Angie Wojak - Starting Your Career as an Artist

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 outgoal 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 Alumni Affairs,

Otis College of Art and Design

This book contains everything an artist needs to know in order to embark on exactly the kind of artistic path that will give them the best chance of realizing their goals. This is a must-read, not just for emerging artists, but also for any artist intent on getting the most out of his or her practice. With firsthand advice from artists and arts professionals, it covers every aspect of what it means to be an artist.

Jeremy Adams,

Executive Director,

Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild

2011, 2015 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, fundraising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Allworth Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or .

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Published by Allworth Press, Inc.

an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

Allworth Press is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

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Cover design by Stephen Viksjo

Print ISBN: 978-1-62153-479-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62153-489-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Dedicated

with love

to the memory of

Kevin Massey

and to his parents Garry and Sue

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 Khost 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, Anna Ogier-Bloomer, Ashley Banks, Claudine K. Brown, Thomas Wojak, Marsha Tonkins, Jean Mitsunaga, Sree Sreenivasan, Faith Holland, Jenn Godbout, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Misty L. Youmans, Jennifer Phillips, Robert Thill, Nate Fredenburg, Dennis Kaiser, Jeff Elliott, Jessica Murphy, Helene Lauer, Asha De Costa, Bill Barrett, Jerry Saltz, James Ramer, Simone Douglas, Craig Nutt, Carol Warner, David Terry, Kat Griefen, Sue Schear, Alyson Pou, Elizabeth Heskin, Erin Berkery-Rovner, 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

CHAPTER 1
Myths about Artists

CHAPTER 2
Assessing Your Goals as an Artist

CHAPTER 3
Galleries and Museums

CHAPTER 4
Alternative Spaces: Breaking the Rules to Break Through

CHAPTER 5
Creating a Strategy for Exhibiting Your Work by Rhonda Schaller

CHAPTER 6
Community Building and Networking for Artists

CHAPTER 7
Setting Up a Studio

CHAPTER 8
Health, Safety, and Emergency Relief for Artists with Monona Rossol

CHAPTER 9
Writing Rsums, CVs, and Artists Statements

CHAPTER 10
Making Your Alma Mater Work for You

CHAPTER 11
Graduate School

CHAPTER 12
Gaining Experience and Earning Income: Internships, Jobs, and Studio Assistant Positions

CHAPTER 13
Exploring Teaching Options

CHAPTER 14
Your Studio Practice as a Business by Carol Overby

CHAPTER 15
Getting the Word Out: Promoting Your Work

CHAPTER 16
Social Media for Artists

CHAPTER 17
Legal Resources, Contracts, and Gallery Relationships

CHAPTER 18
Fund-raising for Artists by Kay Takeda

CHAPTER 19
Residencies: Space and Time to Think and Work

CHAPTER 20
Lifelong Learning for Artists

CHAPTER 21
Inspiration for Refining Your Goals

PART I

Self-Assessment and Developing a Career Plan

1

Myths about Artists

T here are many preconceived notions and myths of what it is to be an artist. These ideas, which have grown into well-established myths, can inspire emerging artists, but they can also create psychological roadblocks that prevent you from taking charge of your career. In the following section, consider which myths apply to you and how these ideas may be stopping you from taking action to improve your creative life. All artists at one time or another in their careers grapple with these myths, and we all have aspects of these legends residing inside us to varying degrees. We are interested in the aspect of the myth that keeps you from moving forward and accomplishing your goals.