This is part one of a 2-part conversation about clarity, purpose, and building an art career that reflects your deepest values.
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]]>It’s one thing to dream about being an artist. It’s another thing entirely to build an art career with clarity, intention, and long-term vision.
Noelle Phares did just that.
After earning degrees in biochemistry and environmental science, Noelle spent years working in a tech-based conservation role. She believed in the mission—but felt disconnected from the day-to-day reality of the job. Despite a decade of investment in her science career, she made a bold decision to walk away without a backup plan.
She knew what she wanted.
What followed was a creative reinvention grounded in purpose. She didn’t just start painting—she treats each body of work like a project. That mindset, carried over from her days as a scientist, has become the foundation of her thriving career.
In this episode of The Art Biz—the first of a two-part conversation—Noelle and I talk about:
- Why she left science without knowing what was next
- How she structured her first creative projects before she ever sold a painting
- The deep connection between research, storytelling, and her visual work
- Her process behind Tracking Time, a solo museum exhibition about the Colorado River
- What it is like to collaborate with curators and institutions
- Why she prioritizes both meaning and beauty in her work
Noelle’s story is a powerful reminder that there’s no single formula for success as an artist. But having a strong vision—and following it with courage and purpose—can open doors you didn’t even know existed.
Listen or Watch
Listen or watch Part 2 of this conversation: What a Commitment to Audience Building Looks Like with Noelle Phares
Be sure to catch Part 2, where we dig into Noelle’s business model, marketing strategies, and her approach to balancing independence with gallery representation.
Noelle Phares Quotes
“I loved the field [of environmental science], but I didn’t really love practicing it.”
“I’ve always had this wild dream of being an artist, which felt really counter to this career as a pretty structured scientist.”
“Even from the very beginning, I treated my art like a series of projects.”
“The rigor of my work ethic came directly from my background in science—and it still serves me today.”
“So much of environmental science is about calling the signal from the noise. That’s the same skill I use now to shape a cohesive show.”
“I’m someone who sells almost everything I make, but I also leave room for creative play. That’s where growth and innovation happen.”
“Beauty is a tool I use to get people’s attention. I’m often painting about doom-and-gloom topics, but beauty helps them look closer.”
“I always think about where a painting will live—how it will connect with someone, and what kind of space it will shape.”
Mentioned
Tracking Time exhibition at BMoCA
Tracking Time details on Noelle’s site
Related Episodes
These episodes feature artists discussing their museum shows:
Also very much related are these conversations with artists who approach their careers with a great deal of intentionality:
Discerning Your Direction as an Artist with Marianne Lettieri (234)
Strategic Networking and Visibility Beyond Art World Centers with La Vaughn Belle (245)
About Noelle Phares
Noelle Phares brings a fresh perspective into her contemporary landscape paintings through examination of the tension between organic and synthetic. As an environmental scientist by training, she allows the same topics that drove her work in the natural sciences to now guide her creative endeavors.
Her body of work combines landscape elements with structural geometry to create fractured architectural landscapes that explore the ever-encroaching presence of humanity into previously pristine open spaces.
Follow Noelle on Instagram: @noellephares
The post Beauty, rigorous research, and purpose with Noelle Phares (224) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>1. Why it’s important to give yourself limitations as an artist in order to grow.
2. Creating a catalog of your art and what it can do for you.
3. Getting a museum solo exhibition and why that’s important to her.
The post The Art Biz ep. 176: Series, Catalogs, and Museum Shows with Susan Abbott appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>You will often hear me say that your art isn’t complete until someone else experiences it. Until you’re standing in front of it and talking about it with people who are interested.
In real life. Digital-only viewing doesn’t count.
Every person who sees your work brings themselves and their background to your work—adding new layers of meaning to your original intention.
My guest for this episode is Susan Abbott, and she recognizes the importance of getting her work out of the studio and in front of people.
We cover a lot of ground in our conversation, but there are 3 themes:
- The value of working in series, and why it’s important to give yourself limitations as an artist—with special attention given to the series of paintings that came from her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago.
- Creating a catalog of your art and what it can do for you.
- Getting a museum solo exhibition and why that’s important to her.
[ Artist Catalogs: Why You Need Them, What to Include, and How to Use ]
We discuss the practical reason she started in watercolor and the complexities of the relationship with your galleries when you want to move on to a new medium and body of work.
And we talk about how Susan lost 14,000 instagram followers and rebuilt her account to where it is today (~46,000 at the time of publication).
See if you can pick up on why it pays to dress nicely when visiting gallery.
Listen
Mentioned
Susan Abbott Quotes
“And what I realized over time as much, uh, to preserve my own sanity as for commercial reasons, is I had to focus more and really pursue what I was interested in, in more depth.”
“[I realized] that I was going to learn more as a painter and grow more by limiting myself.”
“With that kind of a long walk, there’s a spaciousness that you enter that’s so hard to get in the midst of our you know normal daily life.”
“It’s about a specific image that [galleries] think they can sell for you.”
“The vulnerability was a gift.”
“Any time you put your work in printed form—and remove it from yourself, by having maybe somebody else write that essay—or just having it out in the world, it really adds credibility to your work.”
“I’m not a writer, you know. I’m not a poet. I make a distinction. That -er on the end of the verb is really an important thing. To be a painter is a real commitment, you know, and to be a writer or a poet is a whole kind of knowledge and experience that I don’t have.”
“I go back and forth on my blog. I love doing it. I feel like it made me a better writer.”
“I did everything you’re not supposed to do and I tell my students not to do.”
About My Guest
Susan Abbott graduated from the Maryland Institute, College of Art with a BFA and MFA, and has worked as a professional artist exhibiting in galleries and museums since that time. Her paintings are represented in corporate and individual collections and featured in media including the Oprah Winfrey Show.
The art critic for The Washington Post commented, “What makes her painting so interesting is the tension between the dazzling display of skill and underlying idea.” Abbott writes about painting on her blog “Painting Notes” and for publications such as “Artist’s Magazine.” She teaches in the U.S. and internationally and lives in Vermont.
Follow her on Instagram @susanabbott
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]]>Heather has learned to navigate the art world with intention, which has led to her current solo show at the Chrysler Museum of Art. We discuss funding, being prepared for opportunities, and building authentic relationships.
The post Overcoming anxiety about making art world connections with Heather Beardsley (160) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Heather Beardsley’s art has been influenced by extensive travel and residencies in diverse cultures. This started with her year in Vienna as a Fulbright Scholar and then continued for several years until the pandemic shut down her residency in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Like everyone else, Heather had to pivot upon returning to the U.S. She used the downtime to her advantage by getting organized and shaping her career path.
In our conversation in this episode of The Art Biz, you’ll hear how she managed to transform her social anxiety into opportunities—realizing that real growth could only happen when she overcame the urge to play it safe by sticking to open calls for entry.
Heather has learned to navigate the complex art world with intention while connecting with institutions and curators to propel her career.
She shares her experiences of the following:
- Securing exhibition fees, grants, and residencies while managing expectations.
- The importance of being organized and ready for opportunities.
- Using Microsoft OneNote to organize opportunities and deadlines.
- Building authentic relationships within the art world where so much can seem transactional.
You’ll also hear about Heather’s current solo show at the Chrysler Museum of Art and how it came about.
Listen
One of my four core beliefs for art business success is that your network is your #1 marketing asset.
[ Read or listen to my core beliefs for art business success. ]
Mentioned
Quotes
“I think it just forces you to grow as a person being in other cultures constantly. It’s very easy when you’re in one place to surround yourself with people who are like you, who think like you, and so it takes much more effort to force yourself out of your comfort zone, but when you’re traveling that just has to happen.”—Heather Beardsley
On anxiety about reaching out to art world players: “The people that reach out too much, they’re not worried that they’re reaching out too much. So the fact that we’re conscientious enough to have some concerns and think through it means that you’re probably okay.”—Heather Beardsley
“You have to just keep applying year after year. And in the meantime you still need to be doing things.”—Heather Beardsley
“There’s a difference between making professional connections and using people.”—Alyson Stanfield
Related Posts and Episodes
These are related to curating and museums.
About My Guest
Heather Beardsley creates mixed-media projects at the intersection of art, science, and environmental issues, resulting in her first solo museum exhibition, Heather Beardsley: Strange Plants, at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA in 2023.
Upon receiving her MFA in fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015, Heather spent a year in Vienna, Austria on a Fulbright Scholarship for Installation Art. She has shown her work both nationally and internationally, including group exhibitions at Science Gallery Dublin, Museo del Traje in Madrid, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and Museum Rijswijk in the Netherlands.
Follow her on Instagram @heather_beardsley
The post Overcoming anxiety about making art world connections with Heather Beardsley (160) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>We discussed the types of institutions she works with, how projects are funded, and the rhythm of their realization.
The post Putting artists first in curatorial projects with Melissa Messina (136) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>There’s no fancy introduction for this episode because I want to take you straight to the informative conversation I had with Melissa Messina.
I asked Melissa to give us a peek under the hood of her daily life as an independent curator, and she didn’t hold back.
In our conversation, Melissa shares how she became a curator after starting out as an artist. We discussed the institutions she works with as well as the various projects, how she finds them, and the rhythm of how they start and then are fully realized.
She also reveals where we might find other independent curators and the mistakes she sees artists making when they approach her.
Another thing I wanted to make sure we hit on was the studio visit tradition: at what point do they occur and what happens during them.
[ Recommended read from Hyperallergic: For Women Artists, Studio Visits Can Be Risky Business ]
Listen closely to Melissa’s advice about the value of your network. This can’t be overemphasized.
Speaking of our networks, special thanks to Sara Lee Hughes for introducing me to Melissa and her work.
Listen
Highlights
- “I think that curator gene has always been in me.” (1:55)
- Melissa’s work as an independent curator. (5:32)
- How does a curator find their artists? (9:00)
- The importance of your network. (14:37)
- Insights from the details of one of Melissa’s standard projects. (18:46)
- Scheduling projects and finding funding with fellowships. (23:55)
- Curating an artist’s estate is the joy of Melissa’s life. (26:53)
- What piques Melissa’s interest in the artists she encounters? (32:01)
- The cities, websites, publications, and galleries where Melissa looks for artists. (35:00)
- Working with galleries as an independent curator. (38:04)
- The role that studio visits play in a curator-artist relationship. (40:54)
- What curators are looking for from a studio visit. (48:51)
- Correcting the mistakes that too many artists make. (50:54)
Mentioned
Melissa Messina Quotes
“I’m constantly making calculations to see where an exhibition or project might percolate out of my experiences and relationships.”
“Your network is everything.”
“There are some really good artists with bad attitudes, and I would much rather give the opportunity to someone who is a joy to work with.”
“I think artists would do better to let go of their expectations in a studio visit.”
“Without the artist and their work, there wouldn’t be anything for us to do.”
Related Episodes
Art center curator Collin Parson on how he works with artists.
Art gallery director Jeremy Tessmer talks about what he looks for in artists.
Maria Brito is a link between artists, galleries and collectors.
About My Guest
Melissa Messina is a nationally recognized arts professional who has developed thought-provoking exhibitions, dynamic site-responsive projects and engaging educational public programming both independently and in leadership positions at museums and non-profit arts organizations. For 20 years, her work with regional, national, and international artists has been presented in the U.S. in Atlanta, Kansas City, Miami, New York, New Orleans, Richmond, Savannah, and Washington, D.C., as well as in Bermuda, France, and Hong Kong. She has lectured extensively and published widely, and her research has been funded by Creative Time and The Andy Warhol Foundation, as well as by fellowships at Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Library, Atlanta, GA, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR.
In addition to serving select public and private clients, she is the curator of the Mildred Thompson Estate. She has also recently served as guest curator at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, and the New Orleans Museum of Art, and was the co-curator of the 2018 and 2020 Bermuda Biennials. In 2017, she co-created Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, an intergenerational exhibition highlighting 21 Black female abstract practitioners that traveled from Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City to The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Follow her on Instagram @melissa_messina
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]]>While I haven't been part of the museum world since 2001, I am confident that what I share below can still be helpful to you. Keep in mind, however, that not all museums operate the same way,
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]]>If it’s on your bucket list to schedule a museum exhibition, volunteer or work at a museum, or see your art in a museum collection, you will benefit if you understand how a museum administration is structured.
While I haven’t been part of the museum world since 2001, I am confident that what I share below can still be helpful to you. Keep in mind, however, that not all museums operate the same way, and there is a vast difference between how small and large museum personnel divide their responsibilities.
Let’s start with an overview of the basic museum hierarchy.
Museum Hierarchy
Board of Directors
Or University Dean, Provost or President. This official body is ultimately responsible for the overall well-being of the institution.
↓
Director of Museum
↓
Museum Staff
↓
Volunteers
Now we can look at the individual roles of the staff members.
Directors
Museum directors are responsible for overseeing all operations. They keep the board of directors informed through regular meetings and as-necessary contact. They serve at the pleasure of the board.
Directors often have art backgrounds, but more and more of them have business experience and political (fundraising) acumen.
The director juggles trying to please the staff, the board, the university (if on a campus), the public, and volunteers.
How an Artist Might Work with a Museum Director
In museums with a curatorial staff, you probably wouldn’t have much contact with a director. However, it might be necessary for a director to assume some of the roles below if there are only a few on staff at the museum.
Curators
Curators, who answer to the director, are the objects (art) experts on a museum staff and often hold doctorates in art history. Being the objects experts, curators shape the content of museum collections and exhibitions, and write and speak extensively about the art.
Some museums are lucky to have more than one curator. In these cases, curatorial responsibilities might be divided into exhibitions (curator of exhibitions) and collections (curator of collections). Alternatively, they could be differentiated by medium (curator of prints) or eras (curator of contemporary art) or even by chief curator and assistant.
Smaller museums might not have a curator, instead relying on a director to assume curatorial responsibilities in addition to administrative ones.
Curators often perform services for the art community outside their own walls. They might judge exhibitions for organizations or other institutions, sit on grant panels, or contribute text to magazines, brochures, and catalogues.
How an Artist Might Work with a Museum Curator
Curators are the reason you want to keep excellent records of your work and exhibitions and why you want to become better and better at articulating what your work is about. They will want to dive in to every detail of your career.
If you were to submit a proposal for a museum exhibition, it should be addressed to the curator.
The curator makes studio visits in order to select the work for exhibition. He or she would conduct extensive interviews with you (privately and, perhaps, in a public forum) in order to ensure the intellectual integrity of the exhibition.
The curator is also the person who recommends additions to the collections.
Please note that museum exhibitions and acquisitions are a long-term goal. It takes more than submitting work to a curator to see your art in a museum.
Registrars
The primary responsibility of registrars is a big one: they are responsible for the care of the artwork. They make sure it’s safe, secure, and in good condition. They might report to directors or curators.
Registrars supervise shipping, insurance, donor forms and condition reporting. They are the meticulous record-keepers of the museum and usually have an art or art history background.
How an Artist Might work with a Museum Registrar
The registrar will ask you for object lists with insurance values. He or she would also coordinate any shipping arrangements of your work and communicate with you if there were any problems with the condition of the art.
Preparators
Preparators, often artists themselves, are the people who prepare a space and its content for public view.
Preparators are responsible for the physical aspects of storing, transporting, and exhibiting the artwork. They pack, uncrate, move, and install the work. They might paint the walls, put up labels, and build pedestals and other display mechanisms. They also oversee lighting and climate control.
As I said, museums divide these responsibilities differently, but preparators usually report to the registrar.
How an Artist Might Work with a Museum Preparator
A preparator might check with you about your wishes for installing the work. Is it right-side-up? At what height should the hanging discs in your installation fall?
Educators
Museum educators interpret the artwork for the public. They take the art-ese of the curator and transform it, magically, into the vernacular. (You can easily differentiate labels written by the curator from those written or edited by the educator.)
Educators oversee group tours, studio programs for children and adults, public lectures, label writing, interactive spaces, demonstrations, gallery guides, and other interpretive programs. They are also responsible for docent training.
A large museum would separate the education responsibilities among the staff, so that you might have an educator for school programs or an educator for family programs. Most educators report immediately to the director, but some old-fashioned museums have them working under curators.
How an Artist Might Work with a Museum Educator
Educators hire artists to speak, to give demonstrations, train docents, and lead classes. They might also ask you to volunteer for these roles.
Other Roles
While these are the people at museums that you would work most closely with, you will also come across store managers, volunteer coordinators, development directors, marketing directors, and technology experts.
My hope is that you have a better understanding of how things work behind the scenes in art museums.
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]]>In particular, she reveals how she found people to sit for her and what she learned during the project. We also learn that most of the paintings had since sold.
The post The Art Biz ep. 11: Portrait Project and Museum Exhibition with Lisa Kovvuri appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Little gives me more pleasure than watching a client successfully attain a major goal.
In this episode of the podcast, I share the story of Lisa Kovvuri, with whom I worked in my (then) Art Biz Inner Circle as she was starting her project, The Portrait Experience.
Lisa and I discuss:
- How The Portrait Experience was conceived and executed at Whistler House Museum of Art.
- How she found people in her local community to sit for her.
- What she learned during the process.
- What’s next.
We also find out that most of the paintings have since sold.
It’s been a joy to watch Lisa’s progress and the ultimate culmination of her efforts—the opening of her museum show.
I hope you are inspired by this conversation about how she accomplished her colossal goal.
Music: Keep It Simple by Wildermiss. Used with permission.
About My Guest
Lisa Kovvuri is an American figurative painter working in Southern New Hampshire. Her work uses the genre of portraiture to explore the psychology and emotions we live and move through every day, with a goal of creating a compelling, personal, and intimate experience, both visually and emotionally, with the human presence in her paintings.
In addition to her exhibition at Whistler House Museum of Art, she was a resident studio artist there from 2014 to 2019 where she also taught drawing, painting, and printmaking classes.
Born in Oakland, CA and raised on Cape Cod, MA, she received a BFA in printmaking from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1991.
The post The Art Biz ep. 11: Portrait Project and Museum Exhibition with Lisa Kovvuri appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>They live together and have been happily married for more than 20 years.
For ten of those years, they have jointly owned a gallery based in the arts community of Bisbee, Arizona.
Each has a thriving studio practice.
Now they’re showing together in a 2-person exhibition at The University of Arizona Museum of Art.
How do they balance their separate work and artist lives together?
In this podcast episode, I introduce you to Sam, the painter, and Poe Dismuke, her husband and sculptor. We discuss:
- What their daily routines and work styles look like
- What their art has in common
- Life in Bisbee (sounds like it’s a must-see)
- How the museum show came about
The post The Art Biz ep. 8: A Married Life in Art: Sam Woolcott and Poe Dismuke appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>They live together and have been happily married for more than 20 years.
For ten of those years, they have jointly owned a gallery based in the arts community of Bisbee, Arizona.
Each has a thriving studio practice.
Now they’re showing together in a 2-person exhibition at The University of Arizona Museum of Art.
How do they balance their separate work and artist lives together?
In this podcast episode, I introduce you to Sam, the painter, and Poe Dismuke, her husband and sculptor. We discuss:
- What their daily routines and work styles look like
- What their art has in common
- Life in Bisbee (sounds like it’s a must-see)
- How the museum show came about
LISTEN NOW …
Music: Carry Your Heart by Wildermiss. Used with permission.
Listen to or subscribe on iTunes.
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]]>The post Submit a Museum Proposal appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Carpe diem!
For instance, now would be a terrific time to put together an exhibition proposal for your local museum or art center. Museums are hurting these days. They’re laying off staff and cutting back on budgets. You–the local artists–could be a budget-saver for them. I hate to put it this way, but you’re a cheap program.
 |
| Jo-Ann Sanborn, Beach Path. Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches. ©The Artist |
Museum exhibitions are often planned 2-4 years (or more) in advance. Big-budget exhibits may be scaled back right now or even canceled. Guess what? The gallery spaces still have to be filled with something! If you have the work and reputation to back it up, now is the time to propose your exhibit.
Museum Considerations for Scheduling an Exhibition
In the museums where I worked long ago, it was important that any exhibition we booked from outside our collection was (1) fundable, (2) educational, and (3) something that would bring people into our galleries.
Curators don’t always have ultimate control over what is exhibited. They must consult with:
- Educators: What programs could we line up with this exhibition? Would school groups come to see this?
- Development directors: Could we get a grant for this? Is there a major donor that would partially fund this?
- Preparators: Does this work with our installation schedule?
- Director: What do you think? Can we fund this?
- Board of directors: Can you get behind this?
Don’t Forget Other Museums
Art museums are a natural target, but don’t forget about history museums, botanic gardens, zoos, science museums, and the plethora of other museums out there. The type of museum you contact will depend on your type of art and your subject matter.
Line up all of the details and include them in a solid proposal. Double-check the facts so that you’re confident in the content you submit. Take a look at the previous newsletter Draft a Winning Exhibit Proposal for more information and tips.
It’s always easier to ask for something when you have built a relationship, but, as they say, it never hurts to ask. The worst that can happen is that you get turned down, which leaves you no worse off than you were before you started the process. Think of the knowledge you’ll gain!
One last piece of advice: While a solo museum exhibit might look nice on your résumé, it might be smarter to propose a curated group exhibit (2 or more artists) with a cohesive theme. Group exhibits are safer for museums to book if the artists aren’t well known. Think of this as your first step toward a solo museum exhibit–not your only chance.
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]]>The post Treat Your Art Like It Belongs in a Museum appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>
After sufficient time has passed, it is uncrated by the preparator or registrar who is wearing white gloves. A condition report is conducted—probably by the registrar. She will use the right lighting, magnification, and perhaps even ultraviolet light to ensure nothing has changed since the original condition report that accompanied the piece on its travels.
Loan and insurance forms are completed. Data is entered into the computer.
Gallery lighting is meticulous and at the appropriate foot-candle level for the medium. Labels are uniform. Floors are cleaned and artworks dusted (by someone with authority to handle art).
Everything is done to ensure the artwork is cared for properly and seen in its best light.
[ Who’s Who in the Art Museum ]
Whether you’re a painter, sculptor, jeweler, photographer, fiber artist, woodworker, or ceramist, you can do the same. Treat your art like it belongs in a museum and you just might see it there someday.
I don’t expect you to wear white gloves whenever you touch your art or to demand that your crates be acclimated for 48 hours. But you can still treat your art like it belongs in a museum. Here are some ways to start.
- Know the heck out of your materials. Become an expert in what you choose to use to make art and insist on the best-quality materials you can afford.
- Use acid-free paper and mats, and please get someone else to cut the mats if you can’t cut clean corners. Poorly cut mats are unsightly and the sign of an amateur.
- Make sure your stretcher bars are at right angles (when they’re supposed to be!) and rest snugly against the wall.
- Use UV-filtered Plexiglas. (Use Plexi when appropriate—not with pastels!)
- Use museum-quality hanging and installation devices.
- Document all of your art with high-quality photographs.
- Maintain an updated inventory that you can quickly access. Chronology is important for museums, so dates are critical. Artwork Archive is the gold standard for artists and many others in the art world.
- Inside of each item in your inventory, track its ongoing exhibition record.
- Make note of any scratches or damages to your art and keep this information logged in an ongoing condition report of the work. This will be inside of your inventory system.
- Deliver your art in sound packaging. Don’t wrap it in newspapers or throw it in department store bags.
- Display your art in venues, tents, and cases that enhance—rather than detract from—the quality of the work.
- Create uniform labels and proper credit lines when you show your art online.
- Insure your art. For this, you need business insurance. A standard homeowner’s or rental policy is insufficient.
[ Listen to 4 Levels of Business Insurance for Artists ]
KNOW THIS———-~>
You can’t expect others to treat your art like it belongs in a museum if you don’t set the standard.
DO THIS————~>
Treat your art like it belongs in a museum. Do what you can to ensure it is handled respectfully and is seen in its best light. Set an example for those who will handle your work in the future.
THINK ABOUT THIS—~>
When have you been less than respectful of your art?
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]]>The post Does an artist have a responsibility to the community? appeared first on Art Biz Success.
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As an artist living in North Adams, MA , the town where MASS MoCA is located (I am in no way affiliated with the museum), I think it is important to note a crucial component missing from the dialog and that is the responsibility of the museum and the artist to the community in which they are working. MASS MoCA was built as an economic driver in a struggling mill town that had lost its core industry. The idea was always to try to revitalize the local economy through culture. Buchel has demonstrated a penchant for pranks that question the art business (in 2002 he sold his invite to Manifesta for $15,000 on ebay) and apparently has no regard for the working class people of this region who rely on the tourism that MASS MoCA generates for subsistance.I am generally very protective of artists’ rights but I think this is an unfortunate example of the artist not being sensitive to the situation. When do the rights of the artist supersede the responsibility that artists have within a community? I would argue that this stunt would have been more appropriately executed at a larger, more endowed institution instead. As an artist, I count on artists to enrich our society and to question authority, but not at the expense of an already economically depressed community. Either Buchel didn’t do his homework or, if he did, shame on him for ignoring the impact of his actions in order to bolster his own ego.
An interesting consideration. I very much appreciated hearing from someone who is there and part of the community.
Regardless of the facts in this situation, a museum is a public trust and, as such, has great responsibility to the community. But what responsibilities does an artist have to the community?
Image (c) Joshua Field, The Devil of Salzburg.
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