Do This!
Artist Marketing Newsletter Focusing on Action Steps

What's Going On: Announcements /Classes
>>>Do This: Look Out for #1
Tip / Find of the Week:  Protect Yourself Online

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WHAT'S GOING ON

: : CLASS: THE ARTIST STATEMENT AND BEYOND : :
Begins Monday, November 1
Are you one of those artists who put off writing your statement until the very last minute? Then you place it in an envelope and hope you don't ever again have to see it? That's no way to run a career! In our Public Art Projects teleclass last week, guest expert Karen Bubb made a special point of reminding those on the call how important it was to be able to articulate your work well. Amen! If you don't learn how to define yourself with words, others are going to start doing it for you and you might not like how they do it. This class will give you plenty of language to use when you most need it. And the $75 fee includes my help with the statement you come up with. http://www.artbizcoach.com/classes/statement.shtml

: : AUDIO CLASS: PUBLIC ART PROJECTS (YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED) : :
Did you miss last week's fantastic class on public art? Not to worry. It's now an audio download--complete with all of the accompanying resources. If you've ever thought about seeing your work in a city building or outside for passersby to see, try this class. There are 300 public art projects in the U.S. alone! Find out more at http://www.artbizcoach.com/classes/publicart.shtml

Yvonne Porcella, Bluebirds Fly, 2003. Fused silk and cottons,  machine quilting, 40 x 60"  ©The Artist. http://www.yvonneporcella.com

"Just to update you on the drama that has developed since my trip to see the touring exhibit of art quilts that contained my art. I think I wrote to tell you the museum [which owned the work] only showed the one part of the piece and not the foundation that gives the art the breath and depth of a monumental piece. They claimed they never had the two pieces. My gallery dealer was able to produce documents attesting that their art transport system picked up the crates in 1991 and she has letters from them thanking her for the donation. Finally, my dealer got the curator to admit they must have received the whole piece. After some private research on my part, I learned the museum changed storage facilities and has a new registrar. My dealer insisted my piece be removed for the current exhibition immediately until the foundation was located and perhaps they should send someone to search for the lost crate. Yesterday the museum curator emailed me that they located the crate and are sending the foundation to the exhibit to reunite the two pieces. If I had not seen this piece in its edited form, no one would have located the missing piece. Even after the Boston Globe featured a photo of it on the front page of the . . .visual arts section . . . no one questioned why the piece in the exhibit didn't look like the photo.

"Something to be said for artists keeping track of museum exhibits of their work even 13 years after the donation.

"Basically the new registrar didn't know the piece was in two crates and no one caught the error.

"So I feel so much better. I felt that my work had been compromised and the museum had destroyed my work. They immediately put the blame on [my dealer] and me and asked me to recreate something they lost that I made in 1985, took 6 months to make and required an assistant. Yikes!

"I do think what happened to me should be used to help other artists. The issue with me was twofold: 1) The work was made as a 2-layer construction. Donation to the museum reflected that; and 2) With staff changes the new registrar did not know that the piece was stored in two crates, hence she only noted one number for the assistant registrar to pull for the exhibit. This second issue was exacerbated because the museum curator did not check the facts. First she told me they only had one layer and the 1991 donor was at fault. After she was confronted with the 1991 documents she made an effort to find the second crate.

"I think this proves just how important it is to keep your records that are easy to retrieve--even 13-year-old documents. Confronting a museum is not easy as staff changes over the years and one curator's interest versus another's puts the artist's work either in limbo or known as a treasure.

Ron Diorio, Doorway Dreaming, 2004. Photograph. ©The Artist. http://www.fotolog.net/av_producer/

(To her credit the curator did say the museum feels this piece is a treasure in their collection.) Museums have difficulty with funding and staffing is sometimes limited.

"The fact that I had contact with other museum personnel ... helped as I could go to them for advice. Also I was prepared to contact Lawyers for the Arts to find out what my recourse was based on my feelings that my work had been compromised by showing only one part. I thought, 'So which part of [Robert Rauschenberg's famous sculpture] Monograph do you show, the goat or the rubber tire? By showing only half of the work you have destroyed the artist's intent and genius.' "

As you can see in Yvonne's situation, personnel changes are frequent at museums. You can only do so much, but at the very least:

• Include a photo of your artwork and its various parts at the time it enters any collection.
• Add detailed instructions of how it is to be shown.
• Write the museum registrar every few years to remind them of your work. If you know they plan on displaying it, include the same instructions you assume they already have on file. This will help minimize any potentially embarrassing situations. Include an updated résumé and any new articles about you, which they can add to their files.

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TIP / FIND OF THE WEEK: Protect Yourself Online  

"The [Internet users] study being released Monday by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 77 percent of 326 adults in 12 states assured researchers in a telephone poll they were safe from online threats. Nearly as many people felt confident they were already protected specifically from viruses and hackers.

"When experts visited those same homes to examine computers, they found two-thirds of adults using antivirus software that was not updated in at least seven days. . . . "

Are you protected? Do you have a regular day each week to update your antivirus software? If not, make it a commitment to the health of your business and your sanity. It will save you from enormous headaches in the event your computer is attacked.

You'll also need antispyware software. Three that come highly recommended are:

• Lavasoft's Ad-Aware: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adaware.html
• Spybot: http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html
• Webroot's Spy Sweeper: http://www.webroot.com/

 Note: See the menu in the upper left of this page to view popular topics from past issues. 

Copyright © 2004 Alyson B. Stanfield, Stanfield Art Associates. All rights reserved. 

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The Do This! newsletter is sent only to subscribers. You can subscribe using the instructions in the column at left. Instructions for unsubscribing and changing your email address are at the bottom of each issue delivered to your inbox.