Many artists take risks in their businesses and in their art without even thinking about it. They are hard wired to experiment. To stretch the boundaries of what is possible.

Artists are innate problem solvers.

My guest for this episode of The Art Biz is one of those artists. The list of what Michael Gadlin has done to earn a living as a working artist for more than 20 years is impressive. He sells originals, consults, teaches, designs, builds websites, and even hosted a show on public television. He has also sat on boards and committees in his local Denver art community.

Michael is gifted with what seems to be an endless supply of energy. I came at him with one topic and his mind connected it to numerous other experiences. The result is a wide-ranging interview.

Michael waxes philosophically about the life of an artist. Deep stuff. We talk about the lessons he learned from other working artists, the artist’s collaboration with viewers, gallery representation, why it’s important to be part of a community, and much more. There are plenty of gold nuggets in this interview.

Music by Wildermiss

Highlights

• Michael Gadlin reflects on his journey as an artist and the key role of mentors along the way. (1:32)
• The lessons Michael learned from reaching his first major studio goal. (6:28)
• The payoff that comes with showing interest in every opportunity that crosses your path. (9:34)
• Michael describes his approach to both figurative and non-representational art. (12:23)
• Experimenting, problem solving creatively, and collaborating with the art community. (18:55)
• You cannot be a one-person band and succeed in your art business. (27:00)
• Figuring out who you are as an artist (beyond the art that you make). (29:20)
• What does it mean to be an integral part of the art community? (31:24)

  

• Positioning yourself in the places that will allow you to shape the decisions that are being made in your community. (37:28)
• When can you truly consider yourself an artist? (43:18)
• Creating a legacy with your art and with your life. (46:01)
• Constant hustling—Michael shares his multiple income streams. (47:36)
• Staying organized and getting things done starts with finding the right tools. (52:13)

Mentioned

• Pratt Institute
• Art Students League of Denver
• Blue Silo Studios
• Darrell Anderson
• Aliki McCain

Michael Gadlin Quotes

• “I went into this clueless about what I would end up learning, but I don’t have any regrets.”
• “You have to fail in order to succeed.”
• “The art business can be up and down but the one steady thing you can do is share your vision.”
• “The most interesting people that I’ve learned from are the ones who fail, get back up and learn to navigate just by pivoting a little.”
• “Understanding who you are as an artist will undoubtedly help you understand your business as an artist.”

About My Guest

Michael Gadlin began his art education at the Art Students League of Denver, followed by Metropolitan State University, Denver, and New York’s prestigious Pratt Institute of Art & Design in Brooklyn. He was awarded a residency at La Napoule Art Foundation in France.

Gadlin sits on the board of directors at both Denver’s MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and PlatteForum, an artist’s residency in the city. He has won numerous awards throughout his career as an artist, including the youngest artist ever to win Best of Show at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Gadlin’s work now hangs in the permanent collection f the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, among other city and government collections.

Follow Michael on Instagram @contemporary_vision

Music by Wildermiss

The post Artist as problem solver with Michael Gadlin (93) appeared first on Art Biz Success.

Taking charge of your art business is about assuming 100% responsibility for your actions—all of your actions, especially in your studio.

We all want to increase our productivity and creativity, and Dawn Williams Boyd has mastered doing exactly that by planning ahead.

Dawn makes figurative textile paintings that reveal stories—not always pretty ones—about life in America. Dawn’s work has an unapologetic social activist message that addresses the Black experience, feminine sexuality, social issues, and this country’s politics.

In today’s social and political climate, there aren’t enough hours in the day for Dawn to convey all of the messages she wants to share in her art. She has to carefully plan the body of work she is going to make throughout the year. She takes charge of her production for the entire year.

In our conversation for the Art Biz Podcast, Dawn and I discuss her process for plotting out which pieces she will make each year. We also talk about why now is not the time to make art that matches the couch, what kinds of conversations she wants people to have around her work, and how she makes the valuable connections that are helping her reach her most ambitious goals.

Listen

Music by Wildermiss

Highlights

• Dawn Williams Boyd responds to her daughter’s statement that she is a righteous badass. (3:45)
• Art that represents the effect of the history of the United States on the African American community, created by an African American woman. (6:14)
• What interested Dawn most in her Art History class is featured in her own work. (9:30)
• Dawn reflects on the big plans that she had for exhibiting her work in 2020. (12:47)
• The good things that can happen when you have nowhere to go and no one to see your work. (16:06)
• “The List” and how it influences Dawn’s productivity and creativity every year. (18:02)
• Now is not the time to make art that matches the couch. Dawn explains the opportunity artists have to use their voice to influence others. (21:32)
• A look inside Dawn’s notebook, including the details, fabrics, facts, and titles that drive her work. (26:15)
• Questions that Dawn asks herself in the planning stage of each new piece. (31:10)
• The criteria that guides Dawn’s ability to set goals and plan her work out a year in advance. (34:10)
• Dawn reflects on her 2020 goals, the pieces that she actually created and how she is constantly preparing for what is coming next. (36:50)
• The conversations Dawn wants people to have around her work. (43:50)
• Understanding the worldwide problems that are depicted in the imagery in Dawn’s piece, All Through the Night: America’s Homeless (shown above). (48:03)
• The overarching business and career goals that guide Dawn’s work every single day. (53:10)
• How an ambitious artist can ensure that their art is being viewed by the right people. (57:08)
• A peek into all that is in store for Dawn in 2021. (59:00)

Mentioned

• Faith Ringgold
• Tulsa Race Massacre
• Fort Gansevoort gallery
• Café
• AnyArtist.org
• Artists Opportunities Monthly

Dawn Williams Boyd Quotes

“That art history book that I fell asleep on? I want to be in that book. That’s my goal.”

“It is possible in fact, it’s preferable to determine how you want to show yourself in the world.”

“Now is not the time to make art that matches the couch. You could be influencing someone, or educating someone.”

“I like to have a goal to work toward, because that pushes me to work every day.”

“More black visual artists need to appear in art history books, and why not me?”

About My Guest

Artist Dawn Williams Boyd makes figurative textile paintings that reveal stories—not always pretty ones—about the American experience. Her latest series, The Trump Era, specifically focuses on xenophobia and immigration, but her work has also explored feminine sexuality, the Black American experience, as well as forgotten moments from American history.

In 2021 her piece, Sankofa, entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dawn is represented by Fort Gansevoort gallery in New York City. She is a member of the Women of Color Quilters Network, which was recently highlighted in this New York Times article that includes mention of Dawn along with an image of her work. She helped found and run two influential Black artists collectives in Denver before returning to her native Atlanta in 2010.

Related Episodes

Elevating Women and People of Color with Adri Norris

Making Work That Matters with Suzanne Gibbs

Multi-State Multi-Year Multi-Artist Art Project with Marilyn Artus

Listen

Music by Wildermiss

The post The Art Biz ep. 72: Planning a Year’s Worth of Artwork with Dawn Williams Boyd appeared first on Art Biz Success.

Adri is especially interested in shining a spotlight on women of color who have been overlooked in our history books.

In this latest episode of the podcast, I asked her about her work, her teaching, and her activism.

Less than one month ago, Adri was asked to design and direct the Black Lives Matter street mural in front of the Colorado State Capitol building. She selected the words Black Lives Matter Remember This Time for the mural. We discuss those words, as well as the symbolic colors she chose and how she involved community members in its making.

I also asked Adri what steps white artists can take to be helpful right now. Spoiler: This one’s on us. African Americans have been fighting this fight for centuries. It’s our turn to educate ourselves. Still, Adri had some helpful insights to share.

Listen Now

Music by Wildermiss.

Highlights

• Many ethnic groups in the U.S. in the 19th century didn’t even have citizenship. 4:10
• The four distinct series of works based on the quote “Well-behaved women seldom make history” from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. 5:28
• Working with supports of varying shapes. 8:28
• Adri wants her work in places where everyone has access to them. 10:04
• Working with groups, organizations, and schools. 12:34
• Getting paid for her work in the community. 15:33
• Choosing Afro Triangle Designs as her business name and the part The Da Vinci Code played. 17:28
• I wonder if I’ve been too Eurocentric in encouraging artists to use their real names for their art businesses. 18:48
• Adri practices capoeira, the Brazilian martial arts form. 19:35
• Adri is asked to create the painting of the Black Lives Matter street mural in front of the Colorado capitol. 20:35
• The words of the Denver BLM mural are “Black Lives Matter Remember This Time” and the paint colors symbolize the different shades of skin tones that Black people tend to have. 21:39
• Why Adri chose those words for the mural. 23:06
• “This is not the first time in which people have come together to fight over these issues.” 25:33
• “I feel like once we know the true story, we have to tell that story.” 27:34
• How Adri used white in her mural to symbolize how people of color and black people exist in white spaces in this country—and how she involved other people in that process. 28:48
• The news coverage didn’t tell the whole story. 32:28
• Exhaustion sets in and Adri had to take a week off. 34:08
• In order to feel safe, Adri remains vigilant and has had some odd interactions with police. 34:55
• How white artists can help Black Lives Matter. 37:36
• How a landscape painter, for example, could take a stance and not sound performative. 40:00
• What playing into “the script” means to Adri. 42:10
• “Discomfort is where we learn.” 44:30
• Adri’s book recommendations. 45:52
• Adri’s plan for a graphic novel that is based on the history of legislation that hindered the right to vote for people of color. 47:42

Mentioned and Recommended

• Coffee at the Point
• Think360 Arts
• Women of Colorado Trading Cards
• Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde by Alexis De Veaux
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America by Lillian Faderman
• Babe Walls

About My Guest

In her art, Adri Norris shares stories to educate people about women of the past—hoping to inspire young girls with role models they’ve never seen before. Listening to the voices of the unheard makes adults think more about what they have and what they have yet to gain.

Adri was born in Barbados and raised in New York and New Mexico. A former U.S. Marine, she says she was raised to be a leader—to help people and improve lives.

Support her work: Patreon or send a donation to Afro Triangle on Venmo.
Follow her on Instagram.

In Context

You know(ish) about women’s suffrage efforts in the mid-19th century by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. But do you know the rest of the story? Do you know about how intertwined suffrage was with racial justice? with the temperance movement? This 2-part series, The Vote, aired this week on PBS (and is currently available to stream) is a must-see.

The 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment is this year. On August 26, 1920, women in the U.S. finally got the right to vote. But that doesn’t mean that all women could freely and safely exercise this right. Watch. This. Documentary. !

Music by Wildermiss.

The post The Art Biz ep. 57: Elevating Women and People of Color with Adri Norris appeared first on Art Biz Success.