This might not seem like a lot of money. For each of these exhibitions, my work cost over $5,000 to produce. The show at Conical wasn't funded by any other source, but the show at TCB was funded by Arts Victoria (a Creation grant). I saw the $500 Visual and Craft Artists Grant in both cases as directly covering the cost of the gallery hire. For artists exhibiting in artist run spaces, I would venture to say that this fee, that goes toward the hire/running/admin costs of the artist run space, is one of the most difficult financial costs to bear. While it usually seems worthwhile or necessary to fork out my own cash for the making of new work, I think most artists, despite seeing how hard artist run initiatives are working for them, would agree that paying-to-show is both intellectually and financially challenging!
I encourage artists to apply for small grants like this one, because it makes the experience of showing in an artist run space a 'free' experience. After both the Conical show and the TCB show, both those works went on to tour to different places in Australia including the Melbourne Art Fair, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Brisbane and Sydney, and those works were invited by organisations and the freight/my airfares ended up also being paid for. In effect, by gaining even small grants to show your work in pay-spaces, you are creating a space to be seen, where other potential opportunities may come your way.
Love is a Rose, 2004,
Exhibited at Conical Gallery, Melbourne; Canberra Contemporary Art Space; Melbourne Art Fair
DVD, 1 minute, curtains, candelabras, hedge work: cardboard, knitted wool, hot glue (5m wide x 2m high)
PARADISE, 2006
Exhibited at TCB Art Inc, Melbourne; First Draft Gallery, Sydney; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art; Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne; and Raw Space, Brisbane
hand knitted, machine knitted and hand rug-hooked wool, clay, fibreglass, plastic, metal, glue.
lifesize, lawn is 320cm x 300cm.
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