces at the Naples Ballet. Each week, there is also an up-to-date "Best Bets for the Weekend" listing.

Check out the site to see their various resources for artists, entertainers and teachers - including listings of auditions, jobs, volunteer positions and more.

Fine Arts Graduate School: Tips and Stats

Each year US News and World Report publishes lists of the "best" colleges, universities, and graduate schools across the country. While the lists can seem overwhelming (and maybe even a little inaccurate, as they incorporate obscure criteria like "how much professors are paid" into determining the rankings), I recently read an insightful article associated with the magazine's Fine Arts Graduate School rankings that gives some useful advice.

Here's a summary of the article's helpful hints for MFA-bound students:

• Consider how you'll be making a living after graduation (not just how you'll make your art) - take advantage of career resources before and during the admissions process and make the school's career center a part of your considerations
• Look for schools that teach entrepreneurship, as many artists will go on to start their own galleries or arts non-profit organizations (especially during a recession, when jobs for artists are scarce).
  
• Network, network, network
  
• Vision is essential: because programs are highly competitive, many professors recommend that artists should establish themselves as working artists and build their portfolios (rather than going straight from undergrad to grad school)
• Know what you're getting into (and be realistic) - While an MFA might make more jobs available to you as an artist, unfortunately, artists are currently unemployed at twice the rate of other professional workers and as always, artists typically don't make much money. However, in my opinion, if you're passionate enough about your talent and creating art, you'll find other ways to earn a living while doing what you love.
  

Art Consultants in NYC

The MFI Art Company, Inc., located in New York City, is an art consulting firm whose clients range from small businesses to major multinational corporations. Since its founding in California in 1977, MFI has provided artwork and services to over 2,200 clients (which include artists, galleries, publishers, and private art dealers).


Art consultants work in various ways and often offer a variety of art-related services. MFI's services include an initial assessment of space and evaluation of the client's needs, expert research in locating artwork, inventory and appraisal, commissions, framing and placement and installation.

For artists, working with art consultants could be an excellent way to sell work and gain exposure. Like most consulting firms, MFI is always looking for new artists to consider for future projects - and also works with art dealers, galleries, print publishers and artist representatives in obtaining new works.


Check out these other art consulting companies located in NYC and around the country

Read more about art consulting at NYFA's website

If you're just in the mood to enjoy NYC's art scene, click here to check out the current and upcoming events going on around the city

DARE to Educate

DARE (which stands for Digital Art Resources for Education) is an online education resource for contemporary international visual arts, which developed through the Digital Arts Education Research Initiative from 1998 to 2001.

The resource is aimed at a broad educational audience and is divided into four of areas:

Digital - This section includes a periodically changing selection of contemporary webart projects made specifically for the Internet.

Art - "Art" takes visitors to DARE's main resource area, where images and ideas of a diverse range of British and interntional contemporary artists are examined through themes of play, space + place and translation. The section also contains several ideas for project work and critical studies discussions as well as an image gallery of each artists' works, without contextualization.

Resource - Here, additional resources are listed. These resources include a compilation of related books, journals, CD-ROMS and education packs. Text and image resources' full bibliographies are included in this section, as is an extensive list of links to international contemporary artists organizations, galleries and education projects.

Education - The "Education" section has an overview of the approach to teaching and learning about contemporary art and critical studies used by DARE. There are also links to schools who have used DARE since its pilot phase.

DARE's unique in its mission to "ease the flow" between contemporary art practices and current art education. DARE aims to lessen the lack of teacher resources within formal education that teach critical and creative practices of contemporary artists from a diverse range of cultures. The website allows contextual issues to be considered while examining how artists have made their work. It also allows users to access and view work by artists who have not traditionally been looked at in the formal curriculum.

The School of Lifelong Learning and Education hosts DARE's website.

Art&Education

Art&Education, established in New York in 2006, reaches an international network of over 70,000 visual-art professionals and academics on a daily basis through its website and email list. The website posts announcements and distributes information on the world's most important contemporary art exhibitions, publications and symposia taking place within educational contexts and lists current academic employment opportunities in the visual arts.

Recent announcements and job listings include:

The Arts University College at Bournemouth: The art institute has posted a call for applications for the post of Head of School of Design and Associate Dean.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum: The Washington University's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts' museum in Saint Louis presents "Allison Smith: Needle Work." The artist's works are critically engaging and convey popular forms of historical reenactment. Using sculpture, fabrics, ceramics and other traditional crafts, Smith seeks to "redo, re-stage and re-figure our sense of collective memory."

School of Visual Arts 2010: The school is calling for applicants for its Arts Abroad Programs. Limited space is available for programs in the following places: Barcelona, Florence, Milan, Rome, Puerto Rico, Southern France / Provence, Shanghai, Venice.

UC San Diego, Visual Arts Department: UC San Diego's Visual Arts Department is hosting a series of lectures and panels investigating contemporary theories, practices and debates in the making and reception of public culture as they move through the visual sphere.

Click here for news from art&education.

Click here for art&education's impressive archive of papers, essays, and articles

Click here to subscribe to art&education's newsletters

A Useful Resource for Chicago Artists

Chicago is one of America's largest cities and contains a thriving (and growing) art scene. From the world-renowned Art Institute of Chicago to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, there is so much to see and do, it's almost overwhelming. For Chicago-area artists, I suggest visiting the Chicago Artists Resource, an extensive website that offers useful links, articles, and advice for visual and performance artists and contains a plethora of information regarding business, careers, resources, education, opportunities, etc.

The resources section (under "Visual Arts") mentions relevant issues and current articles -divided by topic - related to artists. One such article (under the "Health / Wellness" topic) deals with health care, one of the nation (and world's) most pressing issues and something that affects everyone from politicians to housewives.

The article, titled "Artists United for Health Care," discusses the organization's partnership with the Center for Cultural Innovation and Leveraging Investments in Creativity and their collaborative launching of a united artists' health care reform website. As the article states, the website's goal is to give artists the chance to get directly involved in advocating for meaningful and real reform. To read the entire (important) article, click here.

Other topics included under the "Visual Arts" Resources section include suppliers and services (read how to use the Internet to Market Your Work), advocacy (find out more about the Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Initiative) and networks (split up into sub-topics like neighborhood organizations, religious artists, artists with disabilities, and many more).

For a list of current and upcoming exhibitions and other art-related events in Chicago, click here.

For a comprehensive list of Chicago's art museums and galleries, click here.

How to Shoot a Jane Bown Portrait

Guardian Photographer, Eammonn McCabe gives a lesson on shooting the perfect portrait, Jane Bown style (in honor of Bown's November exhibition at Kings Place).

Click here to watch the video, describing how to make sure you:

• Get the background right
• Make sure you have good light in the eyes
• Think about hands, do you need them?
• Create a relaxed atmosphere
• Try uprights as well as landscapes
• Try different lenses
• Think about black and white
• Watch the light
• AND FINALLY... never admit you don't know what you're doing!

Creating a Portfolio to Get Into Art School: A "How To" Guide

While most college-bound students research schools and apply to those that fit their preferences (such as location, programs that match interests and future career paths, those that correspond to academic achievement thus far, etc), art students have the additional daunting task of putting together a flawless art school portfolio - one that showcases the artist's best work, while also displaying the variety of talents and unique skills of the perspective student.

There are many decisions to be made when gathering a portfolio, and Karyn Tufarolo, an admissions counselor at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, has written a detailed article about preparing an admirable portfolio (which is extremely important for art students wishing to get into BFA programs).

Generally, she states the following characteristics that should be included in and noted when preparing a noteworthy portfolio:
1. drawing from observation
2. work in color
3. design work
4. other media
5. requirements for a particular school

To read more about what admissions officers look for, what to expect during the application process, and some of the "dos" and "don'ts" associated with applying to and getting into art school, click here.

Kickstarter

Inventors of every kind know about the trials and tribulations associated with financing their projects. While it is frustrating to be so passionate about an idea - but be roadblocked by the inability to fund its production, I recently came across a resource that may be of some use called Kickstarter.

Kickstarter calls itself a "funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, investors, explorers..."

This innovative website, which is based in Brooklyn and was founded by five men residing across the U.S., gives creative people the opportunity to put their ideas out there, get funding, and yet, still maintain 100% ownership and control of their ideas and inventions. Although some aspects of the process are a little daunting - it's all or nothing (i.e. if an artist needs $5,000 in funding and only $4,999 is pledged, that artist gets nothing) - this resource is a novel approach for inventors struggling to find a way to fund their projects.

Current popular projects that have received over 100% funding include: "Designing Obama" (a book of art and design from Obama's campaign), "Robin Writes a Book" (A detective story set halfway between San Francisco and the Internet), "OpenIndie: 100 Pioneering Filmmakers Embrace Modern Cinema" (a project for a user generated film screening website), and "Poorcraft: A Comic Book Guide to Frugal Urban and Suburban Living."

Read more about this exciting resource here.

Friday Nights at the de Young

Artists (and art lovers) around the Bay Area should take advantage of de Young Museum's extended hours and special programs offered on Friday Nights. The museum's eclectic activities include everything from jazz performances to mask making. The programs attract diverse audiences that come together in an artistic and creative atmosphere. Check it out!

Website of opportunities

Right now we all know that the economy has gone down the ... well, you know what. We could all use a little help right now with a grant/residency/etc. to give us a boost in the studio. I came across this website - artdeadlines.com - that is a pretty good survey of all sorts of listings for us artsy folk. You can also receive a newsletter with updates of new opportunities or approaching deadlines...

The Torpedo Factory

If you live in or near Washington, D.C. (or even if you're planning a trip), the Torpedo Factory in old town Alexandria, Virginia is definitely worth a visit. Formerly an actual factory that produced torpedoes, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to 82 artist studios, 6 galleries, 2 workshops, and a museum that you can visit. Also, the center offers art classes through The Art League School.

Often it can seem difficult to find a good art scene in the U.S. if you're outside of New York, Chicago, or L.A., but that simply isn't true. You just have to look a little bit to find resources that can help you. While the gallery scene in D.C. isn't as amazing as other cities, there are incredible museums (hello Smithsonian!) that you can take advantage of. Part of being an artist is utilizing your local resources for what you need.

Local galleries

Today while perusing one of my favorite indulgences, ApartmentTherapy, I was reminded of a simple artist resource you can take advantage of, even if you're not living in a big city like New York or L.A. - the local gallery. Most small cities or towns throughout our great country have at least one cultural center or art gallery set up to serve local artists. We often get swept away by larger-than-life ideas of what we want out art to be (in museums, Chelsea galleries, etc.), but sometimes showing our work at the local level is more rewarding, in terms of feedback (not to mention sales).

ApartmentTherapy profiled Austin Art Garage in Texas, which shows the work of emerging artists on a monthly basis. I encourage everyone to look into their neighborhood or local art organizations, galleries, or support programs to find a similar space near you. Not only could you possibly get a chance to exhibit your work close to home, but you may very well find other artists for studio visits, critics or art historians for engaging conversation, and a really great opportunity to see art, in person, on a regular basis.

Art trade: hotel stay?

Berlin is a fabulous place for artists to live, or to visit. Many of my young artist, musician, or writer friends are moving there for cheaper rent and a booming arts scene. There are lots of art museums and galleries in Berlin, as well as other great resources that make it an ideal place to visit, as well.

Now, a hotel in Berlin is offering artists who are "strapped for cash" a trade - artwork for boarding at the hotel. The five-star Hotel Marienband in Auguststrasse is inviting artists to live in a room and use it as a sort of evolving art space.

From the Telegraph:

Susanne Pfeffer, curator of the Kunst-Werke Institute of Contemporary Art, which set up the project, said: "As long as they come from outside Berlin and need a bed for the night, everyone is welcome, though we've got such a long waiting list that we are very careful about picking and choosing our guests."

keep reading

Legal resource

As artists, we know that sometimes the law can either help us out, or really get in the way. Plagiarism and copyright infringements can be clear-cut when discussing literature or commercial situations, but what about fine art? After all, Shepard Fairey is in a world of trouble right now for using an AP photograph for the basis of his Obama Hope posters. While it can't take the place of a really good lawyer, I did come across a decent website with information for us. StarvingArtistsLaw.com, while the design is primitive at best, actually provides some really good information.

Art in a Box

I came across this interesting program based in San Francisco. Art in a Box introduces citizens to local artists by having them subscribe to a service that delivers art to their doorsteps - much like a "wine of the month" club:

"The Compound Gallery is pleased to announce ART IN A BOX, a new art subscription service featuring Bay Area artists. Operating on the model of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or wine subscription service, Art in a Box offers amazing original works of art instead of vegetables or wine. Each month subscribers receive a new work of fine art by a different local artist. Our featured artists work in a variety of mediums (ceramic, printmaking, painting, collage, digital prints, etc.) and most of them live and work in Oakland or San Francisco.

Subscribers can indicate a preference in mediums, but not the artist or piece. All artwork is contained in an 11” x 17” x 3” box along with the artist’s bio. Subscriptions are $30/month for pick up only, and $50/month which includes shipping and a bonus piece (there is a minimum three month subscription). We currently have subscribers in all parts of the U.S.—from Oakland to Brooklyn. Art in a Box allows subscribers to receive high quality works worth much more than the subscription cost, gives local artists national exposure, and helps to support the arts and artists in the Bay Area."

Sothebys

It's no surprise that with this economy we've got going on that record numbers of people are applying to head back to school. When the going gets rough, why not retreat into academia, right? Seems like a good idea to me!

I have met quite a few people over the years who have attended school at one of the auction houses...

The Sotheby's Institute has locations in London, New York, and Singapore - and offers quite a few of different options, depending on the commitment you want to make:

Master's Degrees - get an MA in Art Business, Contemporary Art, etc. in 3 semesters

Summer Study - intensive courses designed to immerse you into the world of auction houses and more

Short Courses - take one day seminars or weekly classes

3rd Ward

If you live in New York, or more specifically North Brooklyn, 3rd Ward may be an excellent resource for you. With studios, classes, and more, it's a really great place to further your education and get involved in a dialogue (other than the one inside your head).

From their website:

3rd Ward is a member-based design center for creative professionals in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We are committed to providing resources, opportunities and a dynamic-creative network to our members and the community at large. Our 20,000 sq. ft. space houses four gorgeous photo studios, a professional wood & metal shop, a fully loaded digital media lab, shared & private office space and a large interdisciplinary art education program. Throughout the year we also offer exciting events and opportunities for artists.

Best cities for artists

I came across a BusinessWeek article this week with a list of the top 10 U.S. cities for artists. They frame the article in terms of real estate - wherever the artists go, real estate booms follow. It has long been known that artists seek cheap rents, make a neighborhood hip, and eventually, they make it too expensive for themselves to live in. Although the article is from 2007, it seems pretty legit for today, as picks were chosen based on a strict set of guidelines and indexes - The Arts & Culture Index, Diversity Index, Cost of Living Index, and more. Although there are the obvious choices of Los Angeles, New York, and Santa Fe, a few surprises are in there.

Click here to read the article and see the top 10 U.S. cities for artists

Printed Matter

Located in Chelsea, NYC, Printed Matter is "the largest non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of publications made by artists." Currently run by artist AA Bronson, Printed Matter is a bookstore of sorts - artists' books (and artists' writings, etc.). No, this isn't where you want to go to get the exhibition catalogue of your favorite Monet show, but if you're looking for a small-edition artist publication or a rare artist book by artists like Liam Gillick or Seth Price, this may be the place for you.

Also, they have an open submission policy - if you're looking for a place to sell your artist book... but they won't just take anything.

Check out their "research room" to search for publications