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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Visual Art The Conductive Garboil Grant

Posted by Jen Graves on Tue, May 19, 2009 at 11:38 AM

Before the artist Su Job died on Christmas, she told me for a story about her life and her dying that she envisioned a grant in her name:

Maybe a grant will be established in her name. It will not be called the Su Job Award, because that would be too boring. It might be for people like Job, who glue scenes together but don't necessarily rise in the art world. Or, Job laughs, the grant will work like this: You'll get a letter saying you're receiving the award for something you've done in the last year, and you'll have 30 days to tell the committee members why they're giving it to you.

Now comes news of the Conductive Garboil Grant, made of money Job couldn't use herself:

The Estate of Su Job, 4Culture and Artist Trust are pleased to host an event announcing and celebrating the first recipient of The Conductive Garboil Grant, a yearly, non-restricted award of $3,000 for Seattle artists who have a connection to the Pioneer Square neighborhood. The public announcement and reception will be held at Gallery4Culture, Thursday, June 11, 2009, 5:30-7:30 pm. Applications for the next grant cycle will also be available.

The Conductive Garboil Grant is a new program created by artist Su Job just before her passing in December 2008. Job’s wish was to use funds originally designated for extended end of life care to establish an annual award. This grant acknowledges an artist who has “Demonstrated a profound ability to challenge the limits of conductive creative discourse and its effects on our society, pushing the creative act beyond the accepted limits, definitions, or purposes of art while engaging audiences outside the aesthetic industrial complex.”

Job chose the inaugural recipient of the award, who will be announced at the event on June 11. Job also established the first panel - Allison Agostinelli, Cathryn Vandenbrink, Johathon Heath Lambe, Lynn Schirmer, and Tina Bueche - who will select the 2009 recipient following an application process this summer.

When Job refers to the "aesthetic industrial complex," she's talking about the art world. On the web site for the grant, she wrote, "Today, in ever more sophisticated ways, art is bound to consumer culture, and ultimately, a servant of the capitalist agenda."

This money is not for artists who make money. It's for people like Job, who make connections.

Comments (5) RSS

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I don't mean to boast (OK, maybe a little) but I offered Su the phrase "aesthetic-industrial complex" when she asked me for some editing help on the grant announcement, the last time I saw her. From what I took away from that conversation, I'd like to clarify that the moniker doesn't merely refer to the commercial part of the "art world", but also the intricate power structure of institutions, whose imprimatur often determines what is later commercially viable -- that means you, academia, museum boards, critics, even non-profit arts organizations, all of which can be just as exclusionary as commerical galleries, sometimes more exclusionary. This "complex" has to a large extent supported the erasure of the human element (both by draining it from the content and in alienating audiences) from the visual arts for decades now. Su's grant is intended for artists who are trying to again engage humanity in the creation and presentation of their art.

Posted by Jane Richlovsky on May 20, 2009 at 7:15 AM

I'm very excited at the emergence of a new grant for artists to take hold of. I'm sure it will help many people make wonderful art, and come back to benefit the community in a myriad of ways.

While I mean what I say, I'm being polite. The sad truth is I'm hung up on one question -- why is the requirement insistent upon the applicant having a connection to Pioneer Square? Isn't that limiting? Might this suggest that only artists who have established themselves in the core art district have access to this grant?

From my perspective, this is cutting out a huge lot of artists who might need this grant in profound ways; perhaps more than someone who already has a foot in the door by virtue of their presence in Pioneer Square.

Posted by sharonArnold

on May 20, 2009 at 9:10 AM

Su had a long-standing connection to Pioneer Square -- it was her neighborhood for many, many years. She also realized that many artists work without recognition or established gallery support. The comment @2 suggests that a majority of artists with connections to Pioneer Square have that connection because the major commercial galleries are located in the neighborhood. While it is true that many galleries are located in the Square, it is also true that Pioneer Square was -- and is -- an incubator for artists and arts organizations that do not have commercial representation or viability. The TK artist live/work studios and many of the cooperative arts exhibition spaces in the TK building are a great example. 619 Western, the Poulson Building, the Washington Shoe Building and the OK Hotel are also great examples. Many of these early spaces for artists have been gentrified, making room for office spaces and high-end lofts, but the history of Pioneer Square as a place for artists to get reasonable studio space and self-supported exhibition and performance venues is still a part of the cultural history of this city.

Cath Brunner, 4Culture

Posted by 4Culture on May 20, 2009 at 2:43 PM