Public Art Opportunity

Artist Opportunities – Vancouver

Call for proposals from artists: For The Incubator, a studio residency at Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre , 7646 Prince Albert Street in South Vancouver.

Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre
Deadline for Submissions: April 29, 2011
If you have further questions or to schedule individual appointments please contact Cyndy Chwelos, Arts Programmer at cyndy.chwelos@vancouver.ca or call 604-718-6521

Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre is a Park Board facility at which The Incubator will be hosted. This up to three-year pilot residency will provide free studio space for an artist or artist team in exchange for community-based arts engagement. The call is open to artists working in all disciplines (dance, theatre, visual arts, new media, etc.). Our goal is to create a stronger identity for Moberly as a unique cultural space, to nurture the role of the artist, and to explore the potential of community arts engagement by having an onsite studio residency.

How to Apply:

Please visit the website http://www.mysunset.net/macc/incubator_studio.htm for all the application details requirements and studio space description. To see the studio space and discuss your proposal Open Studio Visits are scheduled for

Wednesday April 13 1:00 – 4:00 PM and
Thursday April 14 5:00 – 8:00 PM
Proposed residencies must be a minimum of one year and cannot exceed three. Artist(s) must be able to demonstrate a passion for their practice and dedication to community arts engagement.

Applications may be mailed or dropped off to Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, 7646 Prince Albert Street, Vancouver, B.C.V5X 3Z4 or submitted via email to cyndy.chwelos@vancouver.ca

All materials must be received by 4:00 pm on April 29, 2011.

If you have further questions or to schedule individual appointments please contact Cyndy Chwelos, Arts Programmer at cyndy.chwelos@vancouver.ca or call 604-718-6521.

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Why So Few Posts

I AM SORRY!

I apologize for the lack of posts! There are several reasons:

1. School has resumed. I teach at Emily Carr University and the marking takes up a lot of time.
2. My second book, Making It Case Studies of Successful Canadian Visual Artists is at the printer and I have to do a lot of proofing.
3. I am soon leaving for Paris to walk to Montpellier, an approximate 1,200 kilometre walk (,earn more about it here) and I have been soliciting sponsors whose pledges will go to a charity with which I have long been associated, PAL Vancouver.

Clever Branding

I am embarrassed to say that I lost the contact information for this clever ceramic artist who works in porcelain. I saw his booth in the Granville Island Market and immediately liked the bowl you see in the photo, and the tiny flower container that hangs on a wall. What struck me about his work was his clever use of a ladybug on everything he makes. It is clever and memorable.

Highlighting your sales Purpose.

Another great outcome came from my interviews with artists for my book, Making It!, came from artist Sonja Hébert. Sonja referred to her sales as fundraising and, at first, I was confused, but I learned from her that she uses sales to finance her projects and residencies. For many of us, the purpose of our sales remains unspoken; we don’t advertise why we sell, but Sonja gives her customers valuable added benefit to their purchases by making the purpose of her sales prominent. Her buyers are very happy to know that their purchases help her achieve specific artistic goals.

Artist "Pensions"

I interviewed twenty artists for Making It: Case Studies of Successful Canadian Visual Artists. Collectively, they have half a millennium of experience; had I thought of the project that way from the beginning, I might not have been so surprised by some of its wonderful but unexpected outcomes.

One great idea that emerged from the panel interviews came from Val Nelson. She referred to one of her business practices as the development of her self-directed artists’ pensions. Whereas I was familiar with the professional practice of strategically retaining work throughout the span of their career, I had never thought of the practice as the creation of an artists’ “pension.”

I have often heard artists bemoan the volume of their unsold inventory, but rather than see it negatively, thinking of it as a pension changes a perceived liability into an asset. Val put a clever (financial) spin on an established professional practice; she made me consider an artists work record (or unsold inventory) in a different and positive way.