|
Homework
class
#12 |
Final
project - select one painting to put in a virtual gold
leaf frame. I will provide a frame selection for you then combine
and hang the show in a virtual gallery. |
 
c 
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Presentation
directly affects our evaluation by others. Academic review committees
judge for: acceptance, advanced placement and admittance to graduate
school by this process of evaluating student-artist presentations.
The gallery or exhibition judging is little different. From the
initial letter of interest to showing the work, the quality of what
you do, your thoroughness and dependability are all judged in a
few moments. There is nothing fair about being judged by first impressions,
but ignoring that fact puts you and your work at a disadvantage.
As
an example "Good slides - not good work". Judges choose
by the appearance of the slide. They have no way to determine whether
this faded underexposed image of your best work represents something
positive, or hides something unacceptable. The first effort should
be to make the quality of the work the subject. Don't make them
guess whether it is your work that is bad or just the photography.
This is true of each item under discussion.
Homework
class
#12 |
Final
project - select one painting to put in a virtual gold
leaf frame. I will provide a frame selection for you then combine
and hang the show in a virtual gallery. |
In
web design, if your medium is 2-D, 3-D or digital, the same rules
apply. Not only does the presentation have to be clear and bright,
but it must load quickly and show all the salient points you wish
to be reviewed. Detail blowups on the computer or on the slide sheet
are for demonstrating peculiarities, which cannot be seen in the
smaller version. Too many artists use them as a substitute for volume
in a presentation. Remember, the judge knows that you are exchanging
a possible additional image for another view of the first. Make
it worth your while.
Balance
the content of your presentation. Show what you are capable of doing
and your focus of interest. Provide samples of your diversity and
excellence. If you have something that is obviously weaker, leave
it out of the presentation. More is better only if it is also good.
Be
sure to consider what is normal for this presentation form. Know
what they expect as a format and give it to them. Let the work provide
the difference between your presentation and the next. Let the work
provide the impact and stack the presentation for the greatest impression.
Don't be the first or the last to use a new technical change in
the medium, but do it early and do it well.
.[Course
Related Biography. I applied to graduate school in 1988. I made
the first cut 9 of 250, but not the second – 4 of 9. I pestered
the head of the graduate school to ask the faculty committee why
they had turned me down. I modified my portfolio and submission
package and was accepted the next year. While inside the MFA program,
I volunteered to help with the submission packages for the faculty
selection committee and had the opportunity to see how the process
works. I have often been a juror and on selection committees since
that time, and have spoken to jurors of all manner of schools, galleries,
state and county arts commissions and Museums about their selection
processes. This class is the result of that research.]
Presentation
Techniques are eventually our major concerns. How we present ourselves
and our work is an important link in the chain to financial independence
and reaching the dream of selling and making a living from the work.
Attend any art opening and how do you recognize the artist? Look
for the person dressed in black with arms folded and a disinterested
bored or pained expression on her (his) face. If the art exhibition
represents the anticlimax of a long period of work, the art opening
is the anti-climax of that show. These frequent gallery goers are
people only interested in "festival" and perhaps rubbing
elbows with friends and perhaps the artist. Friends and other artists
may show up to provide support, but serious buyers are probably
not present ( having received an early preview by the gallery owner).
For the serious gallery goer wanting to see the work, the following
Sunday may be best time to see the work, there will be few others
and little pressure or interference from the resident Sunday gallery
sitter. For the artist, this is the best time to visit the show
and perhaps blend in as a viewer so as to eaves-drop on honest responses
to the work.
The
tradition for the artist dressing in black has a long history. Artists
chose black because it shows wear least and would not suffer much
from an occasional colorful embellishment from a mishandled brush
stroke, but the major reason for wearing black at an opening, besides
the identification aspect, is the fact that black will not reflect
color on to the work, as the artist passes among the paintings demonstrating
or commenting on the work. In similar fashion, Sunday is the best
day for an artist gallery shopping, to check out galleriers for
their quality, appearance and preferences in terms of taste. Taking
notes on titles, prices medium size and framing will seem less ominous
than at other times. This would be a good time for a casual conversation
with the gallery sitter, about the proper or prefered person to
contact, the right way to present yourself and the work or whether
this gallery accepts uninvited submissions at present. Remember
that you may be speaking to the owner, if the gallery does not have
an extensve staff. You should remember the contact person (pick
up business cards to ensure correct spelling. Follow the visit with
a contact letter to the manager or director relating your visit
and confirming the relevant facts. If you receive a positive response
you can provide whatever materials are requested. Going to an opening
offers a window of opportunity to speak with the artist about the
gallery and hear about their treatment of him(her). Most likely
the artist will appreciate a question about something other than
their work. People forget, that for the artist, the work on the
walls is old news at best probably only slightly related to their
most current work. It is somewhat artificial to require an artist
to provide a discourse on the history of old work without being
asked about current work. Especially when expounding about how much
better the new stuff is, might have a negative effect on the sale
of the work on the walls of the gallery. More than one gallery owner
has provided a jaundiced gaze toward an artist expounding upon the
quality of their "new" work to potential buyers. An opening
is a social and political quagmire for the artist and gallery owner,
estranged partners in a dance with similar but not matching objectives.
There
are general rules for selling your work. Price your work according
to the market for similar work. Make your best guess and stick to
it. Umdercutting your prices benefits no one: the artist, the gallery
owner nor the collector who already owns some of your work. Consult
the gallery manager initially if you are a neophyte, but allow them
to offer reduced prices or bundle deals on their own behalf to placate
collectors or potential buyers. Never make side deals to sell outside
the gallery, unless you wish necer to have gallery representation
again.
Most
galleries review work by slide portfolio initially, but finally
want to see the actual work. Sometimes this may entail a studio
visit [horrors, you will have to turn your messy studio-cave
into an art presentation showroom]. Or they may want you to
bring in some work. In which case you will want a decent, but not
expensive portfolio comfortably filled with matted work [if on paper]
and presented as if to a buyer. Protect and handle the work as if
it was precious, or more importantly, valuble and worth the extra
care, but don't appear obsequious (learn the word).
The
first step is the initial contact letter. Use a good quality paper
and envelope. Relate how you know the gallery and to whom you have
spoken. Make sure all names are spelled correctly and titles are
correct as well, don't assume. An anonymous phone call to the gallery
will give you any information in doubt. Don't send everything with
this first letter. State that you are interested in showing there
and would like submission guidelines. Make a casual comment about
the work you observed, and if you have an artist friend who shows
there relate that fact, not as a reference, but as a casual comment.
Make sure the artist friend knows you and can say so to the gallery
contact if you use their name.
Next
is the slide sheet portfolio. Different places have different requirements.
Most galleries want 20 slides of your recent work currently available
for sale, some only 10. Schools, art commissions and grant funding
sources usually want 20 to show progress in your work, and diversity
in your content. Schools want drawings as a major portion to show
foundation work. Art commissions and grant fund givers want thematically
related content, to prove you are systematic and thorough and demonstrate
growth, some preliminary and finished work would be suggested.
Labelling
can be accomplished with a printed sheet with half inch labels,
however each agency has different requirements, some prohibit labels
(anything attached to a slide that may peel off in a slide projector)
and want hand written information directly on the slide. Even this
is not always the same, some want things on each side of the slide.
Avery makes a perfect fitting label that can be accessed in a Word
program by name and number or a program downloaded directly from
the Avery web site. sheets of self stick labels are easy to acquire
from an office supply. [1/2" by 2" is the standard].
The
simple rule is "good slides, before good work". It is
better to show an impressive slide of work not your best if the
slide of your best work is not good. The standard for slides is
35mm. It has been the standard to shoot your work with an SLR(single
lens reflex) camera with a portrait lens(35 to70mm). With an expensive
(Hasselblad) professional camera or an inexpensive twin lens reflex
camera you can produce a 2 1/4" square slide or large film
positive transparencies for book illustration and other reproduction
purposes.
20
slides in a sheet are presented as either horizontal or vertical,
which is sets of 4 accross and 5 down, or sets of 5 across and 4
down. The natural tendency would be to seperate the 20 into 4 or5
related groups. Choose placement based on the natural collections.
For art schools, you need at least one row (4 or 5) drawings. Also
there is a natural tendency for reviewers to remember the first
and last rows when reviewed in many sets. In particular the first
and last slides will be remembered, so make these two your best
work. [upper left and lower right corners looking at the face of
the sheet]. Believe it or not slide sets are judged initially without
projection, while still in the slide sheet. You must make an impression
at this first review (cut) to make final selection, which usually
will be projected.
The
new alternative to film cameras are the digital cameras that offer
as sophisticated an image capturing system as almost any single
lens reflex camera. Used together with a sophisticated paint program,
you can: prepare, correct and generate images as good as any other.
With most computers you can output a CD with high resolution images
or send those image files to image processing businesses which will
generate near perfect slides from your digital images. A second
benefit is the tendency now for judging agencies to accept CD submissions
more frequently especially now that slide film is becoming more
rare and harder to find. There are a few die hard purist who require
only slides, but they are becoming a minority as CD submissions
become the rule. |
