Podcast Episode 53:
You’re listening to the art problems podcast, Episode 53. This is the podcast where we talk about how to get more shows, grants, and residencies.
And on this podcast I’m going to let listeners in on some of the work I’ve been doing behind the scenes with the artist William Powhida rebuilding our curriculum. Why are we doing this? Well, we wanted to lay out a path that every artist, no matter where they are in their career can follow, so that they get more visibility.
Now, this may sound, well, impossible, because every artist has strengths and weaknesses and is in a different spot in their career. And that’s not wrong. It’s one of the reasons we’ve been so careful when laying this program out. I still fundamentally believe that every artist’s path is different.
But with that said, I also know there are certain decisions that you need to have made, and materials in place, in order for any progress to be made. So, today, I’m going to lay out the plan we’re mapping for the artists inside of Netvvrk, so that if you’re a member, you know what we’re working on behind the scenes and can start using our resources to implement these things even before we release the program, and if you’re not, you have a sense of what you need to do!
I’m going to begin, though, by walking you through the sectors and tiers we’ve established for the art industry and artists. Because if there’s one thing we can agree on, it’s that emerging, mid-career, and established, doesn’t mean ANYTHING. And as an artist, it’s really helpful for you to know exactly where in the industry you’re participating in and at level.
Let’s dive in on the tiers. We use four basic categories, beginning, intermediate, proficient, and master. But to these categories, we also apply reach, which starts at regional, graduates to national, and then global. So, for example, you might be a master regional artist, but a beginner or intermediate national artist. And these distinctions can easily be read by someone with a high degree of literacy in the art world, just by looking at a CV, but might not be immediately apparent to you. And the reason knowing these distinctions is important, is because knowing where you start, allows you to set realistic goals on where you want to go.
But we also want to add to this, the sectors of the industry you participate in. And for a lot of artists this will be more than one. So let’s go through those.
| SECTOR |
EXAMPLE |
| Amateur/Hobbyist |
Coffee Shops |
| Non-profit, Academic |
Brandeis, NYU, Montclair, The Hammer |
| Non-profit, Museums and Art Centers |
Smack Mellon, MCA Chicago, etc |
| Public Art |
Percent for Art, Black Cube, CO |
| Direct to customer |
Saatchi, Etsy, etc |
| Corporate Clients |
Hospitals, Hotels, Credit Card companies |
| Commercial Primary Market |
Night Gallery, LA, Spinello Projects FL |
| Alternative Spaces |
Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Plug Projects |
If we’ve missed any I’d love to hear from you, but those represent the broad sectors we see most in and outside of the membership.
Once you know which part of the industry you mostly work within, you can set up your web presence in a way that responds to that sector. For example, If you sell your work directly to clients, your website is going to be set up entirely differently then if you sell your work through galleries. And you need to know your audience in order to design your website for them.
And this is why, I always recommend artists start by identifying which industry sectors they participate in, who their audience is, and then orient their website to those audiences. If you don’t do this, you will not be able to make headway in the art world. And that’s because you’ll be creating a website for an imagined audience rather than the one you have.
Now, I’m going to walk you through a beginner pathway we’ve laid out, and even if that’s not you, let’s say you’re a master regional artist - this will be helpful, because you’re likely making a lot of decisions based on knowledge you have but don’t even recognize. And hearing it codified makes repeating and building on your successes a lot easier.
The tiers and sectors I just laid out appear in the foundations, but we will ask you to reflect on your art. Because none of this works without your art.
Once your foundations are complete, we start with your website, which is the first representation of your work that you can control. And all the areas where YOU control the representation of your work is where we want you to focus. Your work, your bio, your artist statement, it all lives on the website. But the website is an island – essentially useless without any of the tools you might use to get someone there. These are tools like Instagram, business cards, networking events, mailing lists, and this is why we refer to the development of these tools as a communication eco-system. It’s a pool that constantly needs to have its PH levels balanced, so flow occurs easily.
Artists who sell lower priced items on their website will need pricing guidance, so that’s the next module in our curriculum, followed by Instagram, and Networking which helps you get people to the site but also encourages soliciting feedback.
Now, one problem I see artists struggle with a lot is applying critical rigor to their work and others. I want to acknowledge that this criticality comes easier to some types of work than to others; an intuitive painter communicating feelings through abstraction may not maintain a conceptual practice or have any interest in it. But every artist needs the ability to distinguish their work from others, and that’s what criticality does for your work.
What is criticality? There are probably a lot of definitions to this, but in my opinion, it’s less about critique of specific subjects, although that can be part of it, but rather applying context sensitivity and curiosity to all aspects of your practice. Even intuitive abstraction draws from the contemporary context. Your ability to bring specific aesthetic language to your work, and specific textual language to how you talk about it, as how you differentiate yourself.
And I think that’s why the recent Slide Slam with the Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver Miranda Lash felt so substantial to members. Miranda spoke about every single work with depth and expertise, drawing historical references, citing themes, and then bringing the themes that emerged for in reviewing roughly 200 netvvrk members work - those included intimate portraiture, and the home, made strange. In the talk Miranda asked whether this was an after effect of covid, or a greater willingness to be vulnerable what makes our homes.
The last stage we have in the beginner path, but can be applied more broadly, is that once you have all of these pieces in place, you start applying to shows. If you’re at the beginner level you’re likely going to be applying to open calls and member shows. But I want to discourage the idea that if you’re a more advanced artist you’re not submitting proposals. We just had John Massier, the curator of Hallways into Netvvrk to speak, and he talked about mid-career retrospective proposals he’s received, attempted to place at Institutions larger than his own, and launched himself. If you’re working at a high level, you’re still submitting proposals. It’s just a less visible process.
Alright, that’s it for this episode!
I’ll see you back here next week!
Paddy
