The Local Artist

I went to the Aluminum Pour at UMCP last night. Students came from Steve Jones’ class, and some other artists as well. Steve introduced me to one of the students as an “Advanced Student”- which seems to mean something to people. I find the hierarchy in this art program disconcerting. Why do Advanced Students, Honors Students, Graduate Students need to be distinguished somehow from the regular schlubs? I’m an “Advanced Special Student” (notice the acronym: ASS) which means I have a bachelors degree, and I’ve applied for graduate level studies in the art department, but my coursework is unlikely to count towards an advanced degree. Most people, even many of the faculty, don’t know what that is- so I don’t usually bother to explain it. Besides, from what I’m told, there’s no way to work on metal casting with Steve on a “graduate” level because of his status of an adjunct professor… so I signed up for the “Advanced” undergraduate course. The course number isn't that important to me. What counts is that I have access to fantastic facilities, and can work on my metal casting project under the supervision of a really interesting and encouraging artist.

So last night, as I hurriedly cut some foam sprues for my loss-foam pieces, another artist came in. She was quite a bit older than me. She had carried in a number of foam pieces, and we shared the glue gun and utility knife. She asked me, “is this your first sculpture class?”

Should I have been offended? I chose not to be- I probably had a "deer in the headlights" look- because the hubub and heat was freaking me out, and at least she was willing to start a conversation. I explained that I already had an art degree (I hope it’s safe to assume that most art programs include at least one sculpture class), but that I worked at UMD and took courses to use the facilities here. I may have mentioned that I took a metal casting course last summer. I asked her some questions about herself. She described herself as a “local artist”- which I found strange, and inspired me to write this post. She’s the second person I've talked to in the last few months who has chosen to self-identify with that term.

In my last blogpost I talked about the term, “emerging artist” and the kind of assumptions that come with that description. Why is it so hard to describe ourselves? After speaking with that woman last night, I’ve found myself thinking about the meaning of the term, “local artist.” We’re all local to somewhere- unless we’re nomadic, I guess. But why use the term “local artist?” Why not simply say, “I’m an artist. I live in Beltsville (or Takoma Park or Laurel or Anacostia or wherever…).

When I moved to the DC area from NY, I found the art scene sorely lacking. Compared to the downtown NY galleries, the work displayed in high-end galleries near Dupont seems dull and uninspiring. For years, I avoided DC galleries altogether- concluding that the reason DC arts were so uninteresting compared to NY, was that nobody moves to DC to be an artist. Aside from museum workers, artists in DC just happen to live here (much like myself) for reasons other-than the arts. I kept to myself, drawing in my journal, painting when I had the time, making internet friends from far away, and focusing my local efforts on the Maryland and DC music scene- which I found delightedly fresh, vibrant and accessible. After some really fun years of coordinating music shows I started to feel tired of devoting so much time and effort showcasing other people’s talent- and I realized that unless I placed art at the top of my priorities, I would never develop as an artist. Nobody else was going to put my art at the forefront.

I also started dating an artist. Dale works at the Smithsonian and introduced me to his artist and museum worker friends. Dale and I visit gallery openings together, we spend weekends working on our own art, through him I’ve become associated with a community of artists that I never knew existed here in DC.

While DC is no Soho or Greenpoint, there are certain things about DC arts that I have come to value above anything I’ve ever known in New York. On the whole, I find people in DC more accessible than folks in New York. When I used to go to lower Manhattan, or even certain places in Brooklyn, I was intimidated by the “cool” folks. This Long Island girl could never dress cool enough- and I’m not the kind of person to affect the requisite attitude. In DC, people just aren’t very cool- some people are assholes- but on the whole folks are a lot more friendly and open, and a whole lot less scary.

Another thing that I find wonderful about DC is that most museums offer free admission. In New York, I would take a day off from work, ride the subway and a bus for an hour from my apartment in Carol Gardens to the upper east side of Manhattan, only to scrape together my last few dollars for museum admission- without enough left over for an extra subway ride or pay phone call. When I was a child, my parents and I would sometimes take the Long Island Rail Road into New York to visit the Metropolitan Museum or the Museum of Natural History or the Frick for the day. Once we’d made such an effort to get there, and paid the high admission fees, we were pressured to spend hours and hours in the museum, soaking up every last drop of high art or history. While this was probably good for me, I found it grueling. I prefer living near DC, where I can take a short metro ride or drive in to see a museum, walk in and see what interests me, spending an hour or two at most, then go home without the pressure- knowing I can return at any time.

I think the most fantastic thing about DC has to do with people as organizers. Maybe because this is the political capitol of the nation, or maybe because rent is fairly cheap (compared to NY or Boston anyway) but DC has a wealth of artists who know how to organize. Artomatic is a prime example: organized by and for DC artists, folks come together to rent unused buildings and create an enormous gallery where hundreds of artists display their work. The first time I heard about Artomatic was shortly after I moved here. I wasn’t interested because this was uncurated- why bother? Isn’t most of the art likely to be crap? I’ve learned a lot since then, and I’ve changed my thinking about what it means for something to be “curated” or something to be “art.” My favorite thing about Artomatic now, is precisely that it is open to anyone willing to put in the time and effort to display their work. Visiting artomatic is like spending an hour hunting for treasures in a warehouse flea market. This is where you’ll find a full range of art made by schooled and self-taught artists, those with gallery representation and those who are showing their art to an audience for the very first time. The emergence of “outsider art” has caused even “insiders” to reassess what it means to be an artist. Artomatic isn’t the only instance where this happens in DC, but it’s a super example of grassroots organizing making a vibrant art experience.

As I’ve come to recognize the important contributions of self taught artists, I’m still proud of my art education. I worked hard to earn a scholarship to art school, and the program at SUNY Purchase was really good. I spent four years immersed in a world of drawing and painting and thinking critically about art. The only thing my art degree lacked was name recognition. With a BFA in painting and drawing from a State University, I was absolutely unprepared for life as a financially solvent artist. My art education never promised this, but after accruing tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, I had to turn to other occupations to pay my bills. I find it ironic that UMD folks dismiss my art degree, “SUNY What? Never heard of it”… when the program at Purchase was so much more competitive and rigorous than anything I’ve seen at UMCP. And it’s not like UMCP has much name recognition outside of the DC area- so I find this dismissive attitude really strange. Other than the Corcoran, there’s a lack of art schools in the DC area. There are art programs within other schools, but when cost is a consideration, there are few choices, which makes UMCP’s art program really important- but I find, outside of cost considerations and some great facilities, UMCP isn’t “all that” and doesn’t justify some of the haughty attitudes I’ve seen. I’ve come to know a good number of serious, talented and dedicated artists who have never completed a serious art education program. For me, studying art was, and continues to be really important but I don't think that having (or borrowing) $60,000 or more for an art degree should determine whether one should have any more status as an artist. It's what you do with what you've got that really matters.

So am I a “local artist?” I'm certainly not an "internationally acclaimed artist" and I’ve lived in Takoma Park for ten years. Is that long enough to make me “local?” Or do I need some degree of recognition first? When people think of artists in DC, how many think of me? Probably not very many. I can’t afford to rent an art studio at Arise or any of the other artist groups that many people consider some kind of criteria for being a “serious artist” , nor can I afford the costly monthly or annual memberships in many of the “community galleries” that offer art shows to local artists. I approached one community gallery with an idea for an all-female group art exhibit, explaining that I was tired of being known as so-and-so's girlfriend... and the response I received was, “we don’t do political shows” (the same gallery had a show about the gulf oil spill not long after that). Maybe he didn’t like my art? I’m pretty sure he had made up his mind long before he had seen very much of my art. I’m pretty sure he just didn’t like me, my feminism or my attitude.

This is a problem for me: I can't help but to critically analyze the assumptions we make. Artists are, for the most part, visual thinkers, so maybe it's not fair to get too heavily into semantics. And when I speak my mind about things I disagree with, I end up offending people which really doesn’t do me any favors. I find it really hard to promote myself. I don’t have an enthusiastic elevator speech to convince strangers that they will absolutely love my art and must purchase it so they can hang it up in their homes and gaze lovingly at it every day. I’d rather let my art speak for itself... and making art as home decoration or commodity is not even close to my motivation as an artist. But most people find it easier to understand English than Art, and when it comes down to it- selling art is important. Determining whether art is “quality” is really subjective. Is art good because it looks like something in life? Or is it good because it looks like something you’ve seen in a gallery or museum or magazine? Is it good because it matches your drapes? Or is it good because it looks like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life? Often our opinions about art are, in a large part, influenced by our personal feelings about the artist and the opinions of people we respect. We attend the art openings of our friends or artist we’ve come to know through art history classes or read about in art reviews. Criticizing the art cultural norms in DC or UMCP or criticizing other artists who are working hard and doing good work is probably unlikely to win me many friends or critical acclaim. Maybe I just feel frustrated- because after years of hard work on my own art, and years of attending gallery shows of other artists in my community- few people show much interest in what I’m making. It's not like nobody cares- I have some really good friends who are artists- but I haven't had a show since the last Artomatic. I still haven’t found my niche.