The Business Side of Art



"Primal" 12x16 oil on linen panel

     For the last couple of days I have been involved in the business end of being an artist.  I finished getting the word out about the Salamgundi Club auction which starts tomorrow and I made good use of the internet!  I sent two e-blasts, did a Facebook post (which I botched) put it on my website and have been blogging or blabbing about it here!  Quite a change from the old days but very effective.  What I did not tell you because I didn't know about it was that Online Auctioneers accept pre auction bids.  "Primal" already has two bids on it so it will be interesting to follow the progress tomorrow during the actual auction.  On the other had maybe it is just an early bloomer and that will be it. Such is the roll of the dice.  http://www.liveauctioneers.com/
       Also during this time I have been involved with the other artists I am exhibiting with in June at the Ratner Museum in Bethesda Maryland.  We needed to get images together and make some decision about the card to be printed to advertise the show "Landscapes and Other Visions".  At the end of the day we hired the designer who did the card for my solo show last May and she came up with another stunner!  So, that job is done.  Each of us is now conentrating on which pieces we want to exhibit.  I do need to get over there and look at the actual space again.  I already have the paintings I want to show and just received some of the frames for them today.  Tomorrow I will put on my framer hat and work on that job.  By Saturday I hope to be back to being a painter again!

     Meantime, I serve on the Board of Trustees for the Art League in Old Town Alexandria.  We are a non profit 501C organization and it is a place and a group of people who are near and dear to me.  We have a real lot going on! I mentioned the Earth show that we will sponsor in April, "Earth" the state of the Planet"and how we have created the League of 25 so that we can find 25 donors to give $100 each to come up with the $2500 needed to sponsor the show.  These donors will then become a member of three teams in a sculpture competition with found objects that are provided for them. 

      Then I had an aha moment!  I read a post on Facebook that New York Installation artist Isabelle Garbani was one of 6 artists invited to Taiwan in April for the Chen- Long International, Environmental Art Competition. Isabelle designed and manages my website. Her presentation sketch was for her Invasive Species project where she makes florets out of recycled plastic bags and artfully covers a building with them. Wow! I thought.  That's the same month we are celebrating Earth. I had already been saving plastic bags for Isabelle for her Knitting for Trees installation and had just sent off a box last week.  Why not help her on a larger scale while at the same time bring more attention to our own exhibit.  Let's send Alexandria's plastic bags to Taiwan and therefore be a small part of it and help make Isabelle's job easier. Make the focus global, that is what the show is about. So that is exactly what we are going to do!  The bright green collection box with images of the project and an explanation will be set out at the Art League Gallery tomorrow through March 16th and the word has gone out on the Art League blog and the Art League Tidings as well as Face Book. I am hoping for LOTS of bags. 
     You can see Isabelle's work and project posted on the Art League blog at http: http://www.theartleague.org/  Hit connect with us and then choose read our blog on the menu.  Under recent posts you will see one regarding a GLOBAL EFFORT.  You should also visit http://www.knitfortrees.com/  http://www.isabellegarbani.com/ or...you can always go up to the right hand corner of this blog where members are listed and hit the thumbnail with the knitting on the tree.  That is Isabelle and all her contact information will come up.

     One of the truly satisfying aspects of being an artist is being part of a community of artists.  Harnessing all that creativity can have wonderful and powerful results!  I am physically tired but mentally stimulated.  It makes sleeping a little difficult:) I finally got my stuff off to Isabelle for a web update so drop in and visit my website http://www.jeanschwartzpaintings.com/ .  Here on the blog I hope to have both new and updated work to show you in the next couple of days.