From my exhibit "Face to Face" during Artwalk at Artists + Architects
Time has flown by so quickly, I almost forgot to post this month’s Artwalk schedule. Second Saturday Artwalk in downtown Lafayette, LA starts this weekend- June 12th. Some galleries are open as of 5 (though I think the official start time is 6pm) and will remain open until 8pm. And this is a free event!
Acadiana Center for the Arts– 101 W. Vermilion St. / 337-233-7060
Main Gallery: Through July 24, 2010- Southern Open 2010
Side Gallery: June 12 – July 2, 2010- Kent Hutslar Memorial
Vault Series: Through July 24, 2010- Pat Juneau
Cajun Spice– 535 Jefferson St / 337-232-3061 Anne Bulliard Crownover Glasswork & Mosaics
Cité des Arts– 109 Vine St. / 337-291-1122 West Coast Feelings Collection: Los Angeles to Lafayette 2010 works by DGeyrald
Galerie Eclaireuse– 535 Jefferson St. / 337-234-5492
Paintings by Steve Schneider, Dennis Sipiorski and Ruth Sipiorski
Gallery 549– 549 Jefferson St. / 337-593-0796 Frederic O. Daspit- New Sculpture
Gallery R (at The Russo Group)- 116 E. Congress St. / 337-769-1530 Lynn Eustace Sanders- “Collaborative Color”
Pottery Alley– 205 W. Vermilion St. / 337-267-4453 “The Spirit of Haiti”– steel drum art by Carlo Brutus
Sans Souci Gallery– 219 E. Vermilion St. / 337-266-7999 “Drawn to the Stage”- A Collection of Drawings by Elemore Morgan, Jr.
*Not part of Lafayette Artwalk, but as a reminder, I am currently showing in Columbia, LA at the Schepis Museum. My exhibit, “New Realm,” is up now through June 30th. Admission is free and the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9-5pm. View photos from the opening at www.AmyGuidry.com
"Cuzco" by Frededric O. Daspit; wood with acrylic and iron oxide
I recently purchased a wall sculpture by Fred Daspit and thought it would be nice to share some photos of a few pieces from my art collection. I spend a lot of time showing my work, meeting other artists, and obviously hanging out in galleries, so it’s no surprise that I’d get the collecting bug. It’s one thing to hang your own art in your home, but to have work from other artists in different styles and media is entirely another.
As I was taking photos, I started to consider why I purchased these particular works of art. Given the fact that I am an artist, I thought it might be interesting to consider collecting art from the buyer’s perspective. Obviously I enjoy the art in my collection and find it aesthetically pleasing, but clearly there’s more to it than that. So what drives one to buy art? I think this is something all artists, myself included, have asked ourselves at some point in time. I don’t know that there is any one answer, given there are different buying
Untitled by Tom Ladousa; ceramic
“styles” out there. However, I do think there are a few common traits amongst buyers. As I said, I buy art because I like it and most people like the art they purchase (those that purchase art solely as an investment may not necessarily like the work).
"Ship" by Troy Dugas; vintage prints on wood panel
As an artist, I also understand the value of art. I’m well-aware that it took a hell of a lot of time to create that masterpiece I’m about to buy, and it’s only fair that the artist is paid for their time and skill. I don’t give away my work, so I certainly don’t expect anyone else to.
Another factor is liking the artist. It’s not just about liking the work, but also liking the person behind the work. I have purchased from artists I never met, or met after the fact, but most works are by people I know and like. Those I don’t know personally have a good reputation amongst the art community, though.
Lastly, the fact that these artists are in the public eye on a regular basis serves as a great reminder that I should buy their work. And when I say public eye, I don’t necessarily mean they are featured in the news or received some big accolade. It could be their personal emails to me or a postcard invitation to a show. Anytime I see their name, it just reminds me of their work and the fact that I would like to own a piece.
Some people buy on impulse, some buy because it’s just a great deal, but I think it’s safe to say that all of us should get out there and meet and greet if we want to sell art. With that said, if you would like to see and learn more about my work, be sure to check out my website at www.AmyGuidry.com.
In addition to Mother’s Day, this weekend is also the Second Saturday Artwalk in Downtown Lafayette, LA for the month of May. This Artwalk will feature work from students of the Lafayette Parish School System and the Talented Art Program in several galleries and restaurants around the downtown area. As a former Talented Art Program student from the New Orleans area, I can attest to the importance of such a program and it’s impact. So be sure to come out and see what future professional artists are doing in our community! As promised, here is this month’s schedule:
Acadiana Center for the Arts -101 W. Vermilion St. / 233-7060
Main Gallery: May 8 – July 24, 2010 Southern Open 2010
Side Gallery: May 8 – June 4, 2010 Jeremiah Ariaz: Tucumcari
Vault Series: May 8 – July 24, 2010 Pat Juneau
Architects + Artists Gallery– 200 Jefferson St. / 234-4166
Artwork by students of the Lafayette Parish School System’s Talent Art Program
Cajun Spice– 535 Jefferson St / 232-3061 Eclectic Chairs, Mosaics and More by Tanya Falgout through May 31
Cité des Arts– 109 Vine St. / 291-1122
Artwork from the local talent in our Lafayette Parish Schools.
Galerie Eclaireuse– 535 Jefferson St. / 234-5492 Sue Boagni and Paul Schexneider
Gallery 549– 549 Jefferson St. / 593-0796 Frederic O. Daspit – New Sculpture
Gallery R (at The Russo Group)– 116 E. Congress St. / 769-1530 Exuberance: The Art of Coyo
May issue of Art Calendar Magazine- my profile is featured on pg. 44
One question that I seem to get repeatedly as an artist, and not from viewers but from other artists, is “how do you get your work published?” On my website, you will find a Press section in which I post articles in newspapers, magazines, and sometimes online articles about my work. (Take a look at www.amyguidry.com/press.html) If I had to estimate, I would say that 70% of those originated because I notified writers and editors about my exhibits or announcements. (For the record, Art Calendar’s Louise Buyo contacted me- I just got lucky on that one!) Of course these days, press is viral, so if one blog or paper publishes you, another will then post something. I’ve had that happen a lot as well, which I did not directly influence. Anyway, I want to give you some helpful information to boost your own publicity.
First, assuming you already know what you want to promote, make a list of your local media. If it’s an out-of-state show, you should also do some research and find their media contacts as well. Get some double-duty out of your efforts. Once you have your media contacts- names of actual people, not just the name of the newspaper, etc., you can start writing your press release. I’m no writer, (yes, ironic since I have a blog…), but I always write a press release when I have a show or a big award or something I think the general public may find interesting. In your press release, which I like to limit to a one-page letter for expediency, you should give the usual- who, where, when, how, and why. You don’t want to write a bland description covering all these bases. I know- but isn’t that the writer’s job- to spruce things up? Yes, but there is a lot of news out there in the world, and especially for newspapers, it has to be covered quickly on a daily basis and they don’t have enough writers to possibly cover everything. This means you need to get their attention with something that sounds too great to not write about and make it easy for the writer to get all their information in the least amount of time possible.
So, here’s how to do it: You need a pitch. You can’t just write, “I am having an exhibition this Saturday at the Big Time Art Museum.” Start brainstorming. What reasons do you have for the public to find this interesting? Think in terms of impressing not just your writer or editor, but the public as well since that’s who you’re ultimately trying to impress. Think of what would matter most to the public. What is the most significant factor behind your news? How will it affect the public? Think of this as telling a story, not just stating facts.
Once you have your letter written, you can then add to your press release by including images. Either photographs, or a CD, or a brochure- just something with images pertaining to your news. A CD may be best since the writer can automatically use images from it, but if you can also offer to email high-resolution images. Oh, and be sure to send all of this to your media prospects well in advance of your event. I have found that it can take up to 3 months to get coverage, so the sooner the better. Depending on the publication, they may be booked for awhile and not able to fit your story in on short notice. Regardless, give at least a month’s notice to ensure at least some coverage.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back right away… or at all even. Sometimes it takes a few tries, especially if you are unfamiliar to the media. Be persistent (and patient!). Questions? Feel free to ask. Comments? Let me know. www.AmyGuidry.com
"Artist Amy Guidry with Gallery 549 Director Don LeBlanc"
I think you should give the people what they want, and I have noticed as of late searches to my blog for info on the Second Saturday Artwalk in Lafayette, LA. So since I am a regular attendee and sometimes exhibiting artist of the ArtWalk, I thought I should provide a schedule for this month.
The April Artwalk is in conjunction with Festival International, so there are some special performances listed. Kind of short notice, but all of this will take place TOMORROW- April 10th.
6:30pm-8:30pm Recycled Cycles Trio Del Rio 6pm-8pm in front of Green Room Rhythm/Soul & Kabuki Kru with special guests Desert Shadows Belly dancers, DJ Dokda J, DJ Prima & DJ Andino 6pm-6:30pm & 7pm-8pm Jefferson St. Market Les Djembles (8 drummers playing West African Rhythms) 6:30pm-7pm Parc de Lafayette The Ryan School of Irish Dance 6pm Corner of Polk & Garfield on Marley’s side Lafayette High Arts Academy (street theater) 6pm-8pm in front of AcA For the Moment (Barbershop Quartet) 6pm-8pm Gallery Sans Souci Nouveau String Band 6pm-8pm Strolling along Jefferson St. Sweet Olive
Acadiana Center for the Arts– 101 W. Vermilion St. / 233-7060
Main Gallery: Through April 24, 2010; Susan Shaw: Moving Violations
Side Gallery: April 10 – 24, 2010; Festival Poster Artist: M. Craig “Whoojoo” McCullen & Bonnie Camos
Vault Series: Through April 24, 2010; Emily Wortman: Out Of The Rice Fields
Art House Circle Gallery: March 30 – April 10, 2010; LJ Alleman Student Showcase
Cajun Spice– 535 Jefferson St / 232-3061 Eclectic Chairs, Mosaics and More by Tanya Falgout April 10 through May 31
Cité des Arts– 109 Vine St. / 291-1122 Vestiges and Songs From a Room, two exhibits by Caroline Goodell
Galerie Eclaireuse– 535 Jefferson St. / 234-5492 Sue Boagni and Paul Schexneider
Gallery 549– 549 Jefferson St. / 593-0796 April Group Exhibitionfeaturing works by over 20 local artists
Gallery R (at The Russo Group)– 116 E. Congress St. / 769-1530 Les Ailes: The Art of Reggie Michael Rodrigue
Pottery Alley– 205 W. Vermilion St. / 267-4453 Esprit du Fest– Jessica Odell Courville
Amy Guidry's work in the No Dead Artists exhibit at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
I came across an article the other day in the October 2009 issue of Allure magazine that I wanted to share. Their “Insider’s Guide” series usually takes on interesting topics with a sort of “how-to” approach. I found this one particularly interesting since it deals with art. Rory Evans wrote the piece “How to Visit an Art Gallery” which can be found online at http://www.allure.com/howtos/2010/01/visit_art_gallery. Silly as it may seem, there are many people that have never even set foot in a gallery before and honestly are intimidated. You don’t need to wax poetic about art or philosophy in order to attend an opening or visit a gallery on your own time. Just as anyone can appreciate music or film, the same goes for the visual arts. I can’t play an instrument, but I like Mozart. There’s no harm in that.
So here are some basics. First, galleries are free to visit. You are under no obligation to buy anything and you don’t have to pay to enter. (Museums usually have an admission cost or a suggested admission cost, but it won’t break the bank.) Galleries are generally open Tuesday through Saturday. Openings are generally held on weekends, usually the first or second weekend (be it a Friday or Saturday) of the month. Openings are held in the evenings in most cases, and are late hours with a high attendance. During the week it will be quieter, so you will have more opportunities to focus on the art and even stand back and view the work as a whole.
Galleries and museums both offer work for sale, but not all work is for sale in a museum. So if you are looking to buy, you have more options with galleries. They also change their shows on a monthly basis (for the most part), so there is always something new to see. Galleries will also introduce you to more “new” artists that may not have had as much exposure yet, whereas museums usually grant shows to more established artists.
Understanding the art does not require the Rosetta Stone. For starters, there’s usually an artist statement posted in the gallery whenever there is a show. The artist statement is written by the artist and is their personal account for their work. This will give you a good general idea about the roomful of work you see. It goes without saying, but also take into consideration the name of the show and the titles for the individual artworks. Many artists will admit that there are multiple interpretations of their work and that’s perfectly normal. You may see something different than the artist, or maybe you can add to what the artist feels. There’s no right or wrong answer. No one can tell you how to feel or what to feel, that’s your interpretation to make. All the artist can do is provide you with the information. And even if you do not have the opportunity to meet with the artist personally, you can always ask someone that works for the gallery. As for this artist, I am always open to questions, so feel free to contact me at www.AmyGuidry.com.
Awhile back I wrote about a potential scam, which then got me into some hot water. I do feel, however, that it is important to discuss this issue since scams seem to run rampant among the art community. (Do emails from Nigeria ring a bell?) To be clear, I am not talking about art competitions that don’t lead to overnight success. I’m talking about competitions that are dead-ends with someone looking to run off with your money. These are the real scams. Often these are run by people with shady financial backgrounds (bankrupt, etc.), but this is not always easy to find on the internet. So here are some common traits I’ve come across:
First, the organization that’s running the competition is probably one you’ve never heard of before. If you do a search for their name on the internet, you may come up with nothing. If other artists have had success with said competition, they post it on the internet via blogs, press articles, resumes, etc. There will be a trail.
If the organization contacts you directly via email, and again, you’ve never heard of them, then where did they get your contact information? This is not to say that every email you get from a stranger is a scam, but usually the email should at least be directly written to you. If it is a mass emailing, then clearly they are just shooting arrows in hopes of hitting a target.
Who are the jurors? Often scams do not give names of jurors. They can certainly make up jurors as well, so that is why I highly recommend you do your research.
One of the more flagrant traits of an art competition scam is the deadline extension. I’ve seen many legit competitions extend a deadline (for example, the original deadline falls on a holiday) but usually the reason for the extension is stated in such a case. And, not to mention, this is usually done by a competition that is well-recognized in the first place. The ones to worry about are the ones that nobody’s ever heard of and they extend their deadline…again…and again…and again. Keep tabs on their websites and you’ll find this to be true.
Lastly, if the prize money is outlandishly big, but their company looks cheap, then it’s probably a scam. Successful arts organizations that have money to dole out, also have money to hire a great marketing team. Their websites will be top-notch, their logo is well-designed, and there are no grammatical errors on their marketing materials. One of the best examples I discovered was a website with overlapping text and photos. You have 10 grand to give me but you don’t have the money to hire a decent web designer? Oh, and their photos should be of actual events and of their actual gallery, etc. If all they have is stock photography (or NO photography), then something is fishy.
Well, it seems to me that many artists out there are questioning the upcoming deadline for entries to Studio Visit Magazine. I’ve had quite a few hits to my blog searching for Studio Visit or Studio Visit scam. So, here’s something that I can discuss without getting into trouble for a change. Yes, you should enter! Studio Visit is the sister publication to New American Paintings. Both of which are published by The Open Studios Press. I’m sure many of you are unsure of Studio Visit because you’ve never heard of it. True, it’s new and fairly unknown, but I’ve noticed a remarkable increase in popularity over the past few years, so they are building a following. Studio Visit just started a matter of years ago- 3 or 4, if memory serves. They are lacking the legions of fans of New American Paintings, but that’s not to say they won’t build their own impressive fan base. Good things come to those who wait… or those who with good PR efforts. Regardless, the magazine is a good-looking publication. I’ve been in it before, so I can vouch for their slick presentation. The jurors aren’t too shabby, either. As with New American Paintings (or NAP, for short), they’ve managed to get prestigious museum directors and curators to jury their exhibitions-in-print.
I won’t say that getting into Studio Visit will be the overnight success you are looking for… then again, I wouldn’t say that about anything. However, it will get your work in front of galleries. The magazine is shipped out to galleries and museums all over the place, as is NAP. I can say that I’ve had a gallery contact me as a result and it helped grease the wheels to get me representation with another gallery. It jogs people’s memories and gets them thinking about your work. And when your work is in front of a gallery over and over again, your name starts to stick. So I leave you with this: if you’d like to have your work noticed by important people, in a high-quality publication, then the upcoming deadline is February 5th.
Downtown Historic Malco Theater, Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR
I just returned from a recent trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas which was host to the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival. I saw a great film about the Low Brow art scene called “New Brow: Contemporary Underground Art,” directed by Tanem Davidson. And though I didn’t see it at the festival, I did buy a DVD of “Automorphosis,” directed by Harrod Blank. Several “art cars” were driving about through the city (as you can see from my photos) as part of the promotion of “Automorphosis.”
(Obviously inspired by Piet Mondrian) Art Car promoting "Automorphosis"
I was also fortunate enough to run into legendary artist Ron English. Of course I can’t just publish his art on here, but you can check it out on his website. Mr. English was also in attendance at the film festival. I had a chance to talk with him about the Low Brow art movement and some of the questions that “New Brow” raised. For instance, the dichotomy of low brow vs. high brow art and its role in blue chip galleries. As Mr. English pointed out, what is called “Low Brow” today has much evolved from the original Low Brow artists, and has gained popularity among top collectors. All in all, I think that aside from collectors, it’s the artists that champion the work. Galleries may see a distinction between what is considered high brow or low brow art, but its the artists that generate the excitement over the work and add to its credibility.
For more information about the film festival, visit www.hsdff.org. The festival ended as of October 25th, but you can still read more about the films. And if you’d like to know more about my own artwork, visit www.AmyGuidry.com.Yellow Submarine- The Beatles art car
"Inner Peace?" by Amy Guidry; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009
I had a blast from the past the other day…well, usually that is associated with a good thing, but in this case, it isn’t. I never did write about this in my blog before because it just slipped my mind. Better late than never. I received an email a couple of days ago from a gallery in Santa Monica (see link provided for more info). I thought it was strange because I suddenly found myself on their mailing list, yet I had contacted them years ago (not knowing any better…keep reading) and never received emails from them before. Odd that a gallery would want to reach out after all these years of no contact. Anyway, I contacted them back when I was first starting out my painting career because I found a call for artists. Turns out they only wanted to see me if I lived in California. Strange since galleries will take you on no matter where you live. So I was looking around on the internet and found out they are a vanity gallery. Blech. Read more proof here: http://http://gyst-ink.com/blog/?p=177 And yes, I spoke with “Heidi,” too.
Vanity galleries, as you may very well know already, require a fee (and a large one at that) from artists in order to represent them. Basically you are paying your way in. Any gallery worth its salt does not have to survive by taking money from its artists. They survive on SALES of work. If they can’t do that, something is wrong. In addition to a yearly fee, many vanity galleries also require the artist to install the show themselves, pay for promotional materials and invitations, cover all shipping costs, and do a required amount of gallery-sitting. Which begs the question…And what does the gallery do for you? As in any bad relationship, you are left doing all the work while your partner is living it up at your expense, with no real love in return. It’s best to dump the loser (or gallery…we are still talking about art here) and wait it out until the “right one” comes along.
Questions? Comments? Know of any other losers we should all avoid? Let me know!
