Learn to… Art!

Giving Interviews - Did I Say That?

Jul 22, 2010 Promotion and Exhibition

I recently had opportunity to do an interview when I had my work on display at an Okanagan winery. The article turned out great: the journalist did a wonderful job of making sense of what I said and clearly articulated my relationship to both realistic and abstract art. Read the interview!

This got me thinking about artist interviews.

For my very first show, I was asked to do an interview for the newspaper as well as for a local TV station. I have a recording of the TV interview, but to this day I haven’t watched it; I can’t bear to see myself on camera!

When I had my second exhibition, I did another newspaper interview. I had a great chat with the journalist and towards the end of the interview, the conversation turned much more casual. I mentioned in passing that one of my profs always thought I was very anal, as in “anal retentive.” When I got the newspaper a few days later, I was surprised and mildly embarrassed to see that she had included that in her article. It’s not exactly a word I want people to associate with me and my work.

For artists, it’s very important to be able to talk about their work in a way that the general public can understand and follow. Interview skills are like anything else: they need to be learned and practiced. Joanne Mattera has an excellent article on how to talk to the press.

Be prepared for your interviews, practice and be aware that everything you say is fair game! You don’t want to read your interview and think, “Did I say that?”

Tags: exhibitions, interviews, promotion

The Power of Presentation in Art

May 12, 2010 Promotion and Exhibition

So, you’re an artist and the rules don’t apply to you.

It’s true, in some cases. Throughout history, the artist’s role has often been that of the ruler-breaker, the challenger of the status quo.

But there’s a time and a place for rule breaking, and presentation is not one of them.

If you want gallerists, curators, and potential clients to take you seriously, you need to take yourself seriously. Part of that is presenting your art and yourself in a professional way.

Presenting Your Art

No matter what kind of work you do, make sure it’s presented in a clean professional manner, especially if it’s being submitted to a commercial venue.

When I do my experimental abstract constructions, I can’t worry about the presentation. Thinking about how the piece will look when it’s finished hinders my ability to work freely and to take risks.

After the piece is done, though, I do everything I can to make it presentable. When Room to Breathe (the painting featured above) was accepted into a commercial exhibit, I made sure to sand away any stray bits of paint and make the raw wood smooth. Even though the back is a mess of cross-pieces and supports, I painted it all black and labeled it nicely. Then I varnished the whole painting.

If you paint on canvas, make sure the edges are neat and painted. If you frame your work, get good quality frames that compliment the art. That doesn’t necessarily mean spending a lot of money, it just means being aware of your presentation.

Presenting Yourself

Don’t think that being an artist gets you out of having to look nice and presentable. Unless you’re doing a studio visit and people expect to see you working, don’t make appearances in your paint-splattered clothes!

Whether you’re attending an opening or hosting a curator, you should dress appropriately for any professional event. You never know when you might meet the person who will present you with a new opportunity. The way you dress affects the way people see you, as harsh as that might be. You want to inspire confidence in other people who may one day need to rely on you. Look like the person who will deliver work on time, who will come through with necessary paperwork, who will show up for interviews.

Presenting Your Proposal

You also need to think about the presentation of any kind of proposal or documents that you send to a gallery. This is what will speak for you when you’re not there to speak for yourself!

Make sure your proposal presents the right kind of image. Have all typed materials in the font and size, and format each page the same way. That will make your information look organized. If you need to fill out an application form, print neatly.

Remember…

The art world is a competitive one. Don’t give people an easy excuse to dismiss you! When interviewing for a job, they say to dress for the position you want, not the one you have. Take this philosophy into your art career and never underestimate the power of a good presentation.

Tags: artists, exhibitions, galleries

Writing an Exhibition Proposal

Mar 23, 2010 Promotion and Exhibition

Just to clarify: an exhibition proposal can be one of two things: the entire package you submit to a gallery for an exhibition, or an individual document within that package.

I’m sure there are different names for each, but this is what I’ve always known them as… sorry for any confusion!

Today we’ll be talking about the exhibition proposal, the individual document. This is probably one of the lesser well-known elements of the proposal package, but it’s very important!

You’re probaly more familiar with the statement and artist CV, which discuss you as an artist and your artwork in general.

The exhibition proposal should address details specific to the exhibit you are proposing, including any practical concerns.

Consider these questions:

• Which art pieces will be included? (if different from your submitted portfolio)
• How many pieces?
• What size, or what is the range of size?
• What is the depth?
• What is the physical form of the work?
• Is there a specific way you’d like the work displayed? Arrangement, lighting, or any other unusual considerations.
• How does the work hang? (By wire, by the canvas frame, etc)
• Is the work framed?
• How heavy is it?
• What type of hardware is needed? (nails, screws, reinforcements, etc)
• For sculpture, do you need plinths?
• For multi-media work, do you need electronic equipment or plug-ins?
• Anything else the gallery may need to know about the physical and practical properties of your show.

These details will help the gallery’s selection committee decide if they are equipped to host your show, and also lets them know what they will need to do and provide to display your work.

Read my other articles to find out how you can get your work into galleries and learn about the other essential elements of your exhibition proposal.

Tags: exhibitions, galleries

Digitally Fix Your Art Images

Feb 14, 2010 Art General, Promotion and Exhibition

So, you’ve followed all the tips for documenting your art, but you’ve still ended up with a less than perfect image. Don’t worry, it happens. Luckily, if you’re documenting using digital photography, you can use your computer to enhance your images.

The important thing to remember when doing this is to not get carried away. You want to get your image as close to the original as possible, not make it look better than the original! This works best when you have already done everything possible during the photo-taking, and then only have to make minor digital changes. In my experience, the more altering you do on the computer, the grainier your image can get. So remember: small changes!

As far as photo manipulation software goes, you can get as simple or as complicated as you want. Most computers come with basic software that allows you to adjust brightness, colour, contrast, etc. All I’m using is the Windows Live Photo Gallery and Microsoft Picture Manager. I’ve also used Corel Draw and the Gimp (a free download). A program like Photoshop isn’t really necessary for the kinds of change we’ll be doing.

Here is our first image, direct from the camera. The problems with this are that it is very gray, there’s too much space around the drawing, it’s not square to the frame, and it’s not quite grayscale.

Rotate

Our first course of action is to use the rotate option to make the edges of the drawing parallel to the edges of the picture frame.

Crop

Next, crop the image to the edge of the drawing. This is easiest, obviously, if you’re working with a square piece of art. Some pieces, like my  abstract paintings, have irregular edges. In this case, you’ll want to document your work against a plain, neutral background and crop to just outside the edge of the art.

Saturation

Saturation has to do with the intensity of colour. With a black and white drawing like this, the lighting can actually change the colour. I like to reduce the saturation to zero, making the drawing completely grayscale (no colour).

Brightness

The next thing we want to do is get the values closer to the original. In the actual drawing, the lightest areas of the dog’s fur actually show the white of the paper. You can see how dark and greyed this image is. The first part of this two-step process is to increase the brightness, making the fur lighter.

Contrast

Our last step is to increase the contrast. This will make the darks darker, and the lights even brighter. Contrast is the option to be most wary of, as it’s easy to get carried away (for me at least, because I love high contrast!). It also has the  most potential to ruin your image, so go slowly in small increments.

Now we have an image that is much more faithful to the original drawing. Instead of being dull and grey, there is a range of values from the white fur to the black eyes.

Size

I just want to quickly mention the size of your images. When storing your images for documentation, gallery exhibitions, and promotional use, keep them large. If you’re e-mailing your images or loading them onto your website, save a smaller version. Your site will load faster and you won’t overload people’s inboxes!

If you liked this article, take a minute to check out my entire series on gallery exhibition proposals, or sign up for the newsletter!

Tags: art tips, documentation, exhibitions, promotion

How to Document Art - Taking Great Photos

Jan 17, 2010 Art General, Promotion and Exhibition

Now that you’ve determined what kind of camera you’re using, and whether your images will be digital, prints, or slides, let’s look at ways to  make sure you take the best pictures of your art as possible.

Positioning

Make sure your piece is sitting square to the camera. Ideally, it should be hanging on a wall so that each corner is equally far away from your camera. The center of your lense should also be lined up with the center of your art. Make sure the camera is far enough away from your work so that it doesn’t appear warped.

Flash or No Flash

I highly recommend against using a flash. It tends to cause uneven light and distracting glares. Ideally, the space you’re in should be bright enough that you don’t have to use a flash.

Light

This is probably the most important part of this proces. You want to take your photos in a well-lit area. You have two options for this: artificial light, or natural light. I’ve found that using natural light, when possible, usually produces the best results. Pick a day that is bright, but slightly overcast. You don’t want to take pictures in full sunlight.

If the weather isn’t co-operating for you, you can still take pictures inside, but you will probably need to set up some extra lighting. In an ideal situation, you would have two standing lamps behind your camera, one on each side. The camera on the left would point to the right side of your art, and the camera on the right would point to the left side of your art. This allows you to get even lighting across the entire piece. If your art is very large, you may even consider using four lights, pointing at opposite corners.

Not everyone has access to extra lights. If that’s the case, choose the brightest room you have and make sure you follow the next steps:

Tripod

A tripod is essential for documenting art. For one thing, it keeps the camera steady and level, so that you can set your work up as described in the first section. Secondly, it holds the camera still so that your photos will be crisp and in focus. This is especially important in lower-light situations.

Shutter-Delay

This is another tip for getting in focus images. When you push down on the button to take a photo, you often move the camera just slightly. In low light, this causes your image to blur. Even in bright light, it can make your camera shift enough to change the positioning of your art within the frame. Using a shutter delay ensures that your camera stays absolutely still while it takes the photo.

Camera Settings

Adjusting the camera settings is a good way to make sure the colours in your work comes out accurate. This is easier to do with a digital camera because you get instant results. With a film camera, it’s a good idea to try two or three diffrent settings, then choose the best when the film is developed. The aperture and the shutter speed work together to determine how much light enters the camera.

Remember that these photos are the only representation of your work that a gallery will have. This is how they will determine whether or not they want you in their gallery. You want these photos to be as perfect as possible! Don’t accept any images that:

• are on an angle or are warped;
• have a glare, or where you can clearly see which direction the light is coming from;
• are blurry or out of focus;
• are too dark;
• appear washed out;
• or have colours that aren’t accurate;

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you can’t quite get it perfect. Next timt we’ll take a look at some digital tools you can use to subtly fix the pictures of your art. Sign up to get the latest articles in your inbox.

Tags: documentation, exhibitions, galleries, promotion