Personalized insight
A Retrospective of Your Art
Do you recognize this museum exhibition?
I shared this picture a few years ago after I wandered into a museum gallery and discovered an exhibition of my art!
Well, not my art exactly.
It was a museum exhibition of work that was produced in my art studio. Well, not just mine.
I worked in a team, as all great art studios do.
For most of my art career, I was the Director of a great art studio called Segura Art.
When I left that role to live in Europe, the archives of my great art studio were acquired by the University of Notre Dame. Much of the artwork also found a home at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
When I took this photograph a few years ago, I was visiting my folks in Scottsdale.
That’s when I walked into the museum and found myself surrounded by my past. Unbeknownst to me, the museum was showing a retrospective of Segura’s artwork!
I had been present from the conception of each of these pieces, through the creation and eventual sale of nearly all the work on these museum walls.
I sat down and cried like a baby because I’d never seen my past accomplishments displayed like this before.
Have you? Have you ever had the opportunity to really see your work celebrated? Or to celebrate it yourself?
The other day, I was doing some research on Segura Art Studio for my resume.
What I found blew me away.
Our files, the files that I created and nurtured – my notes on artists and galleries and institutions that collected art – have recently been acquired by the American Art Archives at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. Can you believe it?
I feel so proud. I’m so proud of the work I’ve done, the artists I collaborated with, and of my team at Segura Art.
Back then, I worked with a lot of big-name artists. These were people you might find in the pages of art magazines and even art history books. I sold their art to fund our studio’s secret mission: introducing under-represented artists to the art market.
I created branding and marketing campaigns for each of these unknown artists, although I never thought of it as branding and marketing.
I saw it as finding the gold in each artist’s work and sharing that sparkle with the rest of the world.
Along the way, I built the careers of dozens of artists of all ages, nationalities, and mediums.
I never ever imagined back then that the work I was doing would be collected and celebrated by these wonderful institutions.
I am bursting with joy!
Thank you for allowing me to share this news with you! You’re welcome to respond and share one of your wins with me too.
Let’s end this year by celebrating our wins, together. And start next year by creating new ones.
I believe in you and all that’s possible,
Crista
Ways that I can help you:
1. Since leaving my role as Director of the great art studio, I’ve created the Working Artist Master Class to share all my marketing secrets, and to support artists as they find their own gold.
If you’re an artist who’s been working on your own for too long, I urge you to drop, the struggle already. It’s a waste of time.
Do the work that will get you real results. Guaranteed. Click here to learn more about The Working Artist Masterclass.
2. I’m putting together a private Vision Quest for 2024. This will be a small group of six artists who work together and one-on-one with me. The results from this year’s group have been phenomenal. Click here to learn how we’ll achieve your vision together.
Written by Crista Cloutier, artist mentor + founder of The Working Artist. (learn more about Crista here)
