In the News

"Cocoon" by Amy Guidry; SOLD; From the New Realm series; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

I’m excited to have a birthday coming up, so that means my family will be coming to visit. Plus, I’ve asked my mom to get several copies of the Sunday paper for me, so she will have those in tow. It’s actually last Sunday’s edition of the Times Picayune, which is the New Orleans newspaper. So in addition to the birthday excitement, I’m excited to see a tangible copy of the interview I have in the Slidell section of the Times Picayune. Kathleen DesHotel wrote a wonderful article about my work and has many full-color images of my paintings. The b+w images continue on the inside of the paper, but at least I have several in color on the front! The interview couldn’t come at a better time since I have a show coming up on the eastern side of the state in Hammond, LA. If you’re a “regular” you will already know this, but for those newbies, my show is a solo exhibition of my New Realm series at the Oak Street Gallery. The opening is August 21st from 6-9pm.

I can’t wait to see the actual paper in person, and according to my mother, the article seems to be longer than what’s featured on the internet. However, you get the gist of it (sans photos…I know, what were they thinking?) online at nola.com- http://www.nola.com/picayunes/t-p/slidellpicayune/index.ssf?/base/news-21/124786059728520.xml&coll=1

As soon as I have a copy, I will be sure to post pictures and the link in my Press section of my website.  In the meantime, if you would like to see more of my work, visit http://www.AmyGuidry.com

Party Pics

Here are just a few photos from the 2009 Art Melt at the Brunner Gallery in the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge, LA.  These are actually from the Preview Gala which was held July 9th for the artists and arts patrons.  The jurors were in attendance as well, as you can see Dan Cameron speaking in one of the photos.  Jurors were Dan Cameron, director of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and curator of Prospect 1. Arts Biennial; Ann Connelly, director and owner of Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge, LA; and Brian Young, curator of the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD.

To view the entire photo album, go to http://www.amyguidry.com/events.html

Upcoming Show… More Details

“Beginning” by Amy Guidry; From the New Realm series; SOLD; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

For those of you planning on attending a local exhibition of my work (I tried to schedule more local shows this year for a change!), I have one coming up this summer! I will be showing at the Oak Street Gallery in Hammond, Louisiana this August. It will be a solo exhibition and will be up for the entire month. The opening reception will be August 21st, which is in conjunction with “Hot August Night.” “Hot August Night” is an annual event featuring wine tasting, art exhibits, live music, shopping and fine dining in Historic Downtown Hammond, LA. So if you are in the area, you can plan on a full itinerary for the evening!

The opening will be held from 6-9pm, while the festival itself is until 10 pm. I will be in attendance at the opening, so feel free to stop by and meet me in person!* There will be many paintings that have never been previously exhibited. All work is from my New Realm series, and will also feature the 5″ x 5″ series.

And if you won’t be able to travel, you can also check out my work online at www.AmyGuidry.com.

*Stalkers need not apply.

One Big Melting Pot of Art

Amy Guidry is a selected artist in the 2009 Art Melt juried competitionTrue to form, I have created yet another bad title for my writing… Anyway, for those of you interested in my recent news about my acceptance into this year’s Art Melt, here is a complete list of the selected artists. All work will be on display for the Preview Party at the Brunner Gallery in the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge, LA on July 9th. The (free) opening reception will be held July 10th from 6:30-10pm! And the artists are:

Susie Blyskal, Michael Aldana, Marianne Antoine, Erin Barker, Patricia “Muffin” Bernstein, Mary Beyt, Craig Black, Brad Michael Bourgoyne, Ralph Bourque (yes, the same guy in my links on the right!), Brandi Braud, Benjamin Bullins, John Michael Byrd, Mallory P Chastant, Wang-Ling Chou, Michelle Conques, Cynthia Courage, Yvette Creel, Jessica Danby, Robin Daning, Shanna D’Antonio, Chris Dennis, William DePauw, Ashton Despot, Dara Engler, Ernie Fournet, Kit French, Mark Galasso, Denise Gallagher, Donna Gamble, Denise Greenwood-Loveless, Kerry Griechen, Amy Guidry (I hear she’s good…hahaha), Gerald Haessig, Diane Hanson, Alex Harvie, Jessica Hebert, Stacy Hennessy, Susan Talbot Hoffmann, Meg Holford, Robert Holford, Christopher Holt, David Humphreys, Kathryn Hunter, Aaron Hussey, Warren Irwin, Heather Kelley, Maggie Kleinpeter, Katie Knoeringer, Andy Lemoine, Lory Lockwood, Rebecca Luke-Lirette, Jill Moore, Keith Morris, Lee Ann Moser, Liz Noble, Jared Normand, Bruce Odell, Tiffany Olson, Isoko Onodera, Jonathan Pellitteri, Mary Perrin, Nancy Poirrier, Andrew Pollack, Rebecca Rebouche, Kathy Reeves, Colin Ross, Rich Roth, Nancy Smitherman, Shannon Songe, Tom Stigall, Lacey Stinson, Katie Swetman, Dan Swetman, Jill Thomas, Philip Thompson, Sidonie Villere, Kenneth Wilks, Caroline Youngblood, Alan Zakem

http://www.AmyGuidry.com

Galleries, Museums, and now Libraries!

"Adaptation" by Amy Guidry; From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

More great news as of late… I will have my work featured in an art book later this year! I was notified recently that my painting, “Adaptation,” was selected for a full-page layout in Dimensions of Disclosure. This will be the latest publication by New Art Review and is due out this October. Copies of the book will be sent to galleries and art dealers around the country. “Adaptation” is from my New Realm series and has actually received quite a bit of press, but this will be the first book that it is published in. In addition to my painting, information about my work and contact information will be included.

Not a lot of details, but as soon as I have more information, I will be sure to post it. And I’ll post some photos from the book as soon as I have a copy. So in the meantime, check out my website for more images and more information! www.AmyGuidry.com

Artists: Scam Alert!

"The United States of Consumerism" by Amy Guidry; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to further my art career.  Unfortunately, there are some losers out there who are looking to take advantage of that.  I did a little research online concerning an opportunity I came across that sounded too good to be true.  Apparently that’s because it is.  ArtistGrants.org is promoting their Biennial Competition with a $10K first place award- yes, 10,000 dollars.  Aside from the fantastic prize money, I had to wonder about this since I’d never even heard of them before.  I’ve heard of many artist grants organizations, but never this one.  So I kept an eye on their site…  interestingly enough, I discovered that their entry fee kept changing (increasing, of course) over the past couple of months.  And the deadline has been extended three times so far (at least since I’ve discovered this “competition”).  And who the hell are the jurors?   

Well, further investigation has dug up some more interesting tidbits…  According to Art Opportunities Monthly, ArtistGrants.org tried to get their Biennial listed in their classifieds.  Turns out AOM discovered their domain had been registered for a matter of days before they were listing their competition. AOM also states that the address provided to them for the listing “was a private home which had been bought for well over the asking price just a short time ago (arousing a newspaper’s suspicions that a kickback and finagling with mortgage money was involved). And now, the house just appeared on the market as a HUD foreclosure, meaning that the extra money the buyers had borrowed will not be paid back.”

In addition, AOM also asked about their organization, judging, funding, etc. and never received a response.  I found the same to be true for others’ attempts to contact ArtistGrants.org.  So, after finding out all of this, I am steering clear of this “opportunity” and passing on this information to everyone in the blogosphere!  Just goes to show that unless you are already familiar with an organization, you should always look into them before entering or sending them money.  Many artist listings sites have a disclaimer that they are not responsible if it turns out a listing is a scam and that they do not do background checks, so to speak.  So be sure to do your homework!

www.AmyGuidry.com

I’m So Excited!

"Metamorphosis" by Amy Guidry; From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

And I just can’t hide it. If there’s an award for dorky blog titles, I’m sure to receive it shortly. Anyway, as you may have already surmised, I have some good news. No, great news. I’ve been dying to find out the results of a competition I entered recently and as per usual with these things, the results were not announced on time. (I’m no math whiz, but I’d have to say this happens about 97% of the time.) So I was just taking care of emails and got my announcement! My work has been accepted into the 2009 Art Melt to be held at the Brunner Gallery in the Shaw Center for the Arts! Yea! So here’s the really exciting part… normally they only have one juror, but this year they had three. One of which happened to be the curator of Prospect 1, the Art Biennial held in New Orleans recently. Here’s the listing of jurors from the Art Melt site:

Dan Cameron is the visual arts director at the New Orleans Center for Contemporary Art. Cameron served as the director and curator for Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international contemporary art in the United States, recently held in New Orleans. Cameron has previously served as artistic director of the eighth Istanbul Biennial and curated the 2006 Taipei Biennial.

Ann Connelly is a Baton Rouge-based gallery owner with more than 18 years of experience as an art dealer. Her gallery, Ann Connelly Fine Art, represents a wide variety of local and national contemporary artists who have achieved recognition in national collections and publications.

Brian Young is the curator at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Md. With more than a decade of curatorial experience in both traditional and contemporary art, Young has a history of success at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. and the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

The painting that was chosen is “Metamorphosis” from my New Realm series. It happens to be one of my favorite pieces, so I’m especially happy it was selected. (If you’re new to my work, that’s a photo of it on the left.) The opening reception will take place July 10th from 6:30-10 pm at the Shaw Center for the Arts in downtown Baton Rouge, LA. You can find out more details at www.artmelt.org.

And if you’d like to see more of my work, visit www.AmyGuidry.com

The 411 on Donating Your Art

"New Realm" by Amy Guidry- Sold at Auction

I get asked to donate my artwork fairly often. And this topic has been broached with me before in the art marketing class that I have conducted. So I thought it might be helpful to offer some insight into donations. First, you won’t be able to do them all- and please don’t feel bad about it. I get letters and emails requesting my work, sometimes several in one month. If I donated to all of them, I’d be out of paintings. And a girl’s gotta eat, so I have to have something left to sell. Next, you should decide who you’d like to help. Some charities hold the same art auction every year, so if it’s one that you would like to help on a continual basis, you can go ahead and plan on that and mark your calendar for it in the upcoming year(s). Or, you may like to alternate who you help and plan on donating to a different charity next go round just to even out the playing field a bit.

When deciding on who you would like to donate to, there are a few things to take into consideration. What does your donation do for this charity, organization, etc.? What will you be supporting? Does this follow your personal beliefs? What type of venue will hold the event? Who are the other participating artists? Would you be honored to have your work seen in such an event and amongst the other artists’ work? What kind of publicity will you gain from this experience? Will your donation conflict with another obligation, be it an exhibit, juried show, etc.?

I know this is a lot to consider and may even sound selfish, but the truth is, there’s much more to consider when donating your art than just simply writing a check to support a cause. This is about more than just money because it also involves time and labor- lots of it. You’re an artist, you know that it wasn’t easy to create this piece you’re about to give away. It took time, supplies, energy, creativity, willpower, and probably involved a personal sacrifice ranging anywhere from sleep to your family. So yes, you should consider what you get out of this. And if you decide that you can’t part with your work for whatever reason, but would truly like to help, simply write a check for this organization, charity, etc. You’ll directly help them without feeling guilty. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with just stating the truth- “I’d love to help, but I have [fill in other obligation here] and won’t be able to. But please add me to your mailing list, I’d love to donate next year.”

Thoughts? Questions? Let me know, either here or at www.AmyGuidry.com!

The Next Place to Catch My Work

"Special Ingredients" by Amy Guidry; Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

I know, I know, not the most creative title for a post. Maybe I’m just tired…it’s been a long day and I’ve been out and about in this dreaded heat. Summer in Louisiana is miserable. Sooo, how appropriate that my next show is up north. R. Coury Fine Art Gallery in Savage, Maryland has a group show currently up for the next couple of months. My work is included in the exhibit, which is opening for their 3rd Friday Artwalk. The reception will take place June 19th from 6-8pm. So if you’re in the area, check it out. Or depending on how badly you want to get out of this heat, maybe you’ll take a trip up to MD. It’s at least 10 degrees cooler up there and probably not as humid… And if you’d like to just stay put and enjoy your air conditioning, you can always go to my website to see my work at www.AmyGuidry.com!

The Newest Addition

"Liberty" by Amy Guidry; From the New Realm series. Copyright Amy Guidry 2009

I must be feeling guilty about my blog abandonment since I’ve got two posts in one week… So here it is, the latest painting of my “New Realm” series. Not even on the website yet! Consider this a sneak preview that only my blog readers are in the know about. Feeling special yet? Okay, okay, so here are the details. The title is “Liberty” and this is another large piece since it is 36″ wide by 48″ high. And as per usual, it is an acrylic on canvas. This piece features the purple butterflies from many of the other paintings in the series. I thought of this one as an extension of “Release” which also features the purple butterflies seen from above. This painting will be part of my solo exhibition this October at Galerie Lafayette in downtown Lafayette, LA. If you’re in the area, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to see these paintings in person. The photo here does not do the piece justice. Anyway, if you’d like to find out more about my upcoming exhibits, sign up for my newsletter under my website contact page. And while you’re there, check out the rest of my work- www.AmyGuidry.com.

Comments and Discussion from artist Amy Guidry