Assignments for Oct 29

When you contact your interviewee, I'd recommend saying you'd like an interview of about 20 or 30 minutes. You can frame it like this:

"I am taking a class called Professional Practices, and part of the aim of the class is to think about how, practically, we will pursue art-making after we graduate from school. One of the projects is to interview an artist about their career -- how it has progressed, and how they have managed to balance their work and their life. The Professor has asked us to gather information about the practical, logistical and business side of art practice. I know that some artists are reluctant to get into the details of that aspect of their work, but if you would be available for a 20 to 30 minute interview on that topic, I'd be very grateful." Obviously you can make it more specific to your target interviewee.

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Over the course of next week, start to generate a list of questions for your interviewee. The should be very logistically-focused, and can include the following:

How much of your annual income comes from your art, and how much comes from other sources?

What percentage of your time do you actually spend working in your studio? And what do you spend the rest of your life doing to support that time?

Do you belong to any professional associations? If so, why? What are the advantages that membership provides you?

Do you belong to a wider artist's community, beyond any professional associations? What is that community, and why do you participate in it?

Who is your audience? Who buys your work? Does your audience consist of one consistent demographic, or different demographics? How have you expanded your audience over time? How do you market your work?

What sort of education and/or training have you pursued in your career as an artist? Was it worth it? What were the most valuable things you've taken away from your education or training?

Does your art practice have an impact on the way you do your taxes? If so, how?

What sorts of legal issues, if any, have you had to deal with in making or selling your art?

Brea & Adrian: For Tuesday, Oct. 8

Hey there. Just a reminder – for next week, please have:

1. A list of four or five artists/designers who are doing what you'd like to do professionally. Include contact info. We're going to read out to them and see if you can arrange an interview with them. We'll talk more about framing your contact email next class.

2. Find an interview with an artist/illustrator you like (they could be one of the artists in your list of potential contacts). Please post a link to it in the "comments" on this post. We'll go over these interviews next class, with an eye to looking at how they frame their work - to see if there might be strategies we could use in framing our own work.