Happy 2021! We made it! I couldn’t be happier to start off this fresh new year with a Community Artist Interview with my friend, colleague, and fellow artist, Jordan Brooks.
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The What’s Good Project has grown so much in 2020, thanks to your support. Thank you. I am beyond grateful.
Because of you, we’ve been able to support these organizations that are doing really great work in Mississippi, Michigan, and Iowa…
This is little embarrassing to admit, but anytime I read, watch, or hear something that really resonates with me, I get an immediate and short-lived lump in my throat. In and out. Like my body’s way of saying “Yo, you need to pay attention to this.” The weirdo throat response has happened so often and for so long and in such unexpected ways that I’ve really learned to trust it. All that to say, each of these projects, organizations, and episodes elicited the two-second throat lump in 2020.
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In 2015-16, I organized and coordinated Intertwine, a collaborative, large-scale yarn-bombing project on the two-story façade of ISU Design on Main community gallery (RIP Design on Main) in the Main Street Cultural District in Ames, Iowa.
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Today’s a very special day. Today is the day that my lovely friend and inspiring artist, Catherine Reinhart, is in the For the Common Good hot seat. Catherine and I have been friends and artist pals for years. We worked together at Iowa State University’s Design on Main Community Gallery while Catherine was the Artist-in-Residence and Gallery Director, and I taught a class for the gallery interns; she’s generously been a part of lots of weird community art projects I’ve instigated over the years (including this one), and best of all, she’s always up for talking shop about what artists can do with folks, and what art can do for folks.
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Greetings! In this final installation (see what I did there) of how to hang art on your walls, we’ll be going over the nuts and bolts (ha) of the hanging part, i.e. what tools you need, measuring formulas, and best practices for showcasing your work in the best light possible (it’s just too easy).
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Now that you’re purchasing art that you love, what do you do with it? How do you care for it? How do you create a meaningful visual experience in your home?
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I get a lot of questions from friends and family on the reg about where and how to frame and hang their art, so I thought I would share some insight. And as always, use what works for you. Ignore what doesn’t. Artist friends, I’d love for you to weigh in here as well.
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Following is a list of some handy facts to use when people make, shall we say, uninformed comments about art and the economy, plus the cited sources of said facts.
***Disclaimer: The economic contribution is only a sliver of why art matters to our local and national communities. However, sometimes it helps to speak the language of the folks you are trying to persuade. And many folks like $ talk, particularly now.
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Art is small-p political.
It always has been. Thank God for that. And by political, I mean Merriam Webster’s definition. Art is “the total complex of relations between people living in society.”
Artists and art-experiencers know this intuitively. This is for the people in the back.
I credit the following three perspectives with wise artists and thinkers that I very much admire. They put to words the feelings that I have had for decades, and way more eloquently than I ever could.
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In that spirit, I’m beginning For the Common Good, a new series of community artist interviews. Each month, you’ll learn how and why these artists work in communities, how their creative practice informs their lives, and tips for communities to better collaborate with artists.
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Today is a brief checklist on how to prepare for a potential disaster situation. This is a very general overview aimed to touch on topics that young, emerging, and/or procrastinating artists may not have considered or gotten around to. Next week, we’ll dive into what to do when you find yourself in catastrophe.
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I wanted to write a quick post about ways you can support artists experiencing catastrophic situations. Since COVID began, there have been many, many emergency grant opportunities for artists and creatives. Natural disasters require different navigation, and natural disasters + pandemic is overwhelming.
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In prepping this final installment, I cast the net far and wide to all my artist friends, seeking their personal stories of all the ways we can better support artists. I opened a Pandora’s box of insight, hilarity, and cautionary tales, both from the perspective of collectors AND artists.
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Art in your home or office should reflect your values, not necessarily your sofa fabric. Knowing who you are and what you’re about can be an easy way to begin, and define, your collection.
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Above all, your art collection should reflect your values. Only you know what’s important to you - social justice, sustainability, your hometown, your faith, your family.
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According to David L. Cohn, the Mississippi Delta begins in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN and ends on Catfish Row in Vicksburg, MS. The geographically isolated “Delta”, as called by locals, is an alluvial plain used historically for cotton plantations in northwestern Mississippi along the Mississippi River.
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As an artist, I love artist-in-residence (AIR) programs because they combine two favorite pastimes: making art and travel….As a community arts nerd, I believe AIRs can benefit communities even more than they artists they serve.
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Guest post by is Naomi Friend, a professional artist in central Iowa. Naomi explores the prairies of the Midwest through art-making. She is inspired by the ecosystems, plants, and animals that make up the texture of our landscape. She seeks to investigate the role of humans as caretakers of creation.
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