THE ARTIST’S LIFE
Standing in My Mother’s House, and in Her Shoes
by Claudia Gold
Entering my mom’s apartment on Rexford Avenue in West LA is a reminder to breathe deeply. It takes me back into my childhood, to the oil painting on the wall of my mother posing in a black dress, ornamented at the top, carrying a clay jug on her shoulder, portraying Rachel at the well.
The white walls are now more like a museum. My eyes scan More...
Why Contemporary Portraiture Shouldn’t Show Its Face
by Sharon Knettell
So you have decided to have a portrait commissioned, say of your child or lovely wife. Maybe you are a big deal corporate executive, politician or president of an exclusive club. The one thing you will all have in common is that for the most part, your precious portrait will be worth less than you paid for it as soon as you sign the check and will More...
We Are All From Boston
by Esther Bradley-DeTally
Boston feels like a sink hole, an asphalt taffy road with unexpected, unplanned for sags, taking the nation down and then up. Our hearts run to each other in times of tragedy, and someone else’s child is ours. We claim him, her.
Boston is in my marrow, even though I left there when they still hadn’t found the Boston Strangler, you know More...
On the Act of Drawing – Thinking and Making at Hand
by Michael Strauss
Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one’s consciousness, making of every image a privileged place.
- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
Drawings we make of things we see are not just what we perceive with our senses, but something more and also something less. They are conceptions of what we perceive, not the perceptions t More...
Marketing Guru Kellie Koppel to Share Authentic Promotion and Branding Secrets
Do you know how to effectively promote your work? Do you get overwhelmed and have a hard time figuring out what to do or where to start? Do you find it uncomfortable or embarrassing talking about your project, work, or your accomplishments?
Self promotion and branding can be a daunting, but necessary task, and you'll learn all about it in this s More...
Branding and Self-Promotion for the Artist and Entrepreneur
by Kellie Koppel
The catch phrase of the decade is “Brand It.” From coast to coast, it seems like every other person I meet these days is a “Brand Manager.” It has got to be one of the largest emerging industries of our time, yet I ask you: It is simply a “re-branded” spin on the age-old industry of public relations (the original spin doctors)?
Wha More...
Why Do We Publish?
by Chiwan Choi
No matter what you do for a living, I guess it’s only natural for development in one part of your life to affect how you function in another part of your life. Maybe you give up eating meat, which makes you question your job at a steakhouse. Or you become the caretaker of a precocious orphan, therefore you think you should stop being a hitman.
More...
The Artist’s Way: Ask and Receive
by Amanda Palmer
No one gives more of herself to her work or to her audience community than performer-songwriter Amanda Palmer. And no one has better defined today's mutually supportive relationship between an artist and the people for whom art is made.
Amanda was invited to speak at the TED Conference this year. We recommend this 13-minute Talk to every Cultur More...
Can Your Project Get a Grant?
Could your project get money from foundations, government grants and individual donations? Money that only wants to support your dream, and isn’t looking for a piece of your profits? Did you know that Beasts of the Southern Wild, Detropia and Born into Brothels started this way?
On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at 4 pm PST/7 pm EST, fundraising expe More...
Getting Money: The Power of One
by Morrie Warshawski
In The Real World
You’re standing in a long line at the supermarket and start up a conversation with the man behind you. He discovers you’re a filmmaker, asks about your current project. As fate would have it, he is very interested in the subject of your film because of his family background. He gives you his card and asks that you send him More...
