reverse25 by Danae Falliers
What (Some) Parents Think:
- Exhibit in a coffee shop ala Bad Art Good Walls
- Starve or (less dramatically) live (indefinitely) in their basement
- Serve tables
- Drive for Uber or Lyft
- Teach at an elementary, middle or high school
- Abandon all hope and do something practical like marketing or graphic design
52E by Thomas Berloffa
What (Some) Professors Think:
- Get an MFA or PhD
- Work in academia
- Rent a studio
- Get commercial gallery representation
- Exhibit, exhibit, exhibit
- Have a museum retrospective
What (Actual) Artists Do:
Goya Series: And by John Baldessari
- Practice, practice, practice – anywhere, anyhow, any time
- Befriend other artists of all types
- Go to arts openings and events
- Intern at a gallery, museum or advisory firm
- Start Etsy shops and Saatchi profiles
- Create websites
- Update social media platforms
- Exhibit their work at galleries, arts centers, museums, fairs, pop ups
- Start their own galleries in live/work spaces
- Create arts events
- Write arts criticism
- Practice, practice, practice – anywhere, anyhow, any time
- Arts administration for nonprofits, government agencies or for profits
- Work at arts-centered day care centers
- Pay taxes
- Create pop ups
- Install art
- Have day jobs completely unrelated to their degree but informed by it
- Work at large-scale art fabrication studios
- Build shared studios
- Run a restaurant
- Get gallery representation
- Work with art advisors and consultants
- Create arts districts
- Join a co-op gallery
- Develop clothing/textile lines or functional objects
- Teach at community centers and schools (pre-K to graduate level)
- Create apps
- Partner with hospitals, nursing homes, halfway houses, prisons, jails, juvenile detention centers
- Curate shows
- Barter art for equally valuable goods or services
- Illustrate medical textbooks, children’s books, magazine covers
- Publish zines
- Apply for grants and residencies
- Document other artists’ work
- Teach other artists the business side of the art world
- Practice, practice, practice – anywhere, anyhow, any time