Art on demand: commissions
If you follow me on Instagram, you know I recently delivered commissioned artwork to a longtime supporter and collector. I can’t show you the finished pieces just yet… but I can show you what inspired the collage design.
Satirical caricature by Mary and Matthew Darly, 1777. Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art
I’ve done commissions from time to time, and this experience was positive enough for me to consider making more custom pieces. I like working with clients to narrow down their ideas. And I know the piece is headed out of the studio as soon as it’s done, so I don’t have to store it for long. On the other hand, it does require me to divide my studio time between the commission and the work I make on my own.
Here’s where you come in: Should I seek out more commissions?
Or should I keep commission work to the occasional project? Let me know your thoughts on Facebook or Instagram.
Cops plus climate change equals...?
What do climate change refugees and the CHOP have in common?
An essay in Dissent magazine says police violence will be the common element. As the writer put it, “[I]t’s a simple question of whom and what the political system chooses to protect” during a crisis.
Protester demands on the boarded-up SPD east precinct building, June 2020
Remember the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest area (CHOP)? Activists protesting police violence and George Floyd’s murder occupied the streets around the east precinct, demanding that the Seattle Police Department be defunded. One reason for the demand: police pose a deadly threat to Black lives, not a source of aid.
Police face Black Lives Matter supporters on May 30, 2020. Credit: Kelly Kline/Flickr
Considering this violent history, writer Olufemi O. Taiwo predicts “climate apartheid” will increase. Police will leave refugees to risk death during future climate disasters, while officers protect the powerful.
National Guard troops, Seattle police and protesters on June 3, 2020. Credit: Bruce Englehardt/Wikimedia Commons
At first I thought this argument was kind of a stretch, but then I realized my collage “TODAY, America. Today,” tells a similar narrative. I pointed out people of color usually suffer the most in a catastrophe — citizens as well as migrants.
I wish I could be more optimistic: please, please, please let me and this essay be wrong. But knowing our response to Hurricane Katrina (and before that, the Great Mississippi Flood), that essay writer in Dissent sounds more like Cassandra than Chicken Little.
Venturing outside
Remember when August used to be jam-packed with summer art activities? Good times. I’m told Outside still exists, so I went looking for proof.
Outside, from above: Rachel Setzer gifted me with this signed print of the Black Lives Matter street mural.
Art stores are Outside, so I risked it all to pick up a couple panels — in person! — for a commission.
Sorry about the slow news week. I’ll try to make it up to you by sharing my new favorite posters about Outside, courtesy of the National Parks Service.
Too much Outside for you? The NPS also suggests a virtual park visit. Stay safe and cool if you can, y’all.