If you are an artist you know that making a living, earning an income from your artistic labor and having that effort help put food on your table and pay bills can be difficult. Therefore, many artists make art and simultaneously work a full-time job, maintain a home and family and kids and pets. It can be a struggle. And, as I have said more than once in this column, San Diego is not the most ideal city in the country in which to sell art. San Diegans love weekend art fairs and neighborhood art walks but we rarely buy work of a significant size made by local artists. It happens, and maybe you have made a purchase, but it rarely happens on a large enough scale to support a local arts economy.
What local artists might not know is that San Diego is home to the San Diego Foundation which offers all manner of resources to individuals and agencies (artists and arts organizations too) looking for financial support in the form of grants and scholarships. They are a great place to spend some time looking to see if your goals can be met with their help.
Last year the San Diego Foundation shifted gears a little and launched the Creative Catalyst Fund, an individual artist fellowship program (as opposed to a grant for a 501c3) that funds individual artists via a mentorship with a local arts non-profit organization. Participating arts agencies included the Museum of Contemporary Art, the North Coast Rep. and Writers Ink. Last year 15 such artists were provided sizeable funds to complete significant projects many of which are beginning to be exhibited around town.
The shift in focus was clearly a success because a new cycle of funding has opened and applications are being accepted for the 2012/2013 season. The deadline is Oct. 1. So if you are an artist with a brilliant idea or a project on your back-burner then check out Creative Catalyst at sdfoundation.org for more information and apply. Good luck!
Meanwhile, Art Pulse gallery at Liberty Station in Point Loma presents Under the Influence, an exhibition of work by recent participants of its mentor program. The selection of work by the artists in the program’s Group 4 has been curated by renowned Los Angeles critic and curator Peter Frank. The exhibition showcases the next level in these artists’ evolution, reached after their intensive six-month consultation with Art Pulse’s expert advisors. Included in Under the Influence is work in a broad range of media by Dani Dodge, Dave Ghilarducci, Roxanne Grooms, Daniel Ketelhut, Bhavna Mehta, Rob Morey and Pamela Wells. pulsegallery.org v
