Planning an art show can be a huge undertaking, but there are so many benefits: clarity about your work, learning to market yourself, feedback from new viewers. Here are a few tips I have if you're going to plan your own art show.

planning an art show is worth it

June 13, 2018 in INSPIRATION

An art show can be an awful lot of work, but there's a process I follow to make things as easy as I can I can. Here's a handy behind-the-scenes view into how I go about planning a big project like this, especially if I'm the one who's going to be doing the hanging!

Have you ever had hard drive failure? Do you know where all your important files are, and if they're safe? Click through to read more about how to keep your important files backed up and organized in an artists' workflow.

back up your data: an artist's guide

May 02, 2018 in INSPIRATION

I’m here to tell you what you should already know: Always, ALWAYS, always, ALWAYS back up your files. And have back-ups for the back-ups.⠀

I have this marvelous 8TB hard drive with all my work on it reaching back to 2002. I've backed that sucker up relentlessly. A few months ago, I started noticing some files wouldn't open, and took it to a local computer repair service who could run a diagnostic. They said the drive was okay. I didn't quite trust them, so I took the time to make sure critical things were backed up in the cloud & elsewhere. In spite of my misgivings, I kept using it anyway.⠀

Because hindsight is 20/20, I now know that was a mistake.

5 ways to get out of a creative rut

March 21, 2018 in INSPIRATION

There are so many things that we can get creatively stuck on. We can get stuck on feelings of inadequacy, on a lack of resources, on creating the perfect thing, on making sure that something is received a certain way. But all of these things take attention away from the fact that making good work often means that you have to focus on simply making a lot of work, whatever that work may be.

Ever wondered why you like things tidy or messy in your art studio? I think there are reasons for BOTH styles to coexist, and that they both serve important creative purposes. Find out more!

why artists need to be tidy AND messy

February 07, 2018 in INSPIRATION

So while keeping things tidy—both in my physical studio and in my schedule—may feel satisfying in one way, I need to leave things a bit messy. Since every artist’s process and working style will be different, an artist should keep their studio at just the right level of tidy AND messy in order to create their best work.

artist interview: travis graves

November 01, 2017 in INSPIRATION

I think many creative people, like visual artists, musicians, authors, etc., can at times suffer from a lack of self-confidence and motivation. One of my biggest hurtles was to take myself and artwork seriously. I realized in graduate school that if I wasn’t invested in my own artwork and didn’t care enough about it, then no one else was going to either. I came to realize that I needed to make my artwork for myself first. And if I thought it was worth doing, then it would have something of value to offer others.