SUSTAINING PATRONAGE: A BRAINSTORMING PROJECT
In October of 2017, Bridge Productions presented the first in what will hopefully become an ongoing series of open-forum programs to collaboratively discuss the successes and collective efforts of artists, writers, designers, producers, patrons, collectors, and exhibition spaces. Many of these themes are based on writings authored by founder Sharon Arnold in their City Arts column, Field Notes (linked throughout in the text below). Persistent investigations throughout this series— designed to collectively investigate, research, and demystify the behind the scenes structure of the gallery model as it currently exists— will attempt to:
We will also work towards identifying questions and seeking solutions for ideas about 21st century patronage, how the avenues through which people engage with the art world are changing, and how people from various sectors and economic backgrounds may gain and benefit from artist and gallery relationships outside of, or in addition to, buying art. We will also attempt to break open a transparent conversation about the inner workings of a gallery, independent curatorial productions, and artist/producer relationships.
Please stay tuned as we gear up in 2018 to resume this urgent series of topics and discussions!
What follows is a sampling of the round-table conversations and the exhibition we hosted throughout the month of October:
WEEK 1
COLLECT (Elisheba Johnson, Diana Adams, Lorrie Scott Cardoso, and Elizabeth Hunter-Keller) is a social and cultural event that encourages new potential art investors to get started on their collection. The goal is to introduce people who have never felt comfortable or informed enough to approach art in a new way. COLLECT introduces their audience to the often overlooked communities of emerging and mid-career artists and small galleries who provide a special opportunity to discover high-quality work at more manageable price points. During this intimate conversation designed for audience participation and exchange, COLLECT discussed the following:
COLLECT and Bridge Productions offered attendees a taste of the experience they provide by serving champagne, appetizers and ended with a walking tour to Prairie Underground to learn about its clothing design practice and emerging artist residency and exhibition series!
WEEK 2
Janet Galore and Demi Shaft Raven are founders of The Grocery, a project-oriented creative space on North Beacon Hill in Seattle. The Grocery is Janet and Demi's private art studio which they also use to host pop-up exhibitions and galas, film screenings, artist residencies, and project-based happenings which incubate the arts and create circumstances for audiences and creators to meet and gather.
In our conversation, Janet and Demi described their relationship as creators in both the tech and art sectors. They illustrated the bridges they build through both worlds, and the ways they're using The Grocery as a private enterprise for public engagement that serves as a conduit and resource for the arts and tech. We learned how they got started, what their future plans are, and how they view their position as a unique opportunity to demonstrate the variable paths through which people can engage and offer patronage through resource-sharing. Examples of their successful modes of resource-exchange include: offering space, money, equipment, audiences, contacts, or any other innumerable combination of assistance to support and sustain the arts, thus building a viable future for community and culture.
WEEK 3
This week we spoke with Bridge Productions photographer and video artist Kat Larson . In the accompanying group show, Kat Larson states in the accompanying text for her artwork:
"The artist has her role in creating art, the gallerist has her role in exhibiting the work, and the viewer has her role in aesthetically and intellectually appreciating what is on display. The symbiotic nature of these roles create in themselves a great performance, in which we collectively discover and reveal our complex humanity and mystery through fine art. Together, Kat Larson and Bridge Productions invite you to further participate by determining the price you would like to trade for one, a combination of, or all the pieces on display by Kat Larson."
During our discussion, Larson opened up ideas and questions around value, trade, and exchange of artworks, services, and material goods. How do we consider the visible and invisible labor behind artist production and the labor of the venues which support them? What are the roles we all play in the lifespan of artwork, from creation to its final iteration as a beloved part of our lives? And how does our perspective on money shift from viewing it as a purely transactional item to a form of energy that has the power to positively support ideas of worth and exchange? We discussed different platforms such as art rentals and trading networks through the potential of social-media-like apps that would foster exchange and fluidity in art collections; maximizing the potential for digital platforms to further awareness, education, and accessibility of artists and their works.
WEEK 4
In her contribution to the ongoing Bridge Productions discussion series, independent essayist and curator and Frye Art Museum Manager of Public Programs, Negarra A. Kudumu, used this discussion to identify, clarify, and encourage the need to move from ongoing discourses about conditions towards the development of actionable methodologies that permit dynamism. This includes emergent ideas and notions around what constitutes "ex-centric", what happens when the margin and the center meet, what is radical, and how to problematize and be critical in the service of additive, and hopefully reciprocal output. Kudumu also introduced the term "curatoriality" in response to her recent trip to Amsterdam, in which she participated as a panelist on the discussion of contemporary curatorial practice and thought.
THE EXHIBITION
Also featured was a group exhibition of works by Julie Alpert, Tim Cross, Sue Danielson, Emily Gherard, Dave Kennedy, Kat Larson, David Andrew Nelson, and Patrick Kelly in which we posed a few questions: What is inventory? Why do galleries have it? What do galleries do with it? What does the inventory itself, do?
For the duration of the exhibition, we installed a cozy group show to present a selection of the works we have in the gallery's inventory. The gallery was installed like a living room with an area rug, couch, and floor lamps in addition to the presence of our generally comfortable gallery furniture (which includes a library of books, records, and a record player!). The selection and installation of the work was changed each week throughout the month. This served a few different purposes:
Maybe in some ways this is about the hidden life of artwork outside the exhibition, in that space between its making and its placement on your wall. Oftentimes work lives in a state of limbo, not yet purchased but no longer available-- what's on hold, how long are things on hold for, what is the meaning and impact of this weird phase? In creating a space of openness, transparency, and conversation we hope we helped make clear what the role of a gallerist is as a liaison between the artist, their work, art history, and its most supportive connoisseurs.
- shift the conversation from narratives of failure and closure to narratives of success and sustainability
- demonstrate the way we build, galvanize, and sustain arts ecosystems
- highlight the tremendous value we bring to those communities and the neighborhoods in which our spaces reside
- artist income is a contribution to the local economy
- art walk audiences are a contribution to the neighborhood economy
- art spaces are a social, cultural, and political benefit for both the economic and social capital of a city
- examine different models of currencies and exchange; and discuss the ways in which community-building through the arts is both a benefit to and push-back against late-stage Capitalism
We will also work towards identifying questions and seeking solutions for ideas about 21st century patronage, how the avenues through which people engage with the art world are changing, and how people from various sectors and economic backgrounds may gain and benefit from artist and gallery relationships outside of, or in addition to, buying art. We will also attempt to break open a transparent conversation about the inner workings of a gallery, independent curatorial productions, and artist/producer relationships.
Please stay tuned as we gear up in 2018 to resume this urgent series of topics and discussions!
What follows is a sampling of the round-table conversations and the exhibition we hosted throughout the month of October:
WEEK 1
COLLECT (Elisheba Johnson, Diana Adams, Lorrie Scott Cardoso, and Elizabeth Hunter-Keller) is a social and cultural event that encourages new potential art investors to get started on their collection. The goal is to introduce people who have never felt comfortable or informed enough to approach art in a new way. COLLECT introduces their audience to the often overlooked communities of emerging and mid-career artists and small galleries who provide a special opportunity to discover high-quality work at more manageable price points. During this intimate conversation designed for audience participation and exchange, COLLECT discussed the following:
- How they got started and the ways in which Collect has evolved
- Their business model.
- Who they serve in the art community
- Their audience
- The neighborhoods they serve
- Gallery closures
- Collaborations
- Artist studio visits
- Non-traditional galleries
- Recognition
- Memorable moments
COLLECT and Bridge Productions offered attendees a taste of the experience they provide by serving champagne, appetizers and ended with a walking tour to Prairie Underground to learn about its clothing design practice and emerging artist residency and exhibition series!
WEEK 2
Janet Galore and Demi Shaft Raven are founders of The Grocery, a project-oriented creative space on North Beacon Hill in Seattle. The Grocery is Janet and Demi's private art studio which they also use to host pop-up exhibitions and galas, film screenings, artist residencies, and project-based happenings which incubate the arts and create circumstances for audiences and creators to meet and gather.
In our conversation, Janet and Demi described their relationship as creators in both the tech and art sectors. They illustrated the bridges they build through both worlds, and the ways they're using The Grocery as a private enterprise for public engagement that serves as a conduit and resource for the arts and tech. We learned how they got started, what their future plans are, and how they view their position as a unique opportunity to demonstrate the variable paths through which people can engage and offer patronage through resource-sharing. Examples of their successful modes of resource-exchange include: offering space, money, equipment, audiences, contacts, or any other innumerable combination of assistance to support and sustain the arts, thus building a viable future for community and culture.
WEEK 3
This week we spoke with Bridge Productions photographer and video artist Kat Larson . In the accompanying group show, Kat Larson states in the accompanying text for her artwork:
"The artist has her role in creating art, the gallerist has her role in exhibiting the work, and the viewer has her role in aesthetically and intellectually appreciating what is on display. The symbiotic nature of these roles create in themselves a great performance, in which we collectively discover and reveal our complex humanity and mystery through fine art. Together, Kat Larson and Bridge Productions invite you to further participate by determining the price you would like to trade for one, a combination of, or all the pieces on display by Kat Larson."
During our discussion, Larson opened up ideas and questions around value, trade, and exchange of artworks, services, and material goods. How do we consider the visible and invisible labor behind artist production and the labor of the venues which support them? What are the roles we all play in the lifespan of artwork, from creation to its final iteration as a beloved part of our lives? And how does our perspective on money shift from viewing it as a purely transactional item to a form of energy that has the power to positively support ideas of worth and exchange? We discussed different platforms such as art rentals and trading networks through the potential of social-media-like apps that would foster exchange and fluidity in art collections; maximizing the potential for digital platforms to further awareness, education, and accessibility of artists and their works.
WEEK 4
In her contribution to the ongoing Bridge Productions discussion series, independent essayist and curator and Frye Art Museum Manager of Public Programs, Negarra A. Kudumu, used this discussion to identify, clarify, and encourage the need to move from ongoing discourses about conditions towards the development of actionable methodologies that permit dynamism. This includes emergent ideas and notions around what constitutes "ex-centric", what happens when the margin and the center meet, what is radical, and how to problematize and be critical in the service of additive, and hopefully reciprocal output. Kudumu also introduced the term "curatoriality" in response to her recent trip to Amsterdam, in which she participated as a panelist on the discussion of contemporary curatorial practice and thought.
THE EXHIBITION
Also featured was a group exhibition of works by Julie Alpert, Tim Cross, Sue Danielson, Emily Gherard, Dave Kennedy, Kat Larson, David Andrew Nelson, and Patrick Kelly in which we posed a few questions: What is inventory? Why do galleries have it? What do galleries do with it? What does the inventory itself, do?
For the duration of the exhibition, we installed a cozy group show to present a selection of the works we have in the gallery's inventory. The gallery was installed like a living room with an area rug, couch, and floor lamps in addition to the presence of our generally comfortable gallery furniture (which includes a library of books, records, and a record player!). The selection and installation of the work was changed each week throughout the month. This served a few different purposes:
- To reveal what is ordinarily hidden from view. All this work is on the website, but putting it up on the wall provides an opportunity to see it in person, rather than just online
- To present the works in a cozy atmosphere that is more like your home thereby helping assist a vision of what living with art actually looks like
- To shift the work around throughout the month; thwarting the typically static nature of an exhibition, and either pushing an immediacy of viewing or echoing the restlessness a presenter feels during the duration of an exhibition
Maybe in some ways this is about the hidden life of artwork outside the exhibition, in that space between its making and its placement on your wall. Oftentimes work lives in a state of limbo, not yet purchased but no longer available-- what's on hold, how long are things on hold for, what is the meaning and impact of this weird phase? In creating a space of openness, transparency, and conversation we hope we helped make clear what the role of a gallerist is as a liaison between the artist, their work, art history, and its most supportive connoisseurs.
