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Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
Do you identify yourself as an environmental artist?
I’ve used the term environmental art. I’ve been coined an environmental artist. I want people to understand that the work has strong environmental themes in case they miss that. It’s not likely that they will, but just in case they have certain ignorance about the materials – just to make sure it brings to their attention the environmental issues. I don’t have a problem with the term ‘environmental artist’ or the notion of being part of an environmental movement.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
Do you believe that raising awareness necessarily leads to an action? Can you see the impact of your work creating a shift in consciousness?
Absolutely. I receive telephone calls and emails from people week in week out.
I’m constantly receiving enquiries from people – particularly in the United States and also in Europe. These are people using the information I provide on my website for their studies, writing about my work in their theses, newspapers or magazines and the general questioning is along the lines of what you’re asking here.
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What role do you think art plays in prompting public dialogue about all those things?
I think art can play a significant role in this kind of dialogue. Art really has a place to be an informer. All the way through history, artists have been at the forefront of responding to contemporary issues in society and being a bit like beacons for the general public, for society at large.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
Is there any environmental issue in particular that concerns you?
I think I have a very generalised view of what’s going on with the environment at the moment and I guess that has political ramifications as well. I, like most of the people on the planet – unless they’re particularly blind, just see that the planet is in acute ecological crisis at the moment and we as a human race could be going either way with this. It may be just way too late to save this fragile ecology we’ve got.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
Were you picking up plastic with the intention of using it, or was it initially just to get it off the beach?
At the beginning, I was just going to take it to the local recycling centre at the tip. Then after I’d collected maybe five or ten of these jumbo bags I realised I could imagine using this stuff in some way that was artistic.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
Did you set out to make environmental art or art that would have a political message?
No I never did. When I moved into this new home and decided to make driftwood furniture, the sole intention was just to make something beautiful for the home I’d just moved into. I went to remote places along the Victorian coast where it was just four-wheel driving and venturing out to islands on boats, where huge logs of driftwood were being washed ashore and parched by the sun and the salt and knocked about on the rocks.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
Can you tell me something of your artistic back ground?
I went to the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. I began in 1977 and I was there for three years. During that time I was fortunate enough to have a number of key figures in the Australian art world lecturing there and it was a very free environment. You were just allotted your own studio space and you were pretty much left to our own devices during that whole time, with ongoing really excellent feedback coming from the various lecturers, (in between their games of chess).
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
I have often been asked why are there so many different approaches to environmental art. I can only really go to into depth about my own specific approach to environmental art and why it is called that and mention a few other artists who I am aware of that have also had the environment feature strongly in their work.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
The most important advice: take a deep breath. You are an artist; no one wants you to be anything but that. When it comes to writing about yourself or pitching your work, it’s perfectly normal to feel wildly uncomfortable.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
A good example of stretching your abilities as an artist can be found by experiencing my life drawing classes. In these classes which I’ve run over many years now, I ask the students to begin to draw for a certain amount of time a still life set up that I put into the centre of the room.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
It’s amazing how often I have found that the reason why people don’t have confidence is simply because they’re not willing to take the risk to learn something new. And learning something new can come about simply through learning from the most obvious of accidents that are happening in your studio in your normal process of working.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
As such you can never find a simple formula to building confidence in your artwork. You can be aware of being too careful in your approach. Watch how you draw, watch how you apply paint, watch how you choose whatever material it is that you’re working with and how you then go about working with those materials.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
In this post, I’m addressing the (lack of) issue that many artists and aspiring artists have about self-confidence. For without a certain amount of self-confidence you won’t have the required ability to put your self out by marketing your art.
Art Marketing, Artist Help & Tips, FAQ, Selling Your Art
If you’re organising your own show (in an alternative space, rental gallery, student gallery, etc.), then you’ll probably be on your own to design and print your postcards. They are great for advertising shows, but also to put into your promotional material that you send to galleries. To create an effective postcard, start with a great photograph of your work.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, FAQ
What do I need to know about contracts?
Legal issues will arise during your career. You might face disputes with curators who may have agreed to cover expenses for an installation but who later remembers that conversation differently.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
A study into one mans journey into the creative arts.
I started making sculptural pieces with some of the larger plastics that had been washing up on my local beaches. I made totems and installations made with thongs, coke bottles and all of these things.
Art Business, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, Selling Your Art
Art help with responsible financial management
Artists need to organize their money and protect and save their wealth. I have met many artists who were simply overwhelmed by financial planning. Most often they are responsible for the problem by not taking sufficient interest in their finances, and it is often necessary to twist an arm in order to persuade an artist to audit their income and take control.
Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success
Artist tips to help with managing emotions and having persistence.
Never place a call or send out an email when you are emotional. Email is a volatile communication form.
Artist Help & Tips, Start Here
Art tips for artists planning and goal setting
I recommend planning your year at a high level, setting dates for various goals. On a micro level, I have been very successful by telling myself that am about to spend the next three hours making art, for example, and that I will feel rewarded for it.
Art Marketing, Artist Help & Tips, Artist Success, Selling Your Art
Selling art effectively means managing your time and also means placing a value on it.
Managing your time also means placing a value on it. I set aside time for silence and space. Do not assume that packing as many shows into a year is the right use of time.
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