Art News DFW Archive

Chapter 12 of Chapman Kelley's Memoirs is now available here.

This chapter deals with Dallas wildflower artist Chapman Kelley's involvement with the National Wildflower Research Center (renamed Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center) located near Austin, Texas which was established by the former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.

In the November 1980 issue of ARTnews an article titled Flower Power featured Kelley's Wildflower Works, a work using a new medium, that of wildflowers.

The Advice for Artist page from mbaonline contains links for general information for artists such as:

• education
• grants
• networking
• contracts
• exhibiting
• taxes
• copyright
• creating a website

Chapter 10 of Chapman Kelley's Memoirs is now available here. The memoirs are a work in progress, so if you have any recollections, please contact him via his website.

Kelley's Chicago Wildflower Works (1984 - 2004) view is south from magnificent Grant Park at Randolph St., Buckingham Fountain is in the distance

Kelley's Memoirs are exclusively published in art historian Sam Blain's blog, Dallas Art History.com Chapter 10 is the most current one available. Subsequent chapters will be published in the very near future.

Chapter 9 of the Chapman Kelley Memoirs is now available, it can be accessed here on the Dallas Art History blog at http://www.dallasarthistory.com.
Note: These memoirs are a work in progress. Please submit information to refresh Kelley's memory.

Chapter 7 of the Kelley Memoirs can be accessed here.
Beginning excerpt: When I first came to Dallas it seems that virtually everyone involved with the fine arts were sincere and dedicated to both bringing the best to Dallas and nurturing the indigenous talent. During my visit to Rome in 1957 Emma Exline told me of a young man named Lawrence V. Kelly. She said he had studied Dallas’ art scene and thought it to be the most likely city for a brand new opera company. Kelly, Italian-American conductor Nicola Rescigno and Carol Fox had founded the Lyric Opera of Chicago just three years earlier. Fox eventually had a falling out with Larry and Rescigno, leaving the latter two to put on the first Dallas show which featured mega-star Maria Callas. The opera world’s eyes or rather ears were definitely on Dallas. Larry Kelly didn’t stop there, he produced “Alcina.” 

Chapter 8 of the Kelley Memoirs is now availble here.
Beginning excerpt: I expect that most people reading this are familiar with the life histories of artists like Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet and Jackson Pollock. As in other professions an artist’s stature outside of the professional community, in addition to how the artist is perceived by the art community, can tell us more about them as individuals and artists as well as the cultural sophistication of the community in which they flourished. At a 2010 art and law colloquium led by Megan Carpenter (Associate Professor of Law and Director for the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas Wesleyan School of Law, Texas Wesleyan College), I was introduced to one of the lawyer/panelists by Patricia Meadows of the family of Algur H. Meadows. Algur was a major supporter of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (since renamed Dallas Museum of Art), Southern Methodist University’s art department and the Meadows Museum. Patricia Meadows explained that, “When I was a young art student and later young matron, Chapman was THE artist whose work everyone collected, THE art teacher, and owner of THE art gallery.” 

Chapter 6 of painter Chapman Kelley's Memoirs is now available on the Dallas Art History Blog. 

In 1965 I was awarded the top purchase prize in the Annual Eight State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City,  Oklahoma.  The Center has since been renamed the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. 1965 brought other recognitions my way such as inclusion by the Who’s Who in The South and Southwest for its Second Biennial Citation in Art; the same year that pioneer heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey received it in medicine and U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright in government. My award was sandwiched between awards given to artists Jasper Johns and Gene Davis (1963 and 1967) before the program was discontinued. Not bad company! Incidentally, in 2011 President Obama presented Jasper Johns with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House.  It was the first time in 34 years that a painter or sculptor has won the nation's highest civilian honor....

Chapter 5 of painter Chapman Kelley's Memoirs is now available on the Dallas Art History Blog. Prior to the second exhibition of my work in New York City, Mildred Hawn and I were invited to Braniff Airlines Headquarters to meet over lunch with their executives. During the meal we were offered a Braniff International Airways 707 jet for our exclusive use. We couldn’t refuse the amazing offer; it was to ferry an ever increasing group of Dallasites and folks from other cities that were to attend the formal opening of my exhibit. It would be a sojourn of art immersion on the East Coast with visits to museums, galleries, and tours of private art collections. Our plan was to land in Washington D.C, pick up Nancy Carroll and fly to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was quite a trip heading into a D.C. snowstorm; the pilot announced a change in itinerary, we would instead be landing in New York. On the ground buses were queued waiting for our group. Our caravan eventually made it to Philadelphia where Nancy Carroll, having made the travel adjustment on her own, greeted us....

During the past month painter Chapman Kelley has completed four revealing chapters via his memoirs.  In this piece he reflects on the past, current and future of the U.S. art scene.  

     CHAPMAN KELLEY: Observations            

Why is it so important to return to strong professional management of art museums?                     

The difference, dear friends, if you haven't noticed it, between the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's and now (the present), is that during those earlier years, the artist was indisputably and unequivocally central to the art scene!  The public benefited from this legitimate arrangement through its exposure to art by burgeoning professional artists.  This was clearly evidenced in Dallas by the crowd who went, at their own expense, to the opening of my first New York solo exhibition and to an awards ceremony at the National Academy of Design.  Dallasites prided themselves as shareholders, holding a share in our success!  They returned in even greater numbers the following year, and Braniff Airlines volunteered to schedule a 707 just to take a group of us to New York for my second exhibition.  [See Sam Blain Dallas Art History Blog]

           

Chapter 4 of painter Chapman Kelley's Memoirs is now available on the Dallas Art History Blog.        We recently lost two major artists.  Chapman's friend, American sculptor John Chamberlain died on December 21, 2011.       And Kelley's neighbor, when he stayed in Provincetown, MA during an exhibition of his artwork in the 1960s, lyrical abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler died on December 27, 2011.        Chamberlain and Frankenthaler are the subjects of a December 27, 2011, New York Times story,"Two Artists Who Embraced Freedom."       To read Chapter 4 of the Kelley Memoirs click here.  Enjoy.  And have a great New Year!

The 2nd chapter of Chapman Kelley's Memoirs in now available on the Dallas Art History Blog.
     Included in it are:

• first commercial gallery show at age 24
• Kelley imported to Dallas, Texas 
• second "painting" trip to Europe on the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts William Emlen Cresson Traveling Scholarship
• Pamplona, Spain & Surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico
• teaching at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art's High School Scholarship Class
• Atelier Chapman Kelley is born
• "Sand Dune 1960" painting gives Kelley his first major prize

     To read the 2nd Chapter of the memoirs go to the Dallas Art History blog or click here.

The Internet offers a wonderful opportunity to sell your art! Here are some ideas for you to use. Please note that inclusion of a website does not imply an endorsement since this list is intended as examples of possibilities and is certainly not complete. Many sites are free or a free version with limited features is available. Some ability to edit images of your work is usually needed – for help on that see the last section. For suggestions or corrections, please use the Contact button or the Comments section. Updated 9/2012.

This guide is divided into five sections:

1. Artist websites (blogs, photo galleries, and personal websites)
2. Online art galleries (collective)
3. Online stores
4. Auction and classified ad sites
5. Helpful guides and resources

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Dallas Artist Chapman Kelley Takes Wildflower Case to Supreme Court 

By PETER SIMEK

July 26th, 2011 in  D Magezine's FrontRow

Peter Simek discusses the case and includes the release from Kelley’s advocate, John Viramontes:

Flawed 7th Circuit 2011 precedent in Visual Artists Rights Act case is ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review 

U.S. arts community envision high court opening the door to protecting artists’ rights

On July 18, 2011, Dallas wildflower artist Chapman Kelley filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the United States requesting it to review the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) February 2011 adverse decision to him in Kelley v Chicago Park District. The 7th Circuit had denied Kelley’s public artwork the Chicago Wildflower Works (CWW) protection under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 or VARA saying that the work failed to hurdle two aspects of copyright law, namely, authorship and fixation....

Art Biz Blog is one of my favorite sources for information on the daunting business aspects of being an artist. The site offers valuable guides and insights in a well-designed display. The best part is the engaging personal viewpoint of author / art coach Alyson B Stanfield. You can follow her postings via email, Twitter or RSS.

--Sharon Giles
Moderator, Art News DFW

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Reprinted with her permission:

Best of the Art Biz Blog 2010

I scoured the 257 posts (to date) from 2010 and came up with a Best Of list. 

These might not have produced the highest number of comments, but they incited discussion or had information that I thought was most relevant. And many did, indeed, have the most comments.
Here’s a look back.

The Orphan Works Act of 2008 has now passed the U.S. Senate. The legislation threatens artists because it requires only that a company make a "reasonably diligent" search to locate a copyright owner before using their work in media including the Internet, and limits compensation required for the use of an infringed work. To protect your work you would have to register all your artwork for a fee.

Artist Walter King sounds a call against the legislation in the House in his Absolute Arts blog:

http://blog.absolutearts.com/blogs/archives/00000461.html

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Orphan Works Act 2008 - To provide a limitation on judicial remedies in copyright infringement cases involving orphan works.

OpenCongress Summary:

This bill would limit the amount of damages a copyright holder could collect from an infringer if the infringer performed a diligent search for the copyright holder before using their work. The goal of the legislation is to free up for reuse copyrighted works whose holders cannot be found. It would also set up a process for the Copyright Office to certify commercially-produced visual registries to help people locate the holder of a copyright and prevent the orphaning of works in the future.

An article in Art Print Issues: Orphan Works Act 2008 - Artists' Rights Under Fire?. It summarizes the controversy and provides numerous sources for differing viewpoints.

Alyson Stanfield is publishing a series of articles designed to help artists promote their exhibit on her websites: ArtBizBlog.com and ArtBizCoach.com:

Start Promoting Your Exhibit Now:
Part 1: Describe It
Part 2: Break Down Tasks
Part 3: Execute Your Plan

The articles are also available as Podcasts. There are many other great resources on her Artist Self-Promotions and Networking page.

Stanfield is the author of I'd Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion.

Imagekind (an online seller of art prints where any artist can create a free account) has published a list of the best networking sites to help promote their artists work. The list includes the social networking sites you would nominate right away (MySpace and Facebook) and others that might not occur to you (Flickr, the photo-sharing site, Youtube, the video-sharing site, and Squidoo, a sort of personal Wikipedia.)

The article gives a brief explanation of what the site is and how it functions, how the site is helpful for artists, and how some artists use the site to help promote their work. Check it out on the Imagekind blog.

In current copyright law the artist automatically owns the reproduction rights to the art the minute he or she creates it. Registering the copyright entitles the artist to sue for damages, in addition to fair value. The proposed Orphan Works legislation now before Congress would strip artists of all reproduction rights unless the work is registered! Artists would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work.

If you are concerned (and I am) that this will legalize theft of your work, read the wonderful explanation and rant by Mark Simon:
Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art: Mark Simon is mad as hell and, in this month's "Mind Your Business," he tells you why you should be too. http://mag.awn.com/?ltype=pageone&article_no=3605

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR:
To find the phone number, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Resources:
H.R.5889 Orphan Works Act of 2008 (Introduced in House): http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.5889:

Public Knowledge: Orphan Works http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/ow [this site is pro-legislation on the issue but provides a good explanation of the other side of the issue]

Interested in getting prints made of your artwork? Here's some insight on the issues involved in the article Advice on Working with Giclées & Giclée Printers. The points discussed: image capture, selecting a printer, working with a printer and the advantages of Giclée.

What exactly is a Giclée (pronounced "zhee-clay") you ask. According to Wikipedia, it is "an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word "giclée", from the French language word "le gicleur" meaning "nozzle", or more specifically "gicler" meaning "to squirt, spurt, or spray". It was coined by Jack Duganne, a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art."

The controversies swirling around the use of the name are discussed in the article What Is a Giclée? Both of these articles are from the blog Art Print Issues by Barney Davey. You can subscribe to his newsletter to keep up with art print issues.

"I'd Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion" by Alyson B. Stanfield was published by Pentas Press in Feb. 2008. For details on the book and tours see idratherbeinthestudio.com.

The book offers practical approaches that help you sell more art and build an art career that lasts. Alyson B. Stanfield, the art-marketing guru behind ArtBizCoach.com and ArtBizBlog.com, shares self-promotion tools that have enhanced the careers of thousands of artists. You'll learn how to: (1) Introduce yourself as an artist so people want to know more; (2) Nail your artist statement to discover the right words for all of your marketing messages; (3) Expand your mailing list and use it to cultivate collectors; (4) Create marketing materials that outshine the competition; (5) Become a media magnet so buyers come to you; (6) Take advantage of your Web site and blog to build a bigger audience; and much more.

Meet the author at a Book Tour Party:

• Saturday, March 29 Artspace111, Fort Worth, Texas, 2 to 4 p.m. Drop in!
  
  Benefiting the Emergency Artists' Support League


• Sunday, March 30 Deanna Wood's studio, Sanger, Texas, 1 to 3 p.m. Drop in!
  
  Benefiting Visual Arts Society of Texas

If you miss out on the party, follow along on the I'd Rather Be in the Studio! blog tour. Artist bloggers will be asking Alyson questions about art marketing and then posting the interview on these dates. Questions will vary, so don't miss a day! ArtGroupsDFW will be joining in too.

Artist Ann Hardy has updated her website with over two dozen paintings: www.AnnHardy.com Check it out! Her bio can certainly provide inspiration to her fellow artists:

Ann Hardy is living life as fully and well as she knows how. For Ann, the joy of painting is in the process (journey) and not the destination. Growth in life and art is the most exciting thing she can think of. Her philosophy is to keep moving, but not in the direction that fear makes you move. You must be willing to risk and be at home in your own skin. For her it's fun to be slightly?? eccentric. (And she plays that to the hilt) by painting in a 12 by 12 foot tree house, and the following:

What Color is Your Dream?, a book written by Dallas author and artist Kittie Beletic, received rave reviews from Heartland Reviewer Bob Spear (Publisher and Chief Reviewer). What Color is Your Dream? was released by Brown Books on Monday, Sept.17, 2007.

Allworth Press recently published"Marketing and Buying Fine Art Online: A Guide for Artists and Collectors" by Marques Vickers. This comprehensive resource walks artists, galleries, and resellers through the process of establishing an effective website geared to attract viewers, promote sales, and establish long-term, credible presence.

Professional artist and collector Marques Vickers elaborates on the winning strategies, marketing tools and efficient tactics the most popular art and business websites employ to generate links, media exposure and buyers. This valuable volume for the developing Internet savvy artist-entrepreneur and informed art buyer provides details about a diverse range of emerging sales trends and opportunities on the Internet for traditional, original, and reproduction artwork.

In addition, it presents evolving opportunities for licensed products, greeting card publishing, print on demand Gigle's, barter, auction exchanges, motion picture set decor, e-commerce stores, virtual art galleries, affiliate program and many others. For purchase info see the Allworth website: www.allworth.com.

Allworth Press announces its latest book to aid the artist in business:

Many artists have discovered that getting their work into a gallery isn’t the only path to success. In his new book Selling Art Without Galleries: Toward Making a Living from Your Art, author Daniel Grant shows how a wide range of artists have found prestige, art world acceptance, and ready groups of buyers through nontraditional venues such open studio events. Below is an excerpt from Selling Art Without Galleries:

Read this article (Ask ArtInfo: Opening Your Own Gallery - Part I) from ArtInfo's columnist Robert Ayers before starting an art gallery. In it experienced director Renato Danese suggests that the entrepreneur's background requires not only business skills but knowledge of art history. He also says a gallery must have a moral compass, deal ethically with artists, and view itself as part of the service industry.