PATRICIA FRISCHER, the coordinator of the San Diego Visual Arts Network, writes these occasional notes. You are invited to comment on them and all comments will be read. SDVAN has the ability to choose which comments to publish and anonymous comments will not be posted nor will links to commercial or spam sites. We are grateful to you for taking the time to read this blog and invite you join this mailing list or that of www.sdvisualarts.net
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SD
Museum Council’s The Big Exchange gives members of participating organizations reciprocal FREE admission
at more than 50 museums, historic sites, gardens, and more throughout San Diego
County. It is coming May 1 – 18. Just use your museum membership card to visit
more than 40 participating museums. Here are some of the Museum Council's recommendations: |
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That led me to the second part and in The State of the Market for Women Artists’ Work we learn that $11 billion worth of artwork was sold at auction in 2022: $9.7 billion was male, only $1 billion was women. That is just 9.3%. No women were in the top 50 most expensive. Two were in the top 100 and 50 were in the top 500. Not so great.
How about sales for women artists born after 1975 reported the The Ultra-Contemporary Women Artists at the Forefront of the Art Market. The real growth for these women was in 2020 where they went from about $49 million to $220 million that is a whopping 339%. The split between men and women in sales was 56.1% male vs. 43.6% female. BUT if you look at artist born after 1985 the split reverses 63.8% for women to only 36% for men.
That is when I
went further down the rabbit hole and saw that Black Women Artists Black like Lynette
Yiadom-Boakye and Jennifer Packer are
in this mix. I found videos on both women, one from the Tate in London and one
from The Whitney in New York which were both fascinating. I have been wanting to respect both Black
History Month and Women’s History Month in some way and I hope you find this a
satisfying journey to enter both worlds at once. Both women are figurative
artists which cements the view that the figure is back!
The California
Creative Corp Program was announced last year and is finally coming
to San Diego County. It comes in two parts, the first directly for artists and
a few months later for nonprofit organizations and governments units to regrant
to artist. This funding was conceived as a help to the creative community much
as the WPA was formed in 1935 to lift the country out of the Great Depression
by reforming the financial system and restoring the economy.
Far South/Border
North: Artists and Cultural Practitioners in Community (FSBN) was
conceived by the City of San Diego for the SD county with its regional partners
in Imperial county as a California Creative Corps arts program.
FSBN provides funded through a $4.75 million California Creative Corps grant from the California Arts Council. This is to develop and implement media, outreach, and engagement campaigns that address one or more of the program’s goals.
Approximately 115 Artists will receive approximately
$33,333 which includes $25,000 for artist/cultural practitioner fees and $8,333
for project costs. They will get mentorship through a Social Impact Hub
established to provide technical assistance and other support services. The full
guidelines will be coming soon and application portal will open on February
15, 2023. For nonprofit organizations and governments units to regrant to
artist another portal opens May 2023. The actual program will run for two years
from May 1,2023 to April 30, 2024
These public awareness campaigns are only for communities ranked in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index for San Diego and Imperial counties.
The City of
San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture has partnered with Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties,
The San Diego Regional Arts and Culture
Coalition (the application administer), The San Diego Foundation, and five
nonprofit social service and community development organizations.
First, I want to say how important it has been this year to
recognize all the people who may not have gotten as much respect as they
deserve. Inclusion, diversity and equality are not just politically correct
words, but together they bring us together by recognizing that every person
deserves their place in the sun. I am lucky to be a cheerleader for those in
the visual arts. But whatever your interests are, I urge you to be a champion
for those you know and admire.
It has been booming time for government funding.
I am struck by the amount of money that it is pouring into the arts. At first,
I thought it was due to the pandemic and the arts being struck so severely. But
I had another idea. Do you think it is possible that people are gaining confidence
that the arts actually can bring solutions to so many of the current social issues?
Those of us in the arts have always known that arts and culture can go where
others cannot. Still, I am impressed with how much money is being directed our
way, much of which is earmarked for the underserved and for education.
Here are just some examples sums coming to the
arts:
If you are anything like me and the rest of the world, you
have been isolated for the last 3 years. I really appreciated the time to slow
down and re-evaluate. I had time for yoga, for reading books, and doing my
taxes early. No parties meant no small
talk, no indigestion from overindulgence, no hangovers. BUT NO FUN!
Now I am ready, mask in hand, to gather to celebrate our
survival and to be reminded that we need more than one other human in a room
that is not a zoom. I am having a private
cookie frosting party to prepare for my reception and the annual SDVAN holiday
party, this year at the Cardiff by the Sea Library (Wed. Dec 14th).
I am helping to prepare the Encinitas Friends of the Arts Membership
appreciation party at the Encinitas Ballet Academy (Dec 8th). We
have even started to plan the 20th Anniversary party of San Diego Visual
Arts Network with Synergy Arts Foundation, our sister organization next
September 16th, a big bash for our double decade.
But it will be a quiet Thanksgiving for me with only my
husband Darwin and hopefully a pair of duck breasts. One more chance to give
thanks for a loving relationship that sustains our lives and makes all the fun
possible.
With our wishes that you are with people special to you and
that you are grateful for every breath.
With added wishes for a world that is tolerant and peaceful and full of art.
With additional gratitude to all those that supported the San Diego Visual Arts
Network with their kind donations in
2022 both in-kind and financial.
by Patricia Frischer
California for the Arts has issued the US Congressional Art
Report Card for 2022. This year marks a midterm
election year, which means all 435 U.S. House of Representatives, 6 Delegates,
and one-third of the U.S. Senate are running for election on Tuesday, November
8, 2022. There will likely be state and local elections taking place that day
as well.
We encourage you to be an ArtsVote champion by pledging to
make your vote count and encouraging others to turn out to vote. Download your
customized State Voter Factsheet with key deadline dates, times, and locations
to update your voter registration, find out if you can vote absentee, or vote
early in person at ArtsActionFund.org/ArtsVote.
The following have Pro-Arts Grades:
US House of Representatives in San Diego County
Mike Levin CA 49th
Scott Peters was 52nd Now Running for 50th
Sara Jacobs was 53rd – Now running for 51st
Juan Vargas was 51st - Now Running for 52nd
US Senate in CA: Alex Padilla
and Diane Feinstein both have Pro-Arts Grades
The following DO NOT have Pro-Arts Grades
Darrell E, Issa was 50th - Now running for 48th Against Stephen Houlahan
Michelle Steel was 48th - Now running for 45th
To
find out who your US House of Representatives is, put your zip code in this link.
Of course, you also should know how candidates stand on the
arts in more local races; Mayor of your city, your City Councilpersons, your CA State Congress Representatives and Senators. And maybe most important, the San
Diego County Supervisors who are all now known to support the arts with their bold move
to re-create a county level Commission for Arts and Culture. We hope they
announce the full-time staff member for that commission soon.
Yes, it takes
time to find this information, but once you know who these people are and who might be
running for office this fall, you can attend debates and forum and put forward
questions about who supports the arts.
One caveat: The first goal of politics
is to get people to act in unison: the second is to get them to stop!
Questions for candidates:
1. Identify
one particularly important cultural, creative, or artistic asset in your
district. What is its significance to the community?
2. If elected,
how do you plan to identify, connect with, and support cultural, creative and
artistic assets in your district?
3. What role
should municipal government play in funding cultural and creative efforts?
Please state your reasons.
4. Will you
advocate for a county-wide conversation about various municipal arts funding
and fund management paradigms? Explain your position.
5. What are
the under-utilized municipal assets in your district that could help support
the creative, cultural, and artistic efforts of your constituents? How would
you make them more easily accessible?
Californians have an opportunity to positively impact every public school in the state by voting Yes on PROP 28. It will fund high-quality instruction in visual arts, media arts, music, dance, and theatre if passed!
October is National Arts and Humanities Month
but we celebrate the arts every hour, every day, every week, and all and
every year!
...and sent to us by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt, this little glimpse into the robot Ai-Da, the artist of the future at the UK House of Parliment!
by Patricia Frischer
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| Sarah Grossman Polychromist posting in front of PANCA's wall mural (SD Art Prize recipient 2021) |
I am writing about the following two video presentations because they are so interesting and I feel I want to draw attention to both. The first is a 30 minute talk by Pulitzer Prize recipient Ayad Akhtar which was so insightful; the second, one of my favorite subjects, art collectors.
34th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy - Featuring Ayad Akhtar
Presented by Americans for the Arts at the Kennedy Center.
This beautifully written and spoken speech touched on the universal and the particular as well as the dangers of our online obsession's and was moving and inspiring. Don't miss one of the best half hours of the year.
Please note the introduction start at 51 minutes and the actual lecture at 59 minutes
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Gary Lang, NFT at Quint
Gallery |
NFT stands for “non-fungible token.” NFTs are a category of assets called digital. You may have heard of Bitcoin which is also a digital asset as a form of digital money. NFTs are digital collectibles assets. So, they can be purchased, sold and traded. The “fungible” part means it could be exchanged like money for anything equal to it. But the “non” part means it is one of a kind and has no equivalent. Like a great Picasso painting is non-fungible because it is unique. Each one is unique and so has a certificate of ownership and there in lies the value.
Now it gets tricky. The blockchain is just a database. It stores pieces of digital info in chronological order called blocks. The control of blockchains is spread out and not centralized in one authority. This allows for exchanges with no middle man but directly between owner and buyer. You use the blockchain to store and sell your NFTs.
Since we are talking about digital information, there is no physical asset. No canvas, no stone. The only exchange document is in a public blockchain ledger open to computers worldwide. This record is your proof of ownership and a record of the value. Because the value is public, that is what actually drives the price in a free economy. Uniqueness with scarcity can drive a price up if there is desire.
Artist can make a digital image or even variation of an image, that is unique, never produce a product and sell that specific digital information. Although the NFT art works can be viewed on a digital screen, what is really being traded is the value. Anything you can create digitally is included. The artist has no manufacturing, storage, or shipping costs. And no middleman although we have seen artist with NFTs use gallery to help promote these works.
Modern artists are leveraging the exclusivity factor of NFTs to build audience especially online. That means that they have to create or ride a trend. Commissions could be a perfect slot for visual art NFTs. The customer could have input and the work would be individualized just for them. Exclusivity is always appealing at the top of the market. Check out Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) (b. 1981) and his NFT art work Everydays: The First 5000 Days which was sold in 2021 at Christies Auction for $69,346,250.
But one of the most exciting aspects is how this might drive creativity in digital art. One-of-a-kind ideas of how to use this changing digital medium and being the first to introduce that technology could be a real advantage.
If you are an artist, you might want to try this out. OZY present Here’s how to Mint Your Own NFT
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| Shepard Fairey Arts Vote |
I had an interesting discussion with my husband this month about the difference between ignorant and stupid. I often chastise myself for thinking someone is stupid because they don’t believe in science or have a twisted view of truth. I try hard to see their point of view and be empathetic to how they might feel. But this is a hard task especially in our world that seems to be more and more polarized. I know these people are smart about lots of other things in their lives. But what I realized is that they may be uninformed once it was pointed out to me that they might just be ignoring certain ideas.
A case in point was in part 7 of the Jan 6 hearings. The
family man who listened only to social media to get his news and based his
opinions on a very narrow set of targeted statements. He ended up at the “steal
the vote” rally and got riled up with the rhetoric and found himself eventually
arrested for invading the capitol building. When he shut off the limited social
media sources he was reading and really started paying attention to all points
of views, he started to develop his own opinions. He saw that he had been misled
and that ignorance had a high price i.e.
jail time, loose of his job and his family home.
About this time, you might be asking, “What does this have
to do with visual art?” I think that one of the most attractive traits of a
good artist is curiosity. And if you are truly curious, you do not ignore life
around you, but delve into it. I should like to send a little congratulations
to all out there who are curious, who notice the world, who are tolerant and
who use their art to communicate some of what they are learning.
I am also not so sure anymore how polarized we actually
are. I hear this all the time but I may be a victim of the same sort of newsfeed
type rants. I know the political parties are divided. The issues of gun control, diversity, equity,
inclusion, abortion rights, climate change, voting rights are highly contested.
But I believe that most people in America are good at heart and not adversarial
in nature. If we can add more curiosity to that good nature, then a common way
might be found forward.
ArtsVote California is your way to make sure your vote counts.
