dot dot dot

Welcome to dot dot dot, NINE dot ARTS' blog! Equal parts think tank, soapbox, learning lab, archive and creative studio, dot dot dot activates how art is a connection to a larger story with healthy dollops of wit, style and class. At NINE dot ARTS, we live and breathe in the sweet spot between business and art, which gives us a unique perspective on both worlds. This blog aims to thoughtfully explore arts and business trends, topics and issues and serve as a dedicated resource for our artists, collaborators and clients. Who We Are: NINE dot ARTS believes in the power of original art to transform an environment into an experience. Through innovative art programs we aim to inspire and stimulate our clients and their communities. As a national art consulting firm with annual revenues approaching $4 million, NINE dot ARTS works with corporate clients including hospitals, hotels, law firms, real estate developers and government agencies to curate permanent art collections. NINE dot ARTS’ project roster includes Colorado Convention Center, Boston’s Hotel Commonwealth, Saint Joseph Hospital, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell, SM Energy and TD Ameritrade, among others. The Huffington Post, Boston Globe, New York Post, Successful Meetings, Modern in Denver and The Denver Post have featured stories about NINE dot ARTS and its projects.

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Gender in the Art World, A Look at the Numbers

As a women-owned business, we often hear ourselves described as art ladies, gals or even girls (despite the fact that we’re all adults and some of us have children of our own). While it’s true we’re two-thirds women, we’re also one-third men. This got us thinking about art world ratios. Are there really more arts women than men? After a few minutes of research, however, it became clear that the overwhelming answer was no. The National Endowment for the Arts’ latest Artists and Arts Workers in the U.S. study shows that the number of arts workers are split nearly 50/50 by gender. But the more we dug into the statistics, the more disparity we found between men and women in the arts.

  When you look at art history and even the present day art world, it’s no surprise that women artists get the short end of the paintbrush—if they get one at all. When asked by artnet News whether the art world was biased against women, artist Marilyn Minter replied, “Hahaha…Is the Pope Catholic?”  Let’s take a look at the numbers:

 The Good:

51% of visual artists are women

50% of MFAs in the US are earned by women

49% of artists collectively represented by 4 woman-owned/run Denver art galleries (Walker Fine Art, Goodwin Fine Art, Sandra Phillips Gallery, Visions West Gallery) are women

46% of all artists and arts workers in the U.S. are women

  The Bad:

37% of Tier II Scientific & Cultural Facilities District executive directors in the Denver metro area are female

30% of gallery-represented artists are female

25% of New York solo gallery exhibitions feature women

24% of museums with an annual budget over $15 million have female directors

19%: the wage gap between male and female artists/arts workers

 The Ugly:

$135 million: the gap between the highest priced artwork ever purchased at auction and the highest price ever purchased at auction for a female artist’s work

$51.3 million: the gap between the highest auction record for a living male artist to that of a living female artist

1:  the number of women included in the top 10 living artists based on total value of secondary market sales (2011-2016)

1: the number of Tier I female executive directors (out of 5) in the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District in the Denver metro area

0: the number of women on the highest-selling individual lots for living artists (2011-2016)

  As the anonymous, gorilla-masked feminist activist artist collective, The Guerilla Girls, has shown since 1985, bias against women continues in the arts at an alarming rate even if things have gotten (slightly) better. Art critic Ben Davis cites forces outside the art world such as socialization and systemic economic disparity as key factors in the discrimination of female artists. But he says, “exposing the fact that conditions within art depend crucially on factors that go beyond it shouldn’t let the art world off the hook.” Connie Butler, chief curator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, spoke to Hannah Ghorashi at ArtNews and, like Davis, compares the art world to the rest of the world: “Look at the percentage of women senators, or look at how long it’s taken us to elect a woman president. These things are all connected. A cultural shift has to take place.”

 Historically, women have played a huge role in building arts institutions and collections. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney founded the Whitney Museum of American Art. Three women, Lillie P. Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, founded the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Dorothy Canning Miller was the first professionally trained curator at MoMA and the first art consultant, a profession that continues to be female-run. Peggy Guggenheim amassed one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary art in the world. Guggenheim also exhibited the first all-woman modern artist show in 1943. Dorothy Vogel, along with her husband Herbert, created one of the most important collections of post-1960s minimalist and conceptual art in the world. Here in Denver, MCA Denver was founded by philanthropist Sue Cannon in 1996. Yet despite their female roots, many organizations have turned a blind eye towards women artists. MoMA’s collection, for example, remains male dominated. Even the historical section of their website identifies two of its founders in terms of their husbands: Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The Whitney, excluding the memorial exhibit to its founder, didn’t have a solo exhibition by a woman until Louise Nevelson’s 1967 show.

 People point to the market and others to the buyers as the driving force behind the gender disparity: museums and galleries aren’t giving female artists the shows, so the collectors don’t see the value; men still control most of the wealth and they want their collections to reflect themselves (i.e. male artists.) Susanne Vielmetter spoke to ArtNews’ Catherine G. Wagley: “The discussion always stops at the market, because no one wants to dictate [to] the collector… If you are a collector, of course, you can do this as a very personal endeavor. But you could also think about how you’re influencing the culture of our time.”

  Some collectors and organizations are doing just that. In 2015, the Rubell Family Collection exhibited No Man’s Land at 2015’s Art Basel Miami Beach, a show New York magazine says “provides a survey of what recent art history might look like if you filter out the men.” This summer the Denver Art Museum will present a groundbreaking exhibition that Clyfford Still Museum Director, Dean Sobel, says is “70 years overdue.” The exhibit, Women of Abstract Expressionism, brings together over 50 major paintings by female artists together for the first time. Featured artists include Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner and Joan Mitchell among others, women who have often been overlooked. The AbEx movement has long been associated with male action painters like Pollock, Rothko, Still and Motherwell but this exhibit could prove it wasn’t such a boys’ club in actuality. Hauser & Wirth made its Los Angeles debut earlier this year with Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016. The show includes 100 works by 34 artists, 60 pieces of which are on loan from nearly 60 major American museums, artists’ estates and private collections. Robischon Gallery’s “Declaration” features three female artists (Judy Pfaff, Jae Ko and Linda Fleming) from its stable alongside critically-acclaimed, internationally-recognized artists from the Ginny Williams Collection. Boston collector Barbara Lee started the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which supports programs that advance women’s equality and representation in politics and the arts. Lee has also made monumental gifts to the ICA Boston, first with a donation of 43 works by female artists in 2014, and then with another 20 works by 12 female artists in 2015 valued at $42 million.

  From an investment stand point, women artists, as dealer Iwan Wirth says, “are the bargains of our time.” Amy Cappellazzo, an art advisor and former head of post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s, told ArtNews the market is “steadily improving for women at a faster clip in the last five years than in the previous 50 years.” As the market value of female artists continues to climb, we can only hope that someday the playing field will level off for women artists and arts workers. Until then, however, it’s up to all of us to be more cognizant and act as the change we want to see not only in the arts world but in the world at large.

Images by Guerrilla Girls

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Straight Talk About Public Art

Public art gets a bad wrap—plop art, art by committee, lowest common denominator art—and sometimes with good reason. However, a recent letter to the Westword by artist and co-founder of the Art District on Santa Fe Georgia Amar (whose work we have proposed and purchased for projects) is both quizzical and disappointing regarding Denver’s public art collection. Amar calls the city’s collection “neither aesthetic nor inspiring” and goes on to say “It has no meaning and is devoid of any message. It fails to engage. It does not reflect the spirit, intelligence and sensitivity of Denverites.” We’ll say it: them’s fighting words. Such absolute assessment seems not only off base but dangerously intolerant, especially for an artist whose livelihood depends on keeping a creative (i.e. open) mind.

  A great art collection, whether one owned by an individual, a company or a city, should be diverse and should resonate with different people in different ways. If everyone liked every piece in a collection, chances are the collection would be not only safe but sad, cold oatmeal boring. We often counsel our clients to collect by the one-third rule, which is especially important when collecting by committee. You should absolutely love one third of the collection, feel so-so about third and dislike and even deign to hate that final third. Why? Because which thirds people get excited about will change for each and every single person. Such is the beauty (and the curse) of subjectivity. With over 400+ pieces in its collection, that leaves 133 works to not be excited about. But why focus on those? Why not focus on the ones that get it right?

  Amar clearly has not done her research nor has she appeared to delve deep into Denver’s public art program. Yes, the City’s collection contains works by out-of-state artists (including internationally recognized artists like Bernar Venet and Sol LeWitt.) Yes, some works are more exciting than others. Yes, some artists are represented multiple times. Does any of this mean that there are no Colorado artists represented? That no pieces are “aesthetic nor inspiring”? That only the same artists are represented? Absolutely not. Such claims are not only ludicrous but they are inaccurate and downright false. When I think of my favorite artworks in Denver, I think of ones by Colorado artists: Lawrence Argent’s I See What You Mean, Patrick Marold’s Shadow Array, John McEnroe’s Model State, Sandra Fettingis’ I Know That You Know That I Know, Sean O’Meallie’s Balloon Man Running. Perhaps the reason why Patrick Marold has earned several public art commissions is not because he’s the go-to public art guy but because his use of materials and line approach a nirvana-like level of sophistication and beauty, that he truly understands the site and develops a site-specific proposal to fit it.

  With Denver Arts & Venues’ new public art programs like the Urban Arts Fund aimed at graffiti abatement and P.S. You Are Here designed to leverage creative placemaking for neighborhood revitalization not to mention the reinterpretation of the public art ordinance itself, there are more opportunities for every and any type of artist (visual or not) to be involved in public art. For example, The Chime Project called for the musical composition for a new chime at the City & County Building. Last fall, the City commissioned its first public art dance performance, White Mirror, for Babi Yar Park by Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet. Performed for one night only, the piece was devastatingly haunting and gorgeous and the perfect artwork for its location.

  Let’s go back to the engagement idea. To say that Denver’s public art fails to engage the people is out of touch and way off base. How could anyone say Denver’s public art fails to engage when the most polarizing piece of public art in Colorado history, Luis Jimenez’s Mustang at Denver International Airport, earns conspiracy theories, starts petitions and still has people arguing seven years after its installation. If that’s not engagement, what is?

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Art is not a fluff industry

By Deanne Gertner

 Back when I used to serve tables full time, I was always talking about my future “real” job. In my mind and the minds of those around me, being a server seemed not only illegitimate but entirely frivolous. Still after over a decade of serving tables, it often feels the same. In some unspoken agreement, the servers I know all came to the conclusion – part timers, full timers and, yes, even the lifers – that waiting tables falls into the realm of temporary, trivial, essentially false job paths. Is the cash in my pocket at the end of a night somehow less real? Is the stress from a rough shift less valid? Do my aching feet hurt less because this isn’t my “big girl” job? Are the over 2 million servers in the U.S. less important than the other 120 million “real” workers in the U.S.?

  Somehow we’ve gotten ourselves royally mixed up with regards to our perceptions of work and which jobs matter and which do not. Who decides and how does the criteria for an “important,” “essential”, “honorable,” “respectful” job get determined? If someone is willing to pay for a product or service, isn’t that product or service inherently valuable?

 Even though work makes up more than half of the word artwork, it seems that misconceptions about the value of art, both intrinsically and economically, dictate that art is not a “real” career path, one that more often than not is deemed less serious and therefore inconsequential. Working in the arts is seen as fluff by those with “real” jobs. Arts jobs, many appear to believe, are nice but they aren’t essential.

  Does $704.2 billion sound like fluff? What about 4.2% of the GDP? Would you believe me if I told you that in 2013 the arts and culture produced more in the U.S. than construction ($619 billion) and more than utilities ($270 billion)? The National Endowment for the Arts’ latest study shows that over a fifteen-year period arts and culture grew by 32.5%, outpacing accommodation and food services (1.4%), retail trade (1.3%) and transportation and warehousing (1.1%). In 2013, the arts and cultural sector employed 4.7 million wage and salary workers earning $339 billion. I’m no economist, but these numbers tell the story of real value and impact.

  In the visual arts alone, the global art market (auction houses, galleries, private dealers, art consultants) roughly accounts for $56 billion a year and could be even higher due to underestimated sales by galleries and dealers. Sotheby’s Michael McCollough detailed his critique to BLOUINARTINFO on how the art market gets counted: “…they say the public market (auctions) makes up 48% of the total market and the private market (galleries) comprises 52%. To people who actually work in the market, these number[s] are off wildly; most people estimate the private market to be at least twice as large as the public market. If my estimates are correct — and we know the global public market was at $27 billion last year — then the global private market was around $54 billion, thus the total global market should have been somewhere around $81 billion.” Either way you count it, that’s a lot of dough.

  Let’s now examine the art supply chain. Where does the chain start? With the canvas, stretcher bar, paint or brush manufacturers? The artist herself? Wouldn’t you need to go back in time to the very first moment that artist used Play-Doh or crayons or finger paints or Legos or a stick and some dirt to create something from her imagination? Let’s skip over pre-K, elementary, middle and high school and just think about higher education. The whole degree thing is its own industrial complex churning out 100,000 students with arts-oriented BFAs, MFAs and PhDs per year. From there, take into account the thousands of galleries, dealers and art museums, frame shops and art supply stores. Next, think of the art handlers and installers, the shippers, insurers, appraisers and conservators. Let’s not forget the art buyers themselves – individuals, institutions, municipalities, corporations. A 2015 study by Larry’s List on wealthy international art buyers estimates “there are 8,000 – 10,000 collectors worldwide who regularly buy substantially priced works from contemporary galleries and from fairs like Art Basel, Frieze and the Foire International d’Art Contemporain.” Think of the travel costs alone!

  All this talk of dollars aside, everyone I know who works in the arts does so for his or her love of art not love of money. They work in the arts because they can’t possibly live any other way. Aren’t the most important jobs the ones with the most passionate people in them, the ones where the worker derives the most meaning from his or her work, the ones where the worker strives for the deepest understanding of what it means to be alive at this moment in time on this planet?

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Art vs. Product

Art ≠ Product

  Art > Product

  Products = Objects = Things = Stuff, which includes but is not limited to: canvas, paint, pencils, crayons, marker, pen, bronze, wood, clay, film, paper, ink, resin, glass, stone, steel, water, grass, plastic, textiles, thread, spools, bobby pins, lightbulbs, suitcases, teacups, urinals, soup cans, mannequin parts, tchotchkes, xylophones, cellophane-wrapped hard candies, TVs, toy boats, taxidermied animals, mirrors, surf boards, cassette tape, bowling balls, cars, etc.

  Art ≥ Object(s) + Creativity/Imagination/Expression/Meaning/Context/Juxtaposition

e.g.:

teacup + spoon + saucer + fur

upside down urinal + “R. Mutt”

Campbell’s Soup cans + screenprint

rainbow colors + mannequin legs + wall

mannequin + fabric + hot pads + vintage toys + synthetic hair + seesaw

endless supply of multicolored cellophane-wrapped candies + pile + gallery corner

dozens of TVs + neon lights + map of the continental U.S.

wood + stainless steel cable + steel + cable

16 salvaged folding chairs + circle

wool carpet + melty-ish deconstruction

Great Salt Lake + jetty + spiral

  Art ≥ Ideas/Actions +/− Object(s) + Creativity/Imagination/Expression/Meaning/Context/Juxtaposition +/− Time

e.g.:

sitting in a chair + 1,565 strangers + silent staring + 736 hours and 30 minutes over 3 months

two men + getting hit in the head with pillows + 3 minutes

a person + a block of ice + the streets of Mexico City + 9 hours

comedy + art history/criticism + major bling + hip hop music

political activism + feminism + data + gorilla masks

woman in a little black dress & heels + ladder + paint + The Border Fence

  Art : Product :: Music : MP3 :: Dance : Dance Shoes :: Literature : Paper :: Whole : Part

  Economic Value ≤ Art ≥ Intrinsic Value

  whereas

  Economic Value ≥ Product ≤ Intrinsic Value

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We sent out 212 1099s to artists and creative businesses for 2015! Learn how to pay your fair share this tax season on our blog

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Artist Taxes

Disclaimer: You should not consider this article tax advice nor should you consider the lists this article contains to be comprehensive.  The Internal Revenue Code is over 70,000 pages long and deductions depend on the circumstances including if the deduction is BOTH ordinary and necessary for your type of business.  What is deductible in one business may not be deductible in another.  In addition, there are many deduction “myths” out there.  If you are not 100% certain about a deduction, it is best to consult with a tax advisor.

  Death and taxes, as the saying goes, are the only two guarantees in life. Because tax season is more often than not one of those times fraught with heartache, disbelief, turmoil and pain, it’s difficult to see the bright side of the situation. Taxes are hard enough to figure out when you’re an employee, but when you are self-employed as the majority of artists are, it’s even more complicated and potentially nightmarish. If only the U.S. would adopt Mexico’s model of having artists pay their taxes with artworks. To our chagrin, however, the IRS still only takes checks.

  But paying taxes as an artist shouldn’t be such a dreaded occasion as Jackie Battenfield says in her book The Artist’s Guide, “Paying taxes from my creative earnings is a triumph, not a burden…Instead of trying to fly under the radar of the IRS by resisting the inevitability of taxes, I see them as one more line item on the budget.” And as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. says, “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” If you’re still upset at having to pay taxes, try thinking of all those government agencies that support and promote the arts: National Endowment for the Arts, Public Broadcasting, local state and city governments that have public art programs. That money may just come back to you one day in the form of a grant or commission.

  If you’re going to be a career artist, you need to take the business side of your practice as seriously as you do the artistic side. Battenfield says, “Declaring your art income, from the beginning of your career, is an important message to yourself of your intention to make this profession work for you.” Meaning: you must pay taxes or deal with some serious and uncomfortable consequences.

  In order to only pay your fair share in taxes and not “tip” the IRS, you will need to maintain accurate records of both your art-related expenses (supplies, studio rent, equipment, etc.) and income (sales, commissions, licensing fees and other wages). Battenfield recommends you keep accurate records from the beginning, before you’ve sold a single work. There are numerous programs and methods out there to track your finances from a simple Xcel spread sheet to a more sophisticated software tool like Quickbooks. Tad Crawford in his Legal Guide for the Visual Arts suggests setting up separate banking accounts for art-related and personal expenses. Battenfield, for example, sets up multiple business accounts: checking, saving, tax savings, cash purchases and receivables. Just as you’ve done with your art practice, you’ll want to set up a system that works for you. Many banks have fee free accounts for low volume clients.  You should always try to keep your fees as low as possible.

  Make sure you save your paperwork for at least the seven years the IRS has to audit you, although current recommendations are to keep the information forever if you can convert it to a digital format. You’ll need to make sure your records include:

1.       Dates

2.       Sources

3.       Purposes

4.       Other supporting data such as checks, bills, receipts, etc.

5.       Categories for types of expenses and income

  As a self-employed artist, you will receive separate 1099s for independent contract work/sales valued over $600 from galleries, dealers and art consultants by February 28th. “Don’t assume,” Battenfield says, “that if you haven’t received a 1099 by the time you file your taxes in April that you are home free and don’t have to report that income.” She highly recommends that you compare received 1099s to your own records; if there’s an error, make sure it gets corrected immediately especially if a 1099 is issued for $90,000 when the actual piece was only $9,000.  You are required to report all income, even if the amount of the sale was under $600.00 and even if you were paid in cash.  Not reporting every dollar of income could be classified as income tax fraud and the IRS statute of limitations does not apply.  That means that the IRS could audit back further than seven years and you would be expected to provide the documentation.

  Being a self-employed artist allows you to deduct expenses directly related to your business on your taxes such as:

·         Art materials and supply directly related to art for sale or sold.  Inventory items are subject to special rules.

·         Employee wages including employer taxes paid and benefits.

·         Contract labor. Need a hand moving that sculpture? It’s deductible.  Be aware that you are required to report payments for services in excess of $600 to the IRS.  Best to have all helpers complete a W-9 before beginning work.

·         Interest on business loans (it’s best not to mix the use of loan proceeds between business and personal.  If you keep the lines clear, you will get the deduction).

·         Business travel. Again, if you combine personal and business travel, special rules apply.

·         Office supplies.

·         Storage units if 100% business use.

·         Internet service.

·         Web hosting and domain names for a business website.

·         Work space and utilities for that space*.

·         Office equipment needed to conduct business.

·         Certain books and professional journals directly related to the production of art and maintaining your knowledge.

·         Business-related repairs

·         Business-related promotional expenses (meals and entertainment need to be tracked separately and have very specific guidelines)

·         Business-related professional memberships.  Country club dues and the like are never deductible.

·         Phone**.

·         Business-related postage.

·         Premiums for art insurance and/or liability insurance.

·         Commissions of agents.

·         Business-related legal and accounting fees

·         certain types of education to maintain your educational level.  Education acquired to enter into your business or a new career is not deductible

·         Percentage of your individually paid health insurance – likely all of the health insurance could be deductible but there are exceptions.  If you have an employer and they provide health insurance, you can’t deduct it because it is likely already a pre-tax benefit.  You cannot take a deduction for health insurance in excess of your business net income.

·         Non-commuting business mileage (i.e. trips to buy supplies, etc).

·         Customer gifts up to $25 each person per year.  Husbands and wives are considered one person for this rule.

·         Business software.

·         Merchant fees if you accept credit cards or electronic payments.

·         Bank services charges for your separate business account.

·         Depreciation on long-lived business assets (desks, computers, file cabinets).  There are special rules, but if something costs over $500, you should check with your accountant as to the tax treatment.

   *If your studio is in your home, you will only be able to deduct a portion based on the amount used for art-related purposes. For example, if your studio takes up 10% of your home, only 10% of your rent, utilities, insurance, etc. are deductible.   If you choose this method, you may have recapture issues should you sell your home.  Beginning in 2013, there is also a flat rate per square foot option which is free from the recapture rules.

  **The first line into your home is NEVER deductible, even if it’s for your fax.  The IRS deems that you would probably have that anyway.  Additional lines may be deductible (fully or partially depending on business use).  Your cell phone may be fully deductible if the use is primarily for business.

  This is all relatively straight-forward if you primarily make a living through your art practice, but what if you have a day job? The IRS limits deductions from artists it deems hobbyists equal to their income, which means if you only sell $1,000 worth of art, you are limited to $1,000 in art-related deductions. Does that mean that all artists with a day job get categorized as hobbyists? What about artists who teach or otherwise work in a job that closely relates to their practice? The IRS has a test that presumes that in order to be a professional artist, you should be motivated to make a profit. A ruling in October 2014 involving painter, printmaker and tenured Hunter College professor Susan Crile determined that if you make little profit from selling your art, you can still be seen as a professional by the IRS. Even though only three years out of her more than four decade-long career as an artist were profitable, Judge Albert G. Lauber ruled she “had an actual and honest objective of making profit” and should therefore be considered a professional artist.

  There are nine ways you can show profit motive according to Crawford’s Legal Guide without having to prove yourself in court:

1.       Maintaining accurate records.

2.       Expertise – having gallery exhibits, working with agents/dealers, winning prizes, gaining recognition in articles/books.

3.       Time and effort expended in carrying on the activity.

4.       Expectation that assets used in activity may appreciate in value, though this has not yet been applied to the arts.

5.       Success in carrying on similar or dissimilar activities –previous critical or financial success in art despite a slack period, for example.

6.       History of income or losses with respect to the activity, especially if income has increased or if increased income from non-art sources or a change of profession occurs.

7.       The amount of occasional profits.

8.       Financial status – if you are wealthy or have independent income, you are more likely to be deemed a hobbyist.

9.       Elements of personal pleasure or recreation – Crawford says, “This has little application, since the pursuit of an art career is as painstaking and rigorous as any occupation.”

  Once you start to show a profit, you’ll begin to pay quarterly taxes to the IRS and any other government agency that requires them. Battenfield suggests dividing what you owed the previous year by four quarterly payments on April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15. She does this by creating a separate tax savings account in which she deposits twenty-five to thirty percent of each check. She says, “I don’t consider that money mine, and it is squirreled away, safe from monthly expenses.”

  This tax season, try to see the glass half full: your creativity is not simply a hobby but a career and, besides that, you’re helping to keep civilization up and running.

   Bonus: Sometimes learning what is deductible is as much a lesson in what is not deductible.  Not all of these are business related.

 The Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants recently surveyed its CPA members in public accounting on the most outrageous tax deductions clients tried to take on their tax returns. The resulting list shows that, more often than not, clients just don’t know which deductions are allowed.

  Expensive Clothing 

 We all like to look nice, especially for business purposes. But you’re expected to arrive to work fully clothed (looking nice is a bonus).   

Underwear and Socks

Need we say more?

A Wedding to Remember

A client wanted to deduct part of his wedding costs because more than half the guests were business-related contacts.

Cat Food and Litter

Your cats may be used to keep mice out of the barn, but their bare necessities are not deductible. In general, pet expenses are not deductible.

Valleyfair Season Tickets

Unfortunately, amusement parks don’t qualify for a day care deduction.

‘Business’ Boat

One client wanted to depreciate the cost of a large boat because he used it occasionally for client entertainment. You better set sail on that idea.  The same logic applies to vacation homes and other entertainment facilities.  These will generally not be deductible.

Foot Powder for Smelly Feet

Not stinking up the office does not qualify as a tax write-off.

Baby Grand Piano

A client, who was a humanities professor, thought he could deduct a piano. Unless the professor was providing lessons as part of a small business, this was not an acceptable deduction.  For artists, you may have to discuss this with your accountant if you give lessons.  Some items may be fully deductible.  Others may be partially deductible.

Misinterpretations of Charitable Donation

Unfortunately for one client, gambling losses didn’t qualify as a charitable donation to casinos or the Minnesota State Lottery. Giving gifts to your needy friends and family does not count either.  To be deductible, the entity must have 501 (c)(3) status with the IRS.

Keeping Yourself Rejuvenated

Botox, tanning, nails and the like do not qualify as acceptable deductions.  If it is personal hygiene or cosmetic, it is not going to be deductible.  If it is medical, these costs MAY be deductible on Schedule A.

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Design Come to Jesus or How Not to Use Pinterest

We’ve noticed a disconcerting trend occurring in the design world: using famous artists’ work as “inspiration” i.e. knock offs, rip offs or bad imitations for design. All too often, we see the same handful of artworks referenced in design concept boards or procurement packages as the basis for fabricators to make a “new” product. This proliferation of particular artworks feels suspiciously linked to social media and Pinterest especially. Don’t get us wrong, we love Pinterest as much as the next person. But we pin an artwork so we can remember that artist and use that particular artist’s work in a future project not as the basis for our own designs or so we can convince another artist to do it at a cheaper price.

In the design world, where “useful articles” (i.e. clothing, furniture, etc.) cannot be copyrighted because they provide a utilitarian function in society, riffing on a previous design is commonplace and perfectly legal. Think about all those fast-fashion retailers that take their cues from the runway or the furniture companies who make affordable versions of high-end pieces. Artwork, however, is specifically protected under Federal copyright law, which means the kind of copying that goes on in the design world doesn’t fly in the art world. Besides being against the law, knocking-off famous artists’ works is downright tacky.

  Take, for example, the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. In 2014, Hyperallergic reported the hotel featured “two large photos tailor-made to look just like [Marilyn] Minter’s work, but they are not the genuine article.” Minter told Hyperallergic, “They were just terrible photos and they looked Photoshopped.” Later she said, “It’s the same ingredients I would use, but I would never let that image out of the studio, it’s…so bad.”

  It takes a ridiculous amount of time, thought and energy to find the right vision for a project, which is why it’s so crazy hard to let go of it once it’s been solidified. In the creation of Loews Hollywood Hotel we can imagine someone presented Minter’s work in a mood board and everyone latched onto it. Perhaps the real or perceived cost for a Minter work was beyond the budget or perhaps everyone thought it was okay to do a DIY Minter? We can only hope the design team was well-intentioned, however, the sad fact remains that the hotel and everyone involved in its design made a poor choice.

  The hotel could have purchased mural-sized wallpapers Minter created with Maharam to have the real deal at a more affordable price. Or, instead of trying to imitate Minter’s signature style, why not try to find a local artist that can speak to the city’s culture? L.A.-based artists like Stephanie Vovas, Alex Prager or Doug Aitken could have provided a similar feel of luxury-meets-grit with a distinct Hollywood vibe. Not only that, but the hotel would have bought original works by artists living and working in the community in which the hotel does business. Rather than be shamed by Minter and Hyperallergic, the hotel could have been celebrated by being a champion of L.A. artists. Of course, to switch to a different artists means deviating from the original vision, but how much better is the story of buying original art vs. knocking-off art?

  To emphasize: ripping off famous artworks/artists is not only illegal, it’s short-sighted and a missed opportunity. For the price of an imitation artwork, you could probably get an original work by an emerging or even an established artist. By purchasing work from a living artist, you support that artist financially, of course, but you’re also giving that artist’s career a chance to flourish and you’re sustaining the creative economy by ensuring that art continues to be valued, economically and intrinsically, in our culture.

  Being creative is not easy, we know. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve sat down at a blank piece of paper to feel completely and utterly devastated by its blankness. When you have to churn out new ideas all the time, it’s even harder. As Minter told Hyperallergic, being in the commercial world is tough because you “have to come up with an idea every week or every couple of weeks.” It’s no wonder that a designer (or any creative person for that matter) looks to others for new ideas. We believe firmly in being sponges when it comes to inspiration; soak up anything and everything possible (the more disparate the better.) But when it’s time to create, don’t flat-out copy.

  Finding the right artwork for a project can be overwhelming. We know all too well from first-hand experience of countless hours, days, weeks, even months developing art programs and we look at art all day every day. That being said, the difficulty in finding the right art is no excuse for blatantly ripping off an artist; like anything in life, the most challenging path may offer the sweetest rewards.

Altered image from Creative Commons

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No Matchy-Matchy Art

Art and design. Ever since architect Gordon Bunshaft told David Rockefeller to “Put some art on the walls” to warm up 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, art and design have gone together like milk and cookies. Like the best relationships, art and design should complement one another. By complement we don’t mean compete with and we sure don’t mean blend into one another either. When you match the art to all the colors in the design elements (carpet, vinyl wall covering, upholstery, etc.), you’ve demoted art to mere décor and you’ve relegated your space to being flat, one-note and one-liner. But art has waaay too much potential, too much to offer to be pigeon holed like that. On an aesthetic level, we totally understand to impulse to match art and design. It’s only human to want things to “go” together. But art has this awesome thing about it that pretty much negates the need to “match.” The more art can be its own element in a space, the more complexity and depth is achieved. Designers are whizzes at creating environments, but artwork is about creating an experience. That experience should be nuanced and engaging and continually ask the viewer to reassess as he moves through the space. The individual artworks should stand on their own but when placed together, they should create something that’s exponentially larger than the sum of its parts. Arts professionals (art consultants, curators, gallerists, artists) are trained, often for years, to understand art’s power, to leverage it, harness it for a project to make that space outstanding not just ho-hum. We always value when clients and designers share artists with us, but we see more than just color or form or style, things clients and designers can sometimes get caught up on, when looking at an artwork. We see the quality of the artist’s craftsmanship, the execution of the artist’s idea, where this work fits into both the context of art history and the current arts landscape, how this artwork will translate into the space and the message it will deliver to employees, clients and the community at large.

  People buy art to make a statement. That statement will inevitably vary based on the person, but we’re 99.99% positive no one wants to make the statement: “[Insert color/style] everything.” When you use the same color palette/style in the art as the design, everything starts to blend together, which means your brain turns off and says, “I get it, this space is a whole lotta [insert color/style]. I can ignore everything from here on out.” It’s our experience that clients and designers spend a TON of time, money and energy developing spaces, so why would any of them want people to ignore all that hard work? Art that complements yet stands on its own from the design will not only call attention to itself but also the full environment (i.e. the design!) and get you closer to that elusive art and design nirvana.

  So how do you not fall into the matchy-matchy sink hole but still maintain art and design cohesion? To start, you need to understand your values and what your goals are with the design. Do you want to refresh your image, attract new talent, engage the community, humanize an institutional space, create an unforgettable client/customer experience? If you’ve approached your design and your art collection with these same over-arching goals, they will inevitably go together because you’re using the same selection criteria, the same vision to develop each one. Next, get your designer and art consultant talking. At NINE dot ARTS, we love designers. We love floor plans. We love renderings. We love swatches and samples and mood boards. Pretty much anything and everything that visually expresses the design direction. When we see design plans early on, we’re able to integrate the art into the design with art niches, art lighting and blocking, which means we’re able to create a seamless and gorgeous experience for the viewer. Next, let the consultant do what he does best: find the perfect artwork for the project.

  Ultimately, letting the art stand on its own is about elevating the design not trumping it. Art serves as a tool to add complexity and intrigue to a space and provides the viewer with an opportunity to see the world with a renewed perspective and even a new interpretation on life.

Image by Maria Hole via Zach Kenzie

#artvsdesign #artnotdecor

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2 Opportunities for CU Boulder Art Students

NINE dot ARTS has two exciting opportunities for CU Boulder student artists to have their art included in the permanent collection of two new Boulder hotels! The deadline for students to apply to either program is Tuesday, December 1, 2015. Art awards will range from $1,200-2,500 for students whose work is selected for the hotels.

Call for Entry for Guestroom Art: Embassy Suites & HIlton Garden Inn

NINE dot ARTS invites current students of the University Colorado Boulder to submit work to be considered for the guestrooms of two new Boulder hotels owned and operated by Sage Hospitality: Embassy Suites and Hilton Garden Inn.  Images of the winning works will be reproduced using a one-time licensing agreement with the artist in exchange for a monetary award.

Beyond the Studio Mentorship Program for Hilton Garden Inn

What is Beyond the Studio?

What happens when a hospitality company, a university, a rock-star artist and an art consulting firm team up? A completely new, out-of-the-box approach to creating and purchasing artwork called Beyond the Studio!

 Looking to do more than simply purchase an existing artwork, NINE dot ARTS dreamed up the idea of an art mentorship program that will provide real-world art business training for one lucky, current University of Colorado Boulder student artist or artist group. We’re pairing mentor Lisa Solberg, all-around awesome artist and CU Boulder alum, with a student/group to create a mural-like concept to be reproduced for one special location in all 172 guestrooms for the Hilton Garden Inn, developed by Sage Hospitality, to open in downtown Boulder Spring 2017.

 For the full project, NINE dot ARTS will curate an innovative art program featuring Colorado artists, especially those with ties to CU Boulder. All Hilton Garden Inn Boulder guestrooms will feature only current CU Boulder student artwork. Additional opportunities for students are available through a separate call for entry due Tuesday, December 1, 2015.

  Over the course of 18 months, Solberg will work hand-in-hand with the selected student/group to teach her/them all the necessary components to put together a successful art proposal and reproduce and install the work on time and on budget. Solberg will be working with the artist/group from the initial brainstorming all the way through the installation of the work in 2017. This incredible opportunity will provide unprecedented art-world training for an artist/group looking to launch a professional art career. h

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Making a Living as an Artist

Art has had an uneasy relationship with commerce for centuries. As artist and Working Artists and the Greater Community (W.A.G.E.) core organizer Lise Soskolne said in a recent panel discussion called “Art Works?” artists function both inside and outside the market living in a weird, nebulous realm that simultaneously infiltrates each and every class of society from the poorest of the poor to the 1% of the 1% while also examining, critiquing and contradicting those very same societal rungs and structures on which they depend to pay the bills.

  Even what artist means has shifted over time, predominantly due to the market in which art exists. Earlier this year, William Deresiewicz charted in The Atlantic in an essay called “The Death of the Artsist – and the Birth of the Creative Entrepreneur” the evolution of our cultural understanding of artist from hard-working artisan to solitary genius to credentialed professional to today’s creative entrepreneur, a transition he laments. “When works of art become commodities and nothing else, when every endeavor becomes ‘creative’ and everybody ‘a creative,’ then art sinks back to craft and artists back to artisans – a word that, in its adjectival form as least, is newly popular again. Artisanal pickles, artisanal poems: what’s the difference, after all?”

 But to our minds Deresiewicz, at least, appears to be caught inside a Portlandia episode. Art functions as a commodity, that’s true, but it also goes beyond economics. Art is not merely a product, something to be bought and sold. It’s at once tangible and intangible. For the businesses we work with, art provides multiple values: activating and humanizing spaces, creating unforgettable environments, attracting and retaining talent and customers. How can you put a monetary value on those things?

 Perhaps these unquantifiable benefits are why “Artists,” Soskolne says, “are [believed to be] compensated in ways that transcend commerce such as the intangible rewards of the so-called creative process: love, satisfaction, self-expression and so on.” Art for art’s sake is payment enough, or so the theory goes, reinforcing the romanticized and fetishized myth of the starving artist. But as even Van Gogh (the epitome of the starving artist) knew, an artist’s got to eat and more than just Patti Smith’s lettuce soup, if she wants to sustain her art practice over the course of a career.

 Research and data has accumulated over the years to try to quantify how artists make a living. But like trying to define art, this proves a tricky if mind-breaking/treacherous/ridiculous exercise. The National Endowment for Arts’ last study, released in 2011, counts 2.1 million artists in the United States with median wages and salaries of $43,000 (in 2009) – a number that exceeds the whole labor force by $4,000 yet lags behind other “professional” workers by $11,000. On the surface, these data points may seem promising, but once you unpack the numbers, they become less so. As Alexis Clements wrote for Hyperallergic, “Most reports about artists that I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a fair number) that are based on quantitative data are pretty fuzzy when it comes to the thing that many artists would love to know: How much money do artists make from their creative work?” She goes on to ask, “Why is the data so imprecise? Because almost everything about the ways that artists work seems to defy typical practices for collecting labor and earnings statistics…”

 For example, this data accounts only for those whose primary profession is as an artist. In 2014, the NEA released a supplemental study called “Keeping My Day Job: Identifying U.S. Workers Who Have Dual Careers as Artists” citing an additional 271,000 workers who hold second jobs in artist occupations. Several Denver artists hold primary jobs in academia, museums, arts nonprofits, arts businesses and even non-arts related sectors: Derrick Velasquez teaches at Metro State University, Sandra Fettingis works at MCA Denver, Don Quade works at CenturyLink. Famous artists have often called directly upon their former day jobs for inspiration. Richard Serra once worked the West Coast steel mills and shipyards, Barbara Kruger once worked for magazines as a graphic designer, art director and photo editor, Andy Warhol worked in advertising. Still other artists like Tracy Weil and our own Xavian Lahey juggle multiple part-time gigs. Weil, in addition to his art sales, makes a living by helping communities build art districts in addition to selling heirloom tomatoes to local restaurants. Lahey works as Nine dot Arts’ part-time art handler and bartends to finance his BFA. In today’s economy, where many workers juggle several part-time gigs, studying even secondary jobs isn’t enough.

 In her book The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love, artist Jackie Battenfield advises artists to have multiple and varied income streams and says, “Precariously balancing yourself on one funding source…subjects your life and your art to the mercy of whatever happens to that resource.” Rather than confine yourself to day jobs and art sales alone, Battenfield advises artists to think of any and all other funding possibilities: grants, artist residencies, investments, awards, freelancing, consulting, bartering, in-kind donations, family, real estate. Local artist-founded and run studios like Ironton and TANK financially support the co-founders while also providing not only affordable studio space for other artists but also a collaborative working environment.

 Back to the NEA data. For better or worse, the NEA counts commercial, industrial, fashion, graphic and floral designers and architects among artists as well as non-visual artists like musicians, actors, dancers, musicians and writers. Even the visual artists are lumped together with art directors and animators, which makes it impossible to see just how visual artists are faring. In their subset count totaling over 210,000 individuals, visual artists, art directors and animators, in 2009, earned a median wage or salary of almost $34,000 or $5,000 below the U.S. labor force as a whole and nearly $20,000 lower than other “professional” workers.

 In an August 2015 article in The New York Times Magazine called, “The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t” author Steven Johnson makes the case that artists are faring slightly better, gross wages/salaries wise, in 2015 than in 1999, when pirated content from the internet threatened to undermine many artists’ livelihoods. He cites data that shows an increased number of creative workers as well as increased opportunities, lower overhead/capital investment required to create and the maker-to-consumer paradigm shift. Licensing, direct sales and Kickstarter campaigns mean more money for artists. The democratization of technology means increased access to tools and information. Gone is the gallery/agent/publisher middle man. But plenty of criticism has surfaced to counteract these claims.

 Ken Tabachnick, a self-described “arts manager, educator, reformed intellectual property attorney and intermittently practicing artist,” agrees that the methods for making a living as an artist have changed over the last 20 years but counters that “Previously, artists had a realistic possibility to create valuable content and live off the exploitation of that content. Today, with the value of content being driven towards zero, it is rare to make a living solely from such exploitation and artists have had to evolve how they sustain themselves.” He goes on to state that “in most cases, artists have also had to pick up the work of building and maintaining a career that others…used to do.” Albuquerque-based artist Marietta Patricia Leis, who shows locally with Michael Warren Contemporary, recently told Nine dot Arts’ CEO, Martha Weidmann, about her shifting art practice. She formerly spent (and advised emerging artists to spend) 75% of her time making art and 25% working on the business side of her practice. Now, however, those percentages have flip-flopped.

 Not only do artists have to contend with the mental, emotional and even physical demands of creating art, they must also deal with the often even more fraught demands of managing their financial outlook. Battenfield says artists “need to be better than the average person” at managing their money. And, because the art market and individual artist careers can fluctuate wildly from month to month, year to year, “You need to be comfortable managing your time and finances with a steady hand amid the ups and downs.” “Self-employed artists,” she says, “whether sole proprietors or incorporated entities, are responsible for maintaining accurate accounting records and filing the appropriate tax forms” and for providing their own “insurance: health, liability, disability and life. Work schedules, vacations, sick days and parental leave are self-determined.” Such control and responsibility can be both a blessing and a curse.

 Examining gross wages and salaries can only tell part of the story of how and if artists make a living. As Tabachnick says, “a deep analysis” is needed to determine “whether artists are able to make a living on a net income basis and how today compares to the past.” Artists, for example, often face higher educational debt. The NEA found that artists of all types are, on average, more educated with 59% holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher. But, as several national publications have shown, Fine Arts degrees are among those with the “worst return on investment.” In a study by BFAMFAPhD titled “Artists Report Back: A National Study on the Lives of Arts Graduates and Working Artists,” 7 of the 10 most expensive schools in the nation (after scholarships and financial aid) are art schools. In today’s economy, a Bachelor’s degree, regardless of the industry, is seen as a baseline. For artists, the same often goes for an MFA. Clements calls this a “crazy hamster wheel at play” that forces artists to jump through hoops that are “really expensive and time consuming to jump through, which means only those who already have a lot of financial advantages and privileges in the first place are able to get through.” BFAMFAPhD showed in an earlier study that “The few people with art degrees who make their living as artists in New York City (15%) have median earnings of $25,000 a year. This is one-half of the median earnings of other professionals in the city, which is hard to face after going into debt for $120,000 for an art degree…” These kinds of hoops may directly contribute to the NEA’s findings of a decrease in demographic diversity among artists who tend to be pre-dominantly white and non-Hispanic.

 In addition to debt, artists must contend with costs of living that can be highly disproportionate to their earnings depending on their resident city. With some of the least affordable cities in the nation also acting as cultural hub cities, affordable artist housing remains a top priority. In Denver, where apartment rental rates continue to skyrocket despite a glut of new buildings and where studio space is becoming increasingly scarce, many artists feel crunched from all sides. The River North Art District (RiNo), whose tag line many joke should be changed to “where art was formerly made,” has seen $365 million in real estate deals since 2013 which threatens to push those very same artists who made the area desirable out. Denver Arts & Venues and Artspace, a nonprofit arts development corporation, are working on plans to build a sustainable and permanent affordable artist community in RiNo in the near future. Artspace Loveland, developed by Artspace in conjunction with the City of Loveland, features 30 live/work lofts for artists. With rents based on income, a studio is as low as $323 a month – compared to the Denver metro area’s average monthly rental rates of $1,158 – for a single person whose average annual income is between $16,350 to $43,600.

 Despite the data and surveys and statistics and anecdotes and theories that often purport otherwise, artists continue to make art and they continued to find ways to get paid to do so. Just as in creating art, there are no magic formulas to get paid for making art. Battenfield says “the same individuality you have established in your art practice will uncover a unique path to funding your art.” Money is not the enemy but rather “a tool,” as Battenfield describes it, which funds not simply supplies, studio space, food, shelter, health and well-being but also the means “to develop and realize new ideas…” Artists, as they’ve done throughout history, will continue to not only create but to work within whatever socioeconomic circumstances they find themselves. It’s not an easy task to make a living as an artist, but it can be done.

 It’s our job – not just at Nine dot Arts but as the greater community as a whole – to make that struggle between creating art and paying the bills easier. Companies, especially, have the opportunity to make a positive impact upon the arts community through art purchases, artist fees for leasing work, scholarships, grants, stipends, fellowships, awards, in-kind donations like free studio space, travel vouchers and hotel rooms, pro bono services like legal advice, health screenings and tax preparation, or artist-in-residence programs. The possibilities are as endless and varied as art itself.

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Best Practices for Commissioning Art (for Clients & Artists)

When we’re looking for the perfect artwork for a client, we often feel like Indiana Jones (minus the bull whip, of course): crusading near and far, navigating the opaque (i.e. the art world), following leads to seeming dead ends until we find the hidden door. For the most part, finding the “it” piece is a matter of time and dogged determination.

  But sometimes, that “it” piece doesn’t exist and may not even be a twinkle in the artist’s eye – yet. Enter: The Commission, a new work an artist is hired to create not previously in existence. A commission may be similar to an existing work in style or content, but will usually have specific parameters for size, shape, color, etc. and should maintain its own originality. While it’s not necessarily a site-specific work, it’s created for a particular purpose or project.

  For some (clients and artists included), commissions can be scary. When you throw in things like control, trust, vision and communication, it’s easy for all parties involved to get overwhelmed. We dots, however, have quite a bit of experience in the commission department. And since we’re firmly nestled in the space between business and art, we’ve got a unique perspective on the whole process from start to finish that we’re going to share (‘cause we’re cool like that.)

  First things first: a commission should be in the vein of the artist’s body of work and something she might have ostensibly created her own. This means if an artist does traditional landscape paintings you shouldn’t ask her to do a graffiti-like mural and vice versa. The best commissions push the artist and her work to the next level – changing the scale, maximizing materials, exploring deeper meaning. Often, a commission means having the vision and faith in artists that they sometimes don’t even have in themselves. As an artist, you can and should ask for help when you’re in over your head or are unsure of your next move. We’ve got a bevy of resources we turn to for their expertise, plus we’ve seen the gamut when it comes to commissions. The last place you want to be in is having to redo a commission, which could be costly and eat up time you don’t have.

  Point #2: clients are clients not artists, and artists are artists not graphic designers. If you as a client are looking to dictate every aspect of a commission, you are better off hiring a graphic designer to execute your vision. Why? Because artists have worked their whole lives to develop their own vision, hone their craft and visually express both. Artists generally come up with better solutions, better executions, better visions, better artworks than non-artists. Relinquishing control and trusting an artist can result in stunning results beyond imagining. For example, we commissioned Hilary White to create a work based on the history of Florida and Florida State University for the SpringHill Suites Gainesville last year. We knew Hilary would create something awesome based on her body of work, but we didn’t know how completely and totally awesome it would be until we got her first concept drawing and then the completed piece. Had we tried to control every aspect of the work, we’re certain the work would have lost its energy. Hilary’s creativity would have not only been squashed but squandered.

  Finally, make sure to communicate clearly and effectively from start to finish. Usually, a single existing work or a body of work will serve as the basis for a commission but with modifications due to specific size requirements, content, timeline, etc. Clients and artists should understand any parameters before going into a commission not halfway through. Artists may request non-refundable deposits or design fees, which are typically put towards the overall price of the commission, to create a rendering. Don’t be afraid of questions! As they say, the only stupid question is the one not asked. Still, words can get everyone into trouble because they’re open to interpretation. An initial concept sketch helps everyone (artist, client, us) envision the final result. Additionally, checking in periodically with work-in-progress photographs at 60, 75 and 95% completion keeps everyone on track and able to make adjustments if necessary before it’s too late. Feedback should be given in a timely manner and the artist should always address any concerns or questions immediately. Perhaps the best part about commissions are the opportunities to witness the artistic process firsthand through studio visits, conference calls and meetings, which can provide marketing and documentary opportunities for social media, videos and catalogues for everyone involved.

  Like any good relationship, a good commission takes work, not simply on the artist’s part. All parties need to be equally invested, participatory, open and communicative throughout the process. Go team!

Images courtesy of David Shingler and Abend Gallery.

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The future is now

Because we’re not content to “just” transform environments into experiences, we decided we’d get ourselves tangled up in software development, too. Yes, you read correctly: artsy-types have been developing software. For the past year and some change, we’ve been toiling, testing and problem-solving like it’s our job to streamline all the myriad, disparate and complicated facets of our business into a single, online location that’s better for us, for artists and galleries and, ultimately, our clients. That place, while it may seem like the equivalent of a Utopian unicorn, is dotfolio. We’ve trademarked it and everything!

  What is dotfolio?

Equal parts online artist database, procurement system, CRM tool, dotfolio is all things Nine dot Arts, meaning it’s how we’re going to: search for and propose artists for projects; provide transparent access to artists about where their work is in our 9-step process; present our ideas to our clients; create client invoices; issue purchase orders; and process artist invoices. It’s a one-stop shop that’s beautifully designed and intuitive to use thanks to the code wizzes at Cirro. It will revolutionize not only the way we do business but also the speed at which it gets done. This may just be the biggest thing to hit the art consulting world since David Rockefeller hired Dorothy Miller as the first corporate art advisor for One Chase Plaza.

  What dotfolio means for you

 Artists:

dotfolio is an online artist database for Nine dot Arts. Created specifically with artists in mind, dotfolio gives artists unprecedented, streamlined access to our curation process. Whenever we select an art piece for a project brainstorm session or when it moves into a proposal, a little banner on the image of that piece will show in the top left corner.

 dotfolio also gives the entire Nine dot Arts team access to the same information in real time. dotfolio allows artists to intuitively and easily edit your profile, upload documents and drag and drop images in one place for free. (Rest assured that dotfolio is really and truly free to use.) Artists can assign artwork to the gallery we can purchase it from or let us know if we buy directly through their studio, tag artworks by medium or style and provide any and all pertinent information about each work such as sizing, pricing, availability, if it is part of an edition, etc.

   Galleries/Artist Representatives:

As dotfolio stands now, only artists can have profiles. That said, an artist representative (i.e. a gallery) can create a profile with contact information, images, and artwork info on behalf on an artist. Each artwork has a "Who do we purchase this art from?" section. We will always purchase an artwork from the appropriate channel, including the gallery. 

  As always, we rely on artists to tell us who we purchase a piece from as we do not know everyone's contracts/agreements. Often we know which artists are at what what galleries, but we also know things can change. If an artist creates her own profile, she is responsible for letting us know where we purchase her art. Galleries may opt to create and manage a profile for each of its artists, that way the gallery can have 100% control of the information we see. If a gallery takes this route, it will need to create a unique email address for each artist’s profile.

  Clients:

Clients will now receive extra-pretty-across-the-board-consistently-formatted proposals from us. We’ll send clients a link to an art proposal complete with floor plans, art locations and pricing (all in one document!!) Clients can then request changes or approve the proposal as is. Our invoices and art detail sheets will now be combined in a single document. Gone are the days of 4 email attachments from us that you need several monitors to view at once. Simple, streamlined, easy to look at – seemingly basic but in the end game-changing solutions to make buying art that much better.

   The Low Down

dotfolio will be the only way Nine dot Arts will create proposals and issue purchase orders in the near future. We know change can be scary, but we're really working the same way we always have, just in a more efficient manner. dotfolio is internal facing to Nine dot Arts. Only what we decide to show in a proposal will be external facing (just as it is now): image, artist, title, medium, size, price. Other artists, galleries, consultants and clients do not have access to the back end of the system.

  Reality Check

We’ve learned that software development never really ends. We thank you in advance for your help as we wrangle this technology and adjust to it. We already have a hefty wishlist of features to add for dotfolio 2.0; please know we are here to answer any questions, field your feedback, listen, and, most importantly, to place art.

Tips for optimal dotfolio use:

dotfolio works best with Google Chrome and is not compatible with Internet Explorer. If you've made a change to your profile or artwork but don't see it saved, please give the page time to load. If you still don't see a change, refresh your page.

I’m having problems using dotfolio. What should I do?

Check out the FAQs to make sure your question isn't one we've already answered.

 Second, make sure you're using a supported browser. We recommend Google Chrome, but you can also use Safari or Firefox. dotfolio is not compatible with Internet Explorer.

 Third, make sure you have the most up-to-date version of your browser.

 Fourth, try refreshing your page.

 Fifth, if nothing appears to work, please follow these steps to report the problem to us at 303-999-0383 (preferred) or [email protected]:

 1. Describe the issue as clearly as possible. 

 2. List the steps you took to encounter the problem. 

ie. Signed In, navigated to my profile, clicked Edit, uploaded W9 then received the following error message

 3. What browser and version of the browser are you using

You can find your browser and version using the following link https://whatbrowser.org/

 4. Take a screenshot of error you are seeing

Does the art listed on dotfolio need to be framed?

No, NINE dot ARTS prefers to purchase unframed art as specific framing is usually required for most projects. That said, if a piece is already framed and the framing will work for a project, NINE dot ARTS may purchase the framed work. If a work is framed, please indicate such in the "Additional Information" section on that artwork and include that cost in the retail and wholesale prices as well. If the work is framed but NINE dot ARTS needs to reframe it, you are welcome to take the art out of the frame to use for a different artwork.

When can I expect NINE dot ARTS to purchase my work?

NINE dot ARTS works on a project-basis, which means that we purchase the best art to fit each project. Sometimes we find a fit right away and sometimes it takes us years to find the right project for an artist. Don't get discouraged if we don't sell your work right away because that doesn't mean we aren't trying or that we don't like it. In the meantime, keep making great artwork and keep selling it through as many avenues (galleries, other art consulting firms, online, through your studio, etc.) as possible. For more information about making a living as an artist, check out our blog post here.

What do artists say about NINE dot ARTS? 

“Nine dot Arts put me in a higher tax bracket this year. And that’s a really good thing for an artist.”– Phil Bender, Artist

“I do business with art representatives internationally, and have been so impressed by Nine Dot Arts since the beginning. They have energy, integrity and a very keen eye. They have a high level of professionalism and a very forward - thinking vision for the business.”– Danae Falliers, Artist

“Nine dot Arts has sold my work for over five years. I have observed over the years that they aren’t interested in merely hanging art on the wall, getting paid and leaving the job site. Rather, they have a deeply considered vision that is carried out throughout a project and they search out art and artists which speak to their creative goals. This creative process of theirs has forced me to push my art further than I would have on my own or, for that matter, than I do with the other art consultants I work with. They have also created a rather competitive world around their projects and I believe that has made many artists also push themselves to create their best work. I value my relationship with Nine dot Arts very much and can’t imagine the art scene without them.”– Paul Brokering, Artist

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Valuation & Appraisals 101

Maybe you don’t know, but we dots do more than “simply” place art on the wall. In fact, we offer a whole slew of services in our 9-step process that go beyond the traditional art consulting process (procure, present, finalize, frame, install) because art collections, like living organisms, change over time. Whether a corporate collector wants to rotate its collection, is renovating space, moving to a new location, merging with another company or even closing its doors, it’s good to know what art is worth keeping and what should be deaccessioned. That’s where valuation and appraisal comes in.

 What does a valuation or appraisal do?

A valuation or appraisal establishes the value of a piece. When it comes to art, you must consider two types of value: replacement value – how much would it cost to replace this work should it be damaged or stolen – and fair market value – what would a potential buyer be willing to purchase the work for. Often the fair market value of a work will differ from the replacement value and, in some cases, be lower than the replacement value. For insurance purposes, you need to establish the replacement value of a work. Your insurance policy may require a valuation or appraisal every few years. For donations to a museum, however, the fair market value rather than the replacement value comes into play.

 What’s the difference between a valuation and an appraisal?

An appraiser has worked in the field for five years, has been certified through the Uniform Standards in Professional Appraisal Practice and may be part of an organization such as the Appraisers Association of America (AAA). Members of AAA, for example, must adhere to a strict code of ethics and maintain their certification every two years. Appraisers will often specialize in a particular genre, time, period or region, such as Ann Daley, former Associate Curator for the Denver Art Museum’s Western Art Department and current curator for the Mayer Collection, who focuses her appraisals on mostly 20th (and sometimes 19th) century American art. Daley says she got into appraising because she wanted to “do something more” with her curatorial knowledge.

 A valuation, on the other hand, can be done by anyone with a decent set of research skills. Yet despite the difference in certification, a valuation and an appraisal may actually lead you to the same conclusion in the end. Both examine and document the work’s condition and size and photograph the piece. Both research comparable pieces by that same artist, examine his/her auction and sales records, review his/her C.V. and determine whether or not this is an example of the artist’s best work.

 What does a valuation or appraisal cost?

Generally, a valuation is less expensive. Daley advises those looking for appraisals to first do some preliminary research on their own. She says people are often fooled by reproduction prints, especially if there’s a family history involved with the piece. She tells of a family whose grandmother had studied with Thomas Hart Benton. According to the grandmother, Benton gave her a signed drawing that had been in the family for decades. Daley, called upon to appraise the piece, had to give the family the disheartening news that in actuality the work was a reproduction. Suddenly, in a situation like this, the appraisal is more costly than the work.

 What doesn’t a valuation or appraisal include?

Neither valuations nor appraisals authenticate a work. Daley says she assumes the work is what the owner says it is and works accordingly unless there is an obvious sign otherwise because too many legal issues have developed over the years around authentication. Even organizations like The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts have shied away from authentication in recent years.

 What can you do to ensure that your art collection maintains its value over time?

First, start by buying the best you can afford. Daley says she sees a lot of “stuff” out there – even by world-famous, museum-quality artists. She advises collectors to “stretch for the best” because the initial investment is always worth it in the end. Second, take good care of your collection. Often people don’t consider storage or proper protection. In Colorado, for example, the harsh sun and its ultraviolet rays wreak havoc on work. Be sure to invest in UV glass and store works not on display in cool, dry spaces. Third, regularly clean and maintain the art or enlist the help of a conservator to do so. Fourth, handle the work properly, whether that means wearing gloves or having a professional art handler move the work when needed.

Photo via rebloggy

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What is Site-Specific Art?

The Guggenheim Museum defines site-specific art as “an artist’s intervention in a specific locale, creating a work that is integrated with its surroundings and that explores its relationship to the topography of its locale… and to restructure the viewer’s conceptual and perceptual experience of that locale through the artist’s intervention.” Said another way, site-specific art is created with a particular space (i.e. site) in mind vs. typical works that can be exhibited anywhere from the studio to the gallery, museum, home or business. At its most basic, site-specific art transforms an environment into an experience. If that line sounds familiar, you might notice it happens to be our mission here at NINE dot ARTS, a mission we take as seriously as a coronary (but in a good way!)

 Lest we confuse you, however, not every artwork we place is site-specific. True, any great (dare we say even a good) piece of art will change any space it’s in. But the difference between a standard (if there is such a thing) piece of art and a site-specific work is its relationship to its surroundings. A site-specific work becomes an integral part of that specific environment rather than something exterior/surface to it. A site-specific work uses the space itself as a medium. Take, for example, Sandra Fettingis’ I Know That You Know That I Know that we commissioned at the Colorado Convention Center, a 160-foot long work made from paint and acrylic that transforms a banal hallway into an optical explosion of black, red and white, geometric shapes and line. She leveraged the walls, the very space and shape of the hallway itself, to create a massive piece that envelopes the viewer: your eyes pulsate at each linear intersection, you can’t help but feel overwhelmed and dazzled as you move through the corridor.

 Another example, Samantha Parker Salazar’s Equidistant at the Courtyard Austin – University Area, scales four-stories above the hotel’s reception desk. You may remember Sam from our interview with her about her process for a post this past February. NINE dot ARTS and Sage Hospitality commissioned Samantha to create this site-specific sculpture from a crescendo of intalgio prints, paper, monofilament and paint.  The work hovers like a giant, silent waterfall above the check-in desk, viewable from each floor. The viewer’s concept of both the work and the space changes at each viewing level as more of the work is revealed.

 From its inception in the late 1960s and early 1970s, site-specific art has challenged art’s reach economically and socio-politically in addition to its perceived limits of scale, space, light and form. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s proposed temporary site-specific piece, Over the River, for example, will “suspend 5.9 miles of silvery, luminous fabric panels high above the Arkansas River along a 42-mile stretch of the river between Salida and Canon City in south-central Colorado.” The proposed work has pitted environmentalists concerned about big horn sheep, fish and birds against impassioned river rafting companies and local businesses, who stand to make hefty profits during the work’s installation. The work has been steeped in legal battles and scrutinized at the local, state and national levels, including a study by the Bureau of Land Management. The work’s fate now rests in the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

 Most often, site-specific art works best at large scales where the viewer can experience the work from different perspectives, conditions and contexts, which means not every space can accommodate a site-specific piece. Additionally, because site-specific work is created for a particular setting, it may take on other forms and meanings in different locales. Conversely, the same locale can be interpreted and intervened upon in myriad ways. Even the same artist can reimagine the same space time and time again through different site-specific works.

 Site-specific work is not for the faint of heart. It takes a crazy amount of guts and pure, blind faith to trust an artist with hundreds, if not thousands or tens of thousands, of square feet at her disposal. But, as we’ve discovered, if you turn a space over to an artist, you’ll probably be more than pleasantly surprised, not only awe-struck yourself but also the most enviable art collector around.

“I Know That You Know That I Know” by Sandra Fettingis at Colorado Convention Center, photograph by Paul Brokering

#SiteSpecificArt #COConventionCenter #ArtCourtyardAustin #Christo&JeanneClaude #OverTheRiver

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Curation

Curated has become a bit of a buzz word these days. The term has migrated outside the museum to infiltrate nearly every aspect of our lives from retail sites like Canopy, coined as “Amazon, curated” to “curated computing” on your iPad. Curate actually stems from the Medieval Latin curatus: “one responsible for the care (of souls)”. It began as a noun for a spiritual leader.  This definition and usage still applies but, for most of us, our understanding of the word has morphed to include the selection, interpretation and care for tangible objects in a cultural, scientific or historic institution, most notably art museums. Since the millennium, however, the internet has democratized the term to include the selection of any type of content, presented in any format, by any self-defined curator (Kanye West included) hence the myriad shopping sites, monthly subscriptions, blogs, tweets, links and Pinterest boards all bearing the curated tag. Much has been made of this definition expansion from The Chicago Tribune to The New York Times. Even officially-dubbed museum curators feel ambivalent towards the title as it now stands – at times rejoiceful, flattered, fearful, dismissive, offended, flabbergasted. Like much of life as we know it in 2015, our understanding of and grasp on the term is in constant flux, resulting in nebulous, hazy ideas that we’ve cobbled together from multiple, disparate, even contradictory sources.

  All of this begs the question: what does NINE dot ARTS mean when we say curate or curated? First, let’s talk about our curatorial philosophy and process. Perhaps, if you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know that we put art on the spiritual level and as such treat it with the utmost care and respect.  Harkening back to the original definition of curate, we see ourselves as both guides and caretakers on a mission to use the power of art for good. And we also see ourselves positioned in that newer role as selectors and interpreters. Museum curators study their chosen field for years, often earning several degrees including PhDs. Their role as selector and interpreter is steeped in research culled from countless hours of analysis and thought to provide context and meaning for individual works, exhibitions and entire collections. To curate is to develop an argument or thesis that is visually manifested by the selected artwork. Like museum curators, we study, we research, we analyze and we present a clear argument for each collection. Whereas a curator develops meaning in the context of art history, we find meaning as it relates to each client’s story.

  Now, let’s delve into what we mean when we say curated collection. As anyone who’s ever been to art school knows, juxtaposition is another one of those art buzz words that has maybe-kinda-sorta-for-real gotten out of control. Nevertheless, juxtaposition, whether through similarity or disparity, remains a powerful tool not only in visual art but also in literature, film, music, theatre, dance and even comedy.  Artworks, of course, have meaning as an individual piece, but when they are displayed together in the same space, whether it’s a museum, gallery, law firm, boutique hotel or hospital, they become part of a multifaceted conversation with each other and the viewer. This may all seem obvious (a collection is the sum of its parts, duh!), but what differentiates our use of curated collection stems from a distinct perspective, point of view, vision, voice (or whatever you want to call it) in the juxtaposition of those individual works.  

  We’re not interested in creating so-called thematic collections that repeat the same idea, presented in like fashion on each wall. Let’s be clear: a theme (or variation on a theme) does not a curated collection make. Rather we aim to create collections brimming with complexity and nuance so that every art piece engages the viewer, enlivens the space and tells that client’s singular story in a new and unique way.  Even within extremely specific selection criteria whether it be geographic or stylistic or driven by content, medium, price or size, a collection can be both thoughtful yet creative, refined yet expansive, diverse yet unified. A curator constantly moves the lens through which the audience views. Each new work examines the thesis from a different angle. With an art collection, the number of shifts will be determined by the scope and scale of the collection.  We develop collections the same way: every piece recontextualizes the selection criteria as well as the work seen before and after it.  As a result, the viewer has a constant shift in understanding (from subtle to drastic) of the entire collection and by proxy the collector.  

  We believe that a truly great collection holds up to the Rule of Thirds: viewers should love a third of the works, feel neutral about a third and hate a third.  Why, you may ask, would we want anyone to hate any art we place? To start, because art remains highly subjective.  Second, when you aim to please everyone, you start to boil things down to the lowest common denominator which generally equates to a ho-hum, generic and even boring collection that merely hangs on a wall, doing nothing for your employees, clients or brand. Third, occasionally a work you start out hating becomes the one you love most because it challenges you.

  Image: Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, courtesy of the Tate Museum

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Call for Entries: Hotel Commonwealth Connector Corridors

Deadline for Entry: May 1, 2015

NINE dot ARTS invites Boston-based graphic artists to submit a design for the new addition at the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square. This Call is for the new hallways connecting the new building with the existing hotel structure (see rendering above). The graphic will span across all four floors and be seen both inside the hotel and from the street.  NINE dot ARTS will issue a $1,000 monetary award to license the design. The artist is not responsible for printing or installation.

Call for Entry Application

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Writing the Artist Statement

We can’t tell you how often we come across artist statements that try too hard to be analytical, clever, academic or progressive.  It’s so often, in fact, that the majority of us artsy types forego reading statements entirely.  Art critic Roberta Smith says, “Ithink the work of art, whatever form it takes, is the artist’s statement.  And I don’t want a secondary statement –unless I have real questions – from the artist or from the dealer or from anybody.”  Like Smith, we evaluate the art on its own terms.  But for non-artsy types, an artist statement provides the viewer with a lens through which to view your work.

 At NINE dot ARTS, we have a sneaking suspicion that some well-intentioned yet ultimately misdirected person set this whole convoluted-is-best artist statement trend in motion.  Perhaps it was an MFA thesis advisor or art critic or gallery owner or even Calvin and Hobbes? The world may never know.  As with any art form, the artist – whether visual, literary, musical – must decide where on the understandability spectrum (from instantly accessible to utterly challenging) she wants to be.  An artist statement is no different. Yet, as anyone who’s ever read Lydia Davis or Gertrude Stein knows, even the most foreign or conceptual pieces of writing can be grounded in clear language even while the work as a whole remains opaque.

  Perhaps the most difficult thing about the artist statement is expressing in words what you’ve already expressed through color, line, shape, texture, form and composition.  After all, as an artist you’re visually not verbally oriented.  Despite your visual proclivities, one thing remains clear: hope for the artist statement lives!  You don’t have to wallow in insecurity, hifalutin terminology or fear of overexposing yourself or your work.  

  Robin Grearson, in her essay “In Defense of the Artist Statement,” says, “All I want from an artist statement is a link between the work and the artist. When this is done honestly, the result is original and authentic. It’s simple, but there is so much resistance that the simplicity is overlooked.”  In other words, what drove you to make this painting/sculpture/photograph/drawing/print? What about you is unique? Chances are, this is the same thing that makes your art unique.  Your statement should be specific to you and your work alone. Sometimes artists (and writers for that matter) try to be general in an effort towards inclusiveness.  But paradoxically, the specific not the general becomes universal.  

  How many artworks explore the relationship between pop culture and the economy?  Hundreds if not thousands.  But what other artist explores that relationship like Willem Volkersz? None.  Volkersz emigrated from Holland in the 1950s, subsequently went gaga for American pop culture, and cruised the West Coast (splitting his time between a motor scooter and a car) to document thousands of billboard and neon signs while collecting kitschy postcards and souvenirs.  Those photos and tchotchke epherma then became the fodder for his mixed media pieces that smartly and playfully integrate painting, neon lights and found objects to simultaneously celebrate and question consumer culture and American society as a whole.  As Grearson says, a highly specific artist statement like Volkerzs’ “allows a viewer to locate something of the artist within [his] images.”  As a viewer, you can connect to Volkerzs road trip, his astonishment at the world’s largest ball of yarn, his affinity for porcelain deer. An artist statement is therefore expansive not reductive.  It opens up associations for the viewer, recontextualizes the work and deepens the viewer’s understanding.

  Now that you’re on board with the artist statement, where do you start? Yourself! As logical and simple as it seems, examining yourself and your artistic practice could be quite frightening.  Jackie Battenfield, in her book, The Artist’s Guide, describes her initial struggles: “Writing about my formal concerns and process felt boring. The more I worked on my statement, the more depressed I felt.  I concluded that my work was meaningless because I couldn’t figure out how to express what it was about.”  That’s a dark place for sure, one you don’t have to be in.  Ask, instead, the following questions:

 ·         Why do you create art?

·         What inspires you to keep doing it?

·         What is specific to your work and no one else’s?

·         What is your process for creation?

·         Why do you use certain materials?

·         How does this piece/project fit into your body of work as a whole?

·         What would others want to know about this work?

·         What does your work look like?

  Take your time and be thoughtful, really explore the answers to each of these questions.  If you’re too intimidated to start writing, you could try talking into a recorder or inviting friends and fellow artists over for an informal discussion about your work (also recorded).  After you’ve got your initial thoughts laid out, read through or listen to everything multiple times.  Comb through the raw material for repetitions, interesting phrases, key elements.

  Give yourself time to mull everything over, really letting it stew in your brain.  Let yourself meditate on it while driving, showering, making dinner, basically any time except when you’re practicing art.  By doing this, you’ll let your subconscious do much of the work for you.  Some writers call this pre-writing.  Roxane Gay, for example, did most of her revising for An Untamed State before she even set fingers to the keyboard.  She thought long and hard about her story, working out plot details and structure ahead of time, so that by the time she sat down to write the novel, she produced the first draft in weeks.  

  Next, start a rough draft.  Your goal is to create a two to three paragraph statement that “provides the reader with information about your sources, ideas and inspiration,” as Battenfield says. This statement will be used on your website, in a press release, application or proposal.  A well-written statement will make you stand out to curators, art consultants and juries.

  One of our favorite revision strategies is to start with a new, blank document.  You can still have all of the previous notes nearby, but starting a new document keeps you less tied to what you’ve already said and more focused on what you’re going to say.  Essentially, a fresh page helps to keep you imaginatively unfrozen.  

  The most important thing to remember in the rough draft phase is to turn your inner critic off.  Creative writers have any number of strategies for doing this: waking up at 3 am, reading a book upside or backwards for five minutes beforehand, being naked like Victor Hugo or Benjamin Franklin, going to the same coffee shop like Richard Russo, working at a stand-up desk, in the bathtub, the list goes on.  The most exciting thing about writing, unlike an artwork, is that you have zero chance of ruining it. You won’t accidentally over process/chip off/paint over a key element. In the off chance that you do screw it up in a later draft, you can always go back to the one before it. Feel free to make a mess of your first draft because you’re going to have countless opportunities to clean it up.

  On to revision.  Revision is not simply about copy editing and grammar. Rather it’s about re-imagining what, how and why you’ve written.  Your goal is to craft a clear, concise statement that illuminates your work for the viewer and lets her see you in it.  As anyone who’s ever attempted to write knows, this is a feat easier said than done.  Even Ernest Hemingway didn’t get it right in his first drafts.  He rewrote the last page of A Farewell to Arms thirty-nine times before he got it right.  We’re not saying your statement needs to be rewritten that much, but probably you need to take a few stabs at it – at the very least.

  Just like creating an artwork, revision requires the simultaneous act of divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result.) Revision, therefore, is just as creative as initial drafting.  If you look at writing and revising your artist statement as you do your art, chances are you’re going to enjoy the writing process more, you’ll have a better statement and you won’t leave people scratching their heads about your work.

  Finally, give your statement to other people for commentary – artists and non-artists alike.  Get as much feedback as possible.  There will, of course, be off-the wall comments or comments so highly specific that that one person, that you can (and probably should) discard those. On the other hand, when multiple people say the same thing or point to the same section, that’s your clue to rethink what you’ve written.  

  “Writing,” Steve Almond says, “is decision making. Nothing more and nothing less.”  In that regard, it’s the same as painting, sculpting, printing or photographing.  Every line, every color, every shape is a choice you make.  Those choices, as you know, have specific ramifications on the viewer.  You didn’t develop your artistic prowess overnight, so be patient with yourself as you develop your artist statement. And remember, you’ve got an infinite number of chances to get it it right.

Image from twistedsifter.com