PIGSY Art: What I’m working on right now
Welcome to Pigsy Art! In this blog, I’ll walk you through the current projects I’m working on and the exciting steps in my art curriculum. Whether you’re an aspiring artist or a fan of my work, this update will give you insight into my creative process. Let’s dive into the curriculum of my latest artistic journey!
The business of Art beyond the studio
I’ve written in the past about the business of art and the work an artist does outside of the art studio. So right now I am balancing my work in the studio and a few other pieces of work that I need to do outside of the studio.Most of this work is laid out in my 5 year business plan which helps me keep on track and will ensure that I achieve all of my targets and goals. I reccomend all professional artists create a business plan, it’s something I’ve always done (as a hark back to my career in architecture) in order to focus your artistic practise and endeavours in order to ensure success and sustainability of your art career.
In this blog post, I outline just some of the projects I am working on, that is all part and parcel of being a professional artist.
PIGSY Podcast
Aswell as having my art video series, I am currently working on creating a podcast which will be broadcast weekly to discuss and address specific topics relating to Dyslexia with a focus on providing advice and skills for dyslexic creatives in order to achieve success in business and life.
The Podcast audience is (but not solely):
■ Children, Adults, Students with Dyslexia,
■ Family and friends of those with Dyslexia
■ Experts and Health Professional in the field of Dyslexia (Research and Support),
■ Creatives in the Art Business (Artists, Art Gallery Owners, Studio Managers)
■ University Staff
■ School Teachers, Educational Experts and School Boards
■ And others – all who are interested in Art
The weekly show will be presented in a relaxed, fun, positive and inspiring conversational format. A core element of The Podcast is where I will interview famous guests with dyslexia, including visual artists, sculptors, poets, writers, collectors, art dealers, gallerists and other successful people with dyslexia who work in creative fields such as architecture, sports, business, science. Stimulating interviews are achieved by means of a high quality pre-written script that is adaptive during the interview to ensure that the interviewee can share their experiences thoroughly, so the audience doesn’t feel that it is a rehearsed conversation. Through interviews with PIGSY, these established peers or people of note will share their stories, processes, knowledge, and the techniques they use to deal with dyslexia in order to achieve success in their area of business, work or dedication to the arts.
Famous people of note with dyslexia include:
Entrepreneur Richard Branson, Basketball Player Magic Johnson, Fashion Designer Tommy Hilfiger, Actor Henry Winkler, Journalist & TV Personality Anderson Cooper, Designer & Illustrator Ash Casper, Photographer Leslie Chavez, Artist Rachel Deane. Irish people of note with dyslexia include Architect and Design Legend Hugh Wallace, Musician Roisin Murphy, Actor Jane McGrath and founder of Neurodiversity Ireland Dairine Kennedy.
Success with Dyslexia
The Podcast is a tool to demonstrate what works and what doesn’t in business and the arts. Through my podcast I will impart the knowledge and the skills that I have gained through my career along with conversations with successful artists and creatives who have succeeded despite their learning disability of dyslexia. Topics such as business, marketing, social media, daily routines, setting up a studio, how to cope with dyslexic stigmas and stereotypes, fame, fans, and family will be discussed. The topics will address all aspects of the dyslexic artists' life, but the main focus of the Podcast is how to achieve success and overcome Dyslexia by using the creative process and seeing the positivity in dyslexia.
Upcoming PIGSY Art Exhibition for 2023
It’s always exciting to be working towards the next PIGSY art exhibition and I’m really happy to have my next showing in the calendar. It’s going to be “Lost in Thought” in Ranelagh Arts and it will open in April 2023.
For this exhibition, there is going to be a new dimension added to it with some of the paintings available to view through an app to give an augmented reality. It will draw viewers in to the art work and will show them more to the art in an add on 3d format. It’s a lot of fun and while not qquite virtual reality it will help the viewer engage more with the art work than done traditionally when visiting art exhibitions. Watch this space for further blogs all about this new art concept that I will be bringing to Ranelagh Arts.
PIGSY art shipment to US Art Gallery
The US Art Gallery that represents me Stateside in Florida arranged a meeting with me to discuss sending further artworks to them in Florida.
After discussions about my artworks a specific collection of paintings were selected by the gallery curator. After the selection was made, it was a case of having the art boxed and readied for shipping. Arrangements were made for a courier to collect the boxes of art here in Ireland and ship them all the way to Florida. Things have changed since Covid where I experienced difficulties with shipping taking extended periods to get art to different countries (I guess medical equipment and medicine was taking priority on plane cargo) so for this shipment the artworks got over in less than 10 days.which was great. The paintings are now hung on the wall of Effusion Art Gallery on Duval Street and I am hearing reports of big interest in them!
Pictured is “Naked Swimming” which is now available along with further selection of PIGSY artworks in Effusion Gallery.
Squash Soldiers
Exciting news on the Show Court in Fitzwilliam, after a renovation, Squash Soldiers has been rehung in a prime location. The show court has been repainted with glass walls installed on the squash court. Originally it was hung at the back of the court behind the tiered seating, however within the plans for the tennis club renovation, this wall was knocked. So while the renovations were taking place, the painting was carefully put in storage until it was ready to be hung in the court again.
And so it is now back on the wall - after a little bit of work from me in regard to the placement.
How great does it look?! It’s getting a big reaction particularly with the Irish Squash Nationals on last week, making for the club being busy with top name squash players including Ladies and Mens Senior winners Sam Buckley and Breanne Flynn and worthy opponents Sean Conroy and Ciara Doheny.
For further info and to see the background to the creation of Squash Soldiers, check out past PIGSY blogs.
PIGSY Educational Art Program
In other exciting news, through my work as an advocate for people with dyslxia, I have been contracted to present an education program through a college that offers worldwide classes through an eLearning platform. I am currently working on a syllabus which will focus on helping students with dyslexia express themselves artistically. When the syllabus is completed I will create and lead a strategically structured curriculum in the classroom which will enable students to gain and boost their confidence, Through the Program, students with dyslexia will be taught new methods of working and ultimately the skills they learn will assist them to flourish in all academic endeavors
Goal
The core aim of the Program is for PIGSY to develop new ways to support dyslexic students artistically and enable art and creative ideas to be stimulated within a wide range of dyslexic people. The Program, which will commence in 2023 in association with an Irish college and will act as a building block for a similar educational program in the US.
Education Program
The artist led classroom and eLearning based education program is designed to empower young people with dyslexia to develop their creative and artistic thinking within an infrastructure that exists i.e. schools, community centres and colleges. The Program offers art business activities to inspire young people to explore and take ownership of their creativity, viewing every young person, not as a person with a learning difficulty, but as a person with huge potential. The Program of education is specifically tailored to meet dyslexia challenges head on. The classroom and eLearning Program will be offered to students with dyslexia who are interested in working in the field of creative arts and business.
Program Curriculum:
■ Business of Art
■ Marketing (including Digital Media)
■ Social Media
■ Website Design
■ SEO
■ Google Analytics
■ Event Planning
■ Producing a podcast
■ Exhibitions
As you can imagine, this is a huge piece of work (but ultimately both enjoyable to me and so valuable to the students it will be offered to) and it has taken longer than anticipated along with delays due to covid, but ultimately it will come to fruition very shortly and will be offered to students in early 2023. Watch this space for more info!