Fresh Rx.10 with Kesha Bruce

Fresh Rx.10

I’ve been a full-time artist for nearly 20 years now and I’ve worked hard to build a client list of people who are interested in my work. I work in my studio about 30 hours a week and I show and sell my work on a regular basis on the national level. My biggest problem is that at this point in my career I feel a bit stuck. I feel like I’ve lost that spirit of discovery and adventure I had as a young art student. Any ideas about how I can get it back?
Painter, Chicago, IL

Sometimes in my own studio practice, I find that I get to the end of one avenue of thought and there’s just nothing left there to go on. I’m done. Or I may find that an idea that I started out working on with absolute excitement, now just seems plain boring. When this happens, I have two solutions that always work for me:

Take a sharp left.
Stop everything and go in a completely different direction. In some cases, it may be as easy as switching mediums. Working with new materials, or restricting the materials you allow yourself to use is a great way to set up problems or obstacles that will force your brain to find a way to “work around.” Most of the time the work I produce when I’m creating in this mode never becomes finished artwork. But that’s never the point. The point is to get a fresh perspective. I like to think of it as Creative Research and Development. 

Stop and refuel.
It takes a lot of mental and physical energy to create great work. When I’m having a series of days where I find I’m super low on both energy and motivation, I wise up and realize that instead of forcing myself to move ahead at half mast, I really need to rest and refuel. I’m a big believer in the idea of artists and Creatives taking serious and planned “down time” in order to sustain themselves long-term. Too often we out-put all this creative energy and then we forget to refuel. We get so excited and busy working on projects and activities that when our creative “low fuel” warning light comes on, we don’t pay attention. Just because your creative inkwell has temporarily run dry doesn’t mean there aren’t any exciting new ideas left in there. Perhaps they just need more time to germinate.

In July 2009, Stefan Sagmeister gave a great TED talk about The Power of Time Off.

Send your questions to Kesha Bruce: freshartinternational@gmail.com
Subject Line: Fresh Rx

Fresh VUE: Theaster Gates & Huguenot House

Theaster Gates: 12 Ballads for Huguenot House


Pictured here, 12 Ballads for Huguenot House was created by Chicago-based artist and urban planner Theaster Gates. His project for documenta(13) unites two disused buildings—one in Chicago and the other in Kassel, Germany—by dismantling parts of each to reuse in rebuilding the other. The spatial re-imagining is realized in twelve thematic “ballads.”

Theaster speaks about his work at American University, Washington, DC, on November 6, 2012. His talk is the second annual lecture in the new Kinetic: Conversations in Contemporary Art lecture series at the University. Fresh Art International makes history that night by recording the inaugural Fresh Talk LIVE podcast.

Photos: Cathy Byrd, except where noted.

Fresh Rx.8 with Kesha Bruce

Solutions to Your Creative Dilemmas


How do I cultivate a unique/notable/fresh brand
at the beginning of my mid-career?

Branding is a catch-phrase that has trickled down from corporate culture. In a very basic way, branding is really about your reputation and how you actively present yourself to the world. But unlike a corporation, as an artist, you are your brand. With that in mind, when it comes to cultivating your personal brand it’s important to start from the inside. This is true for artists at every stage of their careers.

To build your personal brand you’ll need more than a logo and a slickly designed website. You need to be clear about who you are and what you have to offer. I’m not just talking about displaying the type of artwork you have available for sale. I’m talking about how you present yourself and your personality.

What three or four adjectives best describe you and what you have to offer? What words would you use to define your personality? What are you passionate about? What emotions do you want to generate when people come into contact with you and your work? Are these values being expressed on your website, blog, your social media outlets, and every other piece of content or information you put out into the world?

Click over to your website and have a quick look at your “About” page. Are you communicating enough information about what you stand for that a new-to-you person could easily and quickly figure out whether or not they want to hang around long enough to get to know you even better? People who visit your website, blog, or even your twitter bio are going to judge you, in a matter of seconds, based on what they see. These people can’t feel attached to your brand if they don’t know what you stand for. So step up and tell them who you are.

Just like building your artistic skill, personal brand building takes a bit of hard work and practice, but the rewards are well worth the effort.By taking the time to define who you are and choosing the best way to communicate those ideas, you can better position yourself to make connections with potential art buyers who would be most interested in exactly the type of artwork you have to offer.

More on Personal Branding: How To Make It: Building Your Personal Brand

Send me your questions: freshartinternational@gmail.com. I'm here to help!

Kesha Bruce

Fresh Talk: Kesha Bruce

Listen to this episode.

Conversations about Creativity in the 21st Century

Artist, curator, art consultant and Fresh Rx contributor, Kesha Bruce talks to Cathy Byrd about her creative platforms and offers advice to artists. 

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz
Photos: Kesha Bruce
Music: Slim Harpo

Fresh Rx.2 with Kesha Bruce

Solutions to Your Creative Dilemmas

I'd really like to be represented by a gallery. How can I make that happen?

A printmaker, Paris

There’s no one formula that will guarantee your entry into any gallery, but there are a few steps you can take to make the path a bit easier.

The first step is to do your research. Take a look at galleries that interest you. Does your work fit in with their current roster of artists?  Do you have anything in common with their other artists in terms of style, medium, career stage, and price range? If the answer to all of the above is 'yes,' then you can move on to the next step where you visit the gallery website, find out their submission policy, and send your beautifully designed informational packet.

That said, in my experience, the easiest way to get your work into a gallery is to be introduced to the gallery's director by one of the artists that’s already working with that space. Get on the gallery mailing list and start going to their openings. Add the gallery to your mailing list (This means your snail mail, postcard invite mailing list. Never add a gallery to your e-mail list without permission!) Introduce yourself—not only to the gallery director, but also to the other artists who work with the gallery. Once you’ve spent time getting to know the workings of the gallery, the director, and the gallery's artists, then you might go about asking the director if they’d be interested in looking at your work.

If this whole process sounds a bit like a dating ritual, that’s because in some ways, it is. Essentially, when you sign a contract with a gallery, you’re entering into a complex business relationship that involves plenty of risks for both parties.  When viewed from this perspective, clearly, a bit of “courting” is in order. 

Send me your questions. I'm here to help! Kesha Bruce: freshartinternational@gmail.com

Introducing Fresh Rx

Struggling to find time to create your music?

No traffic on your website?

Trouble meeting the right people?

Find solutions to your creative dilemmas on our new Fresh Rx page.

Because Fresh Art International believes that fresh thinking is essential to building a sustainable professional future, we’re introducing Fresh Rx, an advice column designed for creative people like you. Fresh Rx is here help you visualize AND actualize your potential. 

Kesha Bruce, a dynamic art consultant and one of FAI's Fresh People, is ready to dispense the answers.

You:

Tell us about the kinks in your practice.

Fresh Rx:

Proposes non-prescriptive answers—straightforward advice, with links to professional resources that will help you address the challenges that seem to keep you from reaching your goals.

Send your questions to freshartinternational@gmail.com. 
Subject Line: Fresh Rx

Fresh Talk: Joyce Scott

Listen to this episode

Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

This fall, Joyce Scott, a venerated visual and performing artist based in Baltimore, Maryland, is participating in Prospect.2, New Orleans, a biennial of international contemporary art. Joyce considers the state of art in her home town and talks about her Prospect.2 projects. Performing at Cafe Istanbul on Saturday, October 22, she will tell the story of Miss V, a worldly incarnation of Saint Veronica, who is frustrated by the chasm between men and women in the 21st century.

Sound Editor: Ira Kip 
Photos courtesy Goya Contemporary 
Music: Joyce Scott