 Women Create Collective to Boost California Arts—By Rose Aguilar Published: January, 2006  Curatorial Collective No.4 (left to right: Audrey Marrs, Nancy Meyer, Dina Pugh, and Joyce Grimm) It's not easy being an artist in California. Over the past four years, public funding for the arts in California has been slashed by more than 94 percent. Two years ago, the California Arts Council's (CAC) budget was cut to just $1 million from $18 million, leaving virtually nothing for grantmaking. It's hard to believe, but California is currently dead last among all 50 states in arts funding. The state spends just three cents per capita, according to the CAC. Compare that to the national average of $1.25. Despite the dire financial situation, many Bay Area artists still find a way to create, inspire, and share, often at their own expense. "We love art so much that we're paying out of our pockets so it can be presented," says Joyce Grimm, a member of No. 4, a new curatorial collective at Triple Base, a gallery in San Francisco's Mission District. Over the next five months, No. 4 will facilitate artistic activity both inside and outside of the gallery walls. Every month, the four-woman collective will invite different artists working in areas of film/video, social practice, music, painting, drawing and sculpture to create new work in the space. The four women — Audrey Marrs, Dina Pugh, Nancy Meyer and Joyce Grimm — met in the curatorial program at the California College for the Arts, where they are on track to graduate in three months. The women have different styles and tastes, but were brought together by a shared interest in site-specific and multi-disciplinary art practice. White Box and 24th Street Promenade were the group's inaugural exhibits. "White Box" is an exhibition of donated small works by 40 artists from all over the country. The artists customized their artwork to fit into a 12 x 9 white gift box. At the beginning of the show, the gallery was filled with the unmarked boxes. For just $25, buyers were given a ticket and assigned to a random box, which they then opened. The art was on display for two weeks and then picked up by buyers. It's incredibly rare to find art for $25. "People can't always afford to buy art and we wanted to make it affordable," says Nancy Meyer. "I asked our artists to just give us something laying around because I have a hard time asking people for things. I was so surprised to see so many incredible pieces," adds Audrey Marrs. Sculptor Tonya Solley Thornton donated a piece to support the cause and gain exposure. "I thought it was a great concept. I like the idea of a mystery show," she says. "It's amazing that it's so cheap. It's nice that artists are actually able to buy work because usually we go to shows to support artists, but we can't afford to actually buy their art." The percentage of artists earning money from their art is on the decline, and only 43 percent say their income covers art-related expenses, according to a 2004 Information on Artists (IOA) study conducted by Joan Jeffri of the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Teachers College Columbia University. The survey, which followed artists in the San Francisco Bay Area over a 15-year period, also found that 63 percent of artists earn under $7,000 from their art. | ||
|
Bay Area Business Woman Digital Edition
Double click above for FREE subscription!
|
|
|
Copyright
2008 by Business Woman, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Legal
and Privacy.
Website ReDesign by Chaska Creative Web Hosting by Modo Web Design |
