Takeaways:
Overehearing interesting conversation before the lecture, regarding earning money in the arts field. Essentially the artist, now having a child, is concerned about her financial future.
Half of an artists practice needs to be centered around searching for "gigs". Weather its research, installations, lectures etc. An example was given of an artist who exhibited and bienalies, but was washing dishes for a living and making these 'amazing' artworks in her lounge room.
Long story short, being an artist is a tough gig, the workforce in general is tough. And the artist needs to be proactive in aquiring an income to support their practice.
As an artist you will be confronted by different cultures... one will be the workers/construction.. the corporate where the money is .. and the designers and architects. Often these areas will have conflicts. each has different needs and wants.
tendering for installations. her works are generally commissions. and can take 2 years.
good at making marquettes
good communicator
get shortlisted as much as possible - you might not be good for that job but might be for the next
post digital aesthetics... glitch theory, the idea of authenticity.
Notes Received via email from Christopher Bennie regarding visiting lecture
Pamela See (Xue Mei-Leng) is a candidate of a Doctor of Visual Arts from the Queensland College of Art Griffith University. She completed a Master of Business, specialising in Public Relations, at the Queensland University of Technology in 2001. She is presently researching the agency of papercutting in the post-digital era. Papercutting evolved in China shortly after the invention modern strained pulp paper in 105 CE. Prior to this time, the technique was applied to materials such as gold leaf, silk and leather. Over the past year, See has been translating her motifs into contemporary media using a variety of processes including: digital animation, laser-engraving, computer numerical control (CNC) routing.
Pamela’s talk provided interesting insight into the practice of someone who did not perceive their practice to be much more than personal and commercial to one that is now highly considered, becoming increasingly academic (via her enrolment in the Doctorate program) and garnering a great deal of attention. She is also a great example of someone who can successfully translate small, delicate work into large scale public art outcomes.
Below is from Pamela further elaborating on her experience with Public Art tenders…
I do put some in and I get shortlisted but in respect to securing projects I can’t think of a single commission that have been generated through this process. I mean I have received grants, but tendering is very different. There are innumerable public art opportunities advertised. But a lot of them, in recent years, have been designed for teams. I don’t like to take on the responsibility of large budgets on my own. Some clients require a warranty. For the return on the jobs, I don’t want to have to worry about replacing components if there was something wrong with a material or a fabricator had not done a very good job. I have always been fortunate to have been recommended or selected from the outset. I used to do a lot with UAP but as my career progressed there were some conflicts over perceived quality control and I think they prefer to work with more laid back artists. I like to do most processes myself or at least have control over them. Then I started working with people down south and overseas. One was on national television in China. The other one got an award from the Institute of Architects in Australia – so I haven’t had to look for work for a while. I will have to soon. I don’t really have much time owing to parental responsibilities – not much time to do anything at all. I should like to generate more work but life is a bit of a struggle at present. Plus the doctoral program is not easy. I didn’t learn this sort of thing at uni. I have proposal writing skills from working in communications/marketing for companies and the government. Also learned a lot whilst translating for several assistants of artists in China. Having drinks with the late Robert Rauschenberg’s young assistant who was a painter or Ai Wei Wei’s accountant. Many of them ‘graduated’ from their apprenticeships to become artists in their own right. I guess you’re sending students to UAP as interns serves a similar purpose.
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