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The Plight of the Emerging Artist
originally published in GASNews, November/December 1998
In the art world, of which we are a subset, there seem to be three designations: student, emerging artist, mid-career artist. Perhaps four, if you count icon.
In general, we recognize that students require special consideration. G.A.S. - true to its roots as an organization of educators - offers subsidized fees for membership and conference participation. Despite the rising costs of tuition, facilities are made available for below-cost rates and student work gains exposure through special exhibitions. There is an accessible peer group of fellow students, and instruction and guidance are (ideally) readily available from faculty and instructors. And then, often with great ceremony, the student is shown the door and his status changes overnight.
Consider the plight of the emerging artist. Where jobs in your field are hard to come by or nonexistent. And where, if you do turn up one, you spend several years investigating the deeper meaning of "bottom of the ladder." (I think the first year out of school, my income actually dropped.) And where your peers are scattered like so many bread crusts cast on the water. And where you have no one to critique your work. And where no one is offering you a show. And where no one offers you a discount with your ID. And where studio rentals, shop rentals, assistants, materials, tools and equipment all claim a disproportionate amount of your wages. Is it any wonder that the attrition rate for art students is high?
In any discussion of emerging artists, the problems begin with the terminology: how exactly do you define "emerging artist"? The Glass Art Society limits participation in an ongoing series of conference presentations by "Young Artists" to artists out of school five years or less. Aside from presuming that all artists have been to school, it strikes me as an arbitrary limit. Age is also used as a determinant, as in last year's survey exhibition by Denmark's Glasmuseum (which held that 35 was the last year of an emerging artist's existence). This may seem to be a simple case of institutional ageism - and certainly discriminates against the late bloomers among us - but it also illustrates the awkward nature of trying to focus on emerging artists without any recognized criteria for inclusion. Experience (or lack thereof) may be implicit in the idea of an emerging artist, but that doesn't seem to be a consideration for the Pilchuck Glass School. Their prestigious Emerging Artist-in-Residence program this year includes a mid-career painter and gallery owner; a watercolorist with several solo shows to her credit; and a Pilchuck faculty member from the summer of 1997. Surely this is stretching the definition of emerging artist past the point of reason.
The position of the "emerging artist" is a precarious one. What can G.A.S. offer the emerging artist? First, a peer group. The conferences exist to foster contacts and communication between all artists and a great many of us are in similar circumstances. Go forth and network! There are also parts of the conference program that particularly address the needs of emerging artists: the afore-mentioned Young Artist presentations, as well as the workshops and information available in the Education Center. (The Ed Center in Tucson was especially well-stocked with professionals to advise on topics as diverse as bookkeeping to shipping to legal questions). The G.A.S. News is an excellent source of exhibition and job opportunities, and the grants and residencies that can forestall the inevitable. There is also information about technical and practical concerns of special interest to fledgling professionals.
Lastly, we all have a role to play to ensure that one generation follows another; that we teach others what we were taught, that we pay down on the debt we owe to our mentors. Hire an emerging artist (and pay them decently). Be a mentor. Promote the work of young artists, of all ages, matriculated or not, whenever you have the opportunity.
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