Display Your Art at Ride the Drive

On Sunday, June 6, the city of Madison is sponsoring an event called Ride the Drive. Over 20,000 people will come and ride their bikes throughout downtown Madison on a six mile path in the streets open to only bikers, skaters, walkers. Maybe you heard Lance Armstrong attended this event last year?

Multiple stations will be set up throughout the event, and they would love to have local artists put their work on display along some of the longer stretches. It could be paintings, sculptures, kites, fabrics, any sort of display. If you or anyone you know may be interested, feel free to contact Christina Wiedbusch at cwiedbusch@cityofmadison.com.

New Opportunities for Wisconsin Artists

The Three Lakes Center for the Arts (a non-profit art gallery and theater) is having a recycled Art Auction. Also an area for Artists to display their recycled or "green" artwork for free will be available. The event is June 18 from 3:30-10 p.m. in Three Lakes WI. For more info, contact Nicole J. Senter, Three Lakes Center for the Arts in the Northwoods at(715) 546-2299.

A digital art exhibit is planned at the Seippel Homestead and Center for the Arts, Beaver Dam WI on August 28 through October 23, 2011. The Beaver Dam Area Arts Association will present a digital art exhibit of professional work at the Seippel Homestead and Center for the Arts, 1605 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam WI. Since this is the first time that BDAAA will introduce this genre to the larger Beaver Dam area, we look forward to presenting a broad spectrum of digitally-related art. As chair person of that exhibit, I encourage you to participate in the exhibit and/or recommend other artists.

BDAAA has a long history of excellent exhibits representing state and national artists. Artists who have shown their work at the Seippel Center, originally a prominent Beaver Dam home with eight exhibit rooms and located in a high traffic area, are especially pleased with our exhibit environment.

Please refer to http://www.bdaaa.org for information about our organization, our exhibit center, and an overview of our mission which includes at least six major exhibits per year.

To inquire further, express interest or refer me to other potential participants, please contact Exhibit Chair: Annette Kamps, 920-887-2093/ annettekamps@att.net.

Green Bay Artists Needed to Work With Youth This Summer

The Summer Day Camp coordinator with the De Pere Parks, Recreation and Forestry is looking for any artists/craftsmen in the Green Bay area who do presentations/workshops for youth. She would like to talk to you concerning presentations you might do at the two camps they run. For more information, contact Cindy Lee, Activities Coordinator for De Pere Community Center. Her phone number is 920-339-4072 extension 2230.

Residencies for Summer 2011 Available at St. Croix Watershed

Artist at Pine Needles, a residence program sponsored by the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, seeks applications from artists and writers for Summer 2011. The Artist at Pine Needles project invites natural history artists or writers to spend 2 to 4 weeks in residence to immerse themselves in a field experience, gather resource materials, and interact with environmental scientists and the local community.

The St. Croix Watershed Research Station, the field research station of the Science Museum of Minnesota, is located near Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota. The setting for the Artist at Pine Needles project is the James Taylor Dunn Pine Needles Cabin, located just north of the village along the St. Croix River.

Applications for 2011 will be accepted from writers and visual artists who focus on environmental or natural history topics. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with environmental scientists and to create links between their art, the natural world and the sciences. As part of the program, artists will be encouraged to design an outreach project to share their work with the local community. In addition, the residency requires that participants contribute an original work for the benefit of the research station.

Housing and rustic studio space will be provided for the artist’s choice of a 2, 3, or 4-week residency. Up to three residencies will be awarded for the summer of 2011. Application packets are available from the research station or www.smm.org/scwrs/programs/artist/. The application deadline is February 25, 2011. For more information, contact Sharon Mallman at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, 651-433-5953, extension 13 or researchstation@smm.org.

WDCC Shows Announced

The Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council: Showcasing the Best in Contemporary Craft Show will be held at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, West Bend; January 5 - March 13, 2011.
The opening reception, Sunday, Jan. 9, from 1:30 - 4 p.m.

Zapplication is set up to accept applications for the 2011 Morning
Glory Fine Craft Fair anytime from now through March 15. Go to www.zapplication.org to submit your application. This year's fair is August 13-14, 2011.

Several Opportunities for Artists Listed

~~ Artarama, Eagle River, WI is accepting applications for its one-day fine art & distinctive craft festival. Saturday, July 16, 2011, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

*Limited to 125 booth spaces of juried fine art and fine craft.

*$800 in cash awards.

*Easy set-up and teardown.

*Artist-only restrooms.

*Application/booth fees: $10/$95. Interested? Online application and more information available at www.artarama-er.com.

~~ Art Calendar, the business magazine for artists, has 19 new calls to artists. They are posted at ArtCalendar.com.

~~ The Quarterly Newsletter of the Art Festival Industry conducted a survey of art festivals in 2010. The results might seem obvious. Shows were down in 2010, but you might be interested in the details, www.theartfestivalnewsletter.com.

~~ Four Surprising Ways to Sell More Art in 2011 from J. Jason Horejs, Owner of Xanadu Gallery and author of Starving to Successful.
1. Increase production - While everyone else is pulling back, you have the opportunity to get ahead. If you can continue to build your inventory and expand your gallery representation, you're going to increase your sales. You'll also be in a position to capitalize on the increased sales that are sure to come as the economy continues to improve.
2. Focus - The work you present to a gallery needs to be unified. It doesn't need to be repetitive or formulaic, but it must present you as a consistent artist with a clear vision.
3. Raise your prices - In his book, he offers a formula for pricing your work and he suggests that you read this section.
4. Get organized - Finally, as you ramp up production and build more relationships with galleries, you need to organize your work. Organization probably doesn't come naturally, but if you can put a system in place and then stick to it then you can take the pain out of putting your studio in order.

Happy New Year with hope for a profitable and productive 2011!

Amdur Productions Looking for Artists

Go to the Web site for details: www.amdurproductions.com
Deadline for Applications: January 5, 2011
Amdur Productions is a nationally acclaimed art festival production company that organizes some of Chicago area's juried summer art fairs. They offer 14 shows around the metro area.