Guest blogger Jerry Fresia studied in the studio of William J. Schultz for many years and was taught a method of painting that can be traced back, from student to teacher, to Monet. He received his PhD in political science from the University of Massachusetts. In San Francisco, where he lived for fourteen years, he founded and was Executive Director of Red Umbrellas, an independent outdoor exhibition group for visual artists. Currently, he lives on Lake Como, Italy where, with his wife Conchitina Miguel, he organizes painting workshops. View his website.
Creativity Beyond the Canvas
Artists create not just a thing of value; we create the thing of value. And yet, most of us will live on the margins and accept our assigned roles within a profession that is sometimes referred to as a profession that is “starving.” Part of the problem is that we are so concentrated on our work that we rarely use our creativity to reinvent the little boxes in which we work.
One exception were the “intransigent” artists of Paris at the end of the 19th century. When they pioneered independent exhibitions in 1874 in the face of marshal law, artists in hiding and in exile, they sought and found an institutional change that achieved a degree of freedom that few artists have enjoyed before or since. The larger contribution of the Impressionists was not their “new painting” or an aesthetic, but a new understanding of what it meant to be an artist: people who see their world in terms other than those set out for them. It behooves us to take a page from their book.
For example, most of us have had experience exhibiting art with art consultants in “downtown” corporate buildings. This situation typically goes like this: the art consultant, who contracts with property managers, finds artists who wish to exhibit. We surrender our work, for free, for a month or so and if we happen to sell, we get 60 percent and the art consultant takes 40 percent. Sound good?
When I was searching for new exhibition sites for a San Francisco exhibition group, I investigated the lobby exhibition situation a little further. I was astonished to find that art consultants were getting four to seven thousand dollars per month simply to organize the exhibition. So I decided to take a different approach.
First, I put together a portfolio of our group’s work and thus was able to offer a broader, better range of artists to property managers. We got two contracts.
We immediately gave half of our proceeds to participating artists so that artists were paid to exhibit. This came out to about $1,500 per month per artist. And if any work were sold, the artist was given 100 percent. The other half of the proceeds was given over to the group, which was sufficient to pay for many of our expenses (we had over 50 outdoor exhibitions in San Francisco), which then brought outdoor exhibition fees to zero. Thus, with regard to our outdoor shows, artists paid zip and also received 100 percent of sales proceeds.
The hitch in this, if you want to call it that, was that as a group we had to do the work of the consultant, hang the show and create and distribute publicity. But this too was a win-win activity: we learned how to present ourselves to property managers and city officials. We developed graphic art skills and mailing lists that we could then use for our own private exhibitions. We leaned how to hang a show and present 3 dimensional work. None of this was difficult or required a lot of time.
The point is that our creativity can extend beyond the canvas; we need not live on the margin. We need not play the role of hapless genius. We can be artists and citizens, creative both in rendering our feelings and in working with others in our communities. We can transform our situation and make it easier to become the artists we already are.
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