They both live and work in exile (before 2014 in Sevastopol, Ukraine). At the moment they are based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Spring Opportunities Inside!
Spring has arrived and with it, we hope, a bloom of energy to sink into your artistic endeavors. It is critical for professional artists to spend time lining up opportunities throughout the year in order to continue gaining forward momentum. If you are still new to the submissions game, not to worry. We provide you with all the help you need to get it right and get noticed. Read on for some great opportunities with upcoming spring deadlines.
Touchstone Foundation for the Arts invites all artists to apply for their fellowship in downtown Washington, D.C. Selected artists receive a two year membership at Touchstone Foundation, monthly participation in group shows and a guaranteed solo show at the end of the fellowship duration as well as other perks. Artists are responsible for helping staff the gallery, attending gallery meetings and serving on at least one gallery committee. For complete details and to apply, visit the website. Deadline April 1.
Thermae Bath Spa seeks and artist to complete a commission of nine paintings to be hung in the busy restaurant on premises. The work must in some way be inspired by natural thermal waters and/or holistic well-being. This is a paid commission. Please note, this opportunity takes place in the UK and commission payment is in pounds sterling. Visit the website to learn more and apply. Deadline is April 2.
Shape Arts invites artists to apply for The Open, an annual exhibition of work by disabled and non-disabled artists. Exhibitions are held in high profile UK galleries and, according to the website, “The Open provides a space where disabled and non-disabled artists can discuss views and ideas about issues and topics which are often sidelined within artistic debate. This year’s theme is ‘In Circles’.” For full details, visit the website. Deadline is April 15.
Praxis Center is here for you. It’s what we do. We know the art world can be a thorny place sometimes and we want to do all we can to help smooth the path. Whether that means simply showing you where a few opportunities might be or holding your hand every step of the way throughout the application process, when you join for just $40/month you immediately have access to a suite of courses, experts in the field and a community of supportive colleagues. Make this Spring count.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius and the forthcoming Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.
Signed and doodled copies of these books can be purchased from Praxis Center.
Golden Artist Colors began publishing the Just Paint newsletter in 1989, a source for information about painting techniques, product information, and the latest research in art materials. Now online, JustPaint.org has become one of the most exhaustive resources for technical information in fine art. With the new Just Paint Experience, GOLDEN is expanding the concept to provide artists with quick-reading, studio-oriented content to help bring their visions to life.
When you subscribe to Just Paint Experience (free), you’ll receive access to exclusive content. GOLDEN will also notify you whenever there is new content added to the site.
Diego Leclery
Anna Bitkina
Anna Bitkina is an independent curator, director and co-founder of The Creative Association of Curators TOK, an art organization founded in 2010 together with Maria Veits.
Anna lives and works between St Petersburg and The Netherlands, she curates projects in Russian, different countries in Europe as well as in the US. She sees the curatorial practice as a multidisciplinary process that connects theory, social science, philosophy and politics in order to generate knowledge about contemporary reality where art has an agency to articulate its socio-political conditions and foster social changes.
For the last 10 years she’s been interested in exploring post-Soviet conditions in contemporary Russia and remnants of Soviet past in different social spheres as well as in local and global implications caused by the accelerated capitalism in the region. An ongoing public art project ‘Critical Mass’ that she initiated and curates in St Petersburg since 2010 became a platform for conducting such a research and developing knowledge on post-socialist conditions. The projects breaks into seasons, so far four season with focus of different problematics were conducted 2011, 2013, 2015 and in 2016-2017.
Development of speculative scenarios about possible political horizons in Russia and in the world have been central interests for her projects and projects of TOK. ‘Design Platform’ (2012-2014) and ‘School Museum:Creating History Together’ (2014-2017) conducted in one of the schools in St Petersburg aim at researching on pedagogic conditions of the Russian system of education, its spatial and architectural structures and governmental strategies in shaping up young citizens.
Such projects by TOK like ‘States of Control’ (2017, HIAP Gallery, Helsinki) and ‘Propaganda News Machine: Creating Multiple Realities in the Media’ (2016 Flux Gallery, New York City) aim at stimulating critical thinking around the topics of information manipulation, the history of propaganda, post-truth and constructing news during times of political unrest. A new ply of ‘States of Control’ is scheduled to be presented at the Weisman Museum of Art in March 2020.
A research-based project ‘The Russian Bar: Why Relocate? New approaches to neighborliness and interchange’ (2018-2019, series of events in various locations in Helsinki) is analyzing the conditions of global migration with a close focus on the ‘new wave’ of emigration of Russians to Finland that is since 2011 was formed due to radical changes of political conditions in Russia.
In 2014 Anna was a local contributor for the public program of Manifesta 10 with with a Jeremy Deller’s project ‘The Battle of Orgreave’. and with a new performance ‘Debates on Division: When the Private Becomes Public’ by artist Gluklya (Natalya Pershina-Yakimanskaya). During 2015-2019 the performance ‘Debates on Division’ was conduced at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam – SMBA, at the Creative Time Summit in Washington DC at the Lincoln Theater (the Summit was curated by Nato Thompson) and at RAM Gallery and Deichmanske Bibliotek in Grünerløkka in Oslo. In March 2019 the project was be presented for the 5th time in the Center for Fine Arts BOZAR.
Anna was a research fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin in 2013 -2014 and a finalist of the EUNIC competition for Russian curators with a curatorial placement was in London at Artangel in 2014. Among other projects she curated exhibitions for the 3-rd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2009) and for the 2-nd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art. She was an initiator and co-curator of a major exhibition in Russia of artists from Nordiс region: ‘Nordic Art Today: Conceptual Debts, Broken Dreams, New Horizons’ (2011, St Petersburg), co-curated with Kari Brandtzaeg, Birta Gudjonsdottir, Power Ekroth, Aura Seikkula and Simon Sheikh. She co-curated with Ryszard W Kluszczyński and Sinziana Ravini the ‘United States of Europe’ (2011-2013), an exhibition about European identity that traveled to 10 different locations in Europe, ‘Towards the Other’ with participation of Mieke Bal and “Chto Delat?” (2011, St Petersburg).
Make Your Dream Come True Like Joan’s Did
The fact of the matter is, Praxis students see results. They learn the skills they need to advance their careers and gain confidence to get their work out into the world and take chances. When this pays off with an extraordinary opportunity, we sure love hearing about it and celebrating. Recently, Praxis student Joan shared her wonderful achievement in an email. In her own words:
“…the Transit Museum show was **WONDERFUL**, a dream come true! never could have believed my work would be in a museum! (okay, it’s not MOMA, but ya gotta start somewhere)
they were kind enough to frame 5 huge double-paintings for me…at no charge..would have cost me many thousands. and i sold 2 right off the wall!
later that year, a student put me in touch with Metropolitan College of New York in the financial district…brand new building, beautiful gallery area…my work never looked better. had no idea how important good lighting is! sold another there as well.“
So what’s the trick? The catch? Does Joan have something that you don’t? Well, the answer is maybe yes and maybe no. Of course it’s important for your art to be in front of the right person trying to fill the right venue, but in order to get your art in front of any person, you have to know how.
At Praxis Center, we show you the ropes. We unlock the doors to the art world so that you can venture inside and start making your mark. You’ll learn how to communicate with gallery owners, find patrons and sponsors to support your artistic endeavors, get your art on the walls and so much more. And when you join for just $40/month you also have access to our virtual classroom community where you’ll find experts to guide you as well as colleagues to support you. Joan made a dream come true. There’s no reason in the world you can’t, too.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius and the forthcoming Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.
Signed and doodled copies of these books can be purchased from Praxis Center.
Golden Artist Colors began publishing the Just Paint newsletter in 1989, a source for information about painting techniques, product information, and the latest research in art materials. Now online, JustPaint.org has become one of the most exhaustive resources for technical information in fine art. With the new Just Paint Experience, GOLDEN is expanding the concept to provide artists with quick-reading, studio-oriented content to help bring their visions to life.
When you subscribe to Just Paint Experience (free), you’ll receive access to exclusive content. GOLDEN will also notify you whenever there is new content added to the site.