Art Share Intro Text

Description of Art Share, a group of artists meeting at the Soil Factory in Ithaca, NY

Art Share 

An in-person platform for artists to exhibit their work to other artists 

The Soil Factory is a space where artists from all walks of life encounter. Here, we meet with practicing artists who are exhibiting in galleries and museums as much as we meet with artists who explore art-making in their free time or artists who tap into the knowledge produced in the art worlds to develop scientific or social projects that expand or break with academic and disciplinary rules. Regardless of the context in which one devotes oneself to art-making, sharing our artworks with other artists (whether in the process or finalized) can revitalize the creative practice, redirect necessary adjustments, and demystify the grandeur of challenging feelings like fear, shame, or confusion. More than that, with Art Share, we recognize that our creativity is a shared endeavor and that the artist's work happens before and beyond the finalized artwork. 

Art Share is the continuation of the group of artists that began in April 2024 under the title De/Critique. Throughout five meetings of De/Critique, we discussed the background structure of a "critique" and how artists can use the notion of autotheory to establish a theoretical framework that sustains their practice. I was leading this group using my research on Latin American art with a focus on creativity and decolonial thinking as a guideline to establish the tone and ideals of the conversations. As the group evolved in knowing each other and experiencing the meetings, it became clear that a new structure was necessary. 

With Art Share, I aim to divest entirely from the spirit of "critique," starting from the generous trust and openness we can assume between artists. An artist is someone who inevitably is creating transformation by sharing themselves. In other words, artists actively engage their capacities (imaginative, of deep emotion, intellectual, fun, sarcastic, innovative, etc) to change the world (be it their immediate world or the world at large). In any case, one can expect a sensibility and pre-disposition of care and appreciation while showing their work in person to a group of artists who are not engaged in hierarchical or binary dynamics (for example, the professor/students, the curator/artist, the institution/artist, or the critic/artwork). At the Soil Factory, we can all meet on the same ground, regardless of our role in the various art worlds. 

At Art Share, we will sustain the value of sharing artworks of all kinds on the same ground to cultivate a cultural environment that helps us grow as artists. 

Here is the format I propose: I will guide us to begin with a 10-minute activation to situate ourselves within the group of artists. Then, we will experience and talk about the artworks of two or three artists who signed up previously to share their work. We'll have 30 minutes for the group to dedicate to each artist, who can decide how to use their time. Each artist bringing their work can request the group for specific kinds of feedback or use their time to present what they are doing and notice everyone's reactions. It is entirely up to each artist to decide how they exhibit their work -- I encourage artists to bring work they are engaging with at the present moment, regardless of how finished it is. One can always assume that the group is welcoming

and trusting of each other's needs, and any details for showing the work can be figured out with me while signing up. We will use time at the end to discuss the synchronicities and connections between the works we saw and propose any ideas or projects we would like to pursue together. I will close the conversation with words of gratitude. 

I will take pictures of the artists and works exhibited, write a short text describing the themes and ideas shared in each meeting, and gather these in a short PDF document. This gesture aims to honor the encounter of those unique artists and artworks in this specific space/time and disrupt the art world exhibition format that privileges the "finalized" art object/project isolated within an art institution. 

Art Share will always be open to anyone who identifies as an artist or makes art in any format.