Art Biz Blog

I have a crush on a building

I visited the new MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Denver building for the first time last night. I loved it! It’s small enough that it’s manageable, but has wonderful details such as the rooftop café and viewing deck and the gorgeous wood-paneled library. Galleries are relatively intimate spaces for contemporary art, which is nice to see. Designed by David Adjaye, it’s exactly the type of building where I would like to show my art if I were an exhibiting artist. You must visit when you come to Denver.

The downside was a video installation titled Legend by Candice Breitz. It consisted of 30 screens of Jamaicans singing Bob Marley tunes a cappella. By itself, it was great fun to watch (I LOVE Bob Marley and these folks were having a blast with the songs). I honestly could have watched all 63 minutes of it if it weren’t for the volume. It was loud. Extra extra loud. You could hear it in every gallery and couldn’t stay in the room with it very long for fear of blowing out your eardrums. I felt it distracted not just from Breitz’s installation, but from the rest of the museum experience.

I was disappointed that more people weren’t in the galleries. Granted, it was 3 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, but the building just opened. Maybe everyone was at home in bed--recovering from Rockies fever.

Podcast: Spook yourself with "What if?"

Listen in on this week's podcast—an audio version of the Art Marketing Action newsletter.

What if? Now, there's a loaded question. This Halloween, spook yourself with a list of "What ifs.?

[4 min. 18 sec.]

Get more when you join the Art Marketing Action Inner Circle community. You can get an extra audio recording, a premium newsletter, one-on-one coaching days, and discounts when you join the Inner Circle. Right now, it's only $10 for the first two months of your subscription. Learn more about the Inner Circle.

Subscribe to the Art Marketing Action podcast at iTunes.

10 more places remain for my workshop in Ocala

Do you live anywhere near central Florida? Maybe you just want to visit?

I just received word that ten spots remain for my "I'd Rather Be in the Studio!" workshop in Ocala, Florida on Monday, November 12.

Sorry for the last-minute notice, but the workshop had previously been open only to a membership organization, but it is now open to the first ten people who register.

Get the registration form and read about my Art Marketing Action workshops for more details.

Ready to set an intention for your art career?

Today's Halloween edition of the Art Marketing Action newsletter asks "What If?" as in . . . What if you don't live up to your potential?

Here's a space for you to set an intention--a place for you to tell the world that you don't intend to let procrastination or fear of the unknown stand in your way.

What do you intend to stop procrastinating?
What do you intend to take action on?
What do you intend for your art career?
What fears do you intend to release?

CERF Responds to California Wildfires

The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) is taking action to respond to the community of craft artists affected by the Southern California Wildfires. They say:

We are reaching out to artists, arts organizations, galleries, businesses and others in the affected areas to offer assistance and to locate information about the arts community. While it is still too early to know the extent of damage, we do know that the situation is severe as news reports indicate. We also know that this area of California has a significant population of craft artists. We have already heard from a jeweler who lost both her home and studio and CERF Trustee and clay artist, Lana Wilson, had to be evacuated from her Del Mar home.

Please help us spread the word that CERF is available to offer assistance to craft artists in Southern California. Please also be aware that your support of our work during these times is essential so that we can deliver aid quickly and effectively.

I encourage all those so inclined to copy and paste this to your blogs and link to CERF at http://www.craftemergency.org.

Friendly, funny tags on my new handbag

I'm a huge fan of Maruca handmade purses. I just love the tag I found in my latest purchase, which I don't recall seeing before.

First, the front (SOHO--the "name" of this style):

Then, the back (click to read the clever copy):

smARTist (TM) Telesummit recordings discounted until Halloween

17 art-career presentations, 22 PDF handouts, a dozen experts (including me) to show you how to move you art career forward!

It's no trick. smARTist™ is running a treat of a discount on their 2007 Telesummit  before smARTist™ 2008 launches.

Save $50 on this 7-day, art-career conference, which is now just $247 instead of $297.

This offer disappears with all of the other scary creatures on midnight Halloween (Oct 31-next Wed!). To find out more and to order, please use this link.

Tips for being creatively business-like

Head over to Making a Mark, Katherine Tyrrell's blog, to read about her recent interview (not really a formal interview) with Tina Mammoser, a.k.a. "The Cycling Artist."

What will you find there? Katherine says "Knowing Tina's penchant for being business-like and organised, I thought it would also be great for my readers if she shared a summary of her tips for being organised in order to be creative - and these make up the second half of the post." Oh, yes, and you'll also find mention of this blog. :) Thanks, Katherine and Tina!

Deep Thought Thursday

We were having quite a discussion on the last Deep Thought Thursday, so I'm pulling out some of the comments for this week's post.

Give us your thoughts on what Tina Mammoser wrote . . .

Does being an artist/making art require intent? :)
Or is [art] defined only by the viewer? (which is how we now consider some ancient artifacts art, that were not in their own time)

Does classification as 'art' change over time?

Image (c) Tina Mammoser, Horizon.

"No Lame Names" manifesto

One of the friends of this blog and ArtBizCoach.com, arts and business lawyer Kevin Houchin, asks for your vote to get his “No Lame Names” manifesto published on ChangeThis . Take a minute to look over and vote for his proposal here.

While you're at ChangeThis, browse some of the existing “manifestos” because there is some very interesting content available for free download on the site.