Le Newsletter | Public Planning For A Private Practice
Open Calls, Artist Dates, + Art Collectors
An evolving something to read to.
There’s a light cult out there that I think some of you might be a part of. The Cult of The Artist’s Way. We all start reading the well known, widely talked about Julia Cameron written self-help book & creative guide sooner or later. According to what I’ve experienced & read jokes about in a Substack note or two, most of us don’t finish.
But I have a feeling that many of us return. There’s likely something in our nature that makes us readers who would seek out The Artist’s Way the same type of people who would continue to pick it up & put it back down again.
What I can say for sure is that it is not only the book but the practices it recommends that I’ve returned to since first beginning to read it. Morning Pages as meditation are a wonderful reflective practice that often sparks ideas for creative projects as well as the fabulously mundane - things like making a list of everything needed to make a perfect sandwich (even if I happen to traveling somewhere that turns that perfect sandwich into a far-off dream.)
Anecdotally - most of us tend to talk about the Morning Pages, but another very important practice is the Artist Date. It’s about engagement with creative work through an outing that doesn’t specifically have to be art-focused (like a gallery or museum pop-in) but can inspire you in your art (whatever it is) just by allowing for experience & mandating that you spend time with you - recognizing yourself as an artist worthy of attention. Your own.
For me, there is a deeper component to the Artist Date as ritual & commitment. My last project you probably heard about (or maybe even read) was my writing for a SNAP Collective title which barely happened. I am extremely proud of it. I will not mention it here for reasons that will become clear in the next paragraph. I also wrote a blurb for another title that I never managed to complete the essay for.
I’ve experienced personal ups & downs over the past couple of years that have spilled over into the professional sphere. These ups & downs include constant rattling when an online stalker makes her way to the social media account of another relative of mine - commenting on their posts as well as those of collaborators & friends. Firing off various accusations that she can no longer leave under my own profile as I’m currently off Instagram due to issues caused by a lapsed domain. I’ve reached out to an expert in online harassment & am thinking carefully about how I want to talk about this specific issue.
What I can say with no outside guidance is that this particular, possibly dangerous situation is going to be the easiest thing to talk about in public. It has already been made public & has affected public perception.
It’s also the least of my real life problems.
But how’d I get to that anyway? Talk of lapsed projects & a gap in my professional & creative output? My own perceived need to explain it? A need that is perhaps just a want?
The Open Calls, Artist Date ideas, & insights on Art Collectors feel more interesting. More valuable.
So let’s get into that. Applicable news & resources in what has turned into a stream of conciousness style writing to be proofed once & then published. Because this has sat in drafts too long. Because I’ve got something else coming before the end of the month. Because I want you to find something here that makes you bold enough to keep going. Excited about it. Seizing on the energy of Joan of Arc. According to Patti Smith, it’s her birthday today.
Maybe you should have a feast, look into the flame of a candle, & really test that bold feeling. Maybe that starts here?
The Artist Date
New Year’s Eve was a reminder of the ways stepping away can bring you back to yourself. Amazing Mexican food (flautas, jalapenos rellano, & a tajin rimmed Paloma) in Peru from Como Agua Para Chocolate, all the benefits of rose oil & water, olive oil, & ginger on my skin & hair (no time to get to the mercado de brujas for Ruda oil - a traditional New Year’s staple meant to accompany the eating of 12 grapes & chocolate, & sipping of a glass of champagne), & a curated playlist were the keys to sensorial satisfaction found in simplicity. A quiet walk down the path towards what’s next.
Image via THNK1994 Museum Gift Shop
But what is next?
A late night scroll through my inbox & a renewed sense of self following a Chris Corsini tarot-scope listen & new moon workshop led me to opening an e-mail from boutique favorite Fleur du Mal. A list of Winter Hot-Spots, according to the e-mail subject line, that was actually a list of date spots according to the url.
It let me do a little visualization around what I want my creative life (& inevitably work) to look like at this moment. It looks like engaging with the arts as spiritual practice. It looks like considering the ritualistic & ceremonial in creative work, including the creative work of how we live our lives.
But first…
In a sort of looser-y announcement, I recently missed reservations at a no phones allowed restaurant in NYC because I’m not yet in NYC. My travels often end up unplanned. My life has always been in the form of a whirlwind - even at a stand-still, & when I flew to Rincon, PR several months ago, I could have anticipated nothing about the here & now, nor the space in between.
While missing the meal, I started the Le Newsletter Chat to invite those of you who are in NYC out to the opening of a conceptual music & sound based art space, had an amazing pumpkin seed & pistachio topped blueberry cheesecake slice, danced when the sun went down, & bedazzled my face a little bit.
I missed the reservation, but in thinking about that & Artist Dates, I’m thinking about all of the experiences that lay ahead of me. What has not yet been missed or even planned. All the places to experience, as well as how I want to experience them.
There’s a 125 year old red-sauce Italian spot in Williamsburg for wine journaling, perhaps about living in a longer lasting part of NYC ephemera, there’s the black curved marble bar at a space under a winebar - which only recently re-opened after closing its LES location in 2016. Live music plays at the center of the room & you might find yourself sipping a regional, out-of-production aperitif. Maybe you’ll write something inspired by the Art Noveau interior concept?
No matter what, these places that are evocative of or rooted in various points in our history, & connected to the art that stretches out through time & place - out beyond any possible intention - feel like the right sort of places. Keep that in mind if you aren’t planning on being in NYC any time soon. A place may be out of reach, but the capturing of a certain sort of vibe & the energy it attracts rarely is. & place matters for the ritual of regular Artist Dates as much as they do for any sort of ritual.
They also happen to be spaces focused on the ancient tradition of dining & there is ritual & ceremony involved in every part of the dining experience, from how our food is grown & sourced, to preparation & presentation.
Ask yourself as you feast (either literally on an abundance of food, or more symbolically, on light bites, on the words that flow from your pen, on the sights around you…),
What traditions are present (in the decor, in the food, in the way people around you socialize, etc.)?
What aesthetic principles come into play in the creation of the ambiance I am currently sitting in?
How do I feel in this space, what does it inspire?
Open Calls
At this moment, what feels personally important is reclaiming whatever sort of narrative that surrounds my work & life through slightly more public living (no one likes it when you really lay low, no matter how communicative you are of your reasons) as well as through the completion of projects that see the light of day.
.I don’t know what the last year held for you or what’s driving you in this new one, but I do know that those of us who live through our creativity, who have to structure our own careers in order to have a career that feels worth it or even possible, who do not clock in & out & have to keep a variety of things on our radar, always benefit from someone in the know telling us or reminding us about an opportunity to sustain a life where we get to do something we love through doing something we love (or at least something loosely connected).
So in that spirit, I’m sharing an interesting open call & a writing gig perfect for someone looking for consistent credits on visual projects.
First up, an apprenticeship or fellowship opportunity from NXTHVN. A sort of art business incubator headed up by visual artist Titus Kaphar & private equity investor Jason Price1, NXTHVN serves as a new national arts model for developing an equitable society.
I personally think the concept is extremely interesting, & it introduces a completely new lens for looking at the concept of Warhol coined, Business Art.
Artist or Curator? Willing to relocate to provided (subsidized) housing in New Haven, Connecticut for 10 weeks (paid a stipend if selected for fellowship). Read up on additional details & apply here by March 3rd.
& in the job sector?
Audio Visual creators & those with production experience might want to apply for this NYC-based job as Director of Social & Video at Cosmo & Seventeen. Base salary is listed as up to $150,000 & the nature of producing visual planning for massive social channels in order to extend story through visual medium is the sort of thing that could be rewarding in its own right while also becoming the basis for work outside of the institutional media landscape. What independent or collaborative projects could this sort of experience prime you for?
What can you see bringing to the job itself? If you have ideas, you’re probably exactly the person who should start the application process.
Explore some independently produced poetry while preparing to count yourself in, to take a chance & extend yourself toward something new. & send this interview between writer/activist Rachel Cargle & Texas based collector/author Suzanne McFayden to anyone wanting to get into the mind of who’s collecting today & why.
Asked about her feelings regarding her role in the art ecosystem, McFayden answers:
I’m pretty sure I didn’t set out to be a collector. I just set out to have things that made me feel good & made my space feel good for myself & my children - things that reflected who we are. Now, several years on in my journey, I do feel that it’s important to be a custodian of some of this work. Whether eventually things will go to the museum, or they’ll continue on in my family, I don’t know. But I do feel that it’s important when someone like myself steps up & says, “This is important”.
McFayden’s collecting is informed by identity & experience, it tells a story of who she is through the work of artists like Billie Zangewa, whose work focuses on the tenderness of motherhood, & Deborah Roberts who uses collage as a medium for work centered on self creation & picking up the pieces.
Emotions play an integral role in this particular collector’s practice as well. Is there a tingle in the stomach? Is she still thinking about a piece at the end of the night? Does collecting it align with values of community, mentorship, & reflection?
A tingle in the stomach & a sense of unforgettability is what tells McFayden that a particular work is for her.
What plays a role in your decision making practice when collecting? What’s important to your collectors or the sort of collectors you want? Asking these sorts of questions & receiving insight from an accessible source feels valuable.
Until next time,
Ashley J.