Art Career

Stand up and be counted. No matter what else is going on in your life, there are times when you must make your presence – and your voice – known. That may mean participating in your civic duty or expressing your opinion about the actions taking place around you — and it may mean making sure that your artwork finds the light of day so that the world can benefit from your vision. As a career artist, it is up to you to locate those opportunities that allow you to do this. Here are a few, including one flash opportunity with a close deadline, to get you on your way to standing up.

Flash Opportunity Nord Art, one of the largest contemporary art exhibitions in Europe, was unable to go forward for 2020. The pandemic forced them to shelve plans and reevaluate for next year. They intend to hold the art that was submitted for this year but will still open up the call for further work. This flash opportunity ends in just three days. Visit the website right away to see if this opportunity is right for you. Deadline is October 31.

The Artists Association of Tyrolean Artists announces an open call for submissions to their latest public art project. The theme is Staying with the Trouble and the Association is looking for forms, dynamics and methods of togetherness, care and empathy. Some background for this call, in their own words:

“The path into the 21st century is marked by political, social and economic upheavals, shifts and changes. A supposedly paradisiacal past is contrasted with an apparently apocalyptic future. In this often polarizing mood, it is all the more important to make the diversity and complexity of our contemporary society visible, to form alliances and enter into complicity.“

For more information and eligibility, visit the website. Deadline for submissions is November 8.

Land Art Mongolia is accepting submissions for their 6th biennial to be held July 21 – September 24, 2021. The theme of this edition is A Nomadic Horizon and the biennial will be structured into sub-thematic parts: The New Horizon, From Countryside to Urban Spaces, Sustainable Tools and The Sacred Gobi (at the origin of the World). To learn more about these themes, and for more information, visit the website. Deadline for submissions is November 30.

Praxis Center believes that everyone has something worth contributing to the world. We know well that daily life gets in the way and that it takes concentrated effort to ensure you’re managing to wend a path forward in your artistic endeavors no matter what else may be happening around you. Pick one opportunity a month or a week and go for it. It is imperative you put your work – and yourself – out there for all to see.

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 Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.

 

Photo credit: wikimedia commons

 

Who has come before? We know their names, the important dates in their lives, where they lived and what they did while they traversed this earth. But who were they? What did they think, believe, imagine, dream about in their daily lives? What made them laugh? What kept them awake in the dark of night? What brought them joy? To consider those who have come before us, just as we one day will be considered by those who follow in our path, is to better understand our place in the yawning timeline of reality. To know that we are not alone – have never been alone – that our struggles, joys, worries – all of it – have been felt and shared millions of times over by millions of people who were at once just like us and nothing like us at all.

Ellen Winkler lives and works in the Washington DC metro area where she says she has felt relatively safe during the pandemic living in a place with strong safety measures. Both Winkler and her husband are artists and have found plenty to fill their time while they shelter at home. Like many artists who have spoken with us during the pandemic, they have found this time beneficial in terms of producing art free of outside obligations. Winkler is a printmaker as is her husband. Recently she has been doing a lot of work at an old farm where she came upon a dilapidated log cabin. She receive permission to spend time on the farm studying the landscape and buildings, noticing how the light struck them, drawing them and making etchings. Winkler also turned to a collection of sketches she has made over the years of people on the subway, using them as the basis for drypoint etchings. Winkler also moved to oil painting landscapes, something that brings up memories of her youth spent in Michigan. To hear more about Ellen Winkler’s work, as well as a short discussion about the nature of these Praxis discussions, listen to the complete interview.

Natalija Vujošević spoke to us from Montenegro where she is from. She has just returned from Serbia where she participated in the 30th edition of the biennale. In her art practice she works with memory, archives  and speculative constructions that she makes from objects that she usually finds or sees in public space that belong to a particular aesthetic or material reality of socialist society. Montenegro is located in former Yugoslavia where abandoned factories and shop windows abound. Vujošević uses these spaces to create speculative works that reach back to the area’s history. To hear more about her work, listen to the complete interview.

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:

Our stories are one small fragment in a complex and beautiful tapestry that stretches before us and will carry on long after we have gone.

Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.

Books to Read

What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Praxis user Rhonda Gates is reading Wild by Nature by Sarah Marquis. Praxis editor Julia Tolstrup recommends The Eastern Book One: The Early Years by Deborah Gould.

Deadlines

Artists responding to COVID-19 and its implications for human rights defenders, activism and shrinking civic and political space may be eligible for funding from University of York Centre of Applied Human Rights which as created a fund for “Arctivists” (Artist + Activist). Visit the website for more information and eligibility. Deadline is December 31.

Here we are at the threshold of year’s end and what a year it has been. Humanity as a whole has a lot to process from 2020 and artists are some of the best catalysts for understanding and healing. Art helps crystallize thoughts and emotions, gives form to those things we cannot necessarily articulate and offers up these pieces of the mind and heart for all to see. But to do this takes time and to have time means you must have a means of living. That’s where grants and funding come in. Read on for opportunities to receive funding for your work.

Eyebeam Center for the Future of Journalism offers funding to artists and artist-journalist teams producing innovative and revelatory work for major media outlets. The center is founded on the principle that artists are central in the invention and design of our shared future as well as critical in shifting public debate. Funds are intended for work related to journalistic projects such as research, travel or any other expenses a media outlet might not be able to cover. For more information, visit the website. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Artists responding to COVID-19 and its implications for human rights defenders, activism and shrinking civic and political space may be eligible for funding from University of York Centre of Applied Human Rights which as created a fund for “Arctivists” (Artist + Activist). Visit the website for more information and eligibility. Deadline is December 31.

There are several organizations currently responding to the needs of artists during COVID-19. Among them are Follow Your Art which offers funding to artists in Tunisia, Italy and Belgium; Together Now which assists Swiss artists who have lost income during the pandemic and State of the Arts which is based in Belgium. For more information about each as well as eligibility and deadlines, visit the websites.

Praxis Center offers artists the tools they need to build a successful career – and more importantly to sustain it. We know how hard it is to establish an independent art business. We use our combined expertise to show you the way and offer the encouragement and professional advice and services you need to achieve your dreams. Members have access to our suite of classes, our virtual classroom, informative and engaging virtual events and expert guidance. Why not round out this year by making the commitment to take your art career to the next level.

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 Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.

 

Image credit: Open Clip Art

 

“A flower blossoms for its own joy.” -Oscar Wilde

Many of us spend our time doing for other people. We work, we care, we check and fuss, worrying over the state of those around us. But what of ourselves? What of the state of our own body and mind? This must be tended just as carefully. It is true what they say, that self care is the first critical step toward the care of others. During a difficult time such as we find ourselves in right now, we need to be doing the things that feed our bodies, minds and souls. Only then can we approach others with our whole selves.

Andrej Bereta spoke to us from Bosnia where he is a curator and art historian. For the last two years he has been involved in a geography project that is connected with land management and policy, working alongside the EU. There is a cultural component to this work as well as curatorial thinking, but this has been a departure from his usual curating work. Bereta sought this work for a number of reasons including the need for a change and self reflection. To hear more about this work and some of the rationale behind this curator’s decision to seek it out, listen to the complete interview.

Thea Matthews lives in Brooklyn but spoke to us from San Francisco where she was born and had traveled to spend some time during this difficult year. When the lock down began in March, Matthews was already in San Francisco and in the process of applying to graduate school. She then moved to New York but finds herself navigating a relationship with someone in San Francisco and so she travels there frequently to see her partner and her family. Matthews is a poet and educator whose debut poetry collection is titled Unearth [The Flowers]. Through poetry, Matthews self-affirms her body and her life as well as breaking stigma and silence and claiming things such as survivorship visibility. She interviewed survivors and activists – those who have overcome sexual violence – infusing this thread with nature and the symbol of flowers – the first medicine. Each poem embodies a particular flower and through that flower flow the memories. To hear more about Thea Matthews writing, including some live reading of her poems, listen to the complete interview.

A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:

Tend your own garden, nurture the blossoms in your own heart – this will give you the light and strength to help others tend theirs.

Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews here.

Books to Read

What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Andrej Bereta is reading A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman. Thea Matthews debut poetry book is Unearth [The Flowers]

Deadlines

The Hopper Prize awards $1,000 to five artists twice per year. The fall cycle is now open for applications. In addition to granting, artists from each cycle will have their work exhibited digitally through the Hopper Prize online platform. Applicants can select to have their work considered for additional exposure via the Hopper Prize Instagram channel. For full details, visit the website. Deadline is November 17.

There is no time like the present to take the next step in your artistic journey. Every artist who decides to make their passion into a career must make a promise to themselves and their work to stay the course when it comes to seeking out opportunities to advance. This takes time, effort, patience and the tenacity to not give up in the face of rejection. The time to make your next leap is now – are you ready?

Emergency Culture is an invitation to visual artists to share their work via social media and ultimately within hospitals around Spain. Candidates must be between 18 and 35 years of age and living in Europe. The theme of this competition is open and there is a cash prize available. For more information, visit the website. Deadline for submissions is October 27.

Art Inside Out wants artists to explore the following theme:

We are all tourists. Our desire to escape daily life and reality leads us to seek out unfamiliar places and situations. Issues such as threats to the climate, immigration and the pandemic, are now affecting the way we move and travel. New contexts and overlooked stories and details create other relationships, and other choreographies and spaces. Can a new kind of attention make way for changes within ourselves and our view of a place?

Four artists will be selected for residency in Sweden. For more information, visit the website. Deadline for applications is October 29.

The Hopper Prize awards $1,000 to five artists twice per year. The fall cycle is now open for applications. In addition to granting, artists from each cycle will have their work exhibited digitally through the Hopper Prize online platform. Applicants can select to have their work considered for additional exposure via the Hopper Prize Instagram channel. For full details, visit the website. Deadline is November 17.

Praxis Center is a one stop art career catalyst. Whether you’re an emerging artist who needs a bit of nurturing to find your way or an established artist at a crossroads or in need of a refresh, we are here for you. Our team of experts help hone your skills and tools while our virtual classroom of peers and colleagues offers networking and community. We find ourselves in extraordinary times that call for extraordinary support. Find your way to that support when you join Praxis Center today.

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 Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius.

 

Photo credit: Art Inside Out