Points of Light...

Hope you all enjoyed the Vlog last week. As I mentioned in my talk, I am very impressed and honored that many of the readers of my blog are taking amazing steps with their art and their self-promotion perhaps due to something they have found inspiring or encouraging within my posts. This makes me so happy! Today, I want to share some of their hard work with you as well as let you know of a few local artists' current exhibitions.

First the local bulletin..



Basil Seymour Davies' masterful paintings are currently featured at the Art Center of the Ozarks in Springdale, Arkansas July 11-August 15 with an opening reception on Tuesday July 15th from 5:30-7:00pm. I cannot wait to see a whole room full of his paintings. If you are a regular reader you may remember I featured him in Six Amazing Artists You Should Know. If you are local, do not miss this show!! Congratulations Basil! Visit his website here.



Craig Earl Nelson's haunting and intimate portrait series, "Strangers and Not So Strange" is currently featured at the Mullins Library at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The exhibition will be up until August 31st. This is an impressive show, not to be missed! Congratulations Craig! You can find out more information about Craig's work on his blog and at his website here.



Local gallerist Dede Peters and co-curator Robin Atkinson, have put on a rousing show sure to be talked about at the DDP gallery in Fayetteville. The exhibition is entitled, "Dreadful Objects" and features the works of Shane Richey and Jason Clinton Barnes. Visit the DDP gallery website here.

Alright, now to the readers and friends who are working hard at the self promotion of their art. You all inspire me.



Steven Heaton created some amazing postcards using Vista Print. I can't wait to receive mine! His postcard features one of his latest paintings and his contact information on the back, along with his artist's statement. This is a beautiful example of a great piece of promotional material. Steven also created a carbonmade portfolio. Steven just had two pieces accepted into the West Lancashire open exhibition at the Chapel Gallery, and one of the accepted pieces is on the front of the card. This could not have worked out better for him! He is now prepared to promote his work in the show. Congratulations Steven! Also, Steven was recently interviewed by fellow artist Tim Lane, for Artist interviewing Artist. Check it out here.



Deborah Eileen Burrow recently created her own website, showcasing her landscape and abstract work, has an artist statement, and links to her Keeping Creative blog as well as other helpful resources and artists she enjoys. She has also created a line of refrigerator magnets with images of her paintings and is selling them through Paypal. Contact her on her MySpace page for more information about her magnets. Deborah is also researching galleries in her area and surrounding region that might be a good fit for her work. Congratulations, Deborah!



Stephanie Mallicote, who works full time, is a wife and mother of two and is carving out her own space in the living room to paint again after a bit of a break. She is always doing something creative and inspired. Stephanie just created her own carbonmade portfolio. She also writes a great blog. Congratulations Stephanie!

Enjoy the local art that is right outside your front door, make a postcard, make a magnet, make a website, make some space and keep fighting, and most importantly keep painting. It is worth it. Thank you for all you give to me and to the world through your work.

Please note that all the art featured on this blog post is copyrighted by the respective artists. I asked permission to use these images.

My paintings at your finger tips.

December is drawing near, which gets me in the mood for a year end wrap up. I think about where I have been and what I have done and of course what I have not yet done as well. I like to tidy things up before I waltz into the new year.

This year has been fantastic for me artistically. Many opportunities presented themselves and I tried to grab a hold and participate with as much fervor as I could. I secured representation by several fantastic galleries this year, and sold quite a bit of work to wonderful clients all over the country. My work was chosen for publication by Studio Visit Magazine to appear in the premier issue coming out in February 2008. Four of my large works were purchased and permanently placed in the brand new and beautifully designed Shogun Sky bar in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I participated in five solo/featured shows this year, and participated in some great group shows as well. I also started writing this blog, which has given me a much needed and enjoyed outlet. There are still many other exciting opportunities that are wrapping up the end of my year.

I am grateful for all the support and wonderful conversations that I have had with people near and far about my art and art in general. The conversations, encouragement, questions, and ideas that we exchange mean so much to me. I am honored that I get to share my work with you all.

I am excited to be preparing for my last show of 2007, entitled "Secrets Revealed" which will be held at Remy Fine Art Gallery at the Town Club in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. I will be showing twenty nine paintings. I am pleased to be showing with PJ and Steve Robowski as well.

This will be my first exhibit in Ft. Smith and I look forward to talking with the folks there about my work. If you are in the area, I hope you can join us at the opening on Thursday, December 6th from 5:30-7:30pm at Remy Fine Arts in the Town Club at 720 Garrison Avenue. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Check back next week on my blog for images of that body of work.

Speaking of all the wonderful galleries that represent me and my paintings. I want to share those galleries and their current selections of my work with you. The slide show below features my work that is currently at the M2 Gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas. If you see a piece that you are interested in please contact Mac Murphy at the M2 Gallery. I am thrilled to be showing with the M2, and recently enjoyed participating in the Best of the Northwest show. I also enjoyed getting to know all the other talented artists that are represented there.

The slide show below showcases my work currently at the Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Contact Pat or Dishongh Scavo if you want to know more about my work shown there. This year I participated in the gallery's 10th anniversary celebration exhibit to mark the successful 10 year history of the Blue Moon Gallery. This December I will be down at Gallery Walk for "An Ornamental Affair" a CASA benefit. All the artists have created beautiful and unique ornaments to be auctioned off for a great cause. If you are in the area, come to the first Friday gallery walk and bid on an ornament. Gallery walk in Hot Springs is always a good time.

This next slide show is of my work currently represented by the DDP gallery in Fayetteville. This past summer, my work was shown alongside Helen's Phillips' brilliant ceramic work in our show entitled "Intuition." The show was a huge success, eleven of the twenty pieces that I showed sold. The DDP gallery also facilitated my work being placed in the Shogun Sky bar in Fayetteville. Very thrilling. The DDP gallery represents my work exclusively for all of Northwest Arkansas. Contact gallery owner Dede Peters for more information about my work.

Last, but certainly not least is my work currently represented by Gallery Fraga, in Bainbridge Island Washington. I was so excited when gallery owner Jeff Fraga contacted me after finding my paintings online and offered me an exhibit. My first featured exhibit with Gallery Fraga, "According to the Vapors," was held in March. I am pleased to have representation out in the Pacific Northwest after spending six years in Oregon while in school. I do love that part of the country. As part of the exhibit, I created a pod cast about my work and creative process, even talking about some of the specific pieces in the show, you can listen to it on their site as well. Contact Jeff Fraga at Gallery Fraga about the work you see below.

This past year, I also enjoyed exhibiting, "The Path that Light Takes," at the Mullin's Library at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. It was a joy to hear from students and staff members that my work had a calming influence on them. It was a great feeling to see how my work can impact a public space by transforming it with color.

Another opportunity that presented itself this year was my exhibit, "Spellbound," at the Julie Wait Designs Gallery in Rogers, Arkansas. It was a wonderful opportunity to share my work with a whole new group of folks. It was great to meet the people there and talk about abstract art and design.

So, as you can see it has been an exceptional year, and if you are now reading this you are a part of it too. I thank you, and I hope you have enjoyed my work this past year, and I hope you will enjoy it for many years to come.

If you enjoy what you read and see in my studio blog, please pass it on to other people who might enjoy it too.

* The slide shows originally published with this post are now out of date. Many of these works may still be available for purchase. Please check my website to find out their current locations as well as, my most up to date gallery affiliations. www.meganchapman.com

Free Publicity and the Press Release

So, you finally have an art show planned, no matter if it is big or small- it is your show and people want to know about it. So, it is time to publicize it. You might think, "I don't know anyone at the newspaper or the art rag in town, so I will just tell my friends, plus no one knows me anyway, and it isn't that big of a deal."

Stop that line of thought right now! It is a BIG deal, your art is about to meet the public, and you want to draw as many people out of their homes and away from the TV/Internet as you can. Unless art exhibits grow on trees for you, you need to maximize this opportunity you have been given. So, here is how.

First, make a list of all the local magazines, papers, and radio stations in your area that you have seen or heard art announcements on before, don't be afraid to think out of the box here. Second, call them up and ask who is in charge of posting their art events, or entertainment calendar, or you can just tell them that you would like to submit a press release, and ask for the email address of the person in charge of that. Also, another way of handling it is to gather up copies of all those papers and look for the contact info that is printed in the paper- if you don't want to call and have some time to kill. Keep in mind that press contacts change all the time, and by calling you are assured the most up to date information.

Third, start making a list of those emails. Your list might include email addresses of your local paper, your free entertainment papers, the paper for the community close to you but not in your town. If you are lucky enough to have a college radio station, they can be a great resource and very supportive of visual arts just as they are of music. Get them and your local NPR station to announce your show. Also don't overlook online bulletin boards for your city, or arts groups in your town, and then of course there is myspace.

Now that you have compiled this list, keep it handy because it is like a golden ticket to your future success. Even, if your press release doesn't get folks out of their homes, it has done something almost as valuable, it has gotten your name out there in print, and stating that you are an artist. This alone is building up your credibility. So, it really is a win-win situation, and aren't those nice!

So, about the press release, these are important but not nearly as scary to write as you think, and they are a piece of cake compared to the artist statement. A press release needs to have the basics (who, what, when, where, and maybe a touch of why) but be advised they will edit it, and perhaps reduce it to one sentence, so make sure all the information is there. It is important to include ways for them to get a hold of you, just in case they want to do a feature on you, or have questions about your work. Also, if you can include an image, do - you might be published! Make sure your digital image is sized to look good in print and not just on the web.

Here is sample of a press release I have sent out:

Contact person: Megan Chapman
my phone number
my email
my website ( if available)

PRESS RELEASE:

Included is an image of the painting "Quiet Facade" Mixed Media on Canvas 40x30" 2007

Fayetteville Painter Megan Chapman to exhibit at Mullins Library- University of Arkansas

"The Path that Light Takes" an exhibit of abstract mixed media paintings by Megan Chapman will be featured May 1 – June 29 in the Mullins Library, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. This exhibit includes nineteen new paintings never before exhibited locally. Megan's work has most recently been featured in a solo exhibit at Gallery Fraga in Bainbridge Island, Washington this past March. Her mixed media abstracts have been well received. This exhibit is free and open to the public.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. Megan has shown her work over the past ten years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington, as well as in various publications, and in private and corporate collections. Megan is currently represented by the DDP Gallery in Fayetteville, Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs, and by the M2 gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Megan is also represented by Gallery Fraga in Bainbridge Island, Washington.Visit the artist's website at www.meganchapman.com for more information about her work.

Chapman says, "This body of work is about my love of color, the subtle changes that occur when colors overlap, react, and create something new. I also love textures and how layers of color and texture come together. I enjoy space and balance. I have been exploring different motifs that I find natural and comforting. These shapes are repetitive at times, and often peek out from a hidden space in the painting or brazenly take the foreground. These shapes reflect my love of mark making and how I enjoy the imperfect smudge of charcoal or the gritty pencil line as it floats along the painted surface. Intuitively, I bring these elements together to create an otherworldly atmosphere."

Okay- that is it, this is longer than most I send out, and some people published the whole thing, and some people reduced it to "The Path that Light Takes" an exhibit of abstract mixed media paintings by Megan Chapman will be featured May 1 – June 29 in the Mullins Library, at the University of Arkansas.

It is nice to have options. I did include an image, so if they have space they can run it in the paper along side my press release. I have been fortunate to have had this happen many times, and that is such a bonus! My advice when you are starting out - keep the press release short, and to the point, but easy to understand, and some sort of description of your work to entice them to come.

So, the next time you have a show at a coffee house, a public space, a warehouse, a library, or a gallery make sure you get the word out there. Papers and other media outlets want your information, and will almost always publish it. People that you don't even know really would like to come to your events if they just knew about them. So, start preparing your golden ticket.

PS. Don't forget to save all your press clippings!! You're a star!