Opportunities for Artists Amidst Covid-19
Our tenacious students and instructors at the Siena Art Institute continue working remotely in the face of Italy’s extended national lockdown. Through individual skype chats and group video conferences we are able to stay in touch as students work to finalize their mid-term projects for our group critique on Tuesday April 7.
You can follow students’ work-in-progress on their individual blog pages:
This week the Pulitzer-Prize-winning American art critic Jerry Saltz is the springboard for our group discussion in the Art & Society course. We’ve read his article published in Vulture magazine on March 20, “The Art World Goes Dark” and some earlier materials by him such as the “New Ways of Seeing” video by Tiffany & Co. and “Navigating an Art Fair” and “How to be an artist, 33 Rules...” from Vulture magazine. He is a silly guy, but through his comedy he addresses a lot of serious topics, including challenging the entrenched systems of elitism, privilege, entitlement and censorship that seem inherent to the “art world.”
In his latest article from Vulture magazine, Saltz writes:
“Can art change the world? In respect to those suffering and about to suffer, we must say no. However, art does change lives, and lives can change the world.”
What do you think? Have you seen some encouraging or discouraging examples related to this? Our group discussion on Wednesday will be focused on resources and tips for emerging artists, including opportunities, obstacles, strategies, emerging artists’ career development. Topics to discuss include working with galleries, commissions, grants, graduate programs, artist residencies, etc… If you have specific questions/ topics that you would like us to address in Wednesday’s chat please let us know!
