Meeting Other Artists & The Public

I met a very nice guy name Arthur Fleming last week and I stop by to say hello to him every day because he works for the public transportation I use. He's a fellow artist and for the short time I've known him he appears to be a really great person. Arthur works on watercolor portraits and plans on becoming a full-time artist in October when he retires. He paints every day and I think he's going to become a really good artist.

The reason I'm mentioning Arthur here is because I would like to stress the importance for artists to get out into public and meet the public and to meet other artists. We as artists have to become more approachable and less snobby if you will. I think the internet and social web sites are changing this attitude but we all need to make more of an effort to get out and make art more approachable and obtainable.

I believe that average person is afraid of art for the fear of looking stupid because they don't know enough about art. We as artists should educate the public and answers their questions. We need to be proactive and approach the public and ask them if they have any questions. Most people love to speak with artists and it's good the future of all artists if we can welcome them into our world and let them know it's okay to ask questions and learn about art. Everyone is a possible collector and the more education we give, the better our chances of gaining collectors.

Boston Arts (Ahts) Festival

I went to the Boston Arts Festival on September 11th and although the weather was quite windy I did manage meet just about every painter that was there and a few other mixed media artists as well. The Festival was held at Christopher Columbus Park on the water front and there was some great artwork being displayed.

My goal was to meet artists and introduce myself and let them know what I do and where I am with my art and everyone I met was fantastic and very helpful. I received lots of tips for continuing my pursuit of art, learned about local art associates and how to go about getting into art associations and societies and I was also able to put personalities with the artwork that I've been admiring online. Some artists were new me but most I had seen online prior to stopping at the festival.

In particular I would like to thank the following artist who took the time to chat with me and assist me with my many questions:

Claudia Kaufman provided me with lots information about the different art associations and how to join, how she handles her art business and giclee information. She is also a member of the North Shore Arts Association and the Marblehead Arts Association

Narda Boughton was a very pleasant person and gave me lots of great advice and encouragement. She does some great work and is great person to talk art with.

Jennifer Lewis does some really cool illustrations and at the time was working on a deadline for a book entitled "A Murder of Crows: A Children's Primer" so although I didn't get a chance speak with her at the festival she has been quite nice and quick to respond to my emails. I hope to visit her place during the Fort Point Open Studios on October 17th and it runs through Oct 19th. She will also be having an opening at the Gulu Gulu Cafe in October but visit her site for the dates.

Andrew Carr stopped to talk with me for awhile and to show me his etchings and he also teaches as well and I might take him up on that because his class times work well for me and he has done some great portraits.

Please check out these other artist's web sites, they make some pretty cool art that would make excellent gifts:

Theresita hand paints ceramic pieces of art that you have to see to believe. We had a great talk about her painting and she has to be a fantastic person and friend because she has the patience to hand paint these meticulous ceramic pieces. Theresita will create custom pieces based on the colors that you give her so call her for truly original gifts and presents that will be remembered.

Joe Bagley and his wife Jen were very nice and I chatted with them for awhile. They are really good people and I wish them all the best. They're a really cute couple. Visit his Blog and you'll see what I mean. Joe is another person that simply has to be a great person and friend with all the patience he needs to create these incredibly meticulous and beautiful paper cutting works of art. If you need a gift then please give Joe a call and he'll work with you to create something that everyone will remember.

April Clay was another fabulous artist I met as well at the festival. She is a mixed media artist who makes these really cool works of art. She creates 3D mixed media images in which she used a plastic resin and carefully encloses mementos she collects throughout her journeys inside the clear resin and affixes it to her art. Very cool so check out her web site. I'm sure if you brought your own mementos she would work with you to create a custom piece of artwork that is personalized.

That's it for now. I plan on trying to attend a lot more festivals and open studios from now and I'll report them back here on my blog.