Monday, August 29, 2011

someone who is mentoring me

Her name is Sandra Yagi. She is in the same building as the studio I shoot at a lot.

She knows AlanB very well (another mentor) and she often comes to have lunch during our Saturday shoots. So she is very used to 18-year old girls walking around in their panties and (presumably older) guys talking technical about their cameras and lenses.

I called her work maudlin, but she corrected me that it was macabre.

She is a real artist in that:

- she makes pencil drawings of her subjects
- she makes clay figurines
- she paints oil on canvas
- she sells her work for $4000+

She saw my stuff at the Open Studios in the spring and has been encouraging me to exhibit again in the fall. I just signed up for the event which is October 1st-3rd at the studio on Bryant (and about 10 other venues).

She was there this past Saturday and we talked about the upcoming event. She told me to go to artspan.org and register. Then she went to get some dessert and when she came back she gave me the following advice:

- be aware of "presentation"...make sure your work is mounted in some good frames
- come to the opening night reception and "hob nob"...some people might just be interested in you and that can drive traffic to your exhibit
- galleries watch the "scene" and when they see you are consistent, they consider contacting you when you might fit into their plans
- 99% of the people "out there" will not like her art, but when she is in the right gallery, her work sells very well...some gallery owners told her she sells well

This is all excellent advice!

Here is her site.