Submissions From joannemattera.blogspot.com

 "I'm aggregating a few blog posts I read regularly. But this is an interactive post. I also want to know what blogs you read--or which posts from these blogs you particularly liked." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Sculptor Judith Shea was invited by the National Academy to curate an exhibition at the museum. When she was brought into collection storage and saw the portraits of the women academicians from the late 1800s to now, she knew she had her show. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "The Wrapup is an opportunity to bring together all of the loose ends from Miami. And by "loose ends" I mean the stuff I found amusing, perplexing, unusual, or just plain gross." (Joanne Mattera)

 "There was more painting at Art Basel Miami Beach (2012) than I can ever remember--and this was my seventh fair." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Membership in an art-related organization is one of those topics that you never think about . . . until there's a reason to reconsider your membership or it's time to renew your dues." (Joanne Mattera)

 "So the Big Picture is that your studio practice is only half the equation. The other half is getting your art out into the world with confidence and a plan." (Joanne Mattera)

 "While Chelsea begins to stir back into something approaching normalcy, I'm continuing to show you exhibitions that took place throughout the fall." (Joanne Mattera)

 "What of the artists who lost a lifetime of work when high waters damaged their studios in Brooklyn? What of the artists who lost tools, equipment and supplies? Most did not have insurance. Those who did may see coverage of equipment, but it is a rare artist whose artwork losses are covered by insurance (in large part because art insurance for artists is so expensive for so little in monetary value.) " (Joanne Mattera)

 "If you're living outside the Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, you may be unaware of just how bad things still are for the art community as a result of superstorm Sandy. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "There was no coverage. There was nothing of the flood damage to the art galleries in Chelsea or to the artists' studios through the city, especially in Brooklyn's DUMBO, Greenpoint and Red Hook. Storm surges rushed in with up to 10 feet of water in those waterfront areas, leaving artists with washed out or gunk-washed-in, or completely washed-away studios." (Joanne Mattera)

 "My friend's fleeting mentorship is a good lesson for those of us who are in a position to make a difference, for what we say-even if it is one comment-could utterly change another artist's life (and we might never know). " (Joanne Mattera)

 "It is surprising to see tenured professors and big-name artists on the lists of recipients for state-sponsored grants. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "I know it's not easy for some artists to speak up. You think that by doing so, the opportunity you've worked so hard to attain will be taken away. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "I've written before about the various types of exhibitions but let me offer a recap. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Identifying someone because they're old rather than by who they are and what they do-especially women (surprise)-is ageist and sexist. " (Joanne Mattera)

 ""Giving back doesn't necessarily mean giving it away for free (though good art-world citizens are rarely rolling in dough); it simply means returning some of your hard-won experience, mentoring, generosity or energy to a community where there's never enough to go around. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Josef Albers painted over 2000 paintings in his Homage to the Square series between 1950 and 1976, the year he died. What is less known is that the paintings--which took only a few hours each to execute--were preceded by intense color studies in oil, or sometimes gouache, on blotting paper. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "I'm interested in hearing about the art and gallery neighborhoods in your city or region that have revitalized the area. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Here are some rules that do seem to apply pretty much across the board. I've culled them from previous Marketing Mondays posts, informal conversations with art world friends, and a check of my trusty reference tomes, The Artist's Guide, Art/Work, and How to Start and Run a Commercial Gallery.." (Joanne Mattera)

 "With this final installment, I have shown you the work of 37 artists who have exhibited in 25 galleries and two museums, as well as two studios, in New York City, Larchmont, Boston, Provincetown and Truro, and upstate in Woodstock, Kingston and Hudson." (Joanne Mattera)

 "The buzz about Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic romance with a surprisingly ardent audience, started me thinking about 50 shades of gray, the achromatic hue we are passionate about. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "I was in Connecticut recently at the New Britain Museum of American Art and spent some time viewing the collection. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "At some point in your career, something happens that changes the game for you." (Joanne Mattera)

 "In several recent conversations with artists, the subject arose of where we sign our work. To be honest I hadn't thought much about it." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Recently a regional museum requested that I donate a small painting to their auction. I said no." (Joanne Mattera)

 "I'm taken with the way Von Heyl combines the organic with the hard edge; indeed, there's an insistence on geometry that I love. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "A collective sigh was breathed when Mr. Self-Important Artist received a call on his cell and dashed out, leaving the rest of the group to finish the job they'd started without him. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Barnes wanted to mount a show of contemporary encaustic painting with the artists she represents. While the four of us work differently, and to different result, Barnes focused on the quality of depth--in hue, layer, visual narrative and image--as handled by myself, Glessner, Chong and Aaron, respectively, even adopting Adele's Grammy hit, Rolling in the Deep, for our title." (Joanne Mattera)

 "In this post I'm looking at construction, physical and compositional. Carlos Estrada-Vega and Gregory Johnston build their paintings from multiple elements. Harriet Korman constructs hers from geometric compositional elements, while Max Gimblett creates a flat painting on a sculptural form." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Color: Field and Form is a series that will show you some of what I've seen over the past few months in New York City, and in a few instances, Boston. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Now I've posted Bad Advice before, but this is particularly insidious because Mr. Vonnegut, a successful novelist, seems to be telling others that making a living at their art isn't important, or shouldn't be a priority." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Today we lighten up, just in time for the holiday. Your art-related jokes, puns and anecdotes are requested. I'll start." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Cyberspace offers greater specificity and geographic diversity " (Joanne Mattera)

 "I know I'll get some blowback here, I'm going to say this anyway: Own your studio. I don't mean make it your own. I mean: Buy it. Possess it legally. Have it in your name. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "What pisses you off about the art world? And what, if anything, do you (or can you) do about it?" (Joanne Mattera)

 "Sometimes the shoe is on the other foot, and instead of receiving a turndown, it is you who must do the turning down. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "If you could ask a dealer, curator or critic one question, what would it be?" (Joanne Mattera)

 "These three questions, all from artists, seem to form a triumvirate of cyber protocol, so I decided to address them together." (Joanne Mattera)

 "In an email announcement, Artist A listed all her upcoming shows, three of which were curated. I love the way we now have the tools to promote ourselves to a receptive cohort. But something was missing from her exhibition listings: the names of the curators." (Joanne Mattera)

 "On top of a full workload in the studio and often an outside job, some artists seem to feel-or are peer-pressured into thinking-that it's their responsibility to educate the public." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Pissed off at what you see as inequity in the art world? Do something! You can demand that institutions do this or that, but the real change comes when artists, dealers, critics and curators-but especially artists-make those changes themselves." (Joanne Mattera)

 "I've been thinking about the idea of career success. Specifically, I've been thinking about the idea of the artists who are placed at the pinnacle-the very few ones on top. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Saying No is particularly important when your artwork would otherwise be devalued in donation (typically it sells for lower than market rate) and when your time is viewed as so worthless that you should be expected to give it to everyone who requests it" (Joanne Mattera)

 "I know of one artist who is very pleased to be represented by an agent. He's had shows in Europe as a result of his agent's efforts, but I couldn't vouch for the quality of the venues." (Joanne Mattera)

 "How have you been helped--have you gotten grants and institutional support, or have you been pulling yourself up the ladder one rung at a time? " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Professionally speaking, what do you want that's outside your comfort zone? " (Joanne Mattera)

 "With all the advice floating around about how to approach a gallery, let's talk today about what not to do." (Joanne Mattera)

 "The common wisdom is that your work should speak for itself, but if you want it to be understood on your terms, you have to speak for it. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Artists create ghettos for themselves all the time. I'm not talking about the physical neighborhoods that can be very helpful for us in terms of critical mass for living, working or both (until the developers move in, jack up the rents and drive us out). No, I'm talking categories into which we willingly jump-or into which we allow ourselves to be pushed: women artists, black artists, fiber artists, paper artists, encaustic artists and the like. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "In last week's Marketing Mondays I talked about the ways images of your art might be included in an art magazine. In this installment I'd like to broaden the scope. Let's look at some options." (Joanne Mattera)

 "The bigger the art magazine, the harder it is for an unrepresented or unconnected artist to be considered for inclusion." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Tell me about a generosity you have received." (Joanne Mattera)

 "I've been hearing a lot lately from art-world folks who feel ripped off by their colleagues or students." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Artists and dealers are-or should be-natural allies, contributing equally to the equation of make + sell = income for maker and seller." (Joanne Mattera)

 "The best way to get invited to an invitational is to get your work out into the art world so that it can be seen by the people who do the inviting." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Knowing what you know about rejection, about the difficulty of earning a living, about working endless hours for small wages. And knowing what you know about the economy now, what would you tell this young man? Go for it? Find another line of work? Do it but have "something to fall back on"? Marry rich? Make your peace with poverty?" (Joanne Mattera)

 "Want a solo show but there's no gallery offering you one? Do it yourself." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Juried shows are resumé builders, a good way for emerging artists to become part of a defacto art community, whether that community be physical and regional, or geographically diverse but bound by concept or medium." (Joanne Mattera)

 "So the next time another professional disappointment comes your way, know that some of the very dealers who might have turned you down know exactly how you feel. This is not "payback" as one artist friend has suggested. It's life. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "NADA, an acronym for the New Art Dealers Alliance, seems to attract emerging galleries with a Lower East Side esthetic." (Joanne Mattera)

 "What questionable advice or practices have you encountered?" (Joanne Mattera)

 "Martin, whose centenary will be celebrated in 2012, has described her work as memories of perfection. They are also perfection expressed materially." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Recently 65 artists sent postcards to the White House acknowledging their economic concerns. Conceived by Mat Gleason for artists who have 50K or more in student load debt, the project expanded to any artist who was experiencing money troubles." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Art consultants play an integral part in how art gets placed in private homes, in corporate collections, and in public and private institutions. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "In a recent post, What's on Your Mind?, I asked readers to tell me what they'd most like to read about in this column. One reader asked the two questions that shaped this post: Could you shed some light on the gallery program? And How do dealers define their program?. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Who among us in the art community has not been confronted with the metaphorical red flag? I can't speak for dealers and curators, but as an artist I have seen an abundance of them: the dealer who forgets to tell me a work has been sold, who prints or posts images with incorrect information; who damages work and then shrugs it off with an, I know you can fix it-even when I can't. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Here's what I hate about artists' statements: On an 11 x 8 sheet of paper, the artist writes "Artist Statement" at the top and sticks a couple of short paragraphs of often impenetrable prose toward the top of the page. When you're confronted with it as a reader, what do you typically do? Read the first few lines, skim to the bottom, and then put it down, right? Snore." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Gallery representation is not for everyone. Artists are fully capable of creating careers in more independent ways, especially with the options afforded by Cyberspace. If a gallery is your goal, your independent successes may make you a more attractive partner for an artist/dealer relationship." (Joanne Mattera)

 "Don't sign any contract until you understand what you're signing." (Joanne Mattera)

 "If a gallery presents you with the contract, you should know that the document is first and foremost designed to protect the gallery. That doesn't mean the gallery is out to get you, only that its primary concern is to protect itself. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "So here's what I would tell my 20-year-old self from the vantage point I have now: It's fine to think of art as a career. And a career doesn't appear out of nowhere. It has to be cultivated for galleries to notice you, for sales to take place. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "How would you define emerging and mid-career? And if you're on a roll, thrown in late-career as well. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "Metaphorically speaking we're islands working alone in our studios, so bridges are the way we get our work and efforts out into the world. [...] Burning bridges, then, is a radical act." (Joanne Mattera)

 "You're a represented artist if you're on the gallery website and included in the regular rotation for a solo show." (Joanne Mattera)

 "It's OK to want more. That's part of setting goals and working hard. [...] But we also need to develop the capacity to appreciate what we have achieved. Without that appreciation, you get trapped in what Ted called "the Russian nesting dolls of disappointment."" (Joanne Mattera)

 "You have three good opportunities in an email to reach your reader: the message line, the information in the email itself, and an image." (Joanne Mattera)

 "The résumé is by nature a selected list, so leave off the least important items; they're typically from early in your career anyway. This may make your career seem shorter than it actually is, but the résumé is designed for perusal. " (Joanne Mattera)

 "OK, so we're sole proprietors, not corporations, but we can all be helped by good advice." (Joanne Mattera)

 "So, artists, if you're going to post images of your work, whether on FB, your blog or a conventional website, make sure they're both well chosen and of the best quality you can take. Someone besides your casual Facebook friends may be watching." (Joanne Mattera)

 "If you feel like your guts are being ripped out because you're letting your work go for too little, don't sell it for that price." (Joanne Mattera)

 "In standing up for yourself, you may need to challenge an institution, a gallery, a group, or another individual. It's not easy to take that stand. [...] But inaction is not an option." (Joanne Mattera )

 "How thoroughly have we been indoctrinated into the concept of angst and penury for artists that we cannot see that creativity and professionalism are partners? We don't expect gallerists or collectors to live in garrets and die of consumption; why should we expect that of artists? " (Joanne Mattera )

 "There's always someone who has more, so respect and appreciate what you have achieved." (Joanne Mattera )

 "Don't send your work to a stranger who promises to put it in a show. " (Joanne Mattera )

 "The dealer is not cutting into my price. She is talking 50 percent of the retail price, which typically gives each of us the money we need to keep doing what we do." (Joanne Mattera )

 "Writers need a good lead and a good kicker - a juicy quote or comment to end the story. Your passion and knowledge will provide them." (Joanne Mattera)

 "if your dealer won't give you the name of the folks who buy your work, he doesn't trust you. How can you trust him to work on your behalf?" (Joanne Mattera)

 "So let's stop putting dealers and critics and other art world folks on Mt. Olympus while we tremble before them. Let's consider them as equals instead. As colleagues." (Joanne Mattera)

 "I think we artists sometimes forget we do something most people think is extraordinary." (Philip Koch)

 "It seems contrary, but a 19th-century means of communication remains one of the most powerful ways of getting a curator's (or dealer's) attention today." (Joanne Mattera)