Curating an exhibition 27/05/2013

Today's lecture was split into two sections.  The first was presented by Angela Philip on curating an exhibition and the second half was presented by Glenn Henderson on creating works for specific places.

"Curating an exhibition - more than a great idea, it's project management"

 

At first I was a little bit confused by this subject, but then I though about it from a different way.  Not all people who study Fine Arts become practicing artist; some of them may decide to become gallery curators.  Not only that, but if you are an artist it is pretty important to know and understand how the whole exhibition and installation process works after you finish making your works.

There are many kinds of places where people can curate, such as in artist spaces, commercial galleries, museums and more and with these spaces many themes can be explored such as a particular idea or theme, historical or periodical and scientific categories.

First of all it takes a lot of planning to curate a show; sometimes it can take between 18-24 months to plan for one.  When planning a time table it is good to start at the end date (first day of exhibit) and work backwards, thinking about what you need to do and how much time each of these tasks will take.



Things to consider when planning:

• Ideas and research
• booking gallery space
• selecting works to display
• seek sponsorship or grant

Then in your brief you also have to include things like:

• Aims and objectives
• target audience
• design elements
• budget
• catalog - copyright licencing from artists
• advertising
• printing - time and costs
• other documentation
• artist CVs
• delivery
• installation 
• insurance

A few other points to remember include:

• Conservation - Protecting works with framing for example
• Condition reports - Taking note on the condition of the works before taking it out of the package or sending it back to the artist.  Is it broken or not?
• Exhibition furniture - plinths, cabinets, shelving 
• Writing labels describing works
• Reproduction rights - Advertising, invitations, websites and catalogs
• Writing catalogs and invitations- getting information and images from the artists, editing everything, sending it to the printers
• Sending invitations - Invite guests at least 2 weeks before the event
• Opening night stuff - Wine and food
• Courtesies - Sending thank you letters to everyone who was involved

Types of hanging:

Salon Hang

V.S

Art in Public Space

Florentijn Hofman, "Rubber Duck", 138m

"Artists, designers, planners and architects alike must face the challenge of defining public space, as an opportunity to create or improve the sense of community among those who will determine the use, or abandonment of a place." - Ethan Kane, 2004

Tuesday's lecture was presented by Braddon Snape on creating art in public spaces.  He mostly talked about his own artistic practice and his experience creating public artworks.  These colossal pieces are enormous and cost thousands of dollars to make.  These works are often commissioned by groups such as the local councils or hospitals, because of this artist have to deal with certain restraints such as working within a set budget, conforming to a design brief, working as a team with other people like designers and architects, materials, their life spans and how they react to weathering, thinking of the public's reaction and staying true to who they are as an artist as well.  While interesting to learn about, the whole process of creating public art sounds exhausting! 

Week 10: Money 13/05/2013

This week's lecture was presented by Kit Messham-Muir on ways artists can get money such as through residencies, scholarships and grants.

When graduating from university the thing most students miss are the social aspects, peer support as well as the studio space.  Therefor it is important to consider your options and think about what you are planning to do within the next two years as well as think of your art practice as a whole.

Residencies:

When visiting these websites it is important to look up the artists who have previously been accepted into these residencies so that you can see what type of works these organizations are interested in.

ArtSpace - is an organisation in Sydney, which is a hub for smaller art organizations and communities.  Artists are able to apply for a residency there from 3 months to a year for about $300 a week (which is pretty cheap considering that it's in the city).

Asialink -  Allows artists to take up residences throughout Asia and they have different opportunities for artists depending on their practice.  They will give about $12 000 for travel and living expenses.

Australian Council - They offer different options for 'early career artists', which is about 5 years out of art school, meaning that you don't have to compete with other already established artists. They can offer up to $35 000 for up to 6 months.

Art Gallery of NSW - Despite being an art gallery, the Art Gallery of NSW offers grants and scholarships for artist to study overseas in places such as Paris.  In fact lots of places offer grants you just have to know where to look.

Applying for residencies, scholarships and grants it is important to remember that they are a strenuous and take a lot of time to prepare for.  For example 1 and 1/2 years in advanced.  It may be hard at first, but keep trying again and again.  The admissions people will remember you from before and notice you and how much you've improved.  

After you've been approved you have to keep records on how you've spent the money, so they know you didn't spend it all on rubbish and used the time as a holiday.  They also appreciate it when you give back to the community and show the work you created.

The good news is, after receiving a few grants, other organizations will feel better about giving you money.  Think of it this way, grant giving is an investment.  So if people see that other people trust you, then they will trust you as well.

Scholarships:

If you peruse a Honors or Masters after you graduate you can apply for the Australian post grad research award, which is about $24 000, which is about $944/ 2 weeks (tax free).  You can also transfer to another university to complete your studies.

Samstag - They choose about 5-6 people per year and award them about $43 000 USD to study overseas. To be electable for it, you have to already graduated and prepare a plan on what project you're going to do overseas.

NAVA Freedman Foundation Traveling Scholarship -  You must be 30 years or younger and be an emerging artist to apply.

Grant writing is a skill, and like everything takes practice to perfect.  Here are a few points to keep in mind when writing one:

Title:
Aim:
Objectives:
Background:
The Proposed Project:
Budgetary Considerations:

06/05/2013

Today's lecture was presented by Amanda Rowell, who is the owner and curator of The Commercial gallery in Sydney. 

The lecture talked about how she started the gallery on her own and how she began supporting new and up coming Australian artists. 

However I found it particularly hard to pay attention most of the time, because she put up a 'Powerpoint artwork', by the artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, which was a never ending spiral changing from black to white every 2 seconds, as she spoke.  (＠□＠ )  
I have enough issues with motion sickness, so that was kind of painful...

On another note, after the lecture we broke off into our tutorial groups, where we discussed out last assignment on writing artist statements and how we can improve on them.

Artist statement

• Should introduce you as an artist
• Communicate your artistic practice and it context to the exhibition
• each statement should be different depending on its context
• It should explain the what, why and how of your artistic practice
• describe and give reasoning for your artwork
• talk about your inspiration and infulences
• what is the intention of your artwork?  Personal, scholarly, research, collaboration or part of your degree.
• talk about the materials and mediums and how its relevance
• talk about historical or theoretical framework if relevant

Here is a funny website that creates stupid artist statements with a generator. Feel free to use if for your future artist statements (^_-)-☆