I love this picture of Jessica in the studio over at SDSU. We had a solid meeting about the body of work she is developing and how best to select and present in the 10′ x10′ booth space provided by ArtWalk.

I’m actually going to continue writing about the Business of Art Scholarship project-- created with Sandi Cottrell of ArtWalk, The Frame Maker, Arthur Ollman of the SDSU School of Art, and of course scholarship winner artist Jessica Siemens-- on another blog I just started with an address some of you might recognize, sandiegofinishingschool.com.

Yes, the SanDIego Finishing School returns at long last, relocated with a redefined mission here in Banker’s Hill. Stay tuned for more.

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Link to my original post: Business of Art Scholarship Studio Visit

]]> http://www.johnhiemstra.com/965/business-of-art-scholarship-studio-visit/feed/ 0 http://www.johnhiemstra.com/1605/nice-note-from-sandi-cottrell-of-artwalk-on-the-business-of-art-scholarship-project/ http://www.johnhiemstra.com/1605/nice-note-from-sandi-cottrell-of-artwalk-on-the-business-of-art-scholarship-project/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 03:24:20 +0000 John http://www.johnhiemstra.com/?p=1605

"John Hiemstra was the co-creator of the "Business of Art Scholarship"...something ArtWalk had hoped to do for 5 years, but John's enthusiasm for the project made it a reality."

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In getting organized for the week after a long weekend, this was so nice to find in my email from the end of the week I had to post it here right away. Thanks, Sandi!

“John Hiemstra was the co-creator of the “Business of Art Scholarship”…something ArtWalk had hoped to do for 5 years, but John’s enthusiasm for the project made it a reality.

Working with sponsor The Frame Maker, John took our SDSU scholarship winner under his wing and not only helped her create a booth display for the event, he packed the equivalent of ten years of real-life experience into two months of incredible mentoring.

Jessica Siemens, the scholarship winner, was privy to advice, information and perspective that professional artists acquire in a lifetime.

The entire experience was inspiring, and we look forward to providing the scholarship on an annual basis. It would not be possible without John’s passionate involvement.”

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Link to my original post: Nice Note from Sandi Cottrell of ArtWalk on the Business of Art Scholarship Project

I’ve really gotten busy now building this new design business here in Pittsburgh, with holidays approaching for kids, end-of-year deadlines, all that, but I’m going to take a little more time out of that to write a bit about my mentor Franco Colavecchia, who is retiring from teaching this week after his latest 15 year tenure at North Carolina School of the Arts, where we met in 1998.

If you follow my blog or see my updates on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, you might have noticed some recent “Archive” updates to my custom art portfolio here mentioning Franco and with pictures of design and painting projects I did under his tutelage.

One of the things I love most about Franco and our friendship over the years since NCSA, is that he and I share an un-self-conscious devotion to the work itself above most other things and a drive to get on with the next big thing(s) on our respective idea boards. By fortunate coincidence, Franco started teaching an annual seminar at the University of San Diego at about the same time Heather and I moved to San Diego in 1999, so our conversation about painting has deepened over periodic dinners in downtown or La Jolla or Los Angeles, from teacher to student to fellow professionals in the arts to fellow teachers.

So another thing I’m extremely grateful for this holiday season is my long association with Franco, and everything I’ve learned from him, that he now has a terrific home and studio in Providence to get on with the paintings next up in his mind’s eye, and that he has the health, vigor and enthusiasm to pursue them, so --

Congratulatiuons, Franco!

You can find out more about Franco’s career here and sign his congratulations card here, and for eye candy today a slideshow of pictures from the San Diego opening of “SOHO Memory Paintings”, a show of Franco’s paintings I put together in the summer of 2009 before our move to Pittsburgh.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of fiber artists about digital portfolio creation and the use of social media for professional development in Indianapolis, a city I have never visited before.

While I echoed many of the same themes I present to my more traditional business clients, it was extra fun to be on “home turf” with a bunch of fellow artists, where there is a deeper, richer resonance between their larger goals and mine, as well as an easily shared industry specific common language and set of references.

Now I’ve always loved the challenge I often get from non-artist business clients in these situations, which is typically something like, “You’re an artist? What do you know about business at all, let alone my business?” I love it because I learned what I know about business by being in business without much choice about it-- not unlike the famous general in the Art of War who burned his own ships and escape route to encourage his outnumbered men to fight harder for victory (he won).

Presenting again to artists for the first time in several months reminded me how the core benefits of efficient social media technology use as I arrange them meet this urgency in a way that artists intent on their career as a business can appreciate more than many.

For instance, most business leaders & managers I speak to are immediately (and sometimes vehemently) concerned with resource allocation when it comes to social media engagement: who’s going to be actually publishing stuff, who is going to be responsible for representing the business online, are they trained properly to do that, etc.

But for established businesses, allocation is typically already an established process: what staff, what budget, what source(s) and who in leadership is responsible for making sure it works, etc. These would be nice problems to have for most artists, since we typically have no staff to delegate these tasks to, minimal budgets to invest in outside services, and our question becomes simply “how will I find the time to do it all myself?”

Because of this, almost all of my recommended professional social media strategies revolve around getting the maximum benefit for the least amount of work, and Its not just because I’m a lazy artist. The efficiency I teach is arises out of the inner urgency and limited resources of the artist, which some businesses share and some don’t.

I’ll write some more this week about what we actually covered in this session (and how the same concepts can benefit any business serious about working their online presence), but I wanted to share some of the feedback I got from the artists in attendance (via my Facebook page, of course :)

“Thank you John. I learned so much from you from the practical to the expeditious to the magical! You’re the real deal.” -Sherry Boram

“Thank you for a window into social media/digital portfolio. Your knowledge base is invaluable to artists (or small business owners) who want to promote themselves on-line.”-Mezzie Ash

“John! it was an eye opener. I’ve been dragging my feet and am now prepared to get with the current flow. it is a matter of transferring knowledge to technology. You demystified things for me, filled in info gaps and make it sound easy, a little fun, but time saving! that’s the major bonus. 20 hours a month by my calculations.” -- Laura Cater-Woods