Your Workflow

Learning Objectives

  1. Continue the never ending job of photographing your work and organizing your digital images.    
  2. Post to Instagram this week and pay attention to process.    
  3. Understand standard types of information that you should be tracking as a professional. 

Are you a Professional?

What’s makes a professional a professional? I’ve made a comparative list below. These lists are based on my own observations and they’re certainly not “gospel”. You’ll notice that in neither list do the following things show up: makes “great” art, sells art for high prices, is famous for their work, makes a living from art, has work in museums, shows in famous galleries, has articles written about them, has more than 1k Instagram followers, is called an “artist” by others. If you base your own understanding of yourself as an artist on these things, you won’t make it through the tough times that all artists inevitably face. About 0.001% of artists will make it into the top echelon galleries, acquire financial backing, and become well known outside of their own area with a bazillion Instagram followers and no need for a day job. The rest of us have to figure out how to keep our chins up in the absence of those things. 

There will be days, weeks, and sometimes months when you don’t make anything you’re proud of; there will be times when your applications are rejected by funding agencies (I’ve been turned down for every Rasmuson application since 2006); years when your applications for solo exhibits don’t make it; and life will again and again try to get in the way of you making work: family issues, housing and space issues, day jobs, global pandemics, and virtually everything about adult life is against a life making art. Establishing a habitual practice, respecting yourself as an artist, and taking documentation seriously are things that will keep you on the path. 

Professionals

  • practice art regularly and consistently
  • track and document their work
  • set goals for development and growth
  • embrace “bad hair days” in their practice
  • share their work publicly
  • understand their own process and can explain their choices
  • dedicate space to their practice 

 

Hobbyists

  • wait for inspiration or work irregularly
  • forget to track their work and often don’t take photos
  • focus on enjoyment, don’t establish criteria for growth
  • stop making art after a few “bad” pieces in a row
  • hide their work and have no need for public display
  • never think about process and can’t explain their choices
  • dedicate no space for their materials and practice

What should you be tracking?

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but it’s fairly demonstrative of the types of information you need to keep track of. Imagine yourself 10 years in the future and how many peices of work you’ll create between now and then…you’re going to need a method of keeping up with these things. Take yourself seriously and assume you’ll establish a successful practice.  

Grants, residencies, solo exhibits, and fellowships.

Taxes, insurance, business loans

Your website

Online sales platforms

  • high resolution, high quality images of your work
  • title of the work
  • title of series
  • dimensions
  • medium, materials, or software used
  • description of the work
  • the sales price of each work
  • if the work is from a series, an artist’s statment that goes with the series
  • a short bio
  • artist’s resume (all shows, group exhibits, etc.)

 

You should be tracking any money that comes in or goes out if it’s related to your art practice. 

  • materials & supplies

  • studio expenses (heat, utilities, maintenance & repairs)

  • advertising

  • vehicle expenses

  • fees, memberships

  • tools, large equipment

  • travel, business meals

  • cell phone costs

  • education and conference expenses

  • software subscriptions

  • licensing agreements and contracts
  • medium resolution, high quality images of your work
  • title of the work
  • title of the series
  • dimensions
  • medium, materials, or software used
  • description of the work
  • the sales price of each work (if you’re selling from your website)
  • a short bio
  • artist’s resume (all shows, group exhibits, etc.)
  • photos of work in progress or your process
  • tags and keywords associated with your work

 

  • medium resolution, high quality images of your work
  • title of the work
  • title of the series
  • dimensions
  • medium, materials, or software used
  • description of the work
  • the sales price of each work
  • if the work is from a series, an artist’s statment that goes with the series
  • photos of your work in process and your studio and a bio
  • tags and keywords associated with each work 

How should you track it?

There are a number of tools out there. I’m only covering one in this class because it’s hands-down the best free tool out there: Airtable. Please see the Google Classroom for instructions on how to use it. If you’re just. a visitor to this site, the base I help my students build is a cross between their Art Gallery template and their Product Catalog template. More information on how to use Airtable can be found here. 

 

Horizons:  

A few things you should be prepping for and working on.  

Instagram

Building and maintaining a professional portfolio is a lot of work. But don’t forget to make the art first. Posting to Instagram keeps you working and builds your community. Don’t forget to stay curious about others. Ask questions. Encourage someone who seems to be outside the crowd.  

Airtable

You don’t have to work on YOUR Airtable this week unless you’re inspired. You only have to contriburte to MY Airtable and then next week, you can use my resources as a starting place for your own base.  

And please, for the love of all that is right in the world, spend some time in their guide to see what Airtable can do and their “Universe” to see how others are using it.  

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Cafe and Submissions

 Things you find in Call for Entry are  excellent  things to add to Airtable, but only if you really think you’re going to apply for them.  

 

Website

Your primary options are:  

You only have to put up your first 3 pages. They don’t need to be complete.  

Studio Visit

Some of you may be coming over to my studio for a bit, some of you may be finding another artist’s studio to visit, and some of you might want to join my studio via Google Hangouts. The link is in Google Classroom. Join on Feb. 14th from 5-6:30.