As an artist, it is so easy to give in to feelings of neglect (no one cares about me or my work, boo hoo!) and be our own stumbling blocks to getting on with it. Last year, I was awarded a residency at an art facility called Proyecto 'Ace. I can't tell you how thrilled I was because I NEVER get awarded residencies. This is my first one. I proposed to make a large-scale wallpiece depicting images of the video vixens of hip-hop. They would have punching bags for heads made with leather, grommets and ribbon. Each figure would be life sized and have puppet strings around the ankles and wrists made with glass beading. This image came to me while watching the V-H1 documentary Sexploitation On the Set. The arguments for are the women who perform in the videos being exploited or are they in control kept me interested and got me thinking. Here is one of the graphite drawings I made after watching the program:
Seeing that I had just received a rejection letter that day, I felt like taking some more rejection on and sent my dreaming out loud across the internet and would expect a rejection from them within two weeks if not sooner. To my surprise, the good people at Proyecto 'Ace liked the project idea and accepted it! To top it off, it's in the beautiful location of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Does it get any better?! I can't believe it. Come May 15, 2011, I have to travel to Argentina to make give prints of women in heels wearing thongs with punching bag heads!
Well, the truth about residencies is they cost some money to do. Unless you own nothing and have no address, you will be shelling out some cash in order to drop out of your daily life to live if only for a short while, the artist lifestyle you thought you'd be living 24-7. So, here I am figuring out how to get myself down there. A friend in my community who is also an artist suggested that I try raising money by having an art sale with my work. He was kind enough to donate his quite awesome studio space to me for one night. Next thing I knew, friends rallied around me, cards were donated for the announcement and this thing turned into an actual fund raising event. It was great! We made half my goal and put a good dent into my travel funds. It was a fine lesson about reaching out to your community for help. Artists definitely need to do that more often.
Seeing that I had just received a rejection letter that day, I felt like taking some more rejection on and sent my dreaming out loud across the internet and would expect a rejection from them within two weeks if not sooner. To my surprise, the good people at Proyecto 'Ace liked the project idea and accepted it! To top it off, it's in the beautiful location of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Does it get any better?! I can't believe it. Come May 15, 2011, I have to travel to Argentina to make give prints of women in heels wearing thongs with punching bag heads!
Well, the truth about residencies is they cost some money to do. Unless you own nothing and have no address, you will be shelling out some cash in order to drop out of your daily life to live if only for a short while, the artist lifestyle you thought you'd be living 24-7. So, here I am figuring out how to get myself down there. A friend in my community who is also an artist suggested that I try raising money by having an art sale with my work. He was kind enough to donate his quite awesome studio space to me for one night. Next thing I knew, friends rallied around me, cards were donated for the announcement and this thing turned into an actual fund raising event. It was great! We made half my goal and put a good dent into my travel funds. It was a fine lesson about reaching out to your community for help. Artists definitely need to do that more often.
