Well here is an update for everyone. I'm sorry about the silly video blog but it seemed faster than writing and well i just wanted to try one. Clearly i'm no late night entertainer by any means but it was fun-ish and i hope you were at least happy to get the update. Till some other day... later!

Sculpture

Ok so remember that sculpture that I wrote about in like September? Here is the only picture of it. I have finally learned to like the way it looks.

Coming Soon!

Hey everyone I am at the old folks home/ my parents house and I figured since I had a few minutes to breath I would exhale a little on you. Now I'm sorry if my spelling is horrible the only type of spell check that is available is the one on top of my screen and I often forget to push it. Anyway I wanted to update you on a few things as well as give you some of the upcoming events.

First the gallery is really starting to take shape. We finally were able to pay the deposit and the first months rent, as well as get my tax information and utilities switched over. After all that fun stuff we were finally able to get the keys and start some of the less major work. Curt is still building the bathroom/ apartment in the back so much of the major work is going to have to wait. We got the entrance painted, and mom finished the curtains very quickly and with dads help we were able to get those temporarily hung. We also got a pretty fancy coming soon poster made and the windows have now been staged. Here is the Before and After pictures.

As you can see the gallery is coming along nicely and will hopefully be ready by its tentative date January 15th.

Now for school... I am almost done. All the hard papers are out of the way as well as most of the art making. I still have my graduate thesis exhibition coming up, but I'm hoping that it can be more of a learning experience and not so much a stressful one. The exit exam is this Friday and unfortunately I have yet to study much art history. I am worried about the exit exam as it says whether or not i graduate this year. Either way I hope all goes well.

Well there isn't much more to say except keep an eye out for the show poster of upcoming events and i hope to see anyone and everyone at opening day!

The Galleria

So obviously i haven't been posting much lately. Its been crazy busy here and i haven't really had a lot of time to do much of anything, even eat! So here's what's up.

First I am pleased to announce that I have finally managed to lease my own gallery! YEaH! As you can tell I'm extremely excited and my blood starts pumping faster just thinking about. At the moment I can't really tell if its fear or excitement but either way its energizing! There is still much work to do. The walls need some touching up, sew and hang some large curtains, lights, carpet needs to come out, sand and finish the floors, furnish the apartment in the back... Oh i forgot that part. The gentleman, Curt, who is renting the space was very excited to hear that i wanted to live in the building as well as run the gallery there and said he would build me an apartment in the back. How cool is that?! I also need to set up shows and events, get a tax license, write up contracts and find a tax consultant. Any suggestions?

The next or rather first thing... meaning the gallery will open after I'm done with this. I have to graduate.. Yup I'm starting a gallery and trying to graduate at the same time.. Obviously not the greatest of things to take up all at the same time. For graduation i have to have my senior exhibit, take exit exams, and the usual finals for the other classes. I got the pretest the other day and completely bombed the first 1/3 of the test then rocked the last two. It became painfully clear that my Art History is far under par. As far as the senior show goes its just expensive and time consuming. I've orders a little over a hundred prints with sizes varying between 8x10 11x14 16-20 20-30 and 24-36. Then when they all get here i have to by the hooks that I'm hanging them with as well as foam board and spray adhesive. Finally lock myself in my poorly ventilated room and let the fun begin. All in all it gets really expensive when the munches kick in.

Finally probably the biggest mistake I've made was to add photo shoots on top of all the perviously mentioned things. I only did this because i need the money to pay for the gallery rent and well it isn't every day that a hotel asks you to take photos of their rooms, building, breakfasts, and floors and then attaches a pretty paycheck to it. Naturally I hope this could be the beginning of larger business, and i hope everything goes well. Like i said though i had to take this on during graduating, the gallery, and well I'm still a CA so that helps add a little stress on as well.

Even with all this stress and craziness going on, its hard to say that I'm not happy. I am greatly enjoying all the work and the chances to stay busy. We have decided on a name for the gallery. It will be called "The Art House Gallery" i changed galleria to gallery because well i couldn't get past it sounding like diarrhea. It will be themed like an old movie theater and hopefully eventually have a show that follows the Art House idea. The grand opening will happen later in January or February and it will be announced on here later. My senior show will be December 14-18 with a reception on the 18th at 7:00pm at the Warren M Lee Center for the Fine Arts. Everyone is invited and its a free event. The show name is "Out of Darkness".

Art Gallery

Ok, so I want to start my own Fine Arts Gallery, and I promised to blog about the possibilities that are involved in opening such a gallery. First off, I am going to point out that this will NOT be a big money making business. In fact it will more than likely be difficult to make enough just to pay the rent for the building. With that said here are the ideas that I can remember. I unfortunately working at the Oscar Howe Gallery in Vermillion and I do not have my notes, but a lot of free time.

First and most obvious would the the actually gallery itself. This is where an artist would be able to rent out a space to show his or her work for an allotted amount of time. Usually this stems any where from $50-$100 a wall per week. With that they would also be asked to give around 30% of whatever they sell back to the gallery. Now with a small gallery one can only assume to have 3 usable walls to show art, but with some ingenuity a portable wall can be created to add up to an addition 2 walls. Also, fine art is not limited to only the things that can be held on a wall but also the works such as sculptures and ceramics that can be shown on the floor or on pedestals. So naturally the floor can be rented out as well.

Second, there is also the opportunity to hold juried shows. The way juried shows usually work is that each person has to pay a set fee and they are allowed to enter a set number of works with no guarantee that they will get in. A small gallery can usually call together at least 100 participants with such a call. Then a juror, usually professor or artist experienced in the field, will sort the works and chose what they feel fits the theme or what works are the best representation for the gallery.

Next would be a call for entries. These calls would be themed calls and artist would enter works at no cost, but would have to give a larger percentage of commission. These works would also harbor events such as formal dances, lectures, business meetings etc. Calls are meant to fill the gallery. They would get the most views, but not necessarily sells.
Renting the empty space is also among possibilities in attempting to meet expenses. The open gallery floor can be rented out for press releases, holiday parties, dances, business meetings, classes, as well as many other public uses.

The last money making aspect of this that I can think of would be apprenticeships. At a gallery one could apprentice for multiple things. Some of those would be matting and framing, hanging, marketing, networking, sales, lighting, and displaying.

More importantly than the money aspect, is the networking aspect. Artists from local and national schools would be offered a place to enter, show, and network. Not only would this gallery offer experience but also the ability to build a resume or tweak what they feel they need to create in order to follow their dream. This gallery would provide a way for a new artist to expand their clientele as well as decide whether or art is what they want to pursue.

The benefits to having a fine arts gallery may seem vague. A fine arts gallery offers a chance to elevate the awareness and purpose of art. It calls the society to raise its social status, as well as its curb appeal to visitors. If you think about it, areas that have art on curbs, on buildings, shown in businesses, and people who own (real) art have a far different and sophisticated feel.

It is important to understand that this gallery is just as much for the artist as the gallery owner or potential buyer. For an artist to be able to expand their resume, to enter and/or win shows, apprentice, and gain experience is crucial for their later success in life. So I hope you understand a little more as to why I want a gallery and its potential. Lastly I would like to point out that there are no (real) fine art galleries in Yankton. The ones that exist only play to an artist as a flea market would. The exceptions are the GAR Hall who do a lot of great things, as well as the One-ten Gallery who is set up more as a vendor and less as a gallery. This gallery would require professional applications and be run in a professional manor.

Opened doors Slammed in your face

So today was just one of those days. The type of day where you wake up and go "Im not getting up until its as warm out there as it is in here". Yeah it was a wonderful 45 degrees this morning and didn't change all day. So naturally it set the mood for the whole day to be a monumental failure.

Of the many classes I've taken, sculpture was the one i was putting off until the end. Why? Cause i hate it why else. I love sculptures and there are some amazing works out there but really you'll never see an amazing sculpture by Jake Kidney. Anyway our latest project had us cutting out layers of wood (OSB honestly who invented the stuff? Someone should smack them in the face if they are still alive. If not oh well i have connections, you know the mexican the size of a fridge, giant sombrero.) and stacking them on top of each other to form a shape. So after tons of splinters and shaking hands with an electric grinder i finally have this mass of something just sitting there. So naturally the next step was to stain it... an awful poo colored brown that takes away any sort of natural beauty that OSB is some how supposed to have. So now I'm sitting there thinking "hmm this looks like a giant turd". Right when I start pondering if i could turn it in and call it "Sculpture Class" my teacher comes up and says "You probably should have tested your stain out on something."... My temper is starting to rise now and I'm really fighting the urge to throw my giant turd through the class room specifically aimed at that particularly over doing it suck up on the other side of the room. Long story short class ends and I'm stuck with the solution of using stripper to remove the stain. Nice long crappy start of the day.

Then comes the really bad part. Lately I've been wondering what I'm going to do when i graduate. I mean really I'm done in two months and have no plan. While i was talking to a professor i am told that in order to do any type of teaching I have to get an MA or an MFA.. (Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts). Bummer I'm drained I hate school already and now if i want to do anything with the last four years of my life I have to continue doing school. Yay.. Bastards... So i go to talk to whoever it is that sits in that office and tells everyone what they need to do. He says oh yeah do your MA it only adds a year and you can teach at a community college or high school. Sounds good to me where do i sign up. Guess what... there is a small hitch.. We can't let you into our MA program because you have already been doing classes here for 4 years and you have already had the MA teacher and in short exhausted the amount he can teach you... So i can't do my MA here.. No.. can't do my MFA here.. No... Where is the closest I can go... 2.5 hours away... go figure. Ok i suppose i should explain a little something. I'm dating this girl and we are getting serious and we want to get married. She doesn't want to get married till she graduates. No problem I'm cool with that. Only problem.. She graduates a year after I do. And she wont leave the midwest/ within and hour of home. I'm stuck here. So then i think well maybe I can be an Adjunct thats a good way to get experience and then get a foot in the door.. No you have to have an MA for that...BASTARDO **SMACK**... Ok i didn't hit the guy... I thought it really hard though. Ok screw this I'm going to my room, which... smells like last nights pasta primavera and spray fix.

Then i decide I'm going to take my frustration out on my sculpture. That little turd is going to look like a slightly less brown turd if i had anything to say about it. Yeah sucka whad up now yo! Boyee! That was me talking smack to my sculpture when i got back to the studio... Sculpture kicked my ass... Turd-2, Jake-0, I hate this game. Apparently OSB absorbs like a depressed female and a pail of triple chocolate extra fudge and chocolate chips heart attack heaven. The stain soaked in for a good oh centimeter, and well the striping agent wasn't taking any off. So in my frustration i dumped half the bottle of stripper on the turd and I will figure out what to do with it tomorrow.

So yes today sucked. Most of it was a waste and had i actually stayed in bed I may have prevented a day of possible exposure to whatever strain of flu they are whining about now. I think they are on some critter again. Just call it the your sick and so is your critter flu.

Oh the good news: The day is done. I'm alive, I feel healthy, and I like digital photography a lot.

Hmm.. Stop it

So today is starting out like every other day. Wake up rush to do whatever the day demands. Talk to those that need talking to. Listen to those that want to talk. After 24 years roughly you would think that i would have some sorta clue of what is going on. Right.. maybe not i highly doubt anyone my age has any idea of what is actually going on. The US $ is way down. We are the laughing stock of China.. Yay... People don't know if they should take care of their personal issues first or their countries issues first. What they should do to get involved etc.

It seems pretty straight forward to me. Everything is connected though i don't see, like a woman can, all the different ways in which they are. The straight forward answer is this. Take care of the country first. In doing so and getting INVOLVED (capitalized for its importance) you will help any personal emotional ties. It is through struggle and hardship that strong bonds are formed. This country has had it good for a long time. Yes there is a war, but for some reason Americans have decided to look the other way and pretend it isn't happening. When a story about the next soldier that died comes on instead of allowing their death to mean something, the average American will look at it the same way they look at a movie. Detached and emotionless.

We as a people, community, country, and unified body need to take a role in what this country is doing. We call the people we see protesting on CNN fanatics and overly charged religious stereotypes. Many of you have forgotten how this country got here. We have equal rights because of those people. America is failing the same way they have in the past. That failing is simply the inability to learn from history and America has the inability to understand what that means.

Rip Van Winkle

To first introduce everything. I don't write in here for people as much as I write for myself. There will be pointless blogs just to blow steam, blogs to talk about art that i'm working on, things i've learned, as well as other random happenings.

First thing is first I'm an artist. Photographer, printmaker, sculpture, ceramics, painting, and graphic design I can do it all. Writing however has never been a strong point for me. I don't care for grammatical clearity, or even that you understand what i'm rambling about. All i care is that for some reason blogging seemed like the next logical step in the artistic flow of information.