Subtitle: Coming Home
Sub-sub title: Learning to Slow Down and still be productive
It has been 5 years since I moved from Southern Illinois to Philadelphia. I have been invited, juried into and participated in exhibitions that I wouldn’t have known about or been eligible for if I was not living in Philadelphia. I had more exhibitions while living in the mid-west – most of which I never saw in person. The landscape is so expansive that I often had to ship my work. Since moving to Philadelphia, I have had fewer exhibitions, intending to utilize the resources in the region. I have also been able to install and experience my most recent exhibitions in person.
I used to feel antsy in the mid-west, like somehow I was going to loose my creativity or ability to exhibit. In Philadelphia, I am surrounded by more art and artists. I no longer feel antsy (even when I am not making). I think it is because art is more a part of my everyday life here. Or maybe because I feel like I am living in a place that feels like home.
I have had a variety of exhibition experiences since relocating to Philadelphia including working with not-for-profit art centers, institutions of higher learning, community organized exhibitions and alternative artist-run galleries. I am an advocate of exhibiting in a variety of venues, from well-known galleries and museums to artist cooperatives. I like to think of each exhibition as a learning experience and a challenge. It is also important for me to get my work outside my studio and see it in a different light – literally and figuratively. It is good to support a variety of venues because you can connect with people in a variety of communities. When choosing new venues that may not have a lot of information available – meet with the people and “feel them out” trust your instincts. I don’t really believe in the old school idea of “being discovered”. BUT, exhibiting at a variety of venues gets your work seen by a variety of people…that may have interest in it, want to exhibit it, want to buy it (if that is important to you).
As an example – I submitted a proposal for the well-established Window on Broad project at University of Arts. My work, Infestation, was installed in October 2006. I was recently asked to participate in a thematic exhibition developed around the idea of the Sitting Room taking place in fall 2010 at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. I was asked to participate in the exhibition because the curator saw my work in the Window on Broad project 4 years ago!
The Window on Broad is a highly visible venue…people walking by see the work – it doesn’t take an art crowd to go inside…this is what appealed to me most about the venue. Well, besides the fact that designing a “window display” itself. I urge artists to put your work in a variety of exhibition venues because it can change the way you see your work and allows different communities and audiences to see it too.
I have recently become to realize that an art career isn’t a sprint. It won’t happen over night and will last longer than 15 minutes. An art career is a marathon. It is about longevity, building connections, having the work evolve, finding supporters, shifting context for the work and learning from the entire process – all of the ups and downs.
I used to have this idea that as soon as I graduated a golden road of opportunity paved with museums and galleries would open up. What I have come to realize is that the road is there but it must be built brick by brick by me and that it WILL happen – just a little more slowly than I anticipated. I will use Louise Bourgeois’s 78- year art making career as a model (she died last month at the age of 99). Or the story the tortoise and the hare. I’d rather be the tortoise anyway.
Find out more about Carole Loeffler at www.caroleloeffler.com.
