ArtsWeek symposium helps budding artists in bad economy

Those studying sculpting, painting and metalworking will likely have to work harder to establish themselves in their respective fields, and on Friday, students learned how to do just that.

The goal of Friday’s “Making Art Work,” an intensive career symposium sponsored by the IU Career Development Center and Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, was to help them learn how.

“These talks are designed to be appealing and informative,” said Sara Pennington-Busick, associate director of employer relations of the IU Career Development Center and symposium organizer. “We want students to know about their options in as many fields as possible, whether they are working artists or in art history or administration.”
Betsy Stirratt, director of the SoFA Gallery, said the career-related issues of artists are unique, especially in a time of dwindling economic opportunity.

Insiders, including residential Indiana artists and big-city gallery staffers, gave students advice about how to market their work, price their product and deal with the demands of the creative industry.

“The information at these panels is for artists at all stages,” said Pennington-Busick.
“The great thing about Bloomington is that there is a lot of support for the arts. It’s a thriving community, and that’s important for artists at all times in their career.”

Making Art Work featured a variety of panelists and speakers from both in and outside of the IU community, many of whom Pennington-Busick said are noteworthy in their crafts.

Some, like Pamela Keech, executive director of the Bloomington Area Arts Council, have experience studying and creating art in places like Rome and New York.  
Others are experts in areas like art restoration and preservation.

IU Libraries Paper Conservator Doug Sanders, for example, oversees the care and conservation of documents and manuscripts within IU Libraries.

“As paper conservator, my goal is really to provide preventative care to manuscripts,” Sanders said. “These include flat paper, maps, prints, blueprints. Proper storage and preservation is necessary to prolong the life of these items.”

Keech, recipient of a Creative and Performing Artists and Writers Fellowship as well as the Booth Family Rome Prize in sculpture, shared her experiences with students in the talk “Building Your Creative Career.”

“With my fellowship, I was studying with top poets, archeologists, composers, writers, and then I’d come right back and do costume and wardrobe work for television series,” Keech said.

She expressed the need for artists to be aware of the opportunities available to them and, while she called her experience studying in Rome “a dream come true,” encouraged young artists not to rule out such possibilities.

Part of the job of an artist is to adapt, Keech said.

But all of the panelists agreed that working within the arts-friendly communities at IU and in Bloomington helps.

“Many of the speakers are IU alumni,” Pennington-Busick said. “That’s definitely inspiring for student artists, when they see that these people have connections to their school. The point of an event like this is to show that you can make it as an artist. A lot of it is finding a community for your art.”