Art-Business Conference at Artists and Makers in Rockville, March 23-24, 2019

The Clark Hulings Fund (CHF) for Visual Artists is organizing its 5th art-business conference in collaboration with Artists and Makers Studios in Rockville, MD this upcoming March. The two-day conference, aimed at equipping visual artists of all kinds with the skills to market and sell their work in a highly digital marketplace, will be led by the founder of the Clark Hulings foundation, Elizabeth Hulings, as well as Carolyn Edlund, founder of Artsy Shark and foundation sales director, and finally Daniel DiGriz, the foundation's marketing director, and a corporate writer for Forbes and consultant. There will also be a roundtable discussion with artists Blake Conroy, Donna Lee Nyzio and Kristin LeVier, past participants in CHF's Art-Business Accelerator program, a virtual educational program that consists of "broad strategic workshops and labs delivered by remote technology (a laptop or desktop computer is required!), and provides participants with practical knowledge that’s actionable in the real world, including information about how to develop a business strategy, build a compelling brand narrative, find buyers for their art, negotiate contracts, handle copyrights, communicate more effectively, and manage their finances and taxes."

Participation in the DC-area conference in March (which is currently selling tickets at an Early Bird rate) will teach artists how to compile a cohesive portfolio with a signature style, develop a brand story that goes beyond the artist's bio and resume, multiply revenue streams to increase sales, price for profit and work with galleries, and sell art online, among others.

Artists Speak interviewed Elizabeth Hulings, daughter of artist Clark Hulings and CHF founder, about the event in order to find out who would benefit from participation in this conference and how past efforts at forming the entrepreneur in every artist have fared.

1. What kind of artist would benefit from participation in your conference?

Visual artists of all types and in all mediums would benefit highly from our art-business conferences. Artists who are really looking to improve their business skills would benefit the most from coming to the conference.

2. Have you held this conference before? If so what were the results? If not, where did the idea for it come from and why did you partner with Artists and Makers?

We have held this conference in Santa Fe twice now, in Dallas last fall, and by the time we get to DC, we’ll have held the event in Fort Lauderdale in early February. We’ve seen amazing results. For our Santa Fe event last year, we did some “before and after” surveying and found the following impacts:

20% increase in artist commitment to the business side of their careers
22% increase in artists willing to commit between 25-50% of their time to develop their art business
20% decrease in perceived dependence on gallerists, agents, or sales reps for sales, marketing, and brand management
20% increase in clarity of actions needed to achieve current career objective
54% of artists in post-event 1:1 interviews indicate CHF events provided valuable incentives to take action, set goals, and/or overcome procrastination.

3. You say the art market has changed. Could you elaborate on that? In what ways? What should artists be most aware of?

Technology and the gig economy are creating tremendous opportunities for artists to leverage their natural advantages. With new technology, artists can reach their audience directly, track and share their art virtually, handle business issues more easily themselves, and/or find experienced helpers and supervise them. Another advantage of new technology is that it’s new to all users, so everyone is learning how to manage it. In terms of the gig economy, artists have a strong advantage as it’s already their natural business model, and targeted help is within reach; artists have the ability to barter and share, and most importantly, they are well ahead of the curve working in this style. Honestly, artists were made for this environment! They’re risk-takers, creative, resourceful, and great communicators. The new environment is a fantastic opportunity for artists to blaze their own career paths, unbeholden to the gatekeepers who might have held them back in less connected times.

4. Are there geographical areas in the US where artists are currently more successful? To what would you attribute this difference?

Artists can be successful anywhere - rural, suburban, and urban settings, all over the U.S. and all over the world. The real determinants of success are the following:
1) Are they willing to put in the time on the business side to be successful, and
2) Do they have a community of peers (which can be online) to bounce ideas off of, share successful strategies, etc. Toward this end, we have created our online learning community at https://clarkhulingsfund.org/portal/, which features expert articles, audio podcasts, how-to videos, full digital courses, and more. This is no isolated experience; learners receive training from a wide array of artists, business professionals, and art-industry experts. And they connect with each other around that learning in a digital community that provides them with comradery, feedback, and support.

5. In your view, what is the best way for artists to develop social networks that extend to non-artists?

Judith Heartsong—who is hosting our D.C. area event at Artists and Makers Studios in Rockville, MD on March 23 and 24—answered this question brilliantly in an interview we did with her that’s at https://clarkhulingsfund.org/building-community-of-artists-chf-interviews-judith-heartsong/. She said, “Social media is critical (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more), but it cannot be an artist or organization’s only focus. An informative and engaging website, positive word of mouth, email invitations, newsletters, blogs, advertising, paper collateral, and more, all have their place in getting visitors in the door. I also think that our warm, friendly, person-to-person interactions encourage a loyal following of friends who bring more friends.”

Dana Ellyn

Another Dog Day Afternoon by Dana Ellyn

Dana Ellyn, whose art is widely known and collected throughout the animal rights and vegan communities, will be exhibiting her work alongside fellow DC-artist Matt Sesow at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD from Aug. 4 to Aug. 30. The opening reception is on Aug. 4 from 6pm-9pm.

1. What is your art about?

My art most often focuses on animal rights and veganism and pretty regularly strays to politics and current events. And for fun I throw in some more light hearted scenes of drinking and debauchery. I also have an ongoing historical series of work, started in October 2013. I am using the Cultural Tourism DC Neighborhood Heritage Trail guides to inspire paintings, creating a visual history of Washington’s most fascinating moments. (dc.danaellyn.com)

2. Within the framework of your own work, what is the purpose of art?

The purpose of my art is to make people think. I don’t expect to convert everyone to being a vegan (or vegetarian), but I know my art is affecting people. It's helping them to open their eyes to the plight of the animals and encouraging them to give more thought to the food they put on their plate. When I paint about politics, half my viewers probably disagree with the opinion I’m expressing.  But I believe that’s the beauty of art - to engage the viewer, not just placate them with pretty pictures.

3. How has your work changed over time, and what should we expect to see at Artists & Makers?
To go way back …. I was first attracted to the ‘pretty’ art of the Impressionists when I was in grade school and high school. My earliest art was purely realistic and proper, garnering good grades and praise for my technical skill. Once I started to study art history in college, I gained a great love for art that had stories to tell - whether historic-, allegorical- or religious-themed. But it took me a long time to inject what I’d learned into my own art. It wasn’t until about 10 years after I graduated from college, when I quit my corporate job to pursue art full time, that I truly started to explore and grow as a painter. Over the past 15 years of full time painting, my style has evolved from pure realism to be more expressive. My subject matter has run the gamut from religion to politics to what it means to be a woman. The past few years, I’ve turned my focus to be about veganism and animal rights, creatively posing the question, “why do we love some animals and eat others.”

'Summer Burners' at Artists & Makers Studios: ChrisRWK

Apparently, love is not always the answer.

ChrisRWK (Robots Will Kill) is an artist who is inspired by his childhood comics from the 1980s, popular culture as presented on TV, movies and books, and by chance encounters. He takes the images produced in the media, processes and stores them in his mental "cache," and creates his own language out of them, expressed in his artwork. In 2001, Chris founded Robots Will Kill, a popular website that collects and presents the work of graffiti artists across the world. Chris will be presenting his work at "Summer Burners," opening June 3, 2016 at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD.

1. How would you describe your work?

My work can be described as a healthy mix of illustration, graffiti, layers and the raising of questions. The layers tell of the history and time that has passed. The content usually relates to the everyday person that you walk by each day. They are the people who have a story to tell, something to say, but you just don’t know it because the encounter is so brief. So, my aim is to make the viewer look at these people and start to wonder what their story is.

2. What is the function of street art?

For me, it's always been a way to invite anyone to enjoy art and not just the people who can afford to collect artwork. 

3. How do you think your work will translate to a gallery setting?

I've always liked that in a gallery setting, "street" work is put directly in front of people — the same people that would most likely walk past it on the street and not care to look at it. I feel that my work creates a discussion with the viewers and helps them to realize that what they've walked past a number of times could be considered art. 

Artists & Makers Studios is presenting two shows for the month of June 2016:
"Summer Burners" (Graffiti) and "Best of the Art Leagues" (Work by the Art League of Germantown)
Opening Reception (for both) 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Friday, June 3, 2016
Artists & Makers Studios is located at 11810 Parklawn Dr. Suite 210 Rockville, MD 20852

'Summer Burners' at Artists & Makers Studios: Victor Ving

Victor Ving, a Chinese-American artist born and raised in New York City, will be presenting his work in a show titled Summer Burners at Artists and Makers Studios in Rockville, Maryland alongside 36 other graffiti writers and street artists. The show runs from June 3 to June 23, 2016. Since May 2015, Victor, who is inspired by 1940s postcards and mid-century modern design, has been traveling across the U.S. in an RV as part of the Greetings Tour project, painting onsite large-scale postcard murals of major cities across the country.

1. How would you describe your work?

I think that the medium of spray paint (especially water-based spray paint) is a technology of my generation that really defines the aesthetic of modern "graffiti/street art." I always try to incorporate spray paint into my canvas pieces even though it's a medium/tool that's not formally taught in art schools. I feel that it's an important aspect of my artwork. For this particular piece in the show, I wanted to tie in the Greetings Tour project (I have been traveling the country for a year in a RV painting large letter murals - http://greetingstour.com)

2. What is the function of street art?

These days, people seem to call any kind of exterior mural or something done with spray paint "street art." I don't always agree with this. I think that true street art is done without permission and without the intent of making a profit at the end of the day. Also, staying completely anonymous is an important aspect for me. That said, I wouldn't even consider what I do "street art" but more "public art." I consider artists like REVS and READ MORE BOOKS as the true street artists of our generation.

3. How do you think your work will translate to a gallery setting?

I came from a background of graffiti, which really taught me to work quickly and on a large scale. To this day, it's still very hard for me to try to constrict my artwork to a small scale. I never went to art school and taught myself through graffiti. Personally, I got tired of just writing my name over and over again, so I decided to do something more positive with my time, which is how I came up with the Greetings Tour (http://greetingstour.com) project. As of now, I'm not actively looking to enter the world of fine art in a gallery setting, but if it happens as a natural progression, I'm open to it in the future.

Artists & Makers Studios is presenting two shows for the month of June 2016:
"Summer Burners" (Graffiti) and "Best of the Art Leagues" (Work by the Art League of Germantown)
Opening Reception (for both) 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Friday, June 3, 2016
Artists & Makers Studios is located at 11810 Parklawn Dr. Suite 210 Rockville, MD 20852

Anne Cherubim

 This article appeared in the Gaithersburg Patch on February 19, 2011.

Update: Anne Cherubim has moved studios and can now be found at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD. Her new studio is at 11810 Parklawn Drive, Studio 15, Rockville, MD 20852. She and the other artists at Artists & Makers Studios are hosting an open house on June 5, from 6-9 pm.

Born in Montreal and of Sri Lankan descent, Anne Cherubim recycles her own artwork. She creates fascinating 3-dimensional spaces out of sections of old paintings, drawings and monotype prints. The outcome is unrecognizable as a piece of the original. It opens up a whole new world of extruded geometry.

Zooming in on a small section of a digitized piece of artwork she has created in the past, Cherubim breaks up the sample into pixels, which she then extrudes at different angles in Photoshop.

Short of revealing her entire working process, she says that the work can be both addictive and "something you can get lost in."

Regardless of the motivation behind its making, Cherubim's Recycled Art Project, recently on exhibit at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, is a sight to behold.

Subtle color shifts and neutral tones explode into perspectival spaces, from a distance, reminiscent of JMW Turner's turbulent seascapes. Color schemes in the Recycled Art Project are in part determined by the original sampled artwork that Cherubim chose to focus on, but the artist does not hold to any steadfast rules of production. Sometimes, a closer look at one of her Recycled Art Project pieces reveals an added layer of linework or a new color overlay executed in Photoshop.

"I do all my work on my PC," said Cherubim, who is patient, talented, and has a tremendous creative vision.

Before starting the Recycled Art Project she was working on a series of landscape paintings. In her home studio, which is conveniently located next to her kitchen, she has a rack of Recycled Art Project, as well landscape paintings. A few small pieces on canvas board are demonstration paintings, she has completed as part of a workshop series for Michaels stores in the Gaithersburg area. They feature woods in purple hues and are well-rendered for quick demonstration paintings.

The rest of her landscapes are large-scale acrylic paintings that are primarily abstract.

"At an art festival I was in a few years back, where I displayed my landscapes, people would walk into the booth, and some would say things like 'Wow. They’re so zen. They’re so calming.' Someone beside them would say, “No, I see a lot of motion.” I enjoy the contradictions that they are," said Cherubim. "I see them as energy."

Compositionally, the landscapes are vastly different than the Recycled Art Project in that they do not have a perspectival vanishing point and read more horizontally and less centrifugally. Both the landscapes and the Recycled Art Project have a certain smokey airy lightness about them.

"Since my kids were born, I only paint in acrylic," said Cherubim, who is equally invested in her children's upbringing as in her art creation.

She moved to Gaithersburg with her husband in 2003 and has devoted herself to painting full time ever since.

Self-taught, Cherubim began painting because she did not have a job that she would be giving up in order to pursue her passion. She was familiar with the starving artist scenario, but decided to take advantage of what she came to see as good timing to delve into painting.

"I would consider the Recycled Art Project digital painting," she said. "People usually come up to me and wonder how I did it. They want to know how long it takes."

The level of abstraction she attains in her recent work is about letting go of preconceptions and delving into an unknown territory. Cherubim is pushing the limits of her medium in the Recycled Art Project.

Besides teaching painting at the Kentlands, Rockville and Germantown Michaels arts and crafts supply stores, Cherubim is a member of the Art League of Germantown, the Rockville Art League and the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Association.