Today, aspiring professional artists have many ways of gaining hands-on
experience while gaining insight into the field in which they will
eventually be working.
by Daniel Grant
Today, aspiring professional artists have many ways of gaining
hands-on experience while gaining insight into the field in which they
will eventually be working. Some young artists get jobs at art-supply
manufacturers or stores, hoping to better understand the tools and
materials of their trade. Others work at galleries in an attempt to
learn the business side of the profession as well as what is currently
selling in the art market. And still others prefer to take the
traditional route and serve as an apprentice to a professional artist,
learning new skills and becoming acquainted with some of the
high-powered collectors, critics, curators, and dealers who operate
within it.
The actual duties associated with an apprenticeship vary depending
on the artist for whom one works, but apprentices generally do the
daily tasks that help an artist keep his or her creative life in order.
“I basically did everything,” says one former apprentice, who is now a
professional artist. “I managed the money, ran the studio, and
contacted galleries, critics, and collectors.” Although apprentices
often have to do some rather menial tasks—ranging from stretching
canvases and cleaning brushes to answering phones and making
coffee—they are also privy to the entire artistic process from start to
finish, which can be an invaluable experience for a budding artist.
Some professional artists establish a personal relationship with
their assistants, talking with them about art and other topics, while
others converse only about the tasks that need to be performed. That
kind of distance may come as a shock to young artists who expect that
being an apprentice will lead to a mentor type of relationship and
perhaps even provide opportunities to advance their own careers. Brice
Marden, who was an assistant to Robert Rauschenberg for four years,
explains that, “my job was to have everything prepared so that it was
easier for Bob to paint.” Assistants who can maintain that kind of
attitude will most likely have an easier relationship with the artists
for whom they work.
The apprentices who can endure long enough to learn from the artist
and develop relationships within the art world will almost always see a
payoff. Rauschenberg ended up buying Marden’s work and hanging it in
his studio for all to see, which led to opportunities for the
assistant. “I first met the De Menils [Houston-area art collectors and
museum founders] when I was working for Bob, and they eventually
started collecting my work,” Marden tells. Victor and Sally Ganz, also
collectors of Rauschenberg’s work, began buying the paintings of
Dorothea Rockburne after meeting her at Rauschenberg’s studio when she
was an assistant there. Both Marden and Rockburne state that they, in
turn, have also tried to open doors for their assistants. In fact, one
time Rockburne brought a French dealer to the studio of one of her
assistants and that collector ended up buying the studio out, allowing
her to stop her apprenticeship and paint full time.
One of the issues often inherent in the artist/apprentice
relationship is that assistants may sometimes lose their artistic
identity. “It’s a natural phase of working for other artists,”
Rockburne says. “Your work is going to look similar to theirs at some
point, but I often tell artists to work through that to get to the
other side. If you can do that, it shows your strength of character as
an artist.” Other young apprentices find that when working as
assistants, the more responsibilities they are given, the less time is
available to do their own work. “It’s very hard to focus on your own
work when you spend a lot of time working for someone else,” one
assistant admits. “It’s like any job: the more time you devote to one
task, the less time you have for others.” Her response was to
eventually leave the position and dedicate more time to her own
artwork.
Some individuals work as a particular artist’s assistant for an
extended period of time, which maintains continuity and limits artistic
interruptions, but sometimes both artist and assistant recognize that a
long association is not healthy for either one. Sculptor Mel Kendrick
states that, after a number of years, an assistant’s view of the
artist’s process can become overly narrow. “Basically, the assistant
learns your way of working and feeds it back to you,” he says. “An
artist can ossify.” On the other hand, a new perspective can bring
growth on both ends. “I like having contact with the younger world,”
says Marden. “New people bring in new ideas.”
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