Starting Your Career as an Artist: A Guide for Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, and Other Visual Artists

325 Pages·2011·1.64 MB·English

by  Angie Wojak

More Praise for Starting
Your Career as an Artist

“Who says there is no clear path to becoming a successful artist? Starting
Your Career as an Artist is an invaluable resource that demystifies the steps
artists should take when starting out. Elegantly and straightforwardly written,
Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller have left nothing out—goal setting, the
myriad options for exhibiting work, effective networking, legal and safety
issues, fundraising, earning income, and so much more. Along with an
impressive group of top art world contributors, this book provides
information and resources that can help any artist start or maintain a
successful practice. This effective career planning guide will be highly
recommended to the students and alumni I work with.”
—Laura Daroca,
Director of Career Services,
Otis College of Art and Design
“An inspiring and empowering resource for emerging artists. Angie Wojak
and Stacy Miller have dispelled the myth of the lonely, suffering artist who is
waiting to be discovered, once and for all. From setting up and maintaining a
studio practice to career planning and job search, they present strategies for
artists across disciplines to develop and sustain fulfilling careers and be
successful on their own terms.”
—Katharine Schutta,
Assistant Dean and Director of Career Services,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Starting
Your Career
as an
Artist
ANGIE WOJAK
AND
STACY MILLER
Starting
Your Career
as an
Artist

A GUIDE FOR
PAINTERS, SCULPTORS, PHOTOGRAPHERS,
AND OTHER VISUAL ARTISTS
© 2011 by Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright
Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan American Copyright Convention. No part of this
book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written consent of the
publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be
addressed to Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.
Allworth Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts,
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Cover concept by Stephen Viksjo
Cover design by Mary Belibasakis ISBN: 978-1-58115-853-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wojak, Angie.
Starting your career as an artist / by Angie Wojak and Stacy Miller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58115-853-3 (alk. paper)
1. Art--Vocational guidance--United States. I. Miller, Stacy. II. Title.
N6505.W644 2011
702.3--dc22
2011011628
Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated
with love
to the memory of
Kevin Massey
and to our wonderful husbands,
Scott Seaboldt
and Joe Wojak
Acknowledgments
W
e wish to express our deep appreciation to the artists, career counselors,
colleagues, educators, entrepreneurs, family, friends, and gallerists who
supported our work and generously gave us their time in the process of
researching and writing this book. We would like to thank them for their ideas
and enthusiasm, but mostly for their inspiration and shared desire to help guide
the careers and lives of emerging artists.
We want thank our husbands, Scott Seaboldt and Joe Wojak, for their love
and support throughout this process. Your patience, technical expertise, and
encouragement made this book possible!
Our deepest appreciation goes to Don Porcaro, an artist and a gentleman, for
his early and steadfast support of this book and the generous time he gave us.
Thank you to Melissa Potter, for being a real role model, a woman of
courage and perseverance, who even in a time of great challenge, gave
generously of her time and expertise.
We cannot thank the Guerrilla Girls and Kathe Kollwitz enough for their
inspiration, words of wisdom, encouragement, and for sharing their story, all of
which played an essential part in the early stages of this project.
Thanks to Alexander Kohst for inspiring us to look outside the box for ways
in which artists can truly live a life in the arts and for showing us that success is
not about financial rewards alone.
We are grateful to Ted Berger, who continues to push us to think in new and
different ways about our field with unceasing clarity and rigor.
For their guidance and support, we are grateful to Tad Crawford and Bob
Porter.
We want to express our gratitude to the following people who said “YES”
without hesitation to our request for their words of wisdom, which were
invaluable in the writing of this book:
Tim Gunn, Claudine K. Brown, Thomas Wojak, Marsha Tonkins, Jean
Mitsunaga, Misty L.Youmans, Jennifer Phillips, Robert Thill, Nate Fredenburg,
Dennis Kaiser, Jeff Elliott, Jessica Murphy, Helene Lauer, Asha De Costa, Bill
Barrett, Jason Goodman, Jerry Saltz, James Ramer, Simone Douglas, Craig Nutt,
Carol Warner, David Terry, Kat Griefen, Sue Schear, Alyson Pou, Elizabeth
Heskin, Erin Berkery, Angela Tsuei-Strause, Rod Berg, Brynna Tucker, Judy
Nylen, Sharon M. Louden, Alexi Rutsch, Maryellen Schroeder, Olivia Martinez-
Stewart, Monona Rossol, Laura Daroca, Radhika Subramaniam, Angela Ringo,
Erin Donnelly, Carol Overby, Rhonda Schaller, Kay Takeda, Mia Villanueva,
Pam Klein, Andrew Horton and Kate Evanishyn, Steve Viksjo, Angela Yeh,
Jann Nunn, Noah Davis, Lester and Charlene Pannell, Troy Pannell, Eric
Pannell, Alva Hazell, and all of our AICAD Career Services colleagues!
Contents

Acknowledgments
PART I: SELF-ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPING A CAREER
PLAN
CHAPTER 1
Myths about Artists
The Guerrilla Girls’ Guide to Behaving Badly
CHAPTER 2
Assessing Your Goals as an Artist
Take an Honest Inventory
Using Your Inventory
Taking Time to Reflect on Life and Work
Interview with Jerry Saltz, Senior Art Critic for New York Magazine
PART II: EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES AND COMMUNITY
BUILDING
CHAPTER 3
Galleries and Museums
Galleries
Interview with Elizabeth Heskin, Gallery Owner of Heskin
Contemporary, New York
Interview with Don Porcaro, Associate Professor in the Fine Arts
Department at Parsons The New School for Design
Juried Shows
Art Fairs
Museums
Interview with Claudine K. Brown, Director of Education for the
Smithsonian Institution, formerly Director of the Arts and Culture
Program at the Nathan Cummings Foundation
Interview with Sharon Louden, Exhibiting Artist and Educator
CHAPTER 4
Alternative Spaces: Breaking the Rules to Break Through
Examples of Alternative Spaces
Interview with Radhika Subramaniam, Director and Chief Curator,
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for
Design
Alternative Funding Models
Interview with Kat Griefen, Director,A.I.R. Gallery
CHAPTER 5
Creating a Strategy for Exhibiting Your Work by Rhonda Schaller
Embracing an Alternative Mind-set
The Art World Is Changing
Working with Dealers and Curators
Alternative Models vs. Commercial Models
Alternatives Venues that Use Commercial Models
Online Galleries, Art Registries, Art Files, Juried Shows, and Open Calls
Do You Want to Pursue an Alternative or Commercial Route?
The Power of Creating Your Own Opportunities
CHAPTER 6
Community Building and Networking for Artists
Building Your Community
Assessing Your Current Contacts
Networking as a Mind-set
Activating Your Network: An Artist’s Perspective
Networking Basics
Interview with Melissa Potter, Multimedia Artist and Educator
Mentors