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Critics Critiqued: November to December 2003 at Visage Eyewear, Portland, Oregon. |
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Fresh out of college, so very new to every last thing in the real world, I approached a few local art dealers and asked them if they would allow me to paint their portraits. In retrospect, possibly antagonizing potential helpmeets might have been unwise, but, at the time, I thought my series of gallery types was the most excellent manner of introducing myself to the art scene. I had hopes that I would earn an honest and thoughtful critique from the art-savvy dealers for all my trouble. All I earned was more trouble still...! |
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My professors had recommended I go directly from the shelter of school to the shelter of a gallery. In fact, the only vocational training Willamette University ever offered me was that advice--as a liberal arts college and not an art school, they are stronger on academics than on pragmatics. By commencement, I knew nothing of commission contracts or press releases: "slide portfolio" was the only phrase I knew in business-of-art speak. The workload that the graduate school of real life dumped on me from day one was immense--and also immensely satisfying. I was learning how to make ends meet by working for myself and by doing what I love. |
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Robert Kochs, Gavin Shettler, Jane Beebe, Charles Froelick, Paul Missal, Barbara Black, Mark Woolley, Elizabeth Leach, George Broderick, Linda Yoshida, and Signe Lawrence--and her little dog too!--were the gallery types who played along with my younger self. They allowed me to photograph them and interview them briefly. Four years later, my questions for them would be so very different. To learn more about the making of Critics Critiqued, please visit my blog. |
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