Good-Bye ArtWeek

ArtWeek magazine has closed it's doors. It was an art magazine for artists. It felt comfortable, unpretentious, straightforward. It arrived in my mailbox every month. It inspired me. I never saw it at news stands. It was special - only museums and art stores were good enough for it. I will miss the 13.5 x 10.5 inch giant. June, 2009 was the last issue.

Recently, I decided to step up my efforts of getting into shows so I used the magazine's "Competitions" section as a resource. I would curl up on the couch with my magic marker and circle everything that I thought looked interesting. After that I would go to the web and do some research. I would check out the judge and the venue. I would look at the artwork of previous shows. If it seemed far fetched or if the link didn't work, if they weren't looking for paintings, or the location didn't include the SF bay area or if everything on their website was realistic, on and on I wouldn't enter and it would get the big black X.

If a competition passed the first set of criteria I would give it a number based on the entry deadline. There were many months I would go through this exercise and then... I would do nothing.

The May, 2009 issue was different however. I did my regular routine of circling and X'ing. I submitted some images, got some rejects, even won an award (Yay!!) I am waiting to hear the results of other entries I sent off. Wish me luck!!

Good bye ArtWeek, I will miss you.

P.S. You owe me $65 for my recently renewed 2-year subscription. ;-)