My Essential Components Breathe Words Into Your Ether

By Millie Hanson
Visual Arts Editor

Last weekend was the Visual Arts Minnesota’s DIY Professional Development Weekend in St. Cloud, MN. It brought together high-powered Minneapolis art professionals who shared real world experience from places like the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), Springboard For The Arts, and the Minnesota Center For Book Arts (MCBA), among others. All attendees could display a piece of work and get feedback from other artists. The two day conference took place in the new jealousy-invoking space in the basement of the Paramount Theatre. The event was replete with advice, learning, networking, and some surprisingly good lunches.

The MIA was represented by Christopher Atkins, the director of Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program (MAEP), and Peter Happel Christion, a chosen 2011 artist. They talked about their experiences with the program and Atkins offered some Do’s and Don’t’s when applying for an exhibit in a museum:

Artist goals

• Why is this work being submitted and what is the artist wanting to accomplish, what questions are being asked by the artist, and what statements are being made? Be realistic. And is this an extension of previous work, and if so, does it build on that?

Venue

• Why is this the right venue for the show? Look at past work and see if it’s a good fit. (MIA doesn’t show fashion or craft, for example). This vets a lot of work for the artist and narrows choices of venues in which to show – it’s helpful to research what artists have shown in the past at this location.

Materials

• 500 word proposal for the new exhibit, 500 word artist’s statement about what the artist does, 12 samples of work with title and dates, and two page CV/resume with education and past shows.

Name and word dropping

• How is the work unique in the genre and peer artwork? Describe the work so the museum’s panel can “see” what they are reading…mention what is being shown and the medium.

• Focus on uniquely personal ideas, be clear, use a thesaurus, and be specific instead of generic.

• Look at how other artists write about their work and be careful about becoming too elaborate with explanations. Make it easy for the panel to give approval. (There are PDFs on the MIA site of proposals for reference.)

Proofing

• Have an objective person give you an honest opinion about your work, then find someone who knows writing, like an English major, to proof the application materials. Don’t just plug in thesaurus words that are unfamiliar.

Maps & Gallery Plans

• Remember that the show comes together in the space, not the artist’s studio.

• Self edit – remember that not everything has to be in the show. It’s ok to choose favorites; they’re not like children.

• Look at the size of the space, can the work fit through the door? Sometimes, once the proposal is accepted, there are people who can help and there might be a budget for repainting the space. MIA works really closely with artists in this respect.

• Get a gallery map or draw out the space to figure out where things might go. See how it’s lit, hear any echoes, actually check out the space.

Another speaker, Christion, who teaches photography at St. Cloud State, had a year to make his exhibit of photos and sculptures. He was amazed and slightly uncomfortable at having paid museum staff helping him as he felt like he had to “know it all” and come up with ponderous artspeak like the title of this article to talk about his exhibit. He shared his tips for exhibition applications:

• Show application information uniformly – If all materials are put on a table, does it visually make sense? It doesn’t need to be visually engaging like art, just sensible in the layout.

• Keep artist’s statements under 500 words, typically one paragraph.

• Fake a space to show in the proposal so the museum can see that since it’s been done once, it can be done again on a larger scale, like their space.

• Once accepted, get a new sketchbook to dedicate to just this exhibition. Get gallery maps, start thinking of pieces. Plan out the show so that “your A game,” in Peter’s words, is on display so the museum staff are not wasting their time. Make sure to give the museum three months before the opening to do their work: time to make exhibit cards, time for curator to write their summary of the show, etc.

Springboard For The Arts in St. Paul had a presentation by Kathleen Richert, its Director of Artist Services. Springboard teaches workshops to individuals and groups, helping them to figure out “How do you make the life you want from the arts?” Everyone on staff is a working artist and will connect the caller to the right person.

Perhaps the biggest benefit for artists that Springboard offers is its willingness to act as a fiscal sponsorship or “wing” that shelters the artist or group of artists from lots of time consuming paperwork. This allows an artist or group of artists to operate under Springboard’s 501 3(c) nonprofit status. This is perfect for artists that are taking time to set their own nonprofit with a board, write bylaws, etc.

Forecast Public Art is another Twin Cities nonprofit that is dedicated to “Meaningful Public Art” and publishes a print magazine called the Public Art Review. The magazine covers opinion, analysis, and criticism about the nature and trends in public art. Kirsten Wiegmann discussed public art, how to get research and development grants (these can even be for things that might not work out once explored), and has consultants that will help with collaboration for large pieces.

Forecast Public Art not only does large pieces of public art but also small pieces like the recently viral Lionel Ritchie song “Hello” (check this phenomenon out online). They also do Guerrilla Street Art (non-sanctioned street art).

The MN Center for Book Arts, in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, was represented by Joanne Price, and she detailed the multitude of offerings for book artists that include:

• Open calls for book artists interested in selling work through their gift shop for both established and emerging artists.

• A current call for artists with a deadline of Sept. 12, 2011, is their Day of the Dead Postcard Contest, featuring a $250 prize. Other contests are ongoing; check their website for more information. 

• An Artists-in-Residence program, working two weeks to four months in one of three studio areas: bookbinding, papermaking, or printing.

• A Studio Mentorship program, as well as Equipment/Studio Rentals, and lastly an Artist Cooperative.

Finishing up the conference was Nicholas Harper of Rogue Buddha Gallery, who gave an artist and gallery owner’s perspective. He started his gallery in 2000 after attending the U of M and exhibiting in Dinkytown coffee shops. He says the key to success when making a living as an artist is a strong business plan.

In Harper’s opinion, the artist is the CEO of their own company, so making a business plan makes sense – it’s used to get money, most importantly, but it is also a helpful career tool as it makes clearly defined business goals. It can be used for talking to a journalist who is covering a new exhibition for an article, gallery owners about why they should sell the work, or museums or buyers as to why they should pay money to collect the work. It is a roadmap for the artist’s goals as well, so they can see their own strengths and weaknesses. To customers and agents like gallery owners, it shows the artist as an expert in the art world and in the art market. Expertise comes in handy when talking to prospective buyers: context, what’s going on now, why this work is relevant and unique, and is reassuring in general. Plus, part of the lure of any piece of art is the piece’s backstory and the artist’s own story and evolution.

Something to keep in mind is that an artist can have work in a gallery or want to sell more art, and still not be successful. Harper challenges artists to really think about want they want to achieve – if it’s more money, then why? Does money represent security and freedom, maybe travel? He issues the same challenge with artistic milestones: is enough being done to hit goals and if not, what needs to changed?

This was a very worthwhile conference and it might be worthwhile to bring something similar to the F-M area in the future.

For more information on the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program (MAEP) of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, visit http://qr.net/maep.

For more information on the Springboard For The Arts, visit http://www.springboardforthearts.org/

For more information on the Forecast Public Art, visit http://forecastpublicart.org/ .

For more information on the Minnesota Center For Book Arts, visit http://www.mnbookarts.org/

For more information on the Rogue Buddha Gallery, visit http://www.gutofart.com/.

For a more complete sample business plan, visit http://qr.net/businessplan.

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