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THE UPSIDE:
The thing that has quietly kept the fires burning is the progress
on the gigantic unicorn show Ian and I are putting together that
will be unveiled to the wondering public of Austin on November 5th.
A quick buzz has grown through the art community in town, and I've
gotten regular emails from folks wanting to sign up for the show.
With the all star cast of artists almost complete, brainstorming
sessions and a cool but tight budget has allowed us to plan some big
surprises that should make the show memorable for a long time. Ian
joked this is exactly the kind of stupid idea that turns into a
million dollar idea, and I'm inclined to believe that this is going
to be one of the best shows seen in Austin in some time.
\line I've also pared down my schedule for the last quarter of
the year to a manageable set of events: the annual East Austin
Studio Tour in late November paired up with the annual Blue Genie
Christmas show in December. I'm preparing to produce a vast set of
prints based off my paintings for both events, along with a couple
new series of small works that should be fun and worth the time to
make. With a ton of ideas flowing through my head, I'm also planning
my 2006 schedule, hoping to produce two large bodies of work, for
solo shows in late Spring and early Fall. I feel pretty confident
I'm starting to get a productive schedule together that will prevent
the burnout that plagued me at the start of this year.
I'm also devoting some time and effort into producing a self
promoting CD that will get my work out of Austin and into better art
markets throughout the country. I'm not willing to move to New York,
Los Angeles or Chicago to make more money just to pay higher rents
and deal with bigger stress, but I do need to move past the friendly
confines of Austin to make it as an artist. Hopefully, I'll be able
to do this on my own, following the path that I've started the past
few years. |
THE DOWNSIDE:
I really don't know what the future holds for me in Austin. Every
show I have here begins to take a larger toll on me, as the same
pool of faces of the Austin scene strolls past my work at each
event. With very little real and valuable writing and criticism in
this town, the work gets created in a void of sorts and becomes part
of the disposable entertainment that encompasses every aspect of
Austin. I've been more than fortunate to have a strong following of
core patrons that have more than done their part to prop up my life
and my work the past few years, and am endlessly thankful and
indebted to those folks. I just don't know what to do next in terms
of showing in Austin, I love my independence of being able to decide
what to show and when to show, and being able to plan my schedule
around that. I don't want to fall into the trap of being
represented by a gallery or having to meet unreal expectations of an
art world that I hate.
Because of burn out and a series of events that left the
participating artists without enough time to prepare, I postponed
the annual Shoulda Been a Plumber show until spring of next year.
I also had semi-optimistic hopes about the latest arts endeavor
taking place in
Austin - the first First Night Celebration taking
place on New Year's. Modeled after the annual event in Boston that
my frostbitten toes are all too familiar with, it's an opportunity
to let artists create public works and put on performances
throughout the city that culminates in a creative and fascinating
parade along with fireworks at midnight. It seems the kind
hearted folks who got the entire Austin art scene dreaming about
sugar plums dancing in their heads are overworked and sent out
rejection letters about proposals to some, and skipped others.
I put together one with Ian and Chris and have heard nary a word,
rumors are flying
and still the folks who were self described enough to 'give
something back to the artists of Austin.' have barely spilled a word
towards us.
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