Helping Ourselves: Paths to Success w/ Jiggle & Juice

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Isotta: This is Art Is… a podcast for artists where we brainstorm the future of the art world and the creative industries today. I'm sharing part two of my conversation with the art collective jiggle and juice.

[00:00:13] Isotta: If you haven't listened to the first half of my conversation with Shea miles and Georgia took, I recommend you do so before listening to this episode, part one is called helping ourselves sustainable art practices with jiggle and juice. Now let's dive in here, Shea talking about the rising need for online communities in the.

[00:00:34] Shae: having a conversation about art is so crucial to your practice, like on the success of your practice. So having online communities is so important, like the thing that drives me the most in my personal and like surgical and jeez,

[00:00:48] Shae: is having that like fun girl mentality for each other, I think.

[00:00:52] Shae: And if we can extend that to further a field. Being completely honest with people like many tiny crits, like that is something that would benefit people so much. And that's something that is just not welcomed on Instagram at all, because it's about likes on Instagram. So I think that having a community of people who are, like-minded wanting to see change in the art world, want to see change online, and grow connections and better themselves and better their practice.

[00:01:24] Shae: I think that is like something that is so needed. especially for me personally.

[00:01:28] Georgia: Yeah, I couldn't agree more with you Shay.I think there is going to be like this

[00:01:32] Georgia: ,incredible opportunity to, create That studio community that I think we all loved so much in art school and are able to like take that out of art school and,continue to grow that just because Shay you're like, you're so far away.

[00:01:44] if you could just be in my studio, like every day, if you could just live in my pocket, like that would be ideal. but we are separated. By thousands of miles. and so,having this digital space, I don't even know where I would be like in my personal practice or even when my personal life, if like you and I didn't keep.

[00:02:04] Georgia: Online. it would just be so incredible to like, continue fostering, relationships that you already have with people, through a digital community, but then also to like make new connections talk to people who are. Making work that's like similar to you, but there just happened to be in a different country or a different city or something like that, and be able to like bounce ideas off of each other.

[00:02:25] Georgia: Just because I feel like even in our own like art schools, I feel like there wasn't a lot of people making similar work to us. And so it was hard to have discussions when you just don't know. I feel like when I talked to a painter. I have no idea how to even critique you at all. I don't know anything about like technical painting.

[00:02:42] and so if you were able to find someone who, who did know a lot about that, or was working with the same concepts or mediums as you, I think that would be so beneficial to your own practice.

[00:02:54] Isotta: It's interesting because at the moment we truly are limiting ourselves with who we can connect with in the art world. We rely on chance encounters at art events or peers to share connections with.

[00:03:04] Isotta: And help us expand our networks and meet like-minded artists, but it can be so much easier than that. The internet has provided us with an opportunity to connect one-on-one, but also one to many and many to one and many to many. The more I'm learning about how we can use technology as a tool to accelerate professionally and creatively.

[00:03:22] Isotta: The more excited I am about the future of the art world. Now, what are your thoughts on building the future of the art world? How are we going to get there?

[00:03:30] Shae: the whole kind of thing about the nature of the art world. Like the, this conversation that's happening right now, where people are very much like, so eventually all of the people that are in charge and in power are going to be dead and we're all going to take over and it's going to be wonderful.

[00:03:44] Shae: And it's all going to be. Just the way we wanted it to be eventually. And then we'll finally have a lovely plateau and everything will be calm. And our children will Galvon around the art skills without worrying about class or race, or that's the kind of thing that like, I feel like a lot of people.

[00:04:04] Shae: Are thinking about and something that I really at the start of this conversation, which came at the start of the pandemic, that's something that I was very much yeah, we're going to do this. We're going to we're going to flip the whole industry around, but it's like the reality of doing that is so ridiculously difficult because there are still people that are graduating now, that have.

[00:04:24] Shae: Mentalities as the people that are in power just now and the way that some people don't want it to change. And I feel like as much as this sounds like a really negative response to what we're talking about, like it's probably a realistic one in that, the way that the art world needs to change.

[00:04:40] the whole thing about like change from within, like how do we actually write. Break down the barriers that are there. And I think that the most important thing is amplifying the voices of the people. Need to be amplified. And I think that this was really highlighted at the start of the pandemic. And actually to be honest, all of last summer, I think there was a lot of amazing conversations happening, a lot of reflection, but now, we're like back to normal.

[00:05:03] Shae: I'm not seeing any promises being kept. I'm not seeing any changes really happening at all. as much as I complain about these things, I want to be a driving force in making those changes happen, how that's going to happen. I have no

[00:05:17] Shae: fucking idea because that's something that I've really enjoyed listening to your podcast our ears, because.

[00:05:22] Shae: we can't keep being like, oh, we need to change. Like, okay, well then how go on, do it that's something that is really important. That's something that I really want to be part of. forever, that's something that we're going to need to work on our whole art careers.

[00:05:35] Shae: So I don't have the answers, I just want jiggle and juice To impact and and allow for that positive change to happen.

[00:05:42] I want to. Add to that as well. Like I totally agree with you. And I feel like having this idea that,it's all gonna change and it's all just going to happen. Like, I feel like that's, that's like a passive stance on, you know, thinking that the art world is just going to be better one day.

[00:06:00] what I've really noticed in the past, like through this pandemic is you know, people like us, starting our own thing and like the sort of rejection of these traditional institutions, these institutions have failed us and they're not going to change and they're not going to survive.

[00:06:18] Georgia: I think there is going to be like this massive pushback. Like there is already of young creatives, these, early career artists that are not going to go down these traditional routes of getting a show I just feel like there's so many people that we've even talked about before, like gatekeeper magazine and profile gallery and like sad grads, and

[00:06:34] people who are recently graduated, who just like went and started their own thing.

[00:06:38] the one thing that I find to be particularly interesting and like pervasive is emerging artists being critical and also talking openly about the art world and being more interested in having more ownership over the direction of where it's going, how institutions.

[00:06:54] Isotta: Or don't serve us kind of having a bit more of a critical perspective because at least when I was at art school, we really never spoke about the art world as an industry, how to navigate it, how to find your place, let alone any of the like practicalities of how to set yourself up to be, you know, successful as an artist.

[00:07:09] Shae: I always think about. Mental is that like, you, graduate from say, for example, like a degree in marketing, And you go and get a job in marketing path that you can follow and you can work your way up in a company.

[00:07:23] Shae: You can move around within that industry. And you're a very skilled person and you have this degree behind you and you're gaining all of this, experience. But like when you graduate from a creative degree, there is no set career path that is. Offered to you

[00:07:39] Shae: I don't know what other people feel like when they go and study fine art, but I studied fine art to be an artist. I still don't know how to do that. I've been graduated over a year and I still don't know how to do that. So,that's somethingI'm interested in exploring and interested in developing for other people so that there is.

[00:07:57] Shae: A glimmer of hope that yeah, you can actually do this. you don't have to rely on chance or luck or knowing the right people or being really rich. that's something that I think is really interesting and something that I would like to find out so that I can do it myself and be like, discuss with people and change about the

[00:08:15] Isotta: it also makes me realize that part of that is having the courage to be pretty open and transparent about where you're at as well. and I think that's something you both do really beautifully and honestly, on all of your platforms and I really, for one as a creative really appreciate that.

[00:08:29] Shae: on that vein. this is something that.

[00:08:31] Shae: I actually want to speak, about is altar is something that you have really inspired me, to do because I've been working my way, obviously through this wonderful podcast and, You were speaking about, transparency just in general and you were, saying how great it would be for creatives to share like every tiny win and every tiny, like setback, like everything to be exposed and just honest.

[00:08:57] Shae: that's something that I feel like both myself and Georgia are prey, like big advocates for is honesty in the creative. Industry and something that I was really, I've spoken to Georgia about this the other day when we called. And I'm so excited to talk to you about it because you're the one that inspired it.

[00:09:12] but I really want to like start a weekly mini series, whether it's writing or a recording of me chatting and go through. Everything that happened that week.

[00:09:23] Shae: That. In any tiny way, was for my practice. So the week that I actually was listening to that episode that you were talking about that I got a rejection email about residency when I was like sitting on the train home after a shit day at work. So I was absolutely gutted about that. I also priced my prints for, sweet pea gallery, which is the gallery that Georgia and I are represented by in Canada.

[00:09:45] Isotta: and I like sent away. Final pieces. So like that week was so busy I thought this is so, would be so interesting to look back on like everything that I've achieved and completely not achieved, like rejection emails are the worst. and I wondered whether that would be something that people would actually be maybe. Not only interested in because people are nosy and I know I'm nosy. I would love to know that about somebody, but maybe it would maybe help people in the future for like, if I ever was to make it as an artist to see what I did, like what I did.Right. What I did wrong and learn from that. That's a wonderful idea. Thank you for sharing that with us. I do feel that we should be more open with our successes and also our setbacks because being an artist can be so isolating and I feel that we should start normalizing emotional intelligence in the art world because making artists personal and it can be really hard to strike a balance, which is something I think you both do really well with jiggle and juice as a platform that's professional, but human led in the way that you're honest with your audience about burnout and asking.

[00:10:51] Shae: that's so good to hear because that's literally what we want. We want people to feel like you can DM us one of us is always awake because we have a ridiculous eight hour time difference between us. But I would love for someone to be like, I have,My artist's statement is due.

[00:11:05] tomorrow at nine, can you please read through this? Like, I would love for students and early career artists to come to us and be like, Hey, please help. I would love even just not necessarily advice, but just like an extra, set of ears. Like I just think that's something that I would have benefited from so much.

[00:11:19] Shae: So I'm really glad that we come across as like real life

[00:11:23] Isotta: Thank you for listening to art is a podcast for artists. This episode, I'd like to thank the lovely Shea miles and Georgia took from jiggle and juice for sharing their thoughts and ideas on the future of the art world with us.

[00:11:34] Isotta: I'd also like to thank those who have donated to the podcast. I really appreciate it. you can support the work I do by donating to the podcast, the link to do so is in the episode description, you can also support me by subscribing wherever you listen, while you're there.

[00:11:48] Isotta: Please leave. Art Is… a podcast for artists, our rating and review in apple podcasts. It really helps others find. Also, I really love hearing from you. So please keep reaching out on Instagram at artists podcast

[00:12:04] Isotta: or by emailing listen@artistpodcast.com. That's it for now. Thanks so much and see you next Wednesday.