Awhile back, fellow artist Buddy Nestor asked if I would like to have my portrait done for a series he’s showing at The Toothless Cat Gallery. I was thrilled to be asked, and now I can share the result with you. The series is “Every Girl Goes to Hell” and will be on display at The Toothless Cat Gallery in Philadelphia, PA starting April 3rd. Buddy has painted numerous female artists for the series, choosing them based on their own artwork. Some of those artists include Edith Lebeau, Peggy Wauters, and Katie Perdue.
In Buddy’s own words, “All of the models I use for these portraits are very beautiful. However, when I paint them, they are very ugly.” But are they ugly? I find them quite intriguing, myself. You be the judge- the opening reception will be April 3rd from 6-10pm and the exhibit will be up through April 28th. For more of Buddy’s work, visit his website at http://buddynestorartwork.com.
"Untitled (Heads)" by Amy Guidry; (c) Amy Guidry 2010
I have some exciting news to share! My work was selected as a runner-up in the Creative Quarterly magazine’s CQ19 competition. This is the first time I’ve ever entered, so this was a nice surprise. Here’s their bio: “Creative Quarterly publishes the best work being done internationally in graphic design, illustration, photography and fine art. Published four times a year, we’re the only competition accepting entries from all parts of the globe.”
So as a runner-up my work will be featured on their website- www.cqjournal.com in June to coincide with the 19th issue on newsstands at that time. By the way, they picked my painting “Untitled (Heads)” as seen on the left. (Good thing, since that was the only piece I chose to enter!) You can see a larger photo on my website www.AmyGuidry.com.
Here’s a list of all of the winners:
Fine Art: Professional
Marie Bukowski
Sonja Danowski
Barbara Duval*
Brent Funderburk*
William Grigsby*, Reactor Art & Design Ltd.
Jillian Ludwig
Andrew Myers
Bruce Roberts*
Kerstin Stephan
Fine Art: Student
Sean Larson, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Angela Young
Graphic Design: Professional
Matteo Bologna*, Mucca Deslgn Corp.
Andrew Byrom
Adrienne Hooker, Studio Wan-ker
Therese Joanis, Leibold Associates, Inc.
Buck Smith
Christine Strohl, The Strohls
Alex Trochut
Marius Valdes, Zoo Valdes
Rozina Vavetsi, Rozina Vavetsi
Karin Von Ompteda, A Work of Science
Graphic Design: Student
Jeffrey Carpenter, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Johnny Chang, Art Center College of Design
Jiyun Ha, Art Center College of Design
Wayne Tang, Art Center College of Design
Jou Ying Liu
Illustration: Professional
Leeay Aikawa
Vlad Alvarez
Scott Bakal
Hans Baltzer
Sonja Danowski
Felix Gephart
Beppe Giacobbe*
Robin Hursthouse
Carl Johanson
Esa Peltonen
Giselle Potter
Steven Tabbutt
Hui Tsai
Illustration: Student
Catherine Choi, California College of the Arts
Sam Wolfe Connelly, Savannah College of Art & Design
Barbara Graetzer, Fashion Institute of Technology
Tory Novikova, Pratt
Shigeko Okada, School of Visual Arts
Alexa Thoen, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Christine Wu
Photography: Professional
Michael Alberstat, Alberstat Productions Inc.
Marti Belcher
David Ellingsen
Elwin Goh
Steffanie Halley
Jens Honore
Harold Lee Miller
Jes Schrom
Richard Tuschman, Richard Tuschman Images
CQ19: Runners-Up
Runners-up will be displayed on the online Gallery June 2010.
Fine Art: Professional: Runner Up
Paul Cooper
Kelli Craig
Barbara Duval*
Brent Funderburk
Amy Guidry
Chunghee Han
Anita Kunz
Roselyn Leibowitz
Wade Mickley
Jane Powers
Lucas Richards*, MouseSaw
Steven Tabbutt
Jaime Zollars
Fine Art: Student: Runner Up
Antony Anderson, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Abby Cline
Sean Larson, University of Wisconsin-Stout
Zach Nader
Cole Swavely, Massachusetts College of Art
Angela Young
Ina Yun, Cranbrook Academy of Art
Graphic Design: Professional: Runner Up
Phil Choo, Choo Renyer Ball Loftis
Allan Espiritu
Yongseuk Lee, Adhesive Art & Design
Jamie Burwell Mixon, Mixon Freelance
Kurt Munger, Interbrand
Buck Smith*
David Ter-Avanesyan, Ter33 Design
Graphic Design: Student: Runner Up
Sara Alway, Temple University/Tyler School of Art
Sean Barnes, Texas State University, San Marcos
Emanuel Cohen, Université du Québec à Montréal
Jiyun Ha, Art Center College of Design
Katie Hatz*, Temple University/Tyler School of Art
Elizabeth A Herrmann, Maryland Institute College of Art
Jee Won Kim, Art Center College of Design
Amanda Mocci, Université du Québec à Montréal
Francesca Staffieri, Montgomery County Community College
Cynthia Wiley, Iowa State University
Illustration: Professional: Runner Up
Timothy Banks
Pascale Carrington
Matthew Daley, Three in A Box, Inc.
Marcelo Garcia, Aparelho Produtor de Imagens
Felix Gephart
Michael Glenwood
Katrina Kopeloff
Jesse Kuhn
Keith MacLelland
Michael Marsicano
June Michel
Isaac Orloff
Zara Picken
Chris Riely
JungYeon Roh
Matt Rota
Morgan Schweitzer
Kerstin Stephan
Sara Tyson
Andrew Wright
Heidi Younger
Vincent Zawada
Daniel Zitka
Illustration: Student: Runner Up
Christian Castro, Fashion Institute of Technology
Marian Dilan, California College of the Arts
David Gonzalez, Fashion Institute of Technology
YooJin Guak, Ontario College of Art & Design
Nicole Jarecz, College for Creative Studies
Deena Pagliarello, Sheridan Institute
Christine Wu
Photography: Professional: Runner Up
John Abousief
Marti Belcher
Andy Bloxham
Jae Chung
Chris Koules
Jonas Kulikauskas
Harry Longstreet
Yshihiro Makino
Harold Lee Miller*
Jes Schrom
Brian Smale
Richard Tuschman, Richard Tuschman Images
Merrell Virgen, VSPOT Photography
Rachel Waller
Photography: Student: Runner Up
David Corso, Indiana University
Stephen Crimarco, University of Central Florida
Dan Elstone, Langara
Meghan Fischer
Nicole Gavrilles, Ringling College of Art & Design
Frederic Gosselin
Jessica Holcomb, Cal Poly Pomona
Ashley Matthews, Louisiana Tech University
I thought I would share some photos from the opening I had the other night for the 6@549 show. The opening was a big hit at Gallery 549 during the Second Saturday Artwalk for March. The gallery was literally packed with people the entire time. Which is great, of course, but sometimes you can’t get a good view of the art when there’s such a large crowd. So, hopefully this will remind everyone to go by and see the show while it’s still up for the next couple of weeks.
Amy Guidry with her painting, “The Wild West”
Artist Deborah Norsworthy and a guest at the 6@549 show
Montage of image details from the 6@549 show
More photos will be posted on my website soon, so check out www.AmyGuidry.com. And if you are in the area, be sure to check out the show. This is a great opportunity to see the work in person. Artists featured are myself (Amy Guidry), Deborah Norsworthy, Diane Pecnik, Lisa Ayres, Marie DesJardins, and Mary Attwood.
"The Wild West" by Amy Guidry. (c) Amy Guidry 2010
I’ve had a lot of interest in Studio Visit Magazine as of late. Hopefully most of you have found your answers in some of my recent posts. So low and behold, I received an acceptance letter (and email!) from Studio Visit Magazine. My work was selected for inclusion in the Summer 2010 edition. So this will be Volume…10? Not sure, but I think there’s a Winter edition about to come out…then the Summer edition. The juror for this volume was Dina Deitsch, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, deCordova Sculpture Park + Museum in Lincoln, MA. For those who don’t know, Studio Visit is published by The Open Studios Press and is the sister publication to New American Paintings. It is a nationally conducted juried competition featuring 2D and 3D work. Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it- the painting that will be in the magazine is “The Wild West” which I’ve included a small image of here. There’s a closeup of it on my website www.AmyGuidry.com
I have recently finished another addition to my new series of work. This painting is titled “Vulnerable” and will be featured in my group exhibition, 6@549, at Gallery 549 in Lafayette, LA next month. It’s an acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 12.” I included a hare in the last painting from this series but this time he is a main character. The concept of vulnerability is interesting to me since as humans, we assume that we are invincible- be it physically or emotionally. Obviously this isn’t true, and sometimes it’s the things that we least expect that harm us.
For more from this series, or to view my entire body of work, please visit my website 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.
"Untitled (Heads)" by Amy Guidry; (c) Amy Guidry 2010
Just a quick post today…sorry, I’m pressed for time and need to get to work in the studio. I have a new painting to share. This is part of my new series (yes, still working on a name for it…I need to pick from the ones that made it to the finals). You can view this series on my website www.AmyGuidry.com. So the new painting is titled “Untitled (Heads)” and is an acrylic on canvas, 20″ x 10.” Not a huge piece, but a good enough size for me to show a lot of detail. I think the pig is my favorite… I’m partial to pigs anyway. This will be part of the group show I will be in at Gallery 549 this March. Oh, and we’ve agreed upon a name- 6@549. Simple, but it works for 6 very different artists.
I’m excited about an upcoming show that’s practically right around the corner. Sure, I’m busy preparing, but I’m looking forward to the debut of my new series. I’m still tossing around some ideas as far as names go, but for right now, I’m just calling it my new work. One of these pieces includes “Fragility” which you can see here to the left. It’s a 6″ x 6″ acrylic on canvas and there are more where that came from.
Okay, details… The show is a group exhibit featuring a total of six female artists. My friend, Deborah Norsworthy, coordinated the show (she used to curate) and will be in the exhibit as well as Diane Pecnik, Marie DesJardins, Lisa Ayres, and Mary Attwood. The exhibit opening will be March 13th from 6-8ish PM at Gallery 549 in downtown Lafayette, LA. This all takes place during Second Saturday Artwalk, so if you live in Acadiana, you should be more than familiar with this event. And if you miss it, you can still catch the show through the beginning of April. Photos for this event will be posted at www.AmyGuidry.com!
Upon the start of the Surreal Salon exhibit at the Baton Rouge Gallery Center for Contemporary Art, my painting “Complacent” has sold. The exhibit will be up through the 28th of January, so if you haven’t seen this piece in person, now is your last chance. It’s fairly large- 48″ across by 24″ high, so there’s a lot that can’t be captured in a jpeg on the internet. This painting was an image that came to me, but I sketched it out and waited to use it later when the time was right. It fit perfectly with the social commentary series I was working on at that time.
Also of note, Robin Miller’s recent article in The Advocate (the Baton Rouge, LA newspaper) about the Surreal Salon. My painting was also featured with the article, so I was happy to find that out as well. You can read it under the Press Section of my website at http://www.amyguidry.com/press.html.
