This Symposia! is a hands-on workshop aimed at helping participants effectively communicate and connect with others about their artwork. Focusing on meaningful studio visits, storytelling, and sharing personal stories that complement visual art. Participants will analyze how other artists communicate through interviews, artist statements, and exhibition press releases, using these as case studies. The goal is for each artist to present their own work while refining the way they engage with an audience.

The workshop emphasizes the importance of creating contextual clues and fostering community through alternative methods of communication, including artist-run projects, spaces, and digital platforms. Participants will virtually and physically tour studios, alternative spaces, and gallery exhibitions, interacting with a diverse group of artists, curators, and writers across generations.

Learning Outcomes:

• Develop confidence in communicating about your work and personal vision.

• Gain an understanding of storytelling's role in studio visits and artist talks.

• Explore how artists can work outside traditional institutional roles.

• Learn about artist-run projects and their importance in building connections.

• Get introduced to alternative art writing, journalism, and artist-to-artist platforms.

• Understand how new art world centers are emerging outside New York City’s traditional neighborhoods, including in regions like the Hudson Valley.

• Find inspiration to create your own forms of communication, collaboration, and community-building.

Format:
The symposia will be conducted in a hybrid format, with sessions held online and others on-site in New York City and possibly the Hudson Valley, depending on participant logistics. 

You will present your work to your cohorts  and Jen initially via Zoom . You will then receive comments and recommendations about visual and verbal aspects of your presentation and communication skills

You will then present your work a second time after you have revised your presentations and in anticipation of guest Gallerists, Critics and Artists including Mie Yim, Katy Diamond Hammer, Ali Rossi, Mary DeVincentis and Michael David

There will be a third and final presentation for review and suggestions by your Cohorts and Jen.

Dates:
Monday’s at 11am EST
11/4, 11/18. 12/2. 12/16, 12/30, 1/13, 1/27, 2/10. 2/24. 3/10, 3/24, 4/7

About Jen:
Jennifer Samet is Senior Director of Eric Firestone Gallery and faculty at the New York Studio School. She is particularly interested in the voice of the artist, and has interviewed over 100 artists for her column “Beer with a Painter,” in Hyperallergic. Artist networks and artist-run projects have also been a particular focus of her research and teaching experience. She has contributed to monographs and authored dozens of catalog essays.  She wrote the contemporary art chapter for the forthcoming book about the FAMM collection (Female Artists of the Mougins Museum). Recent curatorial projects include “The Feminine in Abstract Painting,” Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation; and “Godzilla: Echoes from the 1990s Asian American Arts Network,” Eric Firestone Gallery.  

Cost: $3,750, partial scholarships available