The Artists Guide- pg 71-122

Getting your artwork out there!
In these pages Battenfield discusses techniques her and other artists have used to get their art work exposed. These techniques are very important in trying to make a living off your work. It is important to be organized and on task in our lives, that is why Battenfield identifies how artists need to be knowledgeable on how to produce, advertise, and exhibit their own work.



The key to producing art work is to have motivation and an idea that is consistent. Make sure your work has a theme or thesis to show other people, mostly galleries. The artist must also be willing to take criticism to the full extent. Make sure that your studio is well kept so it may be open to many visitors. As an artist we should constantly visit other studio’s to learn more about how they do things, and take that information for your own studio. We might learn new information which will help us in the future. Also, try to have parties of your own to invite unknown people to see your studio. However, don’t only invite artists, make it a priority to invite all kinds of people. These skills are necessary to proceed on to the next levels for your art work.


In order to make money or sell our art work we have to learn how to advertise. Meaning that we should have business cards and have a website to correspond with. Free websites are easiest such as blogs or the “Free Artist Registries” website. Blogs allow you to have as many pictures as necessary where as “free artist Registries” only allows you to have a certain number of artworks. The “free artist registries” is a site that many curators and gallery owners look at; it is the most important one. Along with advertising comes the artist package. It is a packet that has a resume, an artist statement, pictures on cd rom, and a few exhibition reviews that you received. The artist statement should be straight and to the point, with a tops of 25 descriptive words. This packet along with the websites is key to advertising and selling your work.


Side by side with paperwork, advertising should also take place at exhibitions. As a beginning artist, we can show in a number of places from coffee lounges to banks. Art festivals are a good place to start too. This experience can help us better to get in to nonprofit galleries as well. In order to get into a nonprofit gallery we should do a multitude of research to help us find the right one. Make sure the gallery has a similar theme to your artwork so it will not be a waste of time for you and them. Having your own exhibition would is another idea. You can set your own rules and choose your friends that are artists to join you. It might be more stressful, but having your other colleagues their will make the experience more pleasurable. Having an exhibition for your work will get you out in the world and have your art work recognized.


This book uses artists experiences in the past to help us better understand responsibilities that are in our future. We should have great ideas rolling in, be organized, and make sure we have a blog or website. Having an exhibition is the main key in selling our work. One day these skills will come in handy either now or in the future. Battenfield makes it easy for us to understand once again through her own experiences as well.

The Janusian Process by: Albert Rothenberg

      This psychiatrist talks about certain inventors who go through a process of events to become successful in scientific invention. The methods used in their practices are similar to those of artists. Famous scientists like Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein go through “stages” to uncover the ultimate invention or concept. Many scientists in fact, have the same cognitive progression. The Janusian process defines how scientists use the theory of opposites to conceive the final product. The Janusian process is one of the three creative cognitive processes. The investigations included the thoughts, dreams, experiments, and childhood memories of several well-known scientists. Four phases are expressed to better understand the method to forming conclusions. First was the motivation to create, or why. Phase two is deviation from the main idea- towards their own. The third stage is derived from separation, and is named simultaneous opposition-this is where full realization and understanding of implications occurs. Lastly, construction of the theory, discovery or experiment is where modification, and the fine details are worked out. The Janusian process outlines the linear process existing in all creativity.