The month of April has been highly anticipated for me. With summer right around the corner, organizations on campus have been scrambling to host their last events before students leave Ann Arbor for home. This has turned out to mean great things for artists, and for me.
Last weekend I participated in the first of the art markets taking place in this last stretch before May. The WTF! Art Fair, which takes place in the Union every semester, was a good reintroduction into socializing with potential customers. Throughout the four hours I was there, I sold some prints, cultivated some artist relationships and even interacted with potential buyers of original artwork. I made a solid revenue - though most of the money I have spent already on Michigan football tickets and another wave of prints for the upcoming art fairs.
Also this past weekend, before going to take pictures for the second Latinos @ Umich event on Saturday night, I submitted my New Art New Artist application for a chance to have a half-booth in the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair. I will hear back about that near April 18 so keep your fingers crossed for me. In an attempt to get more involved in the arts off campus, I volunteered at a Guild art fair in October. It was there that I learned about the Emerging Artist program through the Art and Artisan Guild. I am happy to announce that I have been accepted into the program - which will teach me more about marketing, selling and submitting my art for consideration to other art fairs.
Last month, there was a pop-up gallery hosted by the organization the Stampede that I exhibited my 60 x 60 inch grape painting at. The exhibition was super cool, complete with live music and an open bar. It was a really incredible event for the creatives on campus to connect at. I wanted to get more involved with the organization, so I joined the group and have since uptaken being in charge of communication with collaborators for our ‘Garden’ art market on April 20th. The Stampede is collaborating with MISC on campus to host an open mic event along with the market. I have also reached out to some poets and writers to host a poetry reading before the live music. I worked with another member, Scott, to get our funding for the event via grant from the student government. It is turning into a fair amount of work but I am loving it. It is work that I actually enjoy doing, and it makes me really happy figuring out what kind of projects I am willing to put this much time and energy into, and which ones I am not.
I got into the MASH artisan event in their collaboration with Music Matters for Springfest. I do not have a lot of information to provide as of right now. I am in the process of scheduling a meeting with a MASH representative, my beautiful friend Olivia Scott to get more info. Come check out my booth/table on April 14th to purchase some prints and take one of my brand new, shiny business cards!
Also the weekend of the 12th I am participating in the Evicted! Art Market in downtown Ann Arbor, at the storefront Vacancy. A good friend Dylan Chen secured the venue and is arranging the market, while also delegating certain tasks to me (mostly centered around marketing and poster design). Vacancy is owned by a man named Christopher Hack, who has decided to make it his mission to support local art alongside selling inventory from his upcycled, screen-printed clothing brand Hasbeenz. I am running down to the store later today to give him my Posca painting “Clutter” to be listed for sale in the store.
In the genre of commissions, I am currently working on two (though the list is much longer - a summer concern). One of them, due in mid April is a cover art painting for a friend and talented folk singer/songwriter Maddy Ringo. I am always stoked to get the chance to work with a musician or band to create cover art, or merchandise. In the past, I have worked with Cedar Bend, Gimble A Capella, Jimmy Mercado and AERØSØUL. All of which have been great for exposure and experience. The other commissioned painting I am working on is for the same client that ordered the grapes - Union Groves Farm and Vineyard. I am doing a painting of their sheep. This painting will also get turned into prints and sold in their store.
This is a working relationship I am hoping to similarly develop with other storefronts in Ann Arbor. I recently purchased and received a portfolio binder. When it gets warm out and I have a lot of time on my hands over the summer, I am planning on getting in touch with businesses downtown to help list my prints, or exhibit my artwork. Other than a potential Artist Relations internship with the Guild, this would be a big part of my summer work. After quitting my part-time job, I have had less of an allowance coming in, which has been a good way to motivate myself to chase more opportunities for my art.
I hope to be more consistent on the blog this summer as well. I am currently working on an extended project with a poet, Haley Brosnan, to digitally illustrate one of her writings. I was hoping to have that be the next blog post I uploaded, but due to the time it is taking me, and the guilty constant postponement, I had to settle for this fun little update instead.
That’s it for now! Subscribe to my email list for more updates straight to your inbox every Sunday and keep an eye out for me!
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