101 ways to make new art is a project which helps Artworkers Alliance to build practical information that may help artists to grow their practice. The information we collect will be posted on the arc biennial website and eventually will make its way into a small publication.
Some background
Many artists have a range of techniques and methods to help them get through blockages or open up new territory in their art practice – it could be as simple as the way they organize their day in the studio to complex exercises they set themselves to produce chance results. Art teachers, whether they be in the secondary or tertiary systems have methods to aid in the production of works by their students. Even when we look back over history various art movements used interesting techniques to produce work eg the surrealists with their exquisite corpse concept.
In the latest Artworker magazine we have commissioned an article by Danni Zuvela that talks about ways to clear roadblocks in your work. Click here to read the article.
So what do we want from you?
We are asking you to provide ideas that you have used to help move your artwork into new directions..we want to know the experiments you have used, or even the exercises that help you to make surprise discoveries…in fact we want to know about any methodology you use to help generate new ideas – the structuring of your work day to the planning you do etc
For example here is one idea – over a period of 6 months cut any image that attracts you from the newspapers or magazines you read. Collect these images and at the end of the 6 months spend time sorting these images into categories – a kind of personal visual classification system. Look at what you have done and try and identify what are the key elements of your own visual lexicon – you may be attracted to contrasty images or deep backgrounds or strong figures in the foreground of images. Once you have identified some of these key elements set yourself an exercise to make a small body of work where you take the opposite approach – subtle tonal images, shallow backgrounds, figures receding etc
So this is step one. Step two is for you to tell us in a couple of paragraphs what professional development project you would undertake if you received the $5000 package we have on offer..It could range from overseas travel to study, either formally or informally, to work with an artist that you admire, or to attend a key symposium, workshop etc. You need to tell us how this activity will benefit your art practice
What do we do with all this information?
As mentioned earlier we hope to make all the ideas that are provided available to all artists – initially on this website but later in publication form.
Then both your idea and your professional development proposal will be assessed by a panel of peers and art professionals, who will shortlist the best 50 and then request a more detailed proposal from which to make the final decision
So who can enter?
Practising Australian artists at all levels and Australian tertiary art students
What do l do next?
STEP 1 – Sign up free to receive regular Biennial ebulletins.
STEP 2 – Add your idea to make new art.
STEP 3 – Let us know your dream professional package.
To enter the first step is to complete the form below
The best ideas will be posted to the site. Your professional development package dream will not be made public, however a selection of your dreams will be posted without names at the end of the competition.