Not Quite the Oldest Emerging Artist...
Welcome to my first post! I am Paper Meditations artist, Christine Kirk. Before getting to my post about being an emerging artist let me take this opportunity to update you on some milestones from last month...
The best thing that happened for me last month was achieving Master Artisan Status with the PA Guild of Craftsmen! I was lucky to have contacted the guild about a week before they were planning to jury the new applicants, which only happens a few times a year. I wasn't even sure they would accept a paper craftsmen as a member but they encouraged me to not only become a member but also to apply for the Master Artisan Status. I had to submit about 5 digital photos with my application then lug 5 pieces to Lancaster for scrutiny. It was a stressful experience but well worth it! I achieved a goal that I thought wouldn't happen for a few months but my Instagram account got to 1000 followers about a week ago.I celebrated with my followers by sharing a tutorial on "My Story" that day. One post from early January had received over 1500 likes and was re-posted by another paper art site call LgenPaper that gave credit to me so I think that helped garner additional followers.
Finally, I joined the Lancaster County Art Association and have a piece for sale in the current show. I also joined the York Art Association (YAA) and through them will be able to display my pieces that are for sale in local offices and other public places like the Jewish Community Center in the near future. In addition, YAA hosted an event earlier this week where I demonstrated my craft and sold a piece! You can see photos here.
Now on to the post...
Since this is my first post, it seems appropriate to give you a little background about me. You may know my work from Instagram or my website, but you probably don't know much about me personally so let me take this opportunity to introduce myself.
I think I might be the one of the oldest emerging artists around! What is an emerging artist? Here is a good description from www.bmoreart.com:
"An emerging artist is someone who’s in the early stage of their career, someone who’s caught the eye of an art critic and/or gallery, but hasn’t yet established a solid reputation as an artist among art critics, art buyers, and art galleries.
An artist who has specialized training in his or her field (not necessarily gained in an academic institution), who is at the beginning of his or her career, and who has created a modest independent body of work.
The term emerging artist is often used for young and recently graduated from a prestigious art college, but can also apply to someone who’s made a career change or recently decided to prioritize their art above everything else. You could say it’s a label art galleries use because it sounds better than “new artist” or “unknown artist.”
Typically, you would think that an emerging artist is a young adult, maybe a recent graduate from art school or college -- but I am way past that! I did get a degree in art from Parsons School of Design, but that was way back in 1983! Yes, if you have any math skills, you figured it out. I am in my late fifties. It may seem that I am a little behind in my art career but not if you compare me to my hero, Grandma Moses, though. She was a famous painter and would have been considered an emerging artist in her seventies! She managed a super successful art career until she died at 101!
If you refer to those definitions above, you can see that I fit into that last category. I relate to the part that says, "recently decided to prioritize their art above everything else." That is how I would characterize my feelings right now because I am very close to achieving Official Empty-Nester Status (I have three children with only one still living here when he is off from college, anyway) and finally have the time, energy and the "what the heck, let's give this a shot" attitude.
So why concentrate on art now? Take a look at #6 on this Empty-Nester website. What was the big delay in getting to this point? Short answer: I was busy. Long answer: I had a graphic design career right out of college; then, after getting married, I had two kids and chose to leave the business world. When the kids got older, I could not even consider returning to the graphic design business unless I learned all the new tech skills that had evolved in graphic design while I was away. That is when I began creating paper art. It was purely for myself and to decorate my home. It was something I had always envisioned myself doing. I created a body of work that garnered some attention at art fairs and in local galleries but expanding my reach was not a priority especially after I was surprised by the arrival of my third child (don't worry, he is well aware of his "oops" baby status and loves it) and a move to a new town. Since then, Paper Meditations took a back seat to family priorities for the most part. I have no regrets about that choice for the past but I think I might have regrets if I don't follow my passion at this point in my life.
Thank you for sharing my journey!
Christine
Now that I have introduced myself to you, I would love to get to know you! Please share in the comments section, and if you haven't signed up to receive email notifications of my posts, please subscribe on my website, or sign up at the bottom of my blog!
The best thing that happened for me last month was achieving Master Artisan Status with the PA Guild of Craftsmen! I was lucky to have contacted the guild about a week before they were planning to jury the new applicants, which only happens a few times a year. I wasn't even sure they would accept a paper craftsmen as a member but they encouraged me to not only become a member but also to apply for the Master Artisan Status. I had to submit about 5 digital photos with my application then lug 5 pieces to Lancaster for scrutiny. It was a stressful experience but well worth it! I achieved a goal that I thought wouldn't happen for a few months but my Instagram account got to 1000 followers about a week ago.I celebrated with my followers by sharing a tutorial on "My Story" that day. One post from early January had received over 1500 likes and was re-posted by another paper art site call LgenPaper that gave credit to me so I think that helped garner additional followers.
Finally, I joined the Lancaster County Art Association and have a piece for sale in the current show. I also joined the York Art Association (YAA) and through them will be able to display my pieces that are for sale in local offices and other public places like the Jewish Community Center in the near future. In addition, YAA hosted an event earlier this week where I demonstrated my craft and sold a piece! You can see photos here.
Now on to the post...
Not Quite the Oldest Emerging Artist...
Since this is my first post, it seems appropriate to give you a little background about me. You may know my work from Instagram or my website, but you probably don't know much about me personally so let me take this opportunity to introduce myself.
I think I might be the one of the oldest emerging artists around! What is an emerging artist? Here is a good description from www.bmoreart.com:
"An emerging artist is someone who’s in the early stage of their career, someone who’s caught the eye of an art critic and/or gallery, but hasn’t yet established a solid reputation as an artist among art critics, art buyers, and art galleries.
An artist who has specialized training in his or her field (not necessarily gained in an academic institution), who is at the beginning of his or her career, and who has created a modest independent body of work.
The term emerging artist is often used for young and recently graduated from a prestigious art college, but can also apply to someone who’s made a career change or recently decided to prioritize their art above everything else. You could say it’s a label art galleries use because it sounds better than “new artist” or “unknown artist.”
Typically, you would think that an emerging artist is a young adult, maybe a recent graduate from art school or college -- but I am way past that! I did get a degree in art from Parsons School of Design, but that was way back in 1983! Yes, if you have any math skills, you figured it out. I am in my late fifties. It may seem that I am a little behind in my art career but not if you compare me to my hero, Grandma Moses, though. She was a famous painter and would have been considered an emerging artist in her seventies! She managed a super successful art career until she died at 101!
If you refer to those definitions above, you can see that I fit into that last category. I relate to the part that says, "recently decided to prioritize their art above everything else." That is how I would characterize my feelings right now because I am very close to achieving Official Empty-Nester Status (I have three children with only one still living here when he is off from college, anyway) and finally have the time, energy and the "what the heck, let's give this a shot" attitude.
So why concentrate on art now? Take a look at #6 on this Empty-Nester website. What was the big delay in getting to this point? Short answer: I was busy. Long answer: I had a graphic design career right out of college; then, after getting married, I had two kids and chose to leave the business world. When the kids got older, I could not even consider returning to the graphic design business unless I learned all the new tech skills that had evolved in graphic design while I was away. That is when I began creating paper art. It was purely for myself and to decorate my home. It was something I had always envisioned myself doing. I created a body of work that garnered some attention at art fairs and in local galleries but expanding my reach was not a priority especially after I was surprised by the arrival of my third child (don't worry, he is well aware of his "oops" baby status and loves it) and a move to a new town. Since then, Paper Meditations took a back seat to family priorities for the most part. I have no regrets about that choice for the past but I think I might have regrets if I don't follow my passion at this point in my life.
Thank you for sharing my journey!
Christine
Now that I have introduced myself to you, I would love to get to know you! Please share in the comments section, and if you haven't signed up to receive email notifications of my posts, please subscribe on my website, or sign up at the bottom of my blog!
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