Unrealized

As an avid dreamer, I design a world I want to see. Yet, many of these ideas have been submitted for funding to traditional funding sources, and left to sit on the back burner. From time to time, I reach into the sketchbooks and the ideas show themselves in a new context.

This page of my site is meant to share the ideas, even if they aren’t quite ready. If you see something that intrigues you, please reach out to me and let’s talk. Maybe now is the time to consider it again.

-Heidi

Paint Like No One is Watching

This is the deal… I have to paint, no matter what. However, this year of 2019, I secured several exhibitions that will hopefully showcase new works.

The reality: The strange part of my work as an artist is that it’s a “carte before the horse” every.single.time. I invest thousands of dollars into the work I present, and then hope it is well received so it can sell and help me make more art (while also paying for the overhead that it takes to keep the paint flowing.)

I applied for a highly competitive grant this last year, and did not get it. I decided that I’m going to state what I’ll do, right here, and you can decide if you want to help me in any sort of way.

 

Cost of this project: $10,000

Ways to support:

  • Buy current work.

  • Purchase gift cards to Dick Blick (or click this link to see what I need).

  • Pre-purchase work (let me know the size, and I’ll make sure you have a piece featured in the shows!)

  • Ongoing donations online

  • Once I meet various phases of my goal, help me get the word out through videography, photography of work, and helping me promote!

Phase One (Feb - March)

Get materials in hand, and studio time secured to get work done. ($2500) FUNDED! YAY!!!

Phase Two (April - July)

Paint Like No One is Looking ($4000)

Phase Three (Aug - Dec)

Document Work. Deliver work to various locations, promote the heck out of the events.

($3500)

Acknowledgement:

I will give a shout out to donors to this project on my social media platforms and website. You will be invited to all the events, with a preview of the exhibit and a drinky or bite before or after the exhibit reception (we’ll see what happens!)

At that point, you are a collector of my work, and therefore I am extremely thankful. My work as a community artist is dependent on the ability to make work that is important to my soul, therefore relevant to my community.

Want to help out? Email me at heidi@heidijeub.com or call me at 320-828-1437

Project Outcomes

1. To investigate how rural revival, rural flight, and the inequities in rural areas manifest in my work, I will deepen my artistic practice as a painter, through both skills and intentions.

After completing intensive graduate studies about the arts in rural communities, I find that the subjects of The Rural come into my artwork. This is now a time to develop my work in a technical and conceptual manner. Technically, I will upgrade my materials and heighten my studio time so that my work showcases a significant change from previous works. As I deepen my studio practice, I will invite regular feedback from curators and artists. Conceptually, I plan to address issues in rural communities. This will lead to a better understanding of my role as an abstract artist in a rural community.

I want to invite critics, curators, and artists to visit me in my studio in Little Falls. With rural-based events like the Rural Arts and Culture Summit (anticipated for Summer 2019), I will be able to invite national and regional arts experts and curators into my space, while compensating them for their time. 

I will invite conversations to happen around my work, capturing the feedback through a hand bound journal at the studio and exhibit. I want to develop a dialog between urban and rural geographic perspectives as well, in order to refine the narrative around my work, and the ideas of the rural. I will work with the exhibition hosts to find ways to deepen this type of engagement, both in person and when I am absent from the space.

2. With three exhibitions, in Winona, St. Cloud, and Little Falls producing a comprehensive exhibition catalog with reviews, and documenting my process, I will better understand how my work resonates with new audiences.

An exhibition, “Rural Flight,”  is confirmed for September 2019 at Outpost Winona (Art of the Rural) and January 2020 at Paramount Center for the Arts’ Gallery St. Germaine. These two exhibits will be a culmination of the conceptual research and aesthetic development during the grant period. By having two different exhibits, new audiences will be reached in Winona, and previous relationships in St. Cloud will be honed. This is important in the long-term sustainability of my artistic patron base. I will have a designer create a catalog from the images of my work, which will include a written review and biography.

Barriers

My geographic proximity often times prevents me from connecting to new audiences or critical networks to further my work as an artist. Any one event can be 30 - 90 miles, one way, to attend, therefore this impedes on studio time and other responsibilities. While there are a diverse pool of artists and creatives nearby, peer review in contemporary painting and art is not as accessible in my region. My growth is slowed due to scarcity of art exhibition space, lack of educational opportunities around the value of specific art forms, and less opportunities to connect with other artists or new audiences. Yet, with having less traditional arts spaces, I have instead focused on sharing my art forms in schools and community based settings through my public art portfolio.

As a woman abstract artist in the rural, politics of gender and socioeconomics often times weaves into the support structures of my livelihood. The act of doing this type of work, unapologetically, is a revolutionary act in itself.

Actions

  1. I will deepen my studio practice by upgrading my materials, setting a regular painting schedule, and allowing limited activity in my studio space.

  2. I will create my own canvases, with the help of my neighboring frame shop, allowing me to create in a larger scale than before.

  3. In an effort to refine my studio time to be highly engaged (more so than in the past), I will eliminate some of my more distracting activities, like in-studio workshops or side projects.

  4. I will set up additional easels in order to work on several pieces at once, and construct a drying rack for my canvases and process work. 

  5. I will host 3 visiting curators or artists to critique my work every 4-6 weeks. I will identify these studio visitors based on their professional experience, their conceptual insight, and ability to guide me through challenges in my studio practice.  Onsite studio visits, or to bring work in progress to those who will provide a critical response to my work, will help guide my work towards the culminating events.