This week I'll be installing work for my upcoming show in Richmond, Casual Encounters, which is the cherry on top of a year of working here at VCU. I'll be showing with my fellow Fellow, Ben Stout, at ADA Gallery at 228 W Broad St. Come by for the official First Friday opening on May 3 from 7-9. Here's a sneak peek of what's been happening behind the curtains:
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/65270991 w=500&h=375]
Been cramming lately putting together some work for an exciting new publication, Image File Press, the brainchild/lovechild of Ivan Lozano (more of his brilliant brain/love children here). It'll be a PDF zine/chapbook featuring different artists each month, and I'm honoured that Ivan asked me to inaugurate the first edition. Mourning Arpad, featuring 20 different artists, is the preview edition and you can check it out at imagefilepress.net. The premise of the regular monthly edition is image response, so I went with this image:
I've been looking at/thinking about this picture for a long time and I loved having to get into it a little deeper. Here's a teaser of the work that will appear in the full issue.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/63690279]
I've been stopping by the gallery over the last couple of days and can't wait to see the projectors up and running tomorrow night for Archetype Drift, curated by Jason Lazarus and organized by my favourite people at Filter Photo. The space looks amazing---if you are in Chicago tomorrow night please stop by Johalla Projects for a visit!
There's a great preview of the exhibition on Image 37, so if you can't make it take the tour:
"It’s interesting to note that some of the less obviously photographic pieces are the ones most concerned with the historical and cultural aspects of the medium, such as Shannon Benine’s Central Light (No. 2), 2009, which attempts to reconnect photography to some of its early mystical uses, and Molly Brandt’s 1895-1946, a “direct positive print from a rubbing of László Molohy-Nagy’s grave.” Several other members of the cannon are referenced in Archetype Drift: John Baldessari’s Throwing Three Balls… is comically re-performed in Jeremy Chiu’s video Throwing Three Cameras in the Air to Get a Straight Shot (Best of Thirty-Six Attempts), and Nan Goldin’s Nan One Month After Being Battered sits in the background of Kate Hampel’s interrogative piece, Something you can believe in. These videographic takes on classic photography projects celebrate the originals while seeking ways to keep their intentions relevant in the contemporary world." (James Pepper Kelly)
So, I know it's a little early to be thinking about this, but I'm in a git 'er done kind of mood, so I decided to start figuring out my taxes. This is the first year I've saved all my receipts for art supplies and travel and things (also one of the first years that I have any real income from my work), so there's a lot to figure out. Obviously I'm not qualified to give anyone tax advice, but I thought I'd share what I've learned so far:
Some great sites that have helped a lot:
Riley & Associates accountants for artists and performers are incredibly generous and have posted downloadable spreadsheets to keep track of your income and your annual expenses.
June Walker, accountant for artists and self-employeds of all kinds, answers all your questions online.
The first question, before I waste a ton of time, is if my art practice is a business or a hobby (ugh what horrible options). The reason to figure this out is that if my business shows a loss, I can deduct that loss from my other income, whereas income from a hobby can only be deducted down to zero, so no carry-over and thus, no point. Businesses, according to the IRS, are supposed to make a profit, sometimes, or at least be intended to sometime, some day, make a profit. For most businesses that means three years out of any consecutive five. Discouraging for me, because that sounds highly unlikely, but here's a Federal Court ruling on artists v. profit:
"It is well recognized that profits may not be immediately forthcoming in the creative field and many artists have to struggle throughout their careers. This does not mean that serious artists do not intend to profit from their activities. It only means that their lot is a difficult one." YES. A difficult lot.
Another great quote from the Federal Court, over-ruling the IRS, who don't like fun: "A 'business' will not be turned into a 'hobby' merely because the owner finds it pleasurable. Suffering has never been made a pre-requisite to deductibility."
Other ways to determine if you're in business:
Do you conduct your activities in a professional manner? Oh yes, yes I do.
Do you have the knowledge and/or training to be successful? Terminal degree...
Do you change your methods in an attempt to improve success and profitability? All the time. Constantly.
Do you put in consistent time and effort (material participation) in an attempt to profit? The IRS suggests 100 hours a year if you're the only person involved in your practice, which is 12.5 eight-hour days, or roughly half an hour every day. I definitely do this. I'm doing it right now. (Also if you happen to have a spouse, and that person sometimes does things for you, that counts too, for time and for their expenses.)
There are other criteria too but these are the ones that are most applicable for my work, so I'm going to go ahead and start adding things up. The income tally goes depressingly quickly. Sales, prizes, awards, grants--I've read fellowships as well but not mine, more on that in a second--trades for things other than cash, and income from workshops or other activities that are part of your practice. I have a teaching fellowship at the moment, but I'm an employee of the university and I get a W2 for that, so that's separate income which I'll deduct my self-employed loss from.
Schedule C deductible expenses... this part is fun and also depressing. The bigger the hole of loss and poverty I can dig for myself, the less money I'll owe the American government, who isn't giving any of it back to me in social programming anyway! My supplies are deductible, as well as office supplies, business cards or show posters, shipping costs, travel to install shows (if only I'd saved the receipt for that gross sandwich I bought on Amtrak, that would also be deductible), application fees, residency and workshop fees, dues to organizations, admission to museums and exhibits, books and magazines and other research material, studio rent if I had it (in-home studios are also deductible but more complicated), and equipment--but equipment that will last you longer than a year has its own special form to fill out (4562). You can choose to depreciate the cost to future years, or expense it all this year, which I'm going to do because depreciation is just too boring.
Next up: Self-Employment tax and health insurance deductions...
"Every artist wants his work to be permanent. But what is? The Aswan Dam covered some of the greatest art in the world. Venice is sinking. Great book and pictures were lost in the Florence floods. In the meantime we still enjoy butterflies." --Romare Beardon
In Fleeting, curated by Christina McClelland, 14 artists based throughout the United States and abroad explore the idea of impermanence through a diverse array of media, artistic practices, and methods of working. The works displayed take the form of site-specific installation, performance, painting, photography, video, sculpture, and participatory work. Particularly examining impermanence in the context of nature and biological phenomena, as well as through non-traditional and non-archival materials, Fleeting addresses the temporary and ephemeral nature of art and its subjects.
I'll be showing new work in this exhibition, made even more exciting by the fact that it's a collaborative piece that has been in the works for quite a while and finally came to fruition across distance and disciplines. James Pepper Kelly and I will be showing a video piece, called March 30, 2012 - $656 million, which was shot in Chicago this winter. The exhibition opens February 1 at 7:00pm at Indi Go Gallery in Champaign, IL.
Check out more of Christina's work on her website, and also on the Make Space blog, where she talks about her recent work, upcoming exhibition, and our coozie collab this summer!
This month I've been busy--the changing weather in Richmond means I have to judge every day's biking gear by the colour of the sky through the skylight, and I've been figuring out what to do with all the squash that my CSA has given me. Also though, I've been working on shows in both Chicago and Richmond. As an ACRE summer resident, I was given the opportunity to participate in this fall's MDW fair in Chicago, located at Mana Contemporary. ACRE curator Alicia Eler put together a booth of artists that she'll be working with for a show in the spring, and helped co-ordinate my participation at a distance, and luckily I have an amazing studio/life partner who could shuttle work and large bags of rock salt around the city! (thanks JMPK!) I am so glad this all came together, and it was really great to see my work featured in Newcity's review of the event. (Jason Foumberg named my piece best in show, you can read his whole review here).
This weekend I was setting up another show, this time in Richmond. Derecho opened last night at VCU and featured the work of the visiting faculty members in each area of the Craft/Material Studies department. The show looks great, and will be up until December 6th in the Fine Art Building at 1000 W. Broad St.
Last week I was invited to submit an artist story Chicago Artists Resource, and to share my thoughts on balancing part-time teaching with a studio practice. This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, so it seemed like a great opportunity to spend a little bit of time with my ideas.
"It’s a privilege for me to be able to write this. Someone asked me a few months ago what I wanted to do with my life and I could, perhaps for the first time, say that I was already doing it. I’m teaching two classes a semester and working in my studio—on the surface an entirely sweet deal, and it is, but the reality of teaching is a little different than I imagined it to be. " Read the entire post here.
Chicago-based blog Make Space recently featured my work as part of their ongoing series on 2012 ACRE residents. They'll continue this feature later in the year with a look at how time in the woods, pagan rituals, and ACRE's fine food might have impacted artists' practices. For now you can read the post here: Kate Hampel on Make Space
THE GREAT REFUSAL is up and looks amazing! For another whole month and a half you can see my new work along with favourites Steven Frost and Ivan Lozano, and get into it with writer/curator Alicia Eler's exhibition essay on progressive rituals.
You can also check out Bert Stabler's review of the show for Newcity here.