Here's another Art of the Call video podcast where we ask directors, artists and curators to talk about the call for entry process.



In this episode, Nan Curtis talks about:

Finding a Call

Start regionally

Luxury of being in Pacific Northwest you can be an international artist, Vancouver BC down to SF

College campus galleries have a funding base, interact with students, more community involvement

Regional Arts Culture Council is local organization that sends out nationally

A curator in town that always sends out information, must be on some kind of list

Local curators who are exposing in different ways

Lots of people coming through Portland right now

Keep your eyes open

Choosing work

They are often thematic

I will propose a piece

I do nuanced things, you look at the page - look how the page looks, a flow of the eye

Chronologically too - nice to follow a conceptual thread

Photos of work

I hire photographers

Stand with them because my view and their view can be different

I have very specific ways I want my work to be seen

Typical for sculptors, I'm surprised how hard it is for a photographer to see what I want to see

I can't get the images that they get, I don't do it anymore - so hire someone

Success

If I did it I'm successful

I have an inflated ego about my own art but artists do in general because we love our own work

I don't have an idea about success or not success - I can reflect after the fact

I have a problem of editing which is a typical problem for artists - you make the work so you want to show it all but it shouldn't all necessarily go in - but I tend to put it all in

Sometimes the best success is when it leads to something else

I like pieces that seem relevant 10 years later still - I'll even re-show those pieces in an effort to create a conversation that refers back

I don't get caught up in the notion of success

At the show

I totally go, be there for the opening, want to hear what people have to say.

If you could be a fly on the wall - especially in another city - that's awesome

It's amazing to be somewhat anonymous when you're not in your home town

At a recent show I was in the gallery and held hours - that was interesting

One on one conversations blew my mind

The art market / business of art

There's always going to be a market for art - nothing holds value more than art

It's just the market in general sucks right now

I've never made art to sell

Why wouldn't you want to think about your art as a way to make money

Art is a business and you should treat it like one

Make a budget, follow the budget through

Give yourself goals and timelines, one year, 5, 10 year goals

Try writing your own obituary