Final Links + Notes

First, a big thanks to everyone for reading along this week!

Some quick info about me to give the posts some perspective:

Since graduating with a BFA in 2008, I have worked two-full time jobs in NYC. One was at a historical experimental arts non-profit and the other at a small for-profit company. I've also been freelancing doing everything from commercial photography to teaching computers to an art therapist. I've learned a lot of different and unique things from these jobs. However, I have ultimately been unable to find quite the right balance between my artistic and work lives.

To help figure out how to do this, I'm returning to school this fall in Oslo to pursue my MFA. While there my goals are to gain a better understanding of both the history and the future of the art academy / figure out how to live a modest yet full artistic life. More and more I have been thinking this is possible completely outside of the realm of the traditional "art world".

The posts this week are also sort of a test-run for a larger project of interviews, videos, and an extensive public database of opportunities for artists. I am very grateful to everyone who wrote something this week and if anyone else is interested in helping with the long-term project, please get in touch!

Some links to further readings and research:

1. Raqs Media Collective : How To Be An Artist At Night *

2. ...which is from this book

3. Day Job at The Drawing Center (recently closed, catalog available) + artnet review

4. A place to bid on art + a place to buy objects to help Japan

5. Two great Japan-centric Australian blogs: ii-ne-kore + Hello Sandwich

6. A very inspiring story from Japan + an interesting article (and comments) about donating money

Over and out,
JW

Image: Jessica Williams

* Thanks to DZ for the PDF link!

Helping Japan : N S E W

Jessica Williams has decided to donate all the proceeds from the March zine of her 2011 Zine Subscription to Doctors Without Borders / Médecins San Frontières to help with the current crisis in Japan.

Buy one here.

You can also read about the work still being done in Japan including sending in psychologists to evaluate mental health needs.

Images: Jessica Williams, courtesy of N S E W

Disasters and Day jobs

Two things that are visible yet not visible--and always lurking right under the surface of everyday life.





This week I have asked a handful of photographers I admire about how they balance their time. Some have day jobs and some do not.

According to Wikipedia, a day job is "a form of occupation taken by a person in order to make ends meet while working another low-paying (or non-paying) job in their preferred career track". As someone who is between a BFA and an MFA, I've definitely had a few myself.

I will also be posting responses by artists to the crisis in Japan. While everyone knows it is still a dire situation, the breaking news has slipped down to the bottom of the NYTimes.com homepage. There is just so much else going on in the world right now. That said, it is not too late to help and I will be posting ways to do that throughout the week!

Images: David Guttenfelder / Associated Press (top), Jessica Williams (bottom)

guest blogger • jessica williams

a big hello to this week's guest blogger jessica williams. see more of her work here.

[jessica williams. from the zine flowers. january 2011. published by N S E W.]

Hello, I would like to talk about

Hello, I would like to talk about #1

Hello, I would like to talk about #8

Hello, I would like to talk about #7

Hello, I would like to talk about is a series of interviews from contemporary artists talking about work they admire by Paul Paper, see more here.

[Videos from top to bottom: Alexander Binder talks about Theodor Kittelsen; Jessica Williams talks about Laurie Andersen; Flemming Ove Beck talks about Alice Neel.]

jessica williams

jessica williams's 'calendar'. "visual notes and images were layered on top of one another on a daily basis. no specific requirements were given to what could be put into the work; in the end the calendar included drawings, collages, photographs, photocopies, texts, old assignments, computer printouts, personal documents, film stills, etc. the work was only considered to be finished when the papers themselves become so heavy that nothing else could be added without everything falling apart." see more here.

[all jessica williams. calendar. 2008.]

jessica williams

collage work by jessica williams. see more of her stuff here.

[both jessica williams. 2007. top to bottom: sketchbook. a struggle.]

jessica williams

these are collaged from photographs taken of people doing trust exercises! how great! see more of jessica's stuff here.

[all jessica williams. from the series trust exercises 2. 2006.]