REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (RFEI)
FOR ARTISTS OR ARTIST TEAMS
Public Art –Abbotsford Civic Facilities Projects
Fire Hall #8 project
Budget: $23,000. CAD
Deadline: Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 2pm

The City is looking to pre-qualify a limited number of Artists or Artist Teams to become non-exclusive members of a design team for City projects. As members of the design team, the Artist or Artist Teams may be afforded opportunity to participate directly in the design and development of integrated artwork(s) for the City of Abbotsford.

The first project will be artwork(s) integrated into a new fire hall.

Abbotsford is the 5^th largest city in British Columbia and fastest growing with a population of 130,000 residents. Abbotsford is home to the University of the Fraser Valley, the Abbotsford International Airport, the Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford, and the 7,000 seat Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre which is home to the Abbotsford Heat AHL franchise.

For more information, contact
Cathleen Macdonald, Buyer III
Finance and Corporate Services
City of Abbotsford
32315 South Fraser Way, Abbotsford, BC, V2T 1W7
cmacdonald@abbotsford.ca
604.864.5521

Local YOUNG Artrepreneur Invents Art App

Manga mania has hit North America, and PaigeeDraw provides budding artists with instructional tools and supplies to create their own art and comics. Through iPhone and iPad applications, PaigeeDraw teaches users how to hand draw characters in the form of manga – a very popular form of Japanese comic-book art.

PaigeeDraw is the brainchild of Paige Rohrick, a 16-year-old artist and entrepreneur from Port Moody, B.C., Canada. Like many teenage girls, Paige became interested in manga and anime and wanted to learn how to draw her own characters. She became frustrated with the instructional resources available and decided to teach herself how to draw by collecting hundreds of comics and studying other artists. As Paige honed her skills, she received numerous requests from her friends and schoolmates to teach them how to draw, and the idea behind PaigeeDraw was born.

Paige put her artistic talents to use and created an interactive step-by-step manga tutorial that breaks characters down into as many as 27 different steps – each with instruction, tips and tricks from Paige.

PaigeeDraw makes it easy for anyone to start drawing by providing a one-stop shop for manga. Within the applications, PaigeeDraw provides links to the art supplies required, which are available in the PaigeeDraw online store. Many of the art supplies required for manga are only available at specialty art stores and can be difficult to find, so PaigeeDraw takes the guesswork and legwork out of getting started. PaigeeDraw teaches users how to hand draw, so expensive software isn’t required, and an iPhone and iPad application enables users to practice anytime, anywhere.

The PaigeeDraw applications are available for download in the iTunes application store. They launched in late-December and were immediately selected as iTunes’ #1 and #2 “New & Noteworthy” education applications, and have already received thousands of downloads.

Three versions are currently available: PaigeeDraw Free, PaigeeDraw Pro ($1.99) and PaigeeDraw Christmas ($0.99). PaigeeDraw Valentine’s Day, as well as international language versions, PaigeeDraw Korea and PaigeeDraw Japan are currently being developed.

About Manga

Manga are a form of Japanese style comics and cartoons. Often mistaken for “anime,” Manga are illustrated novels that are read backwards and include many different styles such as action, romance, comedy, etc.

Beware of Scams

I get a lot of emails from artists asking about unsolicited solicitations from international organizations that propose to publish their work in a book (or to put their work in an exhibition). By default, I am always suspicious about these kinds of proposals and I urge you to be. In most cases, I find that these proposals are by disreputable people or firms that exploit the artists' desire to be seen and to further sales and their name awareness.

There is nearly always a substantial fee, rather than a licensing agreement that I would expect. So I urge you always to be suspicious. Seek advice, if you have to, but due diligence will usually reveal the pointlessness of the exercise to objective eyes.

What is a Curator?

Image credit.

Curators are stewards of collections. They are the primary caretakers of the objects in the collections of archives, libraries, galleries, museums, individual and corporate collections and many botanical gardens. The curator’s role may include some or all of these tasks:

• Collecting objects.
• Making provisions for the effective preservation, conservation, interpretation, documentation, research and display of a collection.
• Making the collection accessible to the public.

Most visual artists and the general public become aware of curators in their capacity of organizer of exhibitions—a curator (or director acting as a curator) runs most public (non-profit) galleries. In the past, curators often had degrees in fine art; today, many curators have degrees in curatorial studies. Curators are either employees of visual art organizations and are attached to a specific institution, or they freelance, proposing projects to the resident curators of institutions.

Curators can also be understood as tellers of stories. They tell their stories in both imagery (the artifacts themselves) and interpretive accompanying text. The exhibitions or “stories” are revelatory: by seeing a large number of pieces by one artist or by viewing the images of several artists in one exhibition, viewers find deeper meanings through the relationships between the images, and by doing so they discover the thread of the curator’s intension in creating the exhibition. The curator’s story is told in the artifacts themselves for those who want to discover it, as well as in the catalogues, artist statements, the narrative of gallery docents and sometimes in text panels that are part of the exhibition.

As stewards of our heritage, curators working in public institutions have a responsibility to tell us the most interesting or most important stories of, and for, their constituencies. They are responsible to the local taxpayers (the general public whose taxes support the institution), the artists of their community and their members, sponsors and donors. They must show us the best of our local, provincial and national artists—those artists who excel at saying who we are and those who make a significant contribution to contemporary art practice. And, when possible, they should show us the work of very significant artists from outside our communities. The role of the curator in a public institution, or the institution’s curatorial objective, is often defined in the institution’s constitution or mandate.

Curators also function significantly in the lives of Canadian visual artists because of the role they often play in the peer jurying process of the Canada Council and other funding agencies. Their regional knowledge of artists helps coordinate public investment in specific artists and/or art practices. Artists who are often featured in the exhibitions of significant public institutions are those who become part of our cultural heritage. Art critics, dealers and collectors pay particular attention to the artists who capture the interest of curators.

Curators are responsible for knowing what is going on in their communities— provincially, nationally and internationally. The specific responsibilities of a curator vary from institution to institution; some curators have a specific focus on a geographical region (such as for a relatively isolated or rural public gallery) whereas others may specialize in a medium or genre of art. Curating is a creative and intellectual activity designed to provoke thought about a thesis. It is a process of narrative, assembling the work of artists around a theme, issue or concern. The curatorial process can address the relevance and interconnections between the works of diverse artists, or it can focus on the work of a single artist revealing new insights into their process.

Curators who work in an institutional environment (the large public galleries) have to shape the thesis of their exhibitions in the context of their gallery’s mandate, its academic/aesthetic worth, and its relation to the institutional audience. Their exhibitions often have to serve as a basis for public funding applications, so they must be meritorious. Curators approach artists, galleries and collectors for work to include in their exhibitions—work that supports their thesis.

A curator can become aware of you by means of reviews of your work in the media, by seeing your work in an exhibition, by word of mouth from other visual artists or through the artist’s efforts to meet the curator. Many contemporary artists have representation by a commercial gallery and seek to exhibit in public galleries as well. Their shows in commercial galleries can serve as a means of introduction to curators (and vice versa). No matter how it comes to be that an artist has an interview or studio visit with a curator, the artist should be properly prepared.

Pet Peeve AGAIN!

Another example of bad graphic communication. This is a screen shot of an email I received. I use a Mac, as many creative people do, so if my platform is the problem, shame on the creator of this e-ad. This communication works against the best interest of the artist—the critical information is unavailable. (On my computer, if you click on the image above, it opens on a new web page as a larger version.)

More About Writing

Visual artists often think and communicate better in pictures than in words. They are often more comfortable in the tactile and sensate world, as opposed to the heady world of words. As well, artists may have self-doubt or lack in confidence preventing them from developing vital text. Artists may also mistrust language as a result of past experience. Blessed with strength in visual communication, they may have had difficulties throughout their schooling where words have ultimate value and pictures have little-to-no academic worth. And language is the medium of criticism—the harshest blows an artist may experience may be the words of a parent, teacher or visual art critic. All this “baggage” may make it hard for the artist to create effective marketing and self-promotion materials (including the artist’s statement) that drive readers to the action the artist seeks.

Writing about your own work often requires that you analyze every impulse, every decision and motivation. It is work you may not want to do. Any lack of certainty, doubt or sense that “I don’t matter” or “why I do what I do doesn’t matter” will be an obstacle to effective copywriting. Or there may be a sense that “explaining” art is not necessary or is anti-art. Artists often say they have “nothing to say” about their art when they are required to write something about it. At the other end of the scale are artists who are impossible to stop when talking about their art—both extremes of character can result in the production of weak marketing/promotional text if done without professional assistance or careful craftsmanship. All these blocks to the development of effective and persuasive text about you, your art and your art-making process have to be overcome if you are to develop a successful enterprise around your artistic practice.

Finding the Right Words

It is rarely advisable to create your sales and marketing materials on your own. You cannot be objective and you may have a pattern of explaining your work and yourself that is dated and overly subjective. What you need is strongly persuasive text or enticing personal text. Choose your style and work on it with professionals if need be.

• Artspeak: Artspeak is complex, heavily multi-syllabic text. It is prevalent in some artist statements, curatorial essays and art criticism. It can alienate some readers as it is can be very hard for them to understand. The language of analysis has its own specialized vocabulary, but the most sophisticated of ideas are also presentable in lay language. When people read your words in your statements, catalogues, website, media communication etc., they want contextualization—access to insight, not a serious intellectual challenge. Avoid the jargon of the visual arts if you can.
  
  
• Adjectives: Adjectives are descriptive words that frequently involve judgment; they go with subjectivity, rather than objectivity. They can be the most “dangerous” words and they come up often. It is hard for a reader to believe adjectives; consider every one you use carefully.
  
  
• Using Third Parties
• Slide Nights are an excellent source of “raw material” for text for your marketing and promotional materials. (See Chapter Eight.)
• Beware of text written for you by galleries or dealers—always insist on approval of any text used to describe your work. Everything written about your work should be from you directly or in partnership with your gallery or a professional writer who recognizes the power and value of your voice (not theirs).
• Former teachers, peer artists, art critics and/or curators are often great sources of text. They may provide you with written text free or charge or for a fee.

Some Hints

• Have a notebook in your studio or with you when you work. Jot down ideas and insights that occur as you work. Try to explain what your work “is about” in a short paragraph or two, and build it up over time. Ask yourself questions if you have trouble writing about yourself and your art. Is your work about your ideas, your life events, a philosophic value or belief? Is it part of a narrative expressed in a body of work? Do you know where you will end up when you start a piece, or does it shape its destiny with you as you work? How do you know when to stop, or when it is done? Use your notebook to annotate your behavioral and mental creative process. Discover and record why you make art—your reasons may change over time or day to day. The clearer you are about your drive to create, the better for you and your marketing materials. Where do you work? Why do you work? Who are your influences? What emotions drive you to create? How do you feel when a work sells? What are your other passions? As is often said, people invest in artists, not art, so personal details, although they may not seem important to you, may be interesting to your potential buyers.

• Don’t preach or write too much. Avoid superlatives and ensure every word is important. Read and re-read your work eliminating all ambiguities and extraneous text.
• One of the best ways any writer can test her/his work is to read it aloud. Reading text that you think is “finished” to someone is a very effective way to do some self-editing—even reading it aloud to yourself is worthwhile. Never print, publish or email anything important that has not been adequately proofread.

Persuasive Writing

The biggest challenge for artists can be the need for effective persuasive copywriting. Persuasive copywriting has the writer taking a position “for” or “against” something; the writer wants to convince the reader to believe or do something. Persuasive text is what you want in your sales and marketing materials and when writing letters to solicit gallery representation, an exhibition, a sponsor, a grant etc. Here are some guidelines to help you develop effective persuasive text.

Persuasive writing usually follows a particular format— introduction, body and conclusion. The introduction is designed to demand the reader's attention. You can do that by beginning your copy with:

• Something striking or unusual: “Perhaps never before have cow placentas been used as an artistic medium.” (As was the case in a Vancouver “Artropolis” exhibition.)
• A provocative statement: “Most modern art is soulless.”
• A quotation: A line from an art critic or a curator, properly credited, is a very effective opening.
• A statistic or impressive fact: “This year I had more exhibitions and sold more work that in any other year of my career.”
• An anecdote that is brief, relevant and interesting (or amusing) can be a good “soft” opening: “Goldie Hawn, known for her excellent taste, recently bought some of my work.”
• A question: “Do you know why so many people bought the art of [your name] last year?”
• Hyperbole (be careful here): “Critics are calling [your name] someone to watch!”

Besides the opening “grab,” your introduction will make your thesis clear for the reader. Your opening paragraph should tell the reader exactly what your purpose is and how you are going to prove it; it is an extremely short forecasting of the rest of your text.

“Perhaps no other artist has so engaged Vancouver gallery-goers as [your name]. (Engaging opening statement). A review of [your] exhibition reviews, publications and a look at who is buying [his/her] art proves that [you] are an excellent investment for the discerning art buyer!” (Thesis statement.)

Next comes the body of your text, where you address your thesis. This is where you elaborate. You want clear, enticing and convincing text here. You want to create confidence in your reader by proving your thesis in an engaging, believable and interesting way. Each paragraph should concisely and convincingly elaborate on a single solid reason that supports your thesis statement. Provide background information a reader may need and provide illustrations if, and whenever, it is appropriate. Do not duplicate imagery or information used in your other marketing materials to which the reader might refer. Define any specialized terms that you use, and cue your reader when necessary (e.g: first, second; next, then etc.). Draw comparisons when appropriate to assist in supporting your thesis, showing images by artists who have influenced you, for example.

You close your text with the conclusion. A good conclusion may summarize the main points made in the body of your text that conclusively proves the thesis (repeating the thesis), or you may close with a differently worded statement similar to the one used as your opening. More than anything, however, effective persuasive marketing text ends with a call for action—that is, to buy your work, attend your show or give you a grant etc.

Again, effective persuasive copywriting:

• Has a thesis (a point of view) for the reader to accept
• Begins with an attention-getting opening statement
• Provides evidence proving the thesis.
• Ends with a summary and call for action