Jessica Whiting

I am a marketer and publicist immersed in the creative industries. For three and a half years I dedicated myself to arts organisations, commercial galleries, artist-run initiatives and festivals in my home country, Australia. My desire for a comprehensive understanding of the industry has drawn me to administrative, writing, training and guiding roles as well as those in marketing and publicity. In 2013, it lured me to Europe and, in 2014, it captured me here in London.

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Rudeboy Lates // DJ Set by Voodoo Gents aka ACF

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'How to speak so that people want to listen' by Julian Treasure for TED Talks.

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Dean Chalkley and Harris Elliot, curators of Return of the Rudeboy, at the exhibition's opening event at Somerset House. Photograph by Peter Macdiarmid.

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I think you price something based on production costs - but then you also have to consider if you're selling through a shop, gallery or an online portal such as Etsy, as retailers will look to take a cut - maybe in the region of 40%. You have to price your work accordingly, not just to cover costs, but to make a profit and make it worthwhile.

Should a new graphic art product always be priced low initially, to create a market for it? An extract from an article titled 'The Art of Pricing' in issue #10 of WRAP.

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An ode to Peruvian and Andean aesthetics within the building’s underground spaces. #futurismoancestral #sixeparedes (at Somerset House, London, United Kingdom)

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In an enchanting parallel world, I recorded the stories of over one thousand girl guides for a house of fairy tales. #storytelling #illustration #thehouseoffairytales #leedscastle (at Leeds Castle, Kent, United Kingdom)

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Advanced Style examines the lives of seven unique New Yorkers whose eclectic personal style and vital spirit have guided their approach to aging. Based on Ari Seth Cohen’s famed blog of the same name, this film paints intimate and colorful portraits of independent, stylish women aged 62 to 95 who are challenging conventional ideas about beauty, aging, and Western’s culture’s increasing obsession with youth.

Advanced Style is in cinemas 09 May 2014.

http://advancedstylefilm.com

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'Heritage' by Cai Guo-Qiang #fallingbacktoearth #qagoma (at Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia)

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Inspiration is a funny thing; it sounds like it’s an internal thing. We think of great creative artists and imagine that inspiration wells up inside of them, but I think that’s just not true. Inspiration comes from the outside. The most inspirational people are the most observant people who are able to take from the outside world and convert what they see into something that drives their creativity. The simplest and most effective way of doing that is to notice things, and to notice those things that might be relevant to the thing you’re thinking about or the problem you’re trying to solve or the idea that you’re working with. There are countless cliche examples of this, everyone from Picasso to Leonardo, people we think of as being individually creative geniuses who in fact were extremely good at taking inspiration from the outside world and having it drive their own creative engine. Borrowing from the outside world is at the heart of all things we do creatively to be inspired.

Tim Brown, chief executive of design and innovation consultancy IDEO, on taking creative direction from the natural world in Nature knows best: A biologist and a designer take creative direction from the Earth's operating system for TED Blog.

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#sensingspaces (at Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom)

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'Flamboyant Flock of Flurry' by Studio BOO. A paper chandelier inspired by Isabella Blow's personal collection of hats crafted by Philip Treacy. #IsabellaBlow #SomersetHouse (at Somerset House, London, United Kingdom)

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#streetart (at Shoreditch, London, United Kingdom)

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Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential — as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.

Creator of Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson, on life and creative integrity during his commencement address at Kenyon College on May 20, 1990.

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Explaining the Surreal with Artist @daniel_arsham

For American artist Daniel Arsham (@daniel_arsham), nothing is what it seems. He recreates recognizable objects with unexpected materials—volcanic ash cameras, stone and crystal baseball gloves and melting walls. On Instagram, Daniel shares the process behind his perception-bending pieces. “Because Instagram is really visual, it gives me the chance to bring followers into the full worlds that I build in my work,” he says. “I think for many viewers the creation of an artwork, stage design or installation is an abstract gesture. Instagram allows me to give people the full sense of what I am trying to create as well as understand the many collaborators who inspire and influence what I make. I feel that the story and images in my feed are in many ways an even better reflection of my practice than my own website.”

Daniel also uses Instagram to share where his work will be on view with interested followers. In addition to a special project with Pharrell (@pharrell) that kicks off tonight in New York, Daniel has upcoming exhibitions in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong. “I have followers from these places who already know about these shows and are following the process of how the work goes from an idea to what they will see in the gallery.” To follow Daniel’s practice and learn more about his upcoming exhibitions, including the #arshamxpharrell project tonight, be sure to follow @daniel_arsham.