I always have the most interesting conversations with my fellow artists because it always provokes further thought.

Today was about “quality” and “respectable” galleries and venues. Do you think that just because someone doesn’t follow another’s rules that their work lacks quality or respectability?

I wonder if it is better to be told that an artist needs to meet “standards” or if one should “make” those standards. Isn’t it better to be wanted for who you are rather than be dictated to?

I come from a very strict background on one hand, but a very free-flowing mindscape on another. My father was a stronghand, he had certain expectations that had to be met, he had certain values that he wouldn’t tolerate being compromised. But one thing he always told me was to set my own rules. I didn’t really understand what he meant, because he wasn’t a real good demonstration of this ideal, but I understand now, some years after his death, that was his heart and soul talking to me, and if he could do it over again, he would. My years in the military taught me structure, taught me order, and what it was like to be confined. Now, I have been out of the military longer than in it (I retired in 97), and I am understanding more and more of what it means to make my own rules. I am understanding that the value of social pressure can be used for good, but it is also very detrimental. While it isn’t quite “Lord of the Flies” here in Kelowna, there is tremendous social pressure to conform, to only do certain things, to be friends with only certain people yadda yadda yadda. I never bought in to that sort of thing, and here is where my realization lies. Social conformity suffocates creativity.

My mother had the type of attitude that as long as it didn’t hurt anyone, anything goes, pretty much. She was/is so open minded it was irritating. But that was her gift, and one that still bugs me today for I can not consider one side of the argument without acknowledging, even grudgingly, the other. All points of view are valid, it is just choosing which one you want to adopt and fits in with your life. Just because “I” make certain decisions, or ask certain questions, doesn’t mean that YOUR decisions or actions are wrong.

In January of this year, I turned my studio into a cooperative venture with three other artists. This is going so very well, beyond my most imaginative dreams. With less time at the RCA, I have noticed a reduction in my requirement to “conform”. Odd, isn’t it. But it is a public building, it is an institution with its own rules and regulations. By reducing the exposure to these sorts of structure, I feel my mind has become much more freer – “slipped the surly bonds” of social conformity so some extent, and now certainly working on the remainder. Lately I’ve had trouble painting larger works – mostly I have been doing 5×7s, 6×8ss, you know, that sort of thing, and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Well, I was growing, that’s what the problem was. Growth is seldom easy and mostly painful and confusing.

Below is an excerpt from an email to a friend of mine, where I am discussing what is going on in terms of art making, and attitude:

“and it is from our conversation that I think I have it figured out, just a little – and why I am doing the sculpture now, and doing sculptured drawings, and why the paper needs to be so big. I need the room, to shape and transform the space. ….. Anyway, that is what has been going around in my brain – I’ve been so used to conflict, and working from conflict, that the process of creating from a space of peace is/was foreign. It is like I am learning a new language.”

Art is really a process that illuminates what is going on within, if we pay attention. For me, the process of working with clay, adding, subtracting, being malleable, and then solidifying over time, finally to firing, is a parable for social conformity. Now I am working with stone, carving out, revealing the subject within, chipping away the rigid boundaries – I’m seeing a parallel of a path to independence and maturity….

Regarding respectability, I don’t think there is a correct answer, right for everyone. I only know the questions and comments I make to myself: By being told what standards you will adhere to, the walls of a box are created, and then you inhabit that box. That’s someone else’s box. By defining what standards you adhere to, you become known for a certain thing – is respectability all that it is cracked up to be? Does quality require respectability? Do you want to be respectable, or do you want to be alive and carefree and happy? Do you want people to want you for who you are or how you toe the line. The first is freedom and bliss and shooting for the stars, the second is chains and handcuffs and stormy clouds. At least in my world.

For my art, I will take care of the quality and respectability will take care of itself.

I have very few friends.

I like it that way.

My friendships are based on quality, not quantity. My friends are ones who I know that if I ever needed anything, I could ask, and it would be there. My friends, at this time of my life, here in Kelowna and I am happy to say, worldwide, are the most supportive I have ever known in my 47 years.

My friends help in show setups, they help in providing lights and supports such as easels, and they help in terms of emotional support when all I want to do is be irrational. My friends listen, and nod their head and wait for the storm to pass, and then, my friends talk, and I listen.

My friends give me reassurances. If necessary, my friends tell me to shut up, and/or my friends tell me to sit on my hands. My friends ask me “are you crazy? what the hell are/were you thinking?” all the time. (Hmmm, maybe I should listen more.) My friends are great sounding boards, and my friends know where I am coming from. And if my friends don’t know where I am coming from, they ask.

I have good friends.

Today’s blog post has to do with a few comments via email regarding Art Shows & Curators – Calls to Artists Part 2:

From WP:

I am not a TWEETER but had to say that as well as being informative, I found this article and it’s preceding half; intelligent, provocative and brutally honest … even harsh girl! As a newbie in the fine art world I shall remember your criticisms and instructions regarding exhibition preparation and Curator respect.

Thanks WP!! I appreciate your comments and in my email back to you I said:

Re the blog, yes, I am fairly straight and to the point, and extremely direct most especially when writing. I’ve been involved in the arts community here for about eight years now – very heavily involved. I know about 95% of the professional artists, and with the number of shows I have done (coordinated/curated), trust me when I say these things needed to be said. The same old missing information each time ie “oh I don’t use a calendar, I find it too confining” bull shit. Very frustrating. Harsh it can be for some, but I have always hated beating around the bush when a direct arrow is quicker and more efficient. I can be diplomatic when the occasion requires it, but in giving information I seldom find that effective, and the military was a terrific teacher in honing both those skills. I’d rather be direct and say exactly what I mean than be wishy washy and have miscommunications because of potential word connotation or definition conflicts.

Especially with artists – we tend to be very frou frou, (but) if a concept is said bluntly, we get it. Usually. lol! Most people appreciate it though the majority prefer to have their egos or emotions stroked. And to be fair, me too – but only when “deserved”. Today’s society is so politically correct that we have to constantly say nice things to each other – ugh, pain in the ass.

btw, I don’t use an eraser in my drawings, and my charcoal strokes are strong and bold. That should tell you multitudes. lol!

An addendum to all this with further thought this morning at the gym: to me there is a difference, a huge difference in being harsh and being mean. When I say the things I do, it is to give effective communication, to give information, not to be mean or derisive. I do tend to use humour, although some may consider it a little too dry, to illustrate a situation, but in all fairness, I am usually quite accurate.

When I say what I am saying to my fellow artists, who are also friends and acquaintances, the ones who know me know where I am coming from, and they know that I am saying this to help, not to hinder. They know what I have gone through in the past in trying to organize shows for myself and for them*, and if I had the presence of mind to say all of this at the requisite time, then most assuredly, I would say it. Some have heard me rant, it doesn’t mean that I hate them or other artists, it means that I am frustrated at the situation where they don’t know or haven’t been exposed, or haven’t thought.

What is my goal in posting this information on the blog? To get these artists to have the PRESENCE of mind to use their initiative to think about what the coordinator/curator goes through… what can make their job easier. Don’t you think I absolutely love the artists who cross their t’s and dot their i’s? I do. I think they are glorious for their professionalism, they walk on water, and I respect them highly. LB you are one of them.

It is a raising of the bar, and I know the artists in this community are up to it. They just need to know what to do.If they think I am being harsh, then I would tell them “Shelve the ego, and listen to the message. You might learn something.” But, I’d say it with a smile, of course.

*upcoming blog post

We are in a creative field where “deserving” is a dirty word. Deserving is one word in which no one, as an artist (visual, performing or otherwise) in their right mind would ever admit out loud is part of their vocabulary when referring to themselves. People who work in other industries such as the financial or medical or litigation worlds, for example, would have no problem saying “I deserve that raise!” and likely get it, simply for standing up for themselves and making their needs known.

Providing these can be substantiated either with education or experience or ability, artists deserve the prices they put on their original works. I am not going to get in to mechanical reproductions here aka giclees and/or prints*, because I do not believe the prints* are worth the paper they are printed on. (You either agree with what I am saying and understand what I am saying, or you don’t. Quite frankly, I don’t care either way. I am not looking for a cheering section and if you agree with me, you already understand that too.)

This concept is important enough that I need to repeat it: Providing these can be substantiated either with education or experience or ability, artists deserve the prices they put on their original works. It doesn’t matter if it took me 5 minutes to create the work, 5 hours, 5 weeks or 5 months. The artwork is done when it says it is done, it is my soul speaking, my heart, my mind and my body creating it. A work that took 5 months could be seriously overworked, and a work that took 5 minutes could be overworked as well.  There is a departing point where the artist is in control and then when the artwork takes over. Part of the skill of being an artist or even a creative being is knowing when that point is, when the point of the artwork being its own being has occurred. An actor can overact. A singer can over sing. A writer can go on and on and on… much like I am doing right now…..

An original artwork is an individual. Because of this individuality, the artwork deserves respect as its own being. Part of this respect includes giving it the recognition and honour in the outside world. Are you independently wealthy? Are you a bored housewife (as I was once accused of being – can you imagine me ever bored? I didn’t think so, and Suzy Homemaker I am not), or someone who doesn’t need a job because their other half is supporting them? Then anything you get for your work is a bonus, right?

Now I need to be completely blunt as this wishy-washy beating around the bush is driving me crazy. As a professional artist, you make the artwork, you put a price on it -  those people who say “artworks from the heart have no price” do not need to make any money from their art to pay their bills, they are either independently wealthy, bored housewives, or have a secondary source of income where they do not need to rely on the sales of their work to survive. These people are not professional artists, they are hobbyists.**

And, if the artwork is priceless, then by all means, pay me a million dollars for my work, because aren’t you getting a great deal!

part 2 continues here. http://juliatrops.com/blog/2009/11/23/deservingartistprices2/

*prints refers to anything mass produced, not original prints from methods such as authentic handpulled lithography, intaglio, silkscreen etc.

**I’m not going to get in to the discussion about artists on grants, that’s a separate blog post.

This week I opened an account on Etsy – this is my Under $100 shop. Everything in here can be seen at my studio – and yes, I can combine shipping! Terrific little Christmas gifts that won’t break the bank! http://jtrops.etsy.com.

I am adding works every day! Bookmark the shop and check back often!