FAA-499 Senior Thesis Spring 2017
Final Gallery Talk Assignment
May 4, 2017 @ 3:30 in the O’Sullivan art gallery
Your goal in this assignment is to produce a 10 minute gallery talk on your current body of artwork. The talk can be a formal presentation with a power point or a less formal presentation while stand in front of or around your artwork.
Connecting to people at gallery openings or other public exhibitions of their art, either one-on-one or in groups, is not easy for many artists. They're often shy, uncomfortable or not prepared to be the center of so much attention all at once. The good news is that any artist can overcome these obstacles and make the most of their public appearances.
Not only do artists have to create art but they must also speak about their art. An artist’s talk is a little bit of theater and is a fantastic way to help people connect to you and your artwork on a deeper level. The audience is there to hear you talk about your artwork and have a better understanding of your ideas and your technique for creating your art. The audience can consist of collectors, art enthusiasts, other artists and others from the art community. You never know who will be at your talk and how the talk that can make connections for future exhibitions, collectors or artists you may collaborate with.
No one knows your artwork like you do; no one has stared at or thought about your artwork like you have. You know your work better than anyone. In preparing to speak about your work you have listened to a variety of artists speak about their work this semester. You have heard establish artists (Randy and Jenifer); mid career artist (Christian) and beginning artists (Gretchen, Mauve, and Jack) and they should serve as your role models for creating your talk. You wrote reflection papers on all of artists. Review your reflection papers and recall what inspired you about the artists and their artwork. You have also written a concise artist statement along with drafts. Use your artist statement and/or drafts as a starting point for your talk.
Here a few other suggestions in preparation for your art talk:
· Begin by writing down whatever comes to mind about your art. Free associate and don't bother with organization, grammar or spelling. You want to write as many ideas out of your brain and down onto paper as possible.
· Convey to people that your art has meaning or significance beyond the visual. In addition to how it looks, it might also speak to a greater or nobler mission, philosophy, cause, shared life experience, or ideal.
· Convey to the audience what inspired your current series of artwork and what was the process of creating the work.
· You don't have to tell everything, but openly and honestly talking about your inspirations is far better than keeping them to yourself. The audience will appreciate when you present your art on multiple levels, incorporating "intangible significance and value" into your work can move people in very profound ways.
· Practice your talk and practice it well-- alone, in front of the mirror, with friends or acquaintances. Do whatever is necessary for you to pretty much memorize and feel at ease delivering your talk. Make sure you know your talk really well and can deliver it.
· Time and record or video yourself for two or three minutes and you'll quickly see how much you can say in such a seemingly short period of time. Most importantly, when you play your talk back, see if you can hold your own attention. If you can't, do a rewrite.
· Keep your talk to ten minutes with maybe an additional few minutes for questions.
· Speak clearly; make eye contact with individual members of the audience throughout the room.
Final gallery talk assignment is worth 20 points.