Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Artist's Statement



Part II

The Artist's Statement


Do YOU have an Artist's Statement?

     One thing you will need to start thinking about after you begin to get your work into juried exhibitions is the Artist's Statement.

     Galleries will ask you to provide them with an Artist's Statement.  You'll need to begin right NOW to start thinking about YOURS and begin writing down your ideas on what you wan the gallery and the public to know about YOU, your WORK, and the IDEAS behind your work.

     In my next article I will go into more detail on Juried Exhibition and explain them in more detail to you. But, for now, I want you to begin thinking about your own art work, and how you can begin to TALK about it.

     Here is the Artist's Statement I completed today to send to a gallery that will be displaying my work in a few weeks. They also needed my Artist's Statement to apply for a grant for me to be an Artist in Residence at their gallery. 



 Lynda Lambert: Artist’s Statement

September  2011


The source of my pottery lies in two traditions: 
1.)    Art History - my studies of the ancient past. I taught Ancient to Medieval Art History for many years as Professor of Fine Arts and Humanitis at Geneva College. It is natural that the imagery and history I worked with daily would be abiding motifs in my own creative efforts. My love of the ancient past was aroused as a mature student working on my BFA degree at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s. My first glimpse into this world happened the first night of my first art history class. These memorable images and ideas have remained a central part of everything I create.

2.)    Nature - My observations of the natural, organic world around me have been urges that I have held within my creative self from as far back as I can remember.  Nature has been my muse since childhood. She continues to guide my hands as I work with clay. The ancient myths hold me transfixed as I contemplate the symmetry and majesty of Nature. My work is both a celebration of Nature, and a recognition of the eternal forces that are inherent within Nature.

My artist process begins as I gather fragments of information from the art of the past, and combine those inages with the world of Nature that surrounds me every day  These fragments mingle with memories, myths, history, and become the force that guides me in my creative work.

I define and explore a sense of place as I make my pottery.  Images and motifs emerge slowly as I work in layers of clay, mark making, stains, under glazes, and glazes. My   color is influenced by nature and a sense of the passage of time. The methods I use in creating my organic sculptural vessels are very time intensive. Each piece takes form over a period of weeks or months before it becomes the final work that will be on view in the gallery.

     Each piece begins with my choice of clay.   From there, the object is created mostly by using timeless Asian hand throwing techniques.  I am influenced by ancient pottery and especially by shards of pottery that is found in an ancient ruins. I like to be sure that the mark of my hand is left in the clay to show the process and to remind the viewer that pottery is made from the earth and by a person who has left behind marks that naturally occur in the process of making the object.

     I see my pottery creations as individual works of fine art. I am not a production potter. There are no two pieces of my work that are the same. Each piece is one of a kind. 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

How to Begin Your Art Career

How will YOU  Plan Your Art Career?

Part I
Juried Exhibitions and
Your  Resume’
_

By Lynda J. Lambert
Pennsylvania Artist


ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS:

What is an art career?
Do I even have an art career?
Do I want to have an art career and exhibit my art in public shows?
Am I happy just playing “artist” or do I want more?
How serious am I anyway?
What does it take for me to move from a hobby artist to an artist who is recognized as a professional?
Would I like to see my art hanging in galleries, museums, or exhibitions?

Lynda Lambert at her opening reception for _Primal Garden...la vida luminiscentes_ 
September 9th, 2011 at Merrick Art Gallery, New Brighton, PA
Lynda is shown with her daughter Heidi Lambert McClure, also an artist
Lynda has been in over 200 juried exhibitions and exhibited nationally and internationally.


STEP ONE:
This is an important FIRST STEP: 
You may be saying, “What IS a JURIED EXHIBITON?
You will  need to know about this before you can move on to the next step in your exhibition career.
The first step towards a serious commitment to your art requires that you begin to enter juried exhibitions. In this way, you get a feel for how your work stacks up when in competition with your fellow artists. 

Be prepared for some rejections.  Even artists who have been exhibiting their work for many years get rejected by a juror.  This is just part of the world of art exhibitions.  Sooner or later, you WILL get into a juried show and you will be so proud of your achievement. It will be a big step in your career when you begin to get into juried shows and even win some recognition for them.

How does it work?
A JURIED exhibition is a show that has been selected by one judge or a small panel of judges who view your work along with lots of other entries from other artists.  The juror will select the art works that he/she decides will best suit the kind of show that will be exhibited in the end.   You want to begin putting your art work out among the crowd of other art works through the jury process.

Before this, you may have entered your art in shows that are non-juried. This means that all work entered in a show will be hung or displayed.  This could be the first step for the novice, and one that is non-threatening nor intimidating.  This type of show is usually uneven, with work by seasoned artists appearing beside art works that are made by beginners.  After you have done just a few of these, you are now ready to move UP to put your work before a jury.  You will definitely want to do this and you will need to do this to gain professional experience in showing your art works.

As you begin to participate in juried exhibitions you will need to begin listing them on an artist’s resume. It is an important step and it reflects that you are a serious artist. It also reflects that an doing work that is notable in your field because experts have chosen your work for public display in their shows

Hand Beaded Jewelry on display at Merrick Art Gallery
5th Avenue and 11th Street, New Brighton, PA
Sept 9 - October 2, 2011
Bead Weaving by Lynda Lambert


Create a good Resume:
Now is the time to begin working on a good resume, or a one page Vita.
Begin doing this as soon as you begin getting into juried exhibitions.


After listing your name, address, contact information website or blog address, then you will divide you resume' into some important categories. It will be in those catagories that you will begin to list your exhhibitions and honors and awards. Do it chronologically. Begin with your latest one, and then go backwards.

Create a category titled:  “Juried Exhibitions.”

Later on, you will need to create a category for “Invitational Exhibitions.” That usually comes after you have been doing some juried exhibitions for a while. Eventually  you will be  invited to participate in a gallery, museum, or art center’s show. This is also decided by a gallery owner, a selected juror or a committee, so it is also prestigious  because you have been asked or invited  to participate in the show.


Awards and Honors on your RESUME:

On your resume, create a THIRD category listing for “Awards and Honors.” 
When you need to send your Vita' or Resume' to another show or to a gallery, they will be looking to see what shows your work has appeared in and any awards or honors you have won.  List them chronologically by placing the most recent ones at the top of your list.


Review of Step ONE:

1.)     Begin to look for “juried” art exhibition and enter them
2.)     Create your Resume' or a short one-page Vita’






Here is what you need to put on your resume’ or one-page  vita’:

Your Name
Your Address
Phone Number/ E-mail
Your Blog or Website (IF you have one)

Categories:
          1.)  Juried Exhibitions:
                        List name of show; the juror’s name;
 the place where it was on exhibit,
                        and the dates of show

            2.) Invitational Exhibitions
                        List name of show, 
the juror or group who invited you, 
place when the exhibition was on display; 
date of show

            3.) Awards and Honors:   
List any awards you received in a show, 
date of Award 



Later on, we'll be adding a couple more categories. But for a start, this is all you'll need to put on your artist's resume' or one-page vita'. Remember this: An artist's resume' is very different than a business person's resume'.


The steps are small ones, but very important ones. It is the little things that make your art career work. It is the ability to pay attention to the small details and be careful about them.

One of the biggest failures for an artist is to spend tons of time in the studio creating work, and then failing to develop a business PLAN for marketing that work.  We have to be in BALANCE.  Work + Exhibitions are important to us. Exhibitions give us an audience for our work AND  it brings us recognition and collectors who will be buying our work. We want to begin to develop our exhibition opportunities AND our clients.


To BEGIN:  
Step it UP
Find some Juried Shows
Begin your Artist  Resume'


You can begin by doing a search on-line for juried shows in your local area. I strongly suggest that you begin with a show that is very close to where you live.  You'll probably be surprised at how many juried exhibitons and opportunities you will find within a 30 mile radius of where you live.  Check out  any galleries or museums, art centers, universities, colleges, or local educational programs in the arts to find out when their next juried show will be held.

The Prospectus:
Ask the gallery  for a prospectus. The prospectus is a program flyer that gives you all the information you need to enter the juried show. They will probably email it to you. You can read the prospectus and you will know all the rules and regulations for that particular show. The prospectus will tell you exactly HOW to enter the show. It will give the dates of the show;  the juror's name and credentials;  the day to deliver your art for the jury process; the day to deliver your accepted art work; the day of the opening reception and awards ceremony; the FEE you need to send with your application, size limitations; and the kinds of art forms that are permitted  for entry in this show. Your Prospectus is your ROAD MAP for that particular exhibition. 


Autumn Reflection Vessel:  Grape Leaves, Snakes, and Sanils
by Lynda Lambert
In the solo exhibition:  Primal Garden...la vida illuminscentes
Merrick Art Gallery,  5th Avenue and 11th Street,
New Brighton, PA
Sept 9 - October 2, 2011


Our next conversation will be to explore the different kinds of JURIED EXHIBITIONS  that you will encounter once you begin your SEARCH for a show to enter.


Autumn is a GREAT TIME to begin looking for some shows to enter.  I would love to hear from you on this topic and hear about your experiences as you begin to enter some juried shows. I willbe celebrating with you when you get IN your FIRST JURIED SHOW. Be sure to let me know about it.          

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Art Opening Needs More than the Artist to be Successful






Read MORE about Lynda LambertThe Ellwood City News, Ellwood City, PA - Feature Story on Lynda LambertThe next time you go to an art gallery or attend an opening reception for the artist please think about the enormous efforts that go into such a thing as an art show.

It is a team effort. 

 Here are the players in the team:

The ARTIST:

 has to make the work for the show. This normally takes several years of concentrated efforts to creat enough work to fill a gallery.  When my show opened last night at Merrick Art Gallery in New Brighton, PA, the gallery was filled with pottery and jewelry that I had worked on to develop for four years.  And, that was four years with almost daily work in the studio.  This is certainly not a hobby type of exhibition. It is a show put on by a seasoned professional artist who can stay focused and on-target with a THEME for a very long period of time. In this case, four years, working on the theme of a PRIMAL GARDEN...la vida luminiscentes.  I decide on the them, then I begin the long process of creating the work for the exhibition with a vision towards what the final "picture" will be. I hold that picture in my mind, daily, over this period fo time as I continue working.

A GALLERY

when creating the work, you need a glalery to exhibit the work.  I had been working towards this show for three years with no idea of where it would be shown. Then, one year ago, a gallery called me with an invitation to have a solo show.  And, there it wass.  I had the vision for the show, had been working on that vision for three years, and finally a gallery invited me to host a show. After that, I had one more year to complete the work for the show. It is a long process. You begin in faith not knowing where the show will be, but you begin.

THE DELIVERY PERSON:

When the time  comes to take your work to the gallery and get it set up for the exhibition, you will need people to help you.  The work has to be carefully delivered. In my case, it took six truck loads to deliver my very fragile and large work. My husband Bob is my road manager, and he transported the truckloads of pottery, one by one, over a period of a week. When we began to unwrap, unbundle, and take out the work for installation, we were joined by a good friend who is an artist.  The three of us began the process of installing the show.  It took three entire days to get the show installed and ready for the opening.  We worked till late the night before the opening, to finish this job.

THE OPENING RECEPTION:

For the opening recweption you need lots more team members.  Here are some of the things that wyou will need to organize for opening night:

Food and drinks - you'll need a couple of people in charge of this area of your show.  You want your guests to be able to have refreshments during the reception and you need peole to be sure the table is full all night long.

SALES:

you will need people in charge of taking care of paying for their purchases.  I had four people in charge of writing up sales and putting the charges through via I-Phone. They also had to write up each sale so that we would know how much we would owe the gallery for the percentage they get from all sales.  Then, the items have to be labeled as sold on the gallery walls. Other things were sold and folks could take them home at the same time. Those things had to be wrapped and bagged.  This takes a team of at least four people to pull off smoothly.  My daughters and grand daughters were in charge of this critical part of the show opening.  They are professionals at this kind of thing and did a fabulous job keeping it all straight.

 GREETERS:

My great grand daughter is 14 years old. She came to the show and brought one of her firneds. Theyw ere outside the entrance to the gallery. It was their job to greet people, give them a program for going through the show, and be sure they signed my little guest book when they were leaving.  This gave my guests a personal greeting and welcoming feeling upon their arrival.

My husband is part of the team, too. He greets people, spends a lot of time where the food is so that he can be in conversations with people all night long.  He takes care of little things that may come up during the evening.

And, finally, YOU the artist. Once you have arrived and things are put in motion, and you have given your team instructions on how to do things you are then ready to greet the visitors who will be arriving.

Once the first people come through the door, from then on, you are engaged in greeting people, taking them around to see art works, telling them the stories about the works, and just enjoying the next three hours to the fullest.  You will be seeing people from every aspect of your life. Folks from your past community involvements, people from your daily life, people you went to school with many years ago, and you next door neighbors. It is so wonderful and everyone has such a beautiful time together.

YOUR FEET:

My final piece of advice:  wear very comfortable shoes. You will not be seated one time for at least 3 to 4 hours.  Even when I wear shoes that are flat and comfy, believe me, by the end of the night my feet ar buring and feel like they are in a vice. In the final moments of the show, I am now not wearing my shes at all - despite my fancy dress, I am in my bare feet on the cool gallery floor. Everyone laughs and my feet say "ah, thank you so much!"

If you are an artist and want to have a gallery show, begin NOW to design your show and begin working on the pieces for your show. No matter if you do not know exactly where it will be.  It WI"LL BE, once you begin to envision it and begin doing the work for it. Remember, you need a TEAM to help you get your show ready once you have done the work and are ready to have your opening night. You have many friends and family members who will join you and will be happy to do it.

THE OUTFIT:

You need to think about what you will wear. You are the STAR of the evening and you need to stand out in the drowd.  I like to select an outfit that matches the spirit of my art work.

For my opening reception I wore a beautiful top designed by MARC BOUWER.  I created a TALISMAN in my encrusted bead weaving techniques to coordinate with this beautiful fluid top.  It was a hit and people asked me all evening where I got my outfit. And, they stopped in their tracks to have a close look at the talisman I designed to match the outfit, that matched my art work. 

It is your show so be a STAR. You need your TEAM. New Castle News, New Castle, PA - Feature Story on Lynda Lambert