As an abstract artist I don’t wait for oppprtunities to come to me. I go out and look for them, create them even, by stepping up and asking!
Over the last few months I have sent an Artist in Residence (AIR) Proposal to 5 different places (4 colleges/universities and 1 major museum). While it doesn’t look like any of these places are going to work out for me as an AIR, I am not one to give up. It doesn’t cost a thing to ask, to make inquiries.
Today I decided to go to the top, so to speak, and sent a handwritten letter the Director of the Guggenheim in NYC with an AIR Proposal, specifically suggesting that such a position would be awarded to an artist who has not achieved sales goals or public exposure! So what if this is a 1 in a million scheme! Fail harder means put all fear aside and aim for the top of your vision not the bottom!
Last week an article I put together and submitted to a local newspaper was rejected. I right away rewrote the article as a press release, meaning that I kept the content but put everything in the third person and reported the same info but made it sound like breaking news. Then I qouted myself: “Local abstract artist, Carolyn Ellis has her own spin on this subject…” (Of course I noted my website and referenced the fact that there is currently a three page article about me in Southwest Now, a local monthly magazine.) As for authorship of the article, press releases are anonymous, so to speak!
While I have been applying these rules - ask, fail harder, don’t take no for an answer - to my art practice for years, it is only today that I realized it! I have never really thought about just how aggressive I am about getting my work out there but I see now that I am! I routinely make two, even three, attempts to turn any “no" into a “yes.”
Right now I am in the midst of a months long discussion I initiated with the Director of local Parks and Recreation about using a big, gorgeous room in the Duncanville (TX) Recreation Center to run what I call an OPEN STUDIO for local residents (adults, children, disabled, special needs). The idea is not for me to teach anything, but rather for me to work and create in this studio and lead others simply by inspiration and encouragement, not instruction. Onward!
Pic is from a Dallas bookstore which let me hang artwork some months ago! Light, energy, excitement, color, bold visual impact - it’s all there, making this place visually distinctive for sure!
