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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you have never written out a marketing plan, the task most likely sounds daunting. A sound marketing plan however, is a great way to increase the success of your business and helps you to make informed decisions around purchases, networking, events, and promotions throughout the year.
You’ve run the numbers, and hopefully removed any lingering fog around your money. Now it’s time to decide if you’re making enough of it. If you think your bank account could use a boost, set aside a few hours to ask yourself some serious questions.
No business operates well without a budget. Your budget should be a realistic set of spending parameters. The more control over and security around your finances, the freer you’ll feel when it’s time to be creative.
Part I: Funding your practice.
Supporting your practice can produce emotional fits. Money is a delicate subject no matter what field you are in.
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.
As an artist, you are your brand. You should treat your approach to business development just like any other organisation that works to strengthen its brand over time, testing it in the marketplace and discovering what works.
In addition to sending press releases, the media’s attention is also grabbed by a strong, concise, convincing pitch in their inbox on or their voice-mail. The pitch is a two-three-sentence idea for a story that you are feeding to one editor at a time.
How do artists negotiate deals with corporations?
A corporation wants to me to reproduce one of my paintings as a series of limited edition prints for their various office locations. How do I negotiate this deal?
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.
1. Ask yourself what your goals are before you go to an event. This will help you pick groups that best suit you. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts and/or volunteering, rather than on strictly making business connections.
I just graduated from art school. How do I break into galleries?
As I any profession, you have to begin at the beginning, and in the art world that means showing your art pretty much anywhere anyone will have you.
When consumer confidence is down, so are art sales. Even people who aren’t that impacted by the soft economy are hesitant to spend because they aren’t sure what lurks in the future.
