Wednesday, 24 October 2018

I'm unravelling

Sometimes I get so despondent. I need to sell more stuff but all the "quality markets" within a few hours drive are controlled by teams of "event managers" and "product marketers". The markets in my local area that I might have attended have been cancelled due to the drought and I'm trying to get into some alternative venues pre-Xmas....
Obviously this kind of unleashing isn't going to get me anywhere....


Hi again Hunt and Gather team
Thanks for processing my application for a market stall yesterday super fast (2 hours!). I was, of course, incredibly disappointed that you didn’t find my art a good fit for Hunt and Gather. As I spent a couple of hours preparing my application I hope you won’t mind spending a few minutes to help me with advice about some questions it raised….?
-          Does this mean I shouldn’t apply for any other Hunt and Gather markets in the future, such as the Christmas one? I’m unsure if yesterdays assessment was a blanket rejection or just for the specific November market.

-          Can you outline what your preferred aesthetics for a product are? I live in very small rural town (pop. 900) 3 hours drive from Newcastle so I’m very out of touch with the current trendy look. However as every item I make is one-of-a-kind, and if it’s OK to make a second application, perhaps I could present a range of clothes that’s a better fit for your vision of the style of the market.
In concluding here’s a reflection, sorry it’s a bit long and probably too ranty….it is hard to make a living as an artist. In the bush town where I live I depend on travellers from the New England Highway stopping and calling into my open studio and making an impulse buy. This leads to a rather peripatetic income. The friend who recommended I apply to you was the director of the Michael Reid Art Gallery here in Murrurundi until a couple of months ago (Reids other galleries are in Double Bay and Berlin. I would have gone to his December market but it was cancelled due to the drought in this area) and she understands the struggle I have trying to retain “integrity” with my art practice and not let it devolve into formulaic production of commodity. But at the same time, because the clothes I make are utilitarian – intended to be worn – they don’t qualify as gallery “high art”.  So my situation is very frustrating to be caught in this netherworld of not quite art and not quite the suitable product. My husband is 72 and should be retired instead of supporting the child bride in her prima donna endeavours…. I need a more reliable stream of income to support myself into the future so the poor bugger can be freed to tend his roses and snapdragons. The 2 markets in Newcastle who comfortably adopt the term “curated” from the art world seem to have more interest in presenting a marshmallow version of consistency and pastel. It really irks me that you pompously apply the term “curated”, hoping to garner some of the splendiferous glow of being a bit art educated, when in reality you are fostering a kind of commodity uniformity which promotes blandness rather than truly supporting the unique vision of genuine artisans.
Well, heh, there you go….I have perfectly illustrated here why I have no style at all and as a person so lacking in humility I'd be a terrible fit for Hunt and Gather. So I might as well roll my integrity ridden art practise into a great big poop cigar and swallow it.
     All the best, I return to my studio to labour uselessly
Pearl Red Moon

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If you are interested in buying an artwork or booking a commission, please email me at pearl@upstairs-art.com.au