Cont from previous post..
I also think this is where the arts get strange. I’m not sure there are other industries (for want of a better word), where unpaid professionals work alongside paid ones (Is anyone really paid?). I don’t think it’s really a case of amateur and professional working alongside each other, as lots of artists are graduates and have been practising for a long time, they just earn their income in another sphere. Imagine if someone graduated in accounting and after university continued their part time job in a stationery shop whilst doing accounts in their spare time – never going to happen because they can and will earn money.
If artists never expect or ask to get paid (properly) for the things they do then why would the public perception of arts being free ever need to change? It won’t. If artists, on the other hand, recognise that they have many skills to offer, perhaps in other arenas than simply making their own work, other people will also value them. I’m thinking about all the multi-tasking, writing, applying creative thinking, problem solving, imaginative, thrifty things that artists do in everyday lives that could be applied in any number of situations.
As the visual arts are becoming increasingly important parts of big development projects and consultations, it is up to artists to stand up for their worth. A really great example in this field is Sans Facon, who get involved with large scale projects, but will also insist on changing the terms to fit the way they work best if they cannot work within the original brief.
http://www.sansfacon.co.uk/
On the other hand, the perception of the arts being free is quite far gone and it might take a lot of work to undo it – but on the scale of individual/organisation, it might only need a conversation. There is also the issue of there being too many artists for the amount of work available, I have no idea what happens there. I guess you just have to try and find the place you fit best and work at that, perhaps considering other avenues for work that aren’t strictly art? It seems to me the less restrictions or labels you tag onto yourself, the less likely it is that others will categorise you too.
Getting paid blog:
This is in reply to Christina and Andrew in the previous post.. firstly thanks very much for the rant encouragment! There shall be more to come. However, recent frustrations I mentioned here are more to do with personal.. shall we say.. issues, with one of the other artists here (and money), and the blog is not the place! This is one of my areas for improvement – knowing where the line is and not stepping over it!
Regarding writing about my practice, I did want to try it again with the Linz blog, but I have learned that when I am very involved in something and start analysing it too much, it gets complicated. I then tend to paralyze myself with too much thought and stop making. I find it is better to have a little distance on things and although I know what I want and am trying to do, the consideration of success and progress should be done retrospectively. Of course this is entirely personal and just what works best for me. No rules etc..
Not sure I agree entirely with your thoughts on the importance of money in the equasion.. It is difficult when you are so absorbed in what you’re doing to consider money, but I think it IS important where the money comes from. By supporting your art with another job, doesn’t that say something about not valuing your own work? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s possible to get paid for just making work everyday – so I realise the idea that an artist has a studio and works in it all the time is pretty difficult to acheive. But there are ways of getting people to invest in you, to find support for periods of time, perhaps people will buy your work too (not really with mine). What I mean is, it’s very challenging and it takes hard work (and often miserable rejections and self-doubts), but aren’t the hours of boring admin the same as having a part time job somewhere? We don’t want to do it – but it is what brings money.
My dad had an electrical engineering firm when I was small and when he did tenders for jobs (that took days), I remember thinking ‘what the hell’s that about? They might not even get the job and they’re doing all that work for nothing..’. He always said that they budgeted to get one out of eight jobs. It’s exactly the same with applications for me and if I get one out of 4/5 residencies/exhibitions, I count myself successful. (It is also a basic psychological trick to make myself feel okay about the knock backs!)
cont…
Blogging blog:
I have been reading blogs, but not writing them for the last few days. This is mainly because I am frustrated about a fair few things and I just don’t think it’s entirely appropriate to be ranting about it all on here. I have an opinionated mouth and I should think more before I speak! I have written a few ranty posts in notepad, left them for review in the morning and never posted them.
Linz blog:
Work is great; racing along with four or five different projects, some drawing, sculptures and a bookwork. None of these will be finished as such by the end of the residency, but I am excited and happy to have so many leads and to be working so consistently. One of the projects will be photographed in the attic space (gorgeous, but not safe for public use, hence the vetoed exhibition idea!) and I hope to have a prototype of the book ready for the exhibition. This is called ‘The City is Yellow, The City is Grey’ and uses the colours to explore the bright side of Linz contrasted with a darker, underground side.
Time feels like it is rushing by and I’m not sure how I will get my day trips (Salzburg/Vienna/Cesky Krumlov) in before I leave.. especially as these are also dependent on cash! Holger as been given the okay to take us to one of the big lakes near Salzburg for the day, so perhaps we will do this next week (weather is a bit overcast this week). Overnight trip to one of the local artist’s country pad this weekend and it will be so good to get out! Living and working in one place is great, but I could do with a change….
I also contacted some more artists this week to interview about how they make a living, and have been purposefully trying to contact more established artists to get a balance (and those whose work I really like too!). So far there is quite a lot of passiveness (in accepting things the way they are) and many of the artists are exhibiting garret/starvation tendancies! Ther are a couple who really tip the balance though, so that’s interesting to see… wonder what the older generation have to say?
Getting paid/Linzblog:
Who would have thought I’d be so happy about getting Spar vouchers! 100 Euros worth of them infact. That can either feed me for the rest of my time here, or I shall gorge myself on champagne, chocolate and lots of fresh fish. I haven’t decided yet. Travel money (not a lot as I came with Ryanair) has been transferred into my bank account too – so should be there in a few days. This will help lots.
Actual money payment stuff still not confirmed although it should be within 10 days…
Linzblog:
I have been reading through a few blogs this morning and specifically those by other people currently on residencies.. It made me laugh how much I recognise my own experiences mirrored in these: struggling with time both going slowly and then having disappeared, feeling that progress is slow ( I have been given this time/space I so desperately wanted, why haven’t I filled the room with work?) and also having so many ideas that it can be difficult to decide which direction to take.
Talking last night to the other residents – we have been here a month now! – we all agreed that we were suprised how long it has taken to really get a feel for Linz, although I think this might be due in part to the capital of culture colouring everything. I also think it has something to do with the fact that we found ourselves here with a week or two notice with no knowledge of what was coming. Applying to something with a proposal gives you a starting point I suppose, and just going somewhere leaves you with a bit of a struggle. Mine is between work I had been wanting to do for ages in Liverpool and wanting to respond to Linz itself. The Liverpool work seems less relevant while I am here and perhaps that it can wait (although it has waited a long time already!). I can’t help but have new thoughts, new ideas, all from Linz and seeming more urgent while I am here.
There is only 6 weeks left, so I shall have to make some decisions soon and leave this limbo land. The exhibition also looms in my head, as once again, I’m not sure how I can show anything but work in progress? Although I am pretty good at forgetting that it takes me a long time to build up to something and then I make quite frantically for days/weeks before stopping again. Like a zen monk contemplating one brushstroke for an hour, only far less sophisticated and with more angst.
This worry over what to do however, make me glad that this has been such a rich experience.. I know that I am gathering things that will stay in my work for a long time. Whether I get them done while I am here or not is another question!
Had some unexpected success from this strange and awkward exhibtion downstairs: an artist from France ordering a copy of all of my books (with promises to be in touch about other things too..?) and a multiples shop in Germany asking to stock my books. A much needed boost to my confidence and a sign that my editions need to be a little bit bigger in future – 14 doesn’t go very far!!
