The other night after gallery hopping, I was having a dinner chat with good
friend Jenni Kirby owner of Crossroads Art Center here in Richmond. Crossroads
is 12 years old and thriving. I discovered Crossroads back in 2010 while
looking for a place to hang out in the local art market to test my art and get
some feedback, you name it! I looked at a few galleries, but I was in no way
ready for that sandbox......I was still in the teeny canvas mode, doing juried shows and nowhere close
to a "best wall painting" I aspired to. Crossroads once juried in had
an interesting concept though, everyone had skin in the game and paid their
share....not a co-op but a full service gallery center with walls for lease,
classroom space for workshops, a framer and mini art store all wrapped up into
one big space. Crossroads is also very community oriented sponsoring many
benefits, and even has several large exhibition spaces for artist exhibits and
juried exhibits every 2-months with large crowds attending. All of this and
solid stable management! Crossroads is great for any artist who does not want
to run their own gallery or studio to sell their work if they can't get gallery
representation.
BTW a logical progression if no Crossroads option is available. Lots of those
artists run their own operations; I wonder how that works for them. Perhaps as
well as being an artist who teaches to pay the bills, probably not too well
because their art suffers. Don't get me wrong
there are some out there that can do both well.....a special breed. As a full
time artist I have enough on my plate without adding teaching or a business to
the mix. I suspect everyone in the end does what works for them because we do
follow a logical course, as opportunity arises, that fit, we instinctively move
on them. If we go against that current it can be a turbulent ride, even
disappointing...aimless drifting.
Jenni doesn't have time to read blogs because if she did, she would have
known I already did what she asked me to do at the end of our dinner
chat.......write about Crossroads and the affect it had on me and my career as
an artist. I know it could not have
been done within the time frame I had to work in without Crossroads!!
Artists, whether they know it or not, need walls to paint for, almost from
the beginning, walls they control in order to grow. We can rely on galleries
(if we have them) or community group exhibits or because in this day and time
we are a global lot, even national or international platforms are available to
show our work.......but it's piecemeal at best and WE DON’T HAVE MUCH CONTROL,
IF ANY! We need to see our work hung as a body as in a solo exhibit, to
evaluate it, to see what works and what doesn't. We need to see how we stack up
against the competition too! Does our work have a "jump factor" and
will it "sell"? How else will we grow and raise the bar? Not all of that
is easy to do unless you are a gallery artist and a star player at that, unfortunately,
a requirement before a gallery will look at you. What do we do before
stardom??? We hope for a Crossroads, that's what!!
I'm a big advocate of the Crossroads business model especially at the front
end of an artist’s career and think everyone ought to have access, regardless
of their talent level and no matter where they live on this globe! The fly in
the ointment, it takes a special DNA makeup to pull it off as in a Jenni! Not a
lot of Jennis around to open all these facilities either.......hard to say,
because no one has really looked!
Is there a model that would almost guarantee a successful outcome for an artist? If they have the talent and
fortitude I believe there is! It's a lot of work and involves a lot of outside
players besides the artist. It's intuitive because you gotta move with the
talent, nurture it by education in marketing sales and have available space to
accommodate them as they grow....if not they move on or worse stop evolving as
an artist.
The problem I see now at least for me, once you figure it out and you’re out
there in the big world how does a Crossroads fit into your own business
plan?....This was part of our conversation, the "what’s next"? Is
there a business model yet to be developed within the current Crossroads model
that could accommodate the graduate?
Here's what I know as a Crossroads’ graduate to large format painter and
galleries as I know them now.
In today's world an artist has to take control of his or her own destiny and
not expect the gallery system to do it for you......it won't happen otherwise!
In today's world an artist has the power to do it! In today's world we are
global and few galleries are! Galleries are regional at best, as artists we have
to fit each region to make it there. Go there, shake hands, many of us do, many
of us also travel the world making new contacts - you gotta love the internet!
Sorry Amazon your not there yet! All this at our disposal and whether we like it or not upscale fine art still
needs bricks and mortar to sell. Wouldn't it be great if we had control of that
too, control of how our work is presented...not crammed in with no room to
breathe........nice thought!! Or is there another level to the Crossroads
model? Full gallery services with our own space to show our work as it should
be! In locations worldwide so we can pick and choose our markets....even move
around within the system as guest exhibitors for a month or two.
I'm not talking about vanity galleries here either, where you pay and pay
and pay with no results....perhaps a scam perhaps not! I know nothing about it
other than a few that have done it and from what I read. Many seem to be
agents....dada, da...da. Not my game and I personally don't need them.
I do need first class display space to show my wares with good quality
(stable) management that can move with me not against me....at this point I am
perfectly willing to lease quality short term gallery space to have an exhibit
in areas I want to play in, much the way fashion week, furniture week or art
fairs might be handled. I won't be hung in a tent on movable walls so most of
the art fairs would not work for me; it has to be bricks and mortar. These
quality spaces are out there.....but no management!!
In the end we as artists have to get our work out there and show in a
complete body and not piecemeal........get their attention see if we can make
them jump!!
I think I'm on the right track!
Later......
A journal of a fascinating career change, that of an oil painter SWIMMING-IN-PAINT!
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