3 New Calls for Artists To Submit

Drift Station is an art gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska (USA). Last year I exhibited some of my art cards there and watched the well attended opening via live webcam hook-up. They do some interesting things. Drift Station is calling for artist books, zines, comics, small presses, and other non-traditional publications. For the duration of the exhibition, Drift Station will become a bookstore/reading library where the public can look through, peruse, and purchase artworks.  Everything submitted will be shown!

Bookstore - a temporary store of artists books, zines, and publications March 2 – April 26, 2012

Deadline for submissions: February 18, 2012       Visit  www.driftstation.org/exhibitions/bookstore for more information.

–AND-

Publisher Jonathan Penton has new projects and calls for writing and visual art portfolios. He’s successfully operated Unlikely Stories for a couple of decades. Here is the link to read the submission guidelines: http://www.unlikelystories.org/mission.shtml

–AND–

Hi Marie

I work with Art for Change, a non-profit gallery in east harlem. We have an open call for artists for our next exhibit, “Know Gays Aloud: Violence in LGBT Communities of Color.” I have pasted and attached the call for artists below. Could you post it on your website, artist marketing salon?

Thank you!

Clare Kambhu

1699 Lexington Avenue

Lower Level

New York, NY 10029

212-348-7044

www.artforchange.org

ART FOR CHANGE, CALL FOR ARTISTS!

Know Gays Aloud: Violence in LGBT Communities of Color

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: SUNDAY, February 12th, 2012

Art for Change (AfC) is seeking proposals for artworks for its upcoming exhibition, Know Gays Aloud: Violence in the LGBT Communities of Color. Art for Change is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides a forum for creating innovative art and media programs that inspire people to take an active role in social justice. By merging art and community, AfC provides a space to explore social issues and celebrate the richness of cultural diversity.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The LGBT community has struggled to ensure equality of their civil liberties for over three decades. Though there has been significant progress in obtaining equal rights in the United States, such as the recent vote that passed a marriage equality law in states like New York, violence still persists against the LGBT community especially in minority populations. The increase in hostility towards the LGBT community in the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Africa has led to a rise in murders and teen suicides, notably for the transgendered. In Puerto Rico, even though murders of transgendered are becoming more frequent, the government is seeking to take these crimes off of the list of hate crimes, further justifying these acts of violence. This exhibition aims to expose the violence and prejudice that LGBT communities of color have endured through systematic cultural and religious persecution. Art for Change seeks work that reacts to this injustice.

HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL
interested artists may submit proposals for artworks consistent with the social justice platform of AfC, which address topics suggested, but not limited to, the description above. Artworks may include painting, drawing, photography, video, sculpture, performance art, interactive art, design, architecture, and site-specific installation. Proposals must include an Artist Statement describing in detail the proposed artwork and its relevance to the exhibition theme. Please state if this is a finished work, or a proposed new work. Artists are encouraged to do further reading on the topic to inspire poignant ideas.

PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR PROPOSAL:

Artist Contact Info: Name, Address, Phone, Email Address, Website Address

Proposed Artwork Info: Title, Date, Material, Size (Height x Width x Depth)

Artist Bio (1 paragraph)

Artist Statement (1-2 paragraphs)

2-5 images of past-related work or actual finished proposal: 300 dpi or lower, no larger than 2MB each (please specify which work you are proposing for this exhibition or if it is a new work)

PLEASE EMAIL YOUR PROPOSAL WITH PROPOSAL, BIO, ARTIST STATEMENT, AND IMAGES ALL IN ONE EMAIL TO: AFCexhibitions@gmail.com.  Please put “ART FOR CHANGE PROPOSAL in the subject heading. Artists will be notified the week of Monday, February 20th, 2012 if their proposal is accepted.

We are looking forward to reviewing your proposals!

Art for Change is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides a forum for creating innovative art and media programs that inspire people to take an active role in social justice. For more information, please visit www.artforchange.org

Part 3: On Saving Money in the Studio

Image via Wikipedia

My previous two posts, How To Save Money By Making Your Own Paints, and More Tips On Saving Money in the Studio brought such enthusiastic comments from artists on Google + and other social media sites that I decided to write one more–Part 3: On Saving Money in the Studio.

Buy fine art paper in bulk 

Did you know that you can get many fine art papers directly from paper manufacturers at greatly reduced prices? For instance, Thai Unryu paper, (25 x 37 inches) sells for $4.00-6.00 dollars per sheet at this US artist supplier and this artist supplier.  I purchased the same Thai Unryu paper (25 x 37 inches) in packages of ten sheets, and paid about $00.25 cents per sheet purchased directly from paper manufacturer in California. ( I calculated the shipping cost and added it to the amount I paid per sheet for the price I mention above.)

As you can probably guess, that paper manufacturer had other fine art papers including fine drawing papers and print-making paper such as Coventry Rag, as well as digital print papers at low prices. Check their overstock store. Not all papers are available at all times so check back often.

In the book, Living The Art World Dream, Alternative Strategies For Working Artists, written by sculptor Eric Rudd, the author includes a page or two on buying paper in bulk from paper mills. He suggests taking a tour of a paper mill, if one is nearby, as an “eye-opener.” Rudd said that he purchased 1,000 sheets of drawing paper for as little as $100. Since he lives in a large warehouse studio he had space to store large quantities of paper. He also makes the point that artists may be more cautious and less productive when working on paper that they purchased for $1.00-5.00 per sheet. That having so many low-cost sheets of fine art paper in his studio made him much more productive–he did many more drawings!

If you belong to a group of artists, you may be able to jointly divide a large paper purchase. Research paper manufacturers in your region. You may be surprised at how many such companies exist! Not all produce fine art papers but some make acid free papers also used by artists.

Dial-In To Free Live Call on Legal Issues of Art Licensing

    

Tonight, artist Tara Reed interviews Attorney Kyle-Beth Hilfer about the legal issues of art and art licensing. Here are the call-in details if you want to listen live. (It’s free!)

Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Time: 5:30 Pacific / 8:30 Eastern Dial in Number: 712-432-1680 Passcode: 813128# Google Voice Users: dial in to 559-546-1400

For more information visit the Art Licensing Info website here: http://artlicensinginfo.com/

More on Ways to Save Money in the Studio

Yesterday, there was much interest in my blog post – Artists, You Can Save Money By Making Your Own Paints. Thanks to all who shared it and re-blogged it.

Today, I am posting follow-up tips on supplying your studio for less.

Containers:

One problem you will likely encounter when making your own paint will be the continual lack of enough clean containers with lids to store your paints.  I discovered American Science and Surplus has many plastic and glass bottles in assorted sizes at super low prices. Because they stock surplus items you can even find art supplies as well as paint-making devices such as a mortar and pestal at a fraction of the cost of the same items sold in art supply stores. If they are not in your geographic area perhaps you will find a store like this near you.

How To Make Your Own Pastels

I’ve made lots of my own pastels and have always found it super easy. Even if you do not consider yourself a pastel painter there may be instances where you want to draw with a large stick of pigment onto canvas or paper. You can make pastel sticks to fit your needs and your hand, or even make sticks with graphite powder, charcoal powder, metallic powders or plain white chalk powder.  A kilo of the highest quality white French chalk powder retails for as little as eight or nine dollars. Mix white chalk with a dry pigment powder to make a tint of that color.  Knead in the wet binder, gum tragacanth–which is easy to find and use. This full description on how to make pastel sticks

Image via Wikipedia

seems a bit much more complicated than I have personally found it to be. For instance, the instructions recommend adding a preservative. I have pastel sticks that I made  4-5 years ago that are still in perfect condition even though I never added any special preservative but used only distilled water and added a little Isopropyl alcohol to the gum tragacanth.

If you have tips for saving money in the studio that you would like to share with other artists feel free to leave a comment.

Artists, Want to Save Money By Making Your Own Paints?

Image by austinevan via Flickr

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

Painters who make their own paints have control over what’s in them. Making paint is easy. Here is the link to several paint-making recipes.

You will find dozens of recipes for making your own paints and mediums in the book Formulas For Painters by Robert Massey. I’ve owned a copy for years and have tried many of the recipes in this book.

If you don’t want  to work with powder pigments, it is even easier and more economical to purchase pigment dispersions in squeeze bottles and add color to a medium, such as acrylic matte medium, to make your own acrylic paints. A gallon of acrylic medium and several pigments in dispersion will produce much more paint at a lower cost than purchasing the same quantity of paint in tubes or jars from any art supply store. I have used pigment dispersions for several years and have found Guerra provides consistent quality and fast delivery.

Pigment dispersions and a gallon of gum arabic produces a lot of watercolor or gouache. You can buy gum arabic dry or liquid.

Image via Wikipedia

Oil painters have many more options open to them for mediums that will work with pigments, either dry or in dispersion.

If you work with oil paint perhaps you have used cold wax medium– a small jar of cold wax medium costs several dollars in the US at your local art supply shop. That is why I want to share this simple recipe for making much more for much less. This is a recipe I have used myself so I know that it is simple and easy and produces a quality product. You can find inexpensive blocks of white wax at stores that sell candle making supplies, and you can pick up a can of turpentine at your local home improvement store.

COLD WAX MEDIUM RECIPE

1 part white beeswax

3-6 parts turpentine

Melt the wax in a double boiler, then turn off the heat source. Gently mix the turpentine into the wax. Allow to cool. It will thicken into a soft paste and will look identical to the cold wax medium you purchase from art suppliers.

Store the cold wax medium in a container with a lid. Use it with or without added color. Cold wax medium will go on smooth and easy and then harden on your canvas or panel.

A Variety of Opportunities for Artists

Image by kevin dooley via Flickr

The Research Center for Arts and Culture has a special project called Art Cart to organize and document the work of professional artists aged 62+. Artists receive honoraria for public forums.

The arts organization Terminal  will award four – $500 stipends to assist in the creation of new internet based art works.

Are you familiar with Artonomy? The Artonomy site offers free resources such as a list of several places to sell your art online. They also accept submissions for an artist feature.

Artist Residency in New York accepts international artists and provide all residency artists with financial support. Here is the link:  http://www.cactroy.org/residencies.php

A Major Cable Network is Seeking America’s Most Talented Crafters

Art on Amazon–A Google+ Public Page

(please ignore this verification code: {EAV:f3a728645d545cb0}) If you like using Google+ you may have noticed the option to create a *page* and make it *public* to all Google+ users. Yesterday, I created a Google+ page for the Transmedia Artist Amazon store. I named this Google+ page Art on Amazon.

I used the Artists on Amazon logo above, but simplified the page name to Art on Amazon to bring more people interested in art to the page. This new Google+ page is more than just a static profile page. I will continue to post items to a stream from this page and encourage artists selling in the store to do so as well.  I have already added several items listed in the Transmedia Artist Amazon store. Visitors may comment on these and other  posts.

The Art on Amazon Google+ page is a great place for artists selling in the Transmedia Artist Amazon store to post more about their art and interact with buyers. For instance, artists may share details and behind the scenes details and photos about the making of an artwork, or share photos from an art exhibition, and more. This will help bring interest and buyers. I plan to post to the Art on Amazon Google+ page daily, and would like to see store artists post as well.

All are welcome to the Art on Amazon Google+ page.

Affordable Art Fair Los Angeles Opened Yesterday

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The Affordable Art Fair in Los Angeles opened January 18th and closes Sunday January 22nd at 6pm. If you are in the area, a visit to the show should get you thinking of ways to sell and promote your own art. ArtStar will be there promoting and educating. Here are descriptions of some of their panel presentations. Reading the descriptions can to get you thinking of new ways to present your art to your current collectors and buyers as well as any new collectors you may meet.

Panels: Expert Advice on How to Mix Contemporary Art with Great Design Panel of experts in art and design, Stefan Lawrence, Founder of Twentieth; Chrissy Crawford, Founder ArtStar.com and Hillary Thomas, Principal of Hillary Thomas Designs will give insider tips on how they pair their clients’ collections with antiques, sculpture and mid-century furniture.  The panel will cover everything from paint colours, to framing and installing works to mixing time periods of art and furniture. Thurs, Jan 19, 7pm Positive Effects of Great Art and Design on Children Join a panel of children’s experts including Chrissy Crawford, Founder LittleCollector.com; Pia Lindstrom, Interior Designer and owner of Beginnings and Rose Apodaca, Co-Founder of A+R Store as they speak about the influence art and design can have on children’s creativity, learning and development. Sun, Jan 22, 1pm Experts Advice on How to Grow Your Collection Chrissy Crawford, Director/Founder, ArtStar.com; Lauren Mang, Specialist from Bonhams Fine Photographs; Julie Novakoff, LA-based art advisor and curator; Simmy Swinder, Director of Carmichael Gallery and Laura Gatewood, curator and contributor to Flavorpill’s art department will give insider advice on how the experts select art as well as investing, researching, framing, installing and insuring your collections. Sun, Jan 22, 3pmFamily Workshops: Shadow Puppet Workshop with LittleCollector LittleCollector’s educators will work with families to create shadow puppets and teach kids how to create their own home theaters.  Shadow puppets combine craft with storytelling and help expand children’s imagination. Sat, Jan 21, 2pm Sun, Jan 22, 4pm Just Like Andy Artist Matthew Carden and LittleCollector’s educators will take Polaroid portraits of each child and help them create Andy Warhol inspired self-portraits using the same techniques, colors and styles as Warhol. The workshop teaches children about Warhol’s work and Pop Art. Sat, Jan 21, 4pm Sun, Jan 22, 2pm Image via Wikipedia

Sneaker Dog Video

Artist Jerry Gonzalez had the right idea when he created this cute little video short to promote his print edition Sneaker Dog. Each print is on Hot Press Rag 310g fine art paper and retails for $30. Click here to view & buy.