How To Grow Your Professional Art Career

How To Grow Your Professional Art Career

Following My Own Advice
Lauren Ike
Lauren Ike Jul 3, 2017
25
views

The Best Advice and Resources for Growing Your Professional Art Career

First, you have to ask yourself these questions:

What are your goals?

What are you doing to achieve them?

What openings are happening in your area?

Are you going to them?

What free resources are available to you online?

Are you utilizing them?

What books can help you grow and establish yourself professionally?

Are you keeping yourself informed?

Is art a regular part of your day?

When was the last time you worked at your studio?

Are you exhibiting your work?

Are you taking the time to apply to exhibitions?


Now that you're being honest with yourself, here are some tools to help improve your work ethic and keep you informed on Chicago Art Happenings:


Chicago Artist Resource

An artist-curated directory of professional resources, job postings, and calls for artists. (Serving artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, dancers and actors). Chicago Artist Resource (CAR) is the perfect place to find grants, fellowships, art-related jobs and exhibition opportunities. And using it is totally free!


ART/WORK

An overview of one of my favorite texts; ART/WORK:

"Everything you need to know (and do) as you pursue your art career." - This is text book is just that, the most comprehensive guide of its kind. It offers helpful advice to artists of every level from art school grads, mid-career artists, professional artists and other creative professionals. This book is the perfect tool to guide artists through the competitive art world and find success in their practice. Heather Darcy Bhandari, a gallery director, and Johnathan Melber, an arts lawyer, walk you through the important business end of being an artist so that you can essentially "act as your own manager and agent." From business basics like inventory and expense sheets, to preparing invoices; taking legal precautions like copyright and drafting consignment forms or utilizing social media as a promotional tool - this is the perfect handbook to tackle each important career decision, large or small. Perhaps one of the most unique assets to this text is the combined interviews of nearly one hundred curators, dealers and other arts professionals in cities across the country, offering valuable insights about what they expect from and look for in artists. "The book is full of their interesting anecdotes and advice." Following the advice in this book could easily be the key to success. (Seriously, buy it TODAY.)


American Alliance of Museums

American Alliance of Museums will change your life if you are a museum-goer and art enthusiast! This incredible membership is easy to apply for online with a one-time payment of $50 for students, and $100 for non-students. The museum card allows year-round access to nearly all art museums in the United States! It is an amazing deal, well-worth the $$$.


Bad At Sports

Bad At Sports is the Midwest's largest independent contemporary art podcast and blog. The podcast has included approximately 400 interviewees/co-conspirators including Kerry JamesMarshall, Jeff Wall, Larry Rinder, Peter Saul, Liam Gillick, Mary JaneJacob, Chris Ware, Tania Bruguera, Jeffrey Deitch, James Elkins, MegCranston, Carol Becker, and Polly Apfelbaum. Founded in 2005 by Duncan MacKenzie, Richard Holland, and Amanda Browder, Bad at Sports (B@S) now features over 20 principal collaborators and is a weekly podcast, a series of objects, events, and a daily blog produced in Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit and New York City that features artists and art worlders talking about art and the community that makes, reviews and participates in it.


It is a highly recommended podcast but may be inappropriate for children under 14, so please be aware of who is in the room while you enjoy this funny and informative podcast. The offshoot of Bad At Sports, Bad at Sports Center can also be found on iTunes and is the same great podcast without the crude commentary and cursing.


Recommended Blogs & Magazines

Follow these blogs for updates in the art world:

Hyperallergic

Juxtapoz

Hi-Fructose

Contemporary Art Daily

Other great resources include art magazines such as:

Art in America

Artforum

Frieze


Word Press / Wix

Do you have a website? Have you established a web presence? If the answer is no, now is the time to start! It's easy! Get your work out there with a website or blog. Word Press and Wix are both free easy to use website-builders. The beautiful templates are perfect for setting up an online presence. Once you have your site up and running, get networking with Wix Shout Outs, a simple and sleek newsletter you can share with all of your creative connections! Going one step further, I recommend making a business card for your new site - Moo.com is by far my favorite print source for the job!


The Visualist / Chicago Gallery News

These platforms are excellent for staying in the loop when it comes to Chicago gallery openings, artist talks, and special events. The Visualist is Chicago's very own visual art calendar, marking each week's biggest events and openings so you don't have to! Similarly, Chicago Gallery News is an excellent source for Chicago art gallery news, events and listings.

Here are some upcoming shows in this month to check out:

Saturday, July 1st:

  • Roots & Culture (Between the Sky and Earth Group Show curated by Sharmyn Cruz)

Friday, July 7th :

  • Rhona Hoffman Gallery (Anne Willson)
  • ACRE (Group Show) 1913 W. 17th St., 6-9 pm
  • Carrie Secrist Gallery (Amy Krouse Rosenthal, A Beauty Salon)

Thursday, July 13th:

  • Western Exhibitions (Group Exhibitions)
  • Rhona Hoffman (Martha Tuttle + Henry Chapman, Cimarron)
  • Shane Campbell (Natsuno Tobira) *Lincoln Park
  • Intuit (Henry Darger)
  • Zg Gallery (George Jacobsen)
  • Corbett vs. Dempsey (Shana Lutker, Nicola Tyson, Nicole Eisenman)
  • Shane Campbell (Yui Yaegashi) *South Loop
  • 65Grand (Autumn, Elizabeth Clark, David Kaiser, Harry Sidebotham, Erin Smego)

Saturday, July 29th:

  • LVL3 Gallery (Katie Bell, Hannah Carr, Jenn Smith)
  • ACRE (Group Show) 1345 W. 19th St.

These are the tools, now remember to ask yourself the important questions...

'Have I Worked Toward My Dream Today?'

For as long as I can remember, my dad would ask me "What have you done to work towards your dream today?" He would address this question to me as a pre-teen with high hopes of becoming a rockstar, then again as I grew older and more fond of poetry and art. He keeps a paper with this quote from, Alan Bean, Astronaut, (Apollo 12 and Skylab 2) on his desk:


"The most important quality I have noticed in successful people is that they have a dream. They want to be someone or something. They want to have something. They want to go somewhere.

They think and work toward that dream every day.

I often ask people who tell me their dream, 'What did you do today to move closer to your dream? Eighty-five percent didn't do anything. They are planning to do something next week; they're just too busy today. These eighty-five percent will probably never see their dream come true.

Ask yourself the same question - ' What have I done today to make my dream come true?' If the answer is nothing specific, then you will never make it unless you change your ways."


Equip yourself with these tools and get to work on your dream today!

Cover Image Credit: Pexels
Lauren Ike
Lauren Ike Jul 3, 2017
At Columbia College Chicago

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50 Quotes from the Best Vines

If you're picturing the vines in your head, you're doing it right
Ashley Heiderstadt
Ashley Heiderstadt Dec 6, 2017
530220
views

In 2017 we had to say goodbye to one of the best websites to ever roam the internet: Vine. In case you have been living under a rock since 2013, Vine was -(sad face)- a website and app that took the internet and the app store by storm in Winter 2013. It contained 6-second videos that were mostly comedy- but there were other genres including music, sports, cool tricks and different trends. Vine stars would get together and plan out a vine and film it till they got it right.

It was owned by Twitter and it was shut down because of so many reasons; the viners were leaving and making money from Youtube, there was simply no money in it and Twitter wanted us to suffer.

There's been a ton of threads on Twitter of everyone's favorite vines so I thought I'd jump in and share some of my favorites. So without further ado, here are some quotes of vines that most vine fanatics would know.

1. "AHH...Stahhp. I coulda dropped mah croissant"

2. "Nate how are those chicken strips?" "F%#K YA CHICKEN STRIPS.....F%#K ya chicken strips!"

3. "Road work ahead? Uh Yea, I sure hope it does"

4. "Happy Crimus...." "It's crismun..." "Merry crisis" "Merry chrysler"

5. "...Hi Welcome to Chili's"

6. "HoW dO yOu kNoW wHaT's gOoD fOr mE?" "THAT'S MY OPINIONNN!!!.."

7."Welcome to Bible Study. We're all children of Jesus... Kumbaya my looordd"

8. Hi my name's Trey, I have a basketball game tomorrow. Well I'm a point guard, I got shoe game..."

9. "It's a avocadooo...thanks"

10. "Yo how much money do you have?" "69 cents" "AYE you know what that means?" "I don't have enough money for chicken nuggets"

11. "Hurricane Katrina? More like Hurricane Tortilla."

12. "Hey Tara you want some?" "This b*%th empty. YEET!"

13. "Get to Del Taco. They got a new thing called Freesha-- Free-- Freeshavaca do"

14. "Mothertrucker dude that hurt like a buttcheek on a stick"

15. "Two brooss chillin in a hot tub 5 feet apart cuz they're not gay"

16. "Jared can you read number 23 for the class?" "No I cannot.... What up I'm Jared, I'm 19 and I never f#@%in learned how to read."

17. "Not to be racist or anything but Asian people SSUUGHHH"

18. 18. "I wanna be a cowboy baby... I wanna be a cowboy baby"

19. "Hey, I'm lesbian" "I thought you were American"

20. "I spilled lipstick in your Valentino bag" "you spilled- whaghwhha- lipstick in my Valentino White bag?"

21. "What's better than this? Guys bein dudes"

22. "How'd you get these bumps? ya got eggzma?" "I got what?" "You got eggzma?"

23. "WHAT ARE THOSEEEEE?" "THEY are my crocs!"

24. "Can I get a waffle? Can I please get a waffle?"

25. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAVEN!" "I can't sweem"

26. "Say Coloradoo" "I'M A GIRAFFE!!"

27. "How much did you pay for that taco?" Aight yo you know this boys got his free tacoo"

28. *Birds chirping* "Tweekle Tweekle"

29. "Girl, you're thicker than a bowl of oatmeal"

30. "I brought you Frankincense" "Thank you" "I brought you Myrrh" "Thank you" "Mur-dur" "huh...Judas..no"

31. "Sleep? I don't know about sleep...it's summertime" "You ain't go to bed?" "Oh she caught me"

32. "All I wanna tell you is school's not important... Be whatever you wanna be. If you wanna be a dog...RUFF. You know?"33. "Oh I like ya accent where you from?" "I'm Liberian" "Oh, my bad *whispering* I like your accent..."

34. "Next Please" "Hello" "Sir, this is a mug shot" "A mug shot? I don't even drink coffee"


35. "Hey did you happen to go to class last week?" "I have never missed a class"

36. "Go ahead and introduce yourselves" "My name is Michael with a B and I've been afraid of insects my entire-" "Stop, stop, stop. Where?" "Hmm?" "Where's the B?" "There's a bee?"

37. "There's only one thing worse than a rapist...Boom" "A child" "No"

38. "Later mom. What's up me and my boys are going to see Uncle Kracker...GIVE ME MY HAT BACK JORDAN! DO YOU WANNA SEE UNCLE KRACKER OR NO?


39. "Dad look, it's the good kush." This is the dollar store, how good can it be?"

40. "Zach stop...Zach stop...You're gonna get in trouble. Zach"

41. "CHRIS! Is that a weed? "No this is a crayon-" I'm calling the police" *puts 911 into microwave* "911 what's your emergency"

42. "WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? "

43. *Blowing vape on table* * cameraman blows it away* "ADAM"

44. "Would you like the spider in your hand?" "Yea" "Say please" "Please" *puts spider in hand* *screams*

45. "Oh hi, thanks for checking in I'm still a piece of garrbaagge"

46. *girl blows vape* "...WoW"

47. *running* "...Daddy?" "Do I look like-?"

48. *Pours water onto girl's face" "Hello?"

49. "Wait oh yes wait a minute Mr. Postman" "HaaaAHH"

50. "...And they were roommates" "Mah God they were roommates"

I could literally go on forever because I just reference vines on a daily basis. Rest in peace Vine

Cover Image Credit: Vine
Ashley Heiderstadt
Ashley Heiderstadt Dec 6, 2017
At Seton Hall University

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15 Students You're Unfortunately Going To Run Into

This is one wild place.
Emma Buoni
Emma Buoni May 25, 2018
209
views

High school is basically the weirdest place in the world. It's an influx of all of the humanity's best, worst, and in-between. And while there's no way to predict for sure all of the freaks you'll meet, here's just 15 you either know or will know.

1. The Stoners


Some of them are problematic; some of them aren't. They're quite the wide range, but they always have a dead look in their eyes, make a lot of inappropriate jokes and like to play card games.

2. The Geeks

Put your second generation Macbook Pro-Gameboy fusion away, Daniel. No one wants to watch Naruto with you.

3. Football Players

At my school, we used to have a dance studio. It's been turned into a weight room, but they kept the mirrors. So now every time you pass the room, it smells like sweat and testosterone while shirtless guys stare at themselves, flexing to prove their heterosexuality.

4. Every Other Sport

We get it, you're tired, and you hate your coach. If you hate it so much, quit. But you won't because if you do then you won't have anything to complain about to others.

5. Hype Beasts

No, I will not scream at this pep rally because I do not care about school spirit. Go away, I have a headache.

6. Vape Nation

While I thank you for smelling like candy or fruit as opposed to smelling like a chemical fire like the stoners, please stop juuling in the bathroom; I just want to pee.

7. AP Students

Sweetie, please take a nap and have some green tea, you're stressing me out. See number one for more help on relaxing.

8. Freshman

If you're a freshman and you're thinking, "Oh, I'm not that bad!" then trust me. You are. Someday you'll look back on yourself during these times and wish you were never born.

9. Phone Ninjas

Often football players or hype beasts, these people have their phones surgically attached to their hands and somehow never get caught.

10. Teacher's Pet

Buddy, literally everyone but the teacher is perfectly aware that you're just mooching for a better grade or for your phone back.

11. Kinky Kids

No, I would not like to hear about your weekend. Go sit with someone else before I catch something.

12. Theater Kids

Stop screaming at me to buy tickets to see you play the That One Background Character in the school play. I don't even know you.

13. The Orchestra Kids

They constantly feel like their under attack, and they're not entirely wrong. Need to see number one to relax as well.

14. Band Kids

Like orchestra Kids except way more annoying and permanently stuck in the freshman phase.

15. Has Their Own Car And Everyone Knows It

Hey buddy, you're 10 minutes late, and you have Chik-Fil-A. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.

Cover Image Credit: Wikimedias Common
Emma Buoni
Emma Buoni May 25, 2018
At Alpharetta, Georgia

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