Take Notice Tonight!
Tonight, July 21.
6-8 PM @ 455 West Sixth Street
UPDATE!
I ended up attending most of the meeting last night (I had to leave at 8 sharp). Coastal was out in force, as were lots of local activist types, including the almost comically enthusiastic sports coalition crowd. Port employees and associated people almost outnumbered the community members. The meeting had a really rigid structure, apparently these meetings have gotten pretty exciting in the past, and the Port was trying really hard to keep "the sheep" a.k.a. the people of San Pedro, calm and on topic for the two hours. Everything was framed in terms of positives, but it was obvious that the community only wants one thing. A Pedro for locals, not for tourists. It is funny, when the Port talks about events, it's all numbers - number of attendees, amount of business, etc... When the community talks about events its about tangible things to do - what to see, stuff for kids, etc...
9 Comments:
Wow, you haven't even seen the art show yet and you already know it's lousy!
You PV guys are way 'leeter than us Pedrans, that's for sure.
Anyway, I wish I could be there tonight to counter you, but it's not possible. Have fun and say hi to the regulars for me.
I'm not saying the show is lousy, the way they put it together was lousy and unprofessional. Damn near every artist in town has come through my door talking shit about it. There is a way to put together juried shows, and a way not to.
Despite the geography of my birth I'm a Pedran at this point. I'll defend Pedro's honor, a dozen shots to the wind, in any dive bar in town.
The litany of artist complaints (Note: These aren't necessarily my complaints, I'm mostly echoing here)-
1) This is not a normal juried show. This is an "Open Call" show where all artwork that is hangable is presented to the public. Many professional artists do not show in "Open Call" shows, due to the low quality of many of the participants. The four jurors apparently will be the group choosing the winner of the sole prize. Normally, in a juried show the jurors would choose the works that are accepted and shown, in addition to the prize winner(s).
2) Lack of entry fee + vague requirements for work. Entry fees act as a speedbump, eliminating some of the lowest quality work. Vague requirements make it look like you don't know what you're doing, which discourages professional artists from participating.
3) Artwork is apparently not insured in any way. Big problem.
4) No one knows who is handling and installing their work. Will it be Port employees with no professional art handling experience? As far as I know no professional art handler was contracted to hang the work. I was contacted about the job early on, but couldn't take it due to my schedule.
4) Only one award, "purchase price" = bad idea. Purchase price may be much less than the $5k maximum award. Multiple smaller awards amounting to 5k would be a better setup. This was the biggest complaint.
5) Limiting the show to harbor area residents. A wider reach might increase both the quality and the participation in the show, both from local artists and out-of-towners.
6) During the 6 months during which your artwork is entrusted to the port, your work cannot sold. For many professional artists, this effectively takes a portion of their potential income out of ciculation.
I've never been to one of these Bridge to Breakwater meetings, I have no idea who the regulars are. As to countering me, you might find that my ideas in regard to the kind of events that I want to see in our town are a lot closer to the kind you want than you might think.
Dude...it's the Port of Los Angeles. Of course it's not a "normal juried show." If "professional artists" won't deign to enter a contest not run in the manner to which their scene has accustomed them, then perhaps it's just not really for them in the first place. And perhaps it's for the best. Look, the Port just wants some cute, harmless, locally-produced, representational pictures of cranes and whales and such, and frankly, why shouldn't they? It's the Port, for crying out loud, not MOCA. I swear I'm not trying to be a smartass, but seriously, who gives a fuck? Must every art show be professional? Let it go, man.
Quite honestly, if these artist friends of yours can't think of anything better to do on a warm summer night than sit in a cramped room and bitch at the frigging Port of Los Angeles because its local amateur art show is too...well, local and amateur, I think they must be suffering from some serious creative blockage. It's like getting all upset because the Campbell's Soup company is holding a jingle-writing contest that doesn't sufficiently resemble the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.
So, no, the POLA isn't putting on professional art shows. I don't see the Cultural Affairs Department busying itself overmuch with the price of fish, either. It's just as well. Waiting for some government agency to build an art scene for you is a dead end, anyway.
Wanna put San Pedro's art on the map? Then get ye to your studios, O artists, and create art so great that nobody can possibly ignore it. Showing your art isn't the Port's job. It's yours. Forget about them, and get to work.
^^^He's right, you know.^^^
So, no, the POLA isn't putting on professional art shows.
The problem is, they attempted to structure the show so that professional artists, who are notoriously fickle, would enter. That is why they have the stupid $5k prize (to attract pros). That is why they have Mucnic as a juror (exposure to LA Times writer). You don't want to throw a show of totally amateur artists in front of the LA Times unless you want to have your artistic community look amateurish. That was their stated intention, not mine. If they wanted to put together a more locally oriented "amateur show" than they should have attempted to do that in the first place.
Last night, Julia Nagano, from POLA, was talking about the show a bit. It didn't even seem clear where they were going to hang the art. There was a vague reference to "in the galleries". Which galleries? The ones that are actually functional professional galleries? Or the ones that are only open one day a month, First Thursday? They also plan on moving the art around for tall ships, and then later moving it downtown to "show off what the harbor can do." Who's going to be moving the art? The high value, uninsured art from local "name" artists that they intend to exhibit? How is that totally uninsured art going to be loaded into trucks, transferred and hung? Who's art gets damaged in that lotto? Remember, it was their stated objective to attract the cream of the crop, not the amateur crowd.
As to the jurors. Apparently, the jurors met on Monday and selected art for the exhibition from the dropped off art. So there was some sort of culling process (which is good), and knowing the jurors, it was probably well done (Scott and Suzanne are great jurors, Robin has experience with juried shows). But what happens to the rejected art? Where does it go? When is it picked up? None of the materials published prior to the drop-off state anything about the process, which scared off a lot of potential participants, especially the ones with experience in this thing. Maybe they are running the jurying portion of the show in a totally professional manner, but no one had any reason to believe in advance that they were on the ball on it.
Last night I spoke with a member of the well-meaning committee who put together the show. I talked with her about the process, and how a lot of artists had come to me, concerned about the quality of the show and other factors. I'll be following up on this to make sure that local artists are well served by the Port when it chooses to enter their realm. I'm all for the Port sponsoring this kind of activity, but they need to know what they are doing so the long maligned San Pedro arts community is well represented. The artists deserve that much, and more.
Wanna put San Pedro's art on the map? Then get ye to your studios, O artists, and create art so great that nobody can possibly ignore it. Showing your art isn't the Port's job. It's yours. Forget about them, and get to work.
That's already happening, regardless/despite of the efforts of the Port. I'd much rather the Port make a directed effort to work with existing efforts, to partner with artists and organisations, than form committees that dabble ineffectively in the arts. Which is what I see them as doing with this type of exhibtion.
[ahem] ^^^also right.^^^
I've totally got a vision of you storming into the Anderson Senior Citizens Center on crafts day and demanding that the administration run a professionally juried show, and that they do more "outreach" for pro artists.
What can I say, I take my profession very seriously.
One of the things most people outside the art world don't know is just how packed with shysters, cheats and fly-by-nights it is. Artists get shit on all the time by folks who don't have their shit together. That's why I get so inflamed when I see an institution like the Port (who can throw easily dollars at the situation to do it right) half-ass their way through a "throw a bone to the artists" project/PR exercise like this one.
I feel ya. It's like, I used to want to be a famous musician, but once I realized that the Port of Los Angeles wasn't going to give me any gigs I knew that mine was a foolish dream.
Damn you, Worldport LA, for crushing my childhood ambitions. Damn you to hell.
Post a Comment
<< Home