7/1/12

THIS BLOGGED HAS MOVED!!!!!!

This blogged has MOVED - it can be accessed at HERE - Vickiemartin.net
I have posted my first blog on the new site, and it is about editing your exhibition and resume page - and how much do you really need to include - I'd love to hear from others out there.    

6/16/12

DRESS CODE

Aphrodite, 36x48 on canvas




There is a language of clothing and every dress tells a story. Working with layer upon layer, I expose things hidden by scraping top layers off, or melt layers together by using fire.  Even though the dress is disembodied, it seems to move in a space of it’s own. A dress is worn not only to protect the wearer from the universe, but it often defines individuality.  The many layers are symbolic of both the psychological and the physical layers today’s women carry with them.

6/5/12

TUESDAYS MARKETING TIP

CONSISTENCY

 




This Tuesday's topic is consistency.   Consistency is defined by Dictionary.com as "the steadfast adherence to the same principles".  I know, I know - it could be confused as being boring, being stuck, not growing etc.  These two quotes illustrate this:

"A foolish consistency is the hobgobblin of small minds." Emerson
"Consistency is the last refuge of the imagination." Oscar Wilde

But, when it comes to your both making and marketing your artwork, you should be exercising consistency of some sort.

Let's start with your art - - if you are at the point where you want to get your work out there, you have reached the point where you must have a consistent body of work, meaning the artwork will be recognized as being by the same hand.   Every gallery will tell you that.  Working in a series is very important, so important that artist Lisa Call has begun teaching a very successful on-line class called Working in a Series

Next up - your promotional pieces.   There should be consistency within all of your material.  You should use the same font on your cards, in your newsletter, etc.  The banner on your blog, your newsletter and your facebook page should be the same.  (OK - I'm in the midst of redesigning mine, and when completed within the week, all will have the same banner). 



And, last but not least, social media!   Strive to blog consistently.   That is why I began the Tuesdays Marketing Tips - to have a consistent schedule.  I am striving to be on a regular schedule of posting the same day of the weeks, two times a week, but I continue writing when the mood strikes me.  This is a work in progress.  Another thing about blogging, consistently leave comments on other blogs - that is like leaving a calling card around the internet! 

If you have a newsletter, send it out with consistency also.

Right now, I'm researching and trying to learn more about blogging and facebook fan pages.  I will share what I learn here. 

6/4/12

JUNE GOALS

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Passion of the Dance



I have recently joined the Artist Conpiracy headed by Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach.  We are encouraged to have goals on a monthly basis  - and I've chosen to further break them down by week.  To be more accountable, I have decided to share my goals monthly here.   So here goes:


JUNE GOALS

I need to organize the CD's of my images and put them in files on my exterior hard drive.  I have not done this in over a year, and Joel photographs my work as I complete it.   To start this, I must clean the desktop off my computer.

When this is complete, I am going to get update my website.   I have to update the exhibitions page too.  

I need to re-organize my studio, and when done, I want to have photographs of me INSIDE my studio to use on both my blog and website.

I want to do a photoshopped banner that I can utilize on my fan page, my blog and my newsletter.

I need to update my mailing list for my newsletter.

I need to complete a submission that has been virtually completed for six weeks.   The finishing is completing some marketing materials that must go with the submission.

I will blog a minimum of two times a week.

THIS WEEK 

I need to work out at least 3 hours this week - this will help me relax and sleep so I can be more productive.

I am going to clean off my desktop and begin organizing my images.

I only have one more blog to write this week, and I will write a marketing blog tomorrow at lunch.

I will get Joel to help me with the banner this weekend.

I will add the names to my mailng list.

I think I can do this.   Do you have any goals for this month/week?




6/3/12

THE TARA PROJECT

I have written before about the upcoming Tara Project fundraiser coming up on Saturday, June 9th.  The cost for admission is only $20, and that will include gourmet food, an open bar, live music, an art auction, as well as art that is available for purchase.  Proceeds from all sales will go to the Tara Project.  
The Tara Project is raising money to build a pharmacy in Kenya and I am honored to be taking part in this event.
The pieces on this blog will be available for purchase on Saturday evening.  All pieces are 10x30 and are available for the great price of $200!!!!!

Into the Night
Mixed Media on Canvas

In The Garden
Mixed Media on Canvas

Celebration
Mixed Media on Canvas

THE ORLY PLANE CRASH

THE DAY ATLANTA STOOD STILL



Headline of the paper after the fateful crash


Fifty years ago today, on June 3, 1962,  the art community in Atlanta was forever changed.  After a three week trip to Europe, members of the Atlanta Art Association were returning home to Atlanta on a chartered plane.  The plane crashed on takeoff, killing all but two stewardesses.  At the time, it was the worst single plane crash in history.

"It was the Titanic of our city.  When it happened, it took a lot of leaders, important people at the time." says Ann Uhry Abrams, author of "Explosion at Orly, The Disaster that Transformed Atlanta".  The group included artists, civic leaders, heads of businesses, overall, an influential group.  They had traveled to Europe partly for pleasure, but also to show the city had a commitment to culture.

Out of this grief,  the citizens of Atlanta realized something needed to be done to memorialize the crash victims.  They knew the tiny museum located in an old house needed to be improved.  Ground was broken on the fourth anniversary of the crash for the Memorial Arts Center.   It opened in 1968, and was the first arts center that housed both visual and performing arts in the same venue, which included the Atlanta College of Art (now part of SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design), The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the High Museum of Art.  The Alliance Theatre was added in 1970, and in 2005 Young Audiences was added.   This addition ensures the PreK-12 programs will serve more than one million children annually, the largest base of an arts center in the country.

It was renamed the Woodruff Arts Center in 1982 to honor the great benefactor, Robert W. Woodruff, also known in Atlanta as Mr. Anonymous.  

The French government donated Rodin's "The Shade" to the High Museum in memory of the crash victims.  It now stands outside with the names of all the victims surrounding it.  The crash victims had seen Whistler's Mother at the Louvre,   In a gesture of goodwill, the Louvre loaned the painting to the museum in the fall of 1962 - it's first appearance in the US.

The High Museum now holds more than 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection


Rodin's The Shade outside the Woodruff Arts Center

Some other facts:
33 children were left without parents after the crash
Martin Luther King and Harry Belafonte cancelled a sit-in in downtown Atlanta as a concilliatory gesture for the grieving families.
Andy Warhol painted his first "disaster painting" 129 Die in Jet, based on the cover of the New York Mirror the day after the crash.
The plane was known at the Chateau de Sully
The High Museum is named for the High family that donated their home to the museum in 1926.