What To Do If The Word “Networking” Makes You Gag.

Often when I say the word “networking” to an Artist or Creative I get a predictable response: a deep sigh followed by a bit of not-so-subtle eye-rolling.  In some cases their very real, viscerally negative, response is so apparent that I quickly change the subject because I’m afraid their gag reflex is about to kick in.

If you’re one of the aforementioned eye-rollers or cringers, let me just put something out there for you to ponder: 

What if instead of the word “networking”, we used the phrase “community building”?  

Or perhaps we should call it “Alliance Building”.  Or even better, what if instead of networking, we called it “building my ‘super awesome people that I want to collaborate with in the future’ posse”?

This is what "Networking" looks like. I know, I know.  It's painful to watch.
Clearly we are having no fun at all, right?

What if instead of a “Networking Event” we called it a “Meet like-minded creative people and get energized so I can get my kick-ass art mojo back” Party? 

Does that sound “icky” to you?   

Or does that sounds like a party you hope to god you’ll get an invite to?

What’s so icky about the possibility of meeting creative people who share your highest values and core beliefs?

What’s so icky about the possibility of meeting artists who love what you love and who laugh at what makes you laugh?

What’s so icky about the possibility of meeting other creative people who have the energy and the creativity to make things happen, and then working together towards a common goal?  

What’s so icky about the possibility of working together to create something powerfully beautiful?

What if instead of thinking of networking as “Hey, I’m Mister Important! Here’s my cheesy business card.”, we thought of networking as:

“Hey! My name is Kesha Bruce.  I really admire what you do.  I wanna keep in touch with you because I believe in the projects/art/business you’re creating. Send me an e-mail and let me know if I can offer any of my own experience or resources to help you get this amazing thing done.”

That’s not icky---that’s just awesome!

Networking is an exchange of ideas and energy.

Networking is about the magic of possibility. 

It’s as much about giving as it is about taking. It’s as much about listening as it is about talking. It’s not just about asking for help, it’s about generosity of spirit and the willingness to commit to helping others.  Networking is about valuing what you have to offer this world and not being afraid to share it.

 

Maybe networking isn’t icky. Maybe your way of thinking about it is.

Are you courageous enough to adjust your attitude about "networking"?

So what do you think?

When you think of the word “networking” what comes to mind?

What can you do to make “networking” seem easier and more organic?

Do you have a story about how “networking” has helped your career?

Why on earth are so many Artists and Creatives so averse to “networking” when often what we create is all about communication?

Chime in with your responses/thoughts in the comment section.

Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★

 














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How To Construct a Creative Life in the 21st Century.

If you’ve been following my twitter feed for any time now, this is practically old news to you.  At the end of last year I signed on to become a regular contributor to Fresh Art International. In fact I have my own column called Fresh Rx.  

What I love about Fresh Art is that the entire website is all about artists’ creative practices, both the practical and the more philosophical stuff. From the Fresh Art website:

"Fresh Art International is an evolving new media platform which taps into the world's most amazing resources. Fresh Talk podcasts feature Cathy Byrd in conversation with contemporary artists, curators, performance artists, designers, architects and inventive entrepreneurs. Our goal? To embody the fresh thinking and positivity essential to construct a creative life in the 21st century."

Recent podcasts have featured Papo Colo, artist and co- founder of Exit Art, Chicago-based video performance artist JeffersonPinder, Paris-based artist Frédéric Nauczyciel, German artist Regina Frank, and of course, yours truly.

Essentially, Fresh Art is designed as a platform where artists can hear other artists talk about their lives, their studio practices, and their struggles and experiences.  It’s precisely the type of resource I wish had existed when I was just starting out and was desperate for information, not just on marketing, but what it’s actually like to live as an artist.

 

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a thousand times:

If you are an artist, other artists are your greatest asset and your most powerful resource.

Working in isolation or under a false sense of competition hasn’t helped any of us. Frankly, we are dying from it. The moment that sharing and helping each other becomes second nature, we will all be better off. All of us.

We will not survive without each other.

So let me ask you:

Have you ever had an art “mentor” whom you went to for ideas, help or guidance?

What skills/ideas/techniques have you learned from other artists over the years?

Who do you turn to when you need support to overcome a career hurdle?

What have you learned from other artists?

Leave your responses in the comment section.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★

 














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Art = No Shoes. No Make-up. ALL Bliss!

I still have sand in my hair and I have a serious case of “vacation brain”, but I'm home from the Maldives just in time to celebrate my birthday today!

But April 16^th isn’t just the day I celebrate another successful trip around the sun.  My birthday is also the day I’ve chosen to release my latest work into the world. 

So as promised, New Stuff:

 Duunas, 2012. Mixed media on canvas. 27.5 x 19.6 inches (70 cm x 50 cm.)

Big Spirit Dancing - Drawings inspired by stories and legends of the Hopi fertility diety Kokopelli, and the Yoruba Orisha Xango.

The Guardians – A series of paintings depicting 8 solemn and mysterious monolithic spirits who act as watchers, keepers, and protectors.

Wrestling with Angels - Fifteen explosively colorful and intricately layered drawings influenced by the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel during his journey back to Canaan.
 

You can click over and see all of the artworks on my website: KeshaBruce.com and you can also download my new 2012 Price List here.

Ta daaa!
 

BIG Birthday Love,

-Kesha★

A not-so artistic self-portrait taken last week, from the balcony of my private Lagoon Suite, on the heavenly island of Kani, somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean just above the equator. 

No Shoes. No Make-up. ALL Bliss!

That's a Wrap!

At least for 2011 anyway.

After today this blog will be maintaining radio silence until April 2012.

I'll be spending most of my time in the studio finishing new work and preparing for my 2012 New Collection Preview on April 16th.  

(Click here if you haven't signed up for your preview invite yet.)

 Stuff I Will Be Doing For the Next 3 Months 

Instead of Writing This Blog:

Studying French verb conjugations and reading Alexandre Dumas.   

What better way to brush up my French grammar and vocabulary than to spend a few months doing verb drills and passing an hour a day reading a fantastic French novel?  Weighing in at nearly 1000 pages, La Dame de Monsoreau should pose quite a challenge for the next few months. (I’m even an over achiever in my leisure time!)

Catching up with Ira Glass.

I stopped buying books in 2010 because my bookcases are overflowing with books I haven’t yet had time to read.  Now my Audible.com download manager is over-flowing with audio books I haven’t had time to listen to, and I can’t remember the last time I heard an episode of This American Life.  I plan on getting an earful for the next few months.

Rockin' out on my gee-tar.

I've been taking guitar lessons off and on for two years now.  How is it even possible that I'm still so dreadfully awful at it?  Like really. I suck at it. I can't even play one Bob Marley song.  This must be remedied immediately.

Giving my running shoes a real work-out.  

I used to hate the winter months.  But I quickly made peace with the long, cold, dark winter months by focusing on staying physically active.  There’s nothing like a swift brisk work out to lift your spirits. I have 2 pairs of running shoes.  If you’re extra quiet, and listen very carefully, you will actually hear them screaming my name.

Spending a week lounging on a beach in Thailand.

If the brisk work-out schedule doesn’t do its job, I have a back-up plan.  In February I'll probably spend a week lounging on the beach in Phuket, which from what I hear, is beautiful enough to lift anyone’s spirits. I just renewed my passport last week, so with a bit of luck, Thailand will be the first stamp! 

Getting my hands dirty. 
It's been an amazing year.  Perhaps one of the best I've had in a very long time. I love blogging and I love working with artists, but the part of my life that’s focused on the actual making of art is the fuel for everything else I do. 

Never forget--The work always comes first.

See ya in April!

BIG Expansive Ginormous Love,

-Kesha★

UPDATE: I won't be blogging here, But I'll be posting bite-sized updates and work-in-progress photos over on my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/keshabruce

And if you REALLY miss me, you can always come chat with me on twitter:
https://twitter.com/keshabruce

What keeps you motivated and on track? Are you fueled by external validation?

Art Basel/ Miami Beach is said and done, and by now almost everyone has chimed in with a response to Charles Saatchi’s scathing review of the contemporary art world, but I still find myself in plenty of discussions about the state of affairs in the current Art market.

All these discussions have me thinking about the Louise Bourgeois retrospective I saw at the Centre Pompidou Paris a few years back. The retrospective presented 200 sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings Bourgeois produced between 1940 and 2007.

What really struck me was how playful Bourgeois was in all of her work. She was willing to try, explore, and talk about anything. She pushed and worked with an idea in as many different ways as possible. The diversity of materials and forms was breath-taking  and her work ethic was nothing short of astounding. 

She was absolutely fearless. (Or perhaps just very, very brave.)

Here is an artist that started studying at the Sorbonne when she was 15 years old and then never stopped. Ever!  For two decades, after her professional debut, she as wholly ignored by the art world powers that be, but she just kept making art!  She just kept working.

Questions to consider:

What keeps you motivated and on track?

Could you keep making art for two decades without any professional validation?


How much of your self worth as an Artist is tied up in winning the right award, grant, residency, or fellowship?


How do praise, recognition, or external validation (or the lack there of) factor into the way you make your work or feel about your art career?

Leave your thoughts, opinions and two cents in comments.

BIG Love,


-Kesha★



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Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.

...But you already know that.












Above photo of Louise Bourgeois courtesy of Maplethorpe Gallery

Is the Contemporary Art World "Hideous"?

I’ve been finding myself in numerous conversations about the state of contemporary art lately.  Most of them are in response to all the dust that’s been kicked up surrounding celebrity British art collector Charles Saatchi’s recent comments about the current art world.

A few of Saatchi's juiciest quotes: 

“Being an art buyer these days is comprehensively and indisputably vulgar. It is the sport of the Eurotrashy, Hedge-fundy, Hamptonites; of trendy oligarchs and oiligarchs; and of art dealers with masturbatory levels of self-regard.”

"...I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one..." 

And my personal fave:

"Few people in contemporary art demonstrate much curiosity. The majority spend their days blathering on, rather than trying to work out why one artist is more interesting than another, or why one picture works and another doesn't."

Ouch! Click here to read his full tirade.

So what do you think?


Do you agree with any of Saatchi's opinions?

Is the contemporary Art World "hideous"?

Can the Art world tell a good artist  from weaker one?

Art Buyers: How do you make your purchasing decisions?

Artists: Where do you place yourself in all this?



Leave your opinions and ideas in comments.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this discussion interesting, hit the re-tweet button, then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.

...But you already know that.

Let's Be Honest---Are You Insane?

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again 

and expecting different results.”
- Albert Einstein

I will be the first to admit that I have suffered from insanity.

(The drawing above is a self-portrait as per my mental state circa 2002-2005.)

Over the course of my art career, I spent years trying the same “so-called” marketing techniques time and time again even though it was obvious that I wasn’t seeing a return on my investment.

Some forms of insanity I have participated in:

• Paying for expensive “prints” of my work, hoping I could sell them at a lower price point---even though I had no mailing list or existing collector base to even try to market them to.

• Spending hundreds of dollars applying to and shipping artworks to random, poorly publicized and poorly attended juried exhibitions or competitions just because I was panicky about not having enough lines on my resume.  

• Investing an enormous amount of money in framing a body of work, even though I had done ZERO marketing and had no exhibitions lined up for said body of work.

• Spending time in Linked-In groups complaining and moaning about how my art sales sucked, when I should have been out at art openings meeting new people, or taking workshops to get better at my craft.

• Blindly sending “gallery packets” year after year to gallery directors that I had never met or to galleries I’d never even visited.

• Paying good money for software to send out incredibly boring and poorly designed e-mail newsletters.

All of these things involved a considerable amount of time, money, and emotional energy, yet even though I knew these things weren’t getting me anywhere I still continued to do them---for years! After all---I had become quite good at them.  (Especially the complaining and moaning part.)

Are you currently "insane"?

Have you ever suffered from “insanity”?

What bad habits are you ready to get rid of in the upcoming year?

What will you do differently in your Art business in 2012?

I'm looking forward to reading your replies in comments.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

What Activities in Your Life Deserve to be Given the CHOP?

One of the questions I get asked most often is “You have so many things going on! How do you manage to get everything done?”

The answer:  I don’t.

The truth is that I have no magic recipe for packing more hours into the day. My to-do list often over flows onto 2 or even 3 pages, I don’t have a full or even part-time assistant to help me get things done, and I have just as many work and family obligations as the next gal.

The only reason that I’m able to be so productive, work on so many fun projects, and take all of my exciting, last minute weekend getaways is because I have learned to say “No!” 

Every errand, so-called obligation, or activity that has no significantly positive, long-term impact on my life has been banished.  I simply give them the “CHOP”.

 “I’m having a boring dinner party Friday, can you come?”  Thanks! But Nope.

“Hey, we’re gonna see the new Justin Timberlake movie. Wanna come?”  Nope.

“Can you donate an artwork to our annual fundraiser….?”  Uhm, Hell No.

Chop, Chop, and CHOP!

I don’t have spare time.  All of my time is accounted for and filled with high-value and high-reward experiences that truly increase the quality of my life. 

---Note here that I said life, not art career.  

Learning to say “no” easily and often, will not only allow you to make advances in your art career, but will ultimately improve the over-all quality of your life.

My question to you:

What can you start saying “No” to TODAY?

What do you have a hard time saying "No" to?

What everyday activities in your life deserve to be given the CHOP?

What low-value activity can you completely eliminate from your schedule until you’ve reached some of your more rewarding, meaningful goals?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

Why Don't Artists Make Any Money?

One of the most powerful parts of being in New York City for the past two months was the sheer amount of time I had to actually spend talking with artists every day.   

Over the course of six weeks I had the chance to talk with painters, photographers, sculptors, video and performance artists, designers, web designers, jewelry designers, and even a few people working in the fashion industry.

I’ll be honest with you here.  I left each and every one of those conversations very, very, very ALARMED!

We as Artists are in BAD shape.

Some of the things I’ve been hearing a lot of lately:

“I just don’t have enough time.”

“I’m totally overwhelmed by all this marketing stuff.”

“I don’t get the whole social media thing.”

“I hate networking!”

It seems that many of us know what we need to do, have most of the information we need, and for sure, we have the ideas and the creativity, but some THING is in the way of us putting all those puzzle pieces together.

So let’s get down to brass tacks here, art people:

#1  What fears, problems, obstacles are holding you back from reaching your goals?

#2  What do you need to get over those hurdles?

#3 What pieces of the puzzle are you missing?

Leave your thoughts in comments.

Let’s get to work!

BIG Love,

-Kesha★

 














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Next Stop: Washington DC!

I’m on the move!

Next stop Morton Fine Art in Washington D.C. where I will be showing the (Re)callingand (Re)telling series along with “The Story” series.  If you missed my 6x6 exhibition, “Talking to Myself", this is a great chance to see both bodies of work in one place.  Also, it’s my last Art Tour stop of 2011 before I jump continent and head back to France just in time for the Paris Photo Art Fair.

As part of the FOTOWEEK DC 2011 FESTIVAL you are cordially invited to the opening reception for

(Re)calling and (Re)telling

An exhibition of work by artist Kesha Bruce.

November 5–November 12, 2011.

Artist Talk and Opening Reception:
Saturday November 5th, 2011.
2 - 5 PM.

THAT THEY MIGHT BE LOVELY, 2008.  Archival Pigment Print.
(20  x 27  inches.)  Edition of 15. $350 Click here for 2011 price list.

 

(Re)calling and (Re)telling uses maps, drawings, found documents, and family photographs to creative new, hybrid narratives that address aspects of African-American history and experience through memory and storytelling.

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20009-2647
(202) 628-2787
http://www.mortonfineart.com

I can't wait to meet all my Washington D.C. peeps!  See ya there!

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.