For some reason lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about indecision. While I’m often exhilarated by the possibilities of change, I sometimes become paralyzed by options (and their inherent limitations) and find it difficult to make any move at all. Ironically, this happens most when I most want a change.
I’ve had this feeling pretty frequently lately, prompted by some plans for programming at the Dovetail space and a separate idea to build a new living space that can double as a home office. The idea of digging physical foundations sent me into an existential tailspin for a day or two, if I’m being completely honest. I get really nervous about putting down roots—I need to be able to do it without thinking too much about doing it. But also, building a physical structure? That I want to live in? Looks great on Instagram; I have no idea how to dig a foundation.
The source I keep coming back to is fear. We’ve probably all heard Georgia O’Keeffe’s famous quote, “I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.” Rather a bit of a cliché by this point, it still pops into my mind really often. It’s one of those things that, when I guess I needed it, it became lodged in my head and never left.
I have a tendency to start thinking about big decisions—places to move, job changes, trips to take—when I’m already feeling stuck. The stuck-ness is a frustrating cycle of feeling stifled for whatever reason (creatively, financially, time…) but having difficulty seeing a way out of it. Partly this is because I’ve chosen a semi-nomadic, remote-work type lifestyle that a lot of other things in society just aren’t designed to accommodate.
Some choices, of course, are quite small, like whether or not to invest in a different brand of paints or experiment with a new craft. But some of them, like changing careers or moving to a new city, have much bigger implications for personal and professional relationships, building a career, finding happiness, or sustaining creativity.
Something my sister recently reminded me of recently, though, is the adage that any choice you make will become the right choice for you because in everything else you do, you unconsciously work around it, trim it, mold it, and enmesh it in the grander scheme of your wants and needs. Practicalities aside, like how much certain choices cost or inherent conflicts with other choices, it seems like a good way to approach making them, no matter the scope.
Yesterday morning, with my dad’s help, I staked out the footprint of the addition, ran a level string, continued work on a floorplan sketch, and started to get an idea of elevation. No digging or demolishing yet, just incremental steps. Perhaps not terrified—let’s say reticent—but learning. That’s a choice, too.
See you next week!
—Kate
P.S. Another August break from exhibitions this week. There are several great ones opening in September, and I’m such a fan of seeing art in the fall. More soon!
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What you’ll find below:
Featured artist: Kasturi Kiritharan
Twelve opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
Featured Artist: Kasturi Kiritharan
Kasturi Kiritharan grew up in bustling London, where the only access to nature came in the form of manicured local parks and greenways. “When I started up a serious, self-led art practice, it came to me as a surprise that I kept reaching for ideas and images rooted in the natural world,” she says. Fresh off a year of study at Leith School of Art in Edinburgh and recently returned to London, the artist celebrates outdoor life as a way of feeling grounded and present in any place, despite how uprooted she may feel.
Through an involved layering process, Kiritharan adds paint, then sands the surfaces so that the distinctions between animals, foliage, or landscapes blur together. She then stains areas so colors overlap and scratches into the surface to create textures that either highlight or bury details. Cows rest in a pasture, a moth alights, or trees fade into a misty vista, creating a sense that our relationship to what we think of as wilderness—and distance—is intimate, interconnected, and enigmatic.
Continue reading on Dovetail.
Artist Opportunities
Young Space emphasizes fully-funded opportunities with low or no entry fees and programs that focus on creative and professional development for visual artists. Deadlines are coming up soon to apply for these grants, fellowships, residencies, and more.
Bryn Du Mansion Artist-in-Residence
Deadline: August 31
The focus of Bryn Du’s Artist in Residence program is to enhance local awareness and engagement in the arts by introducing new and varied artists to the Granville, Ohio, community throughout the calendar year. Artists may be in any stage of their career to apply and participate in a Bryn Du residency. Residencies at Bryn Du are open nationwide for artists of all disciplines to apply including but not limited to those in the fields of visual arts, literature, music, theatre, fashion, dance, storytelling, and audiovisual studies. Stipends include $2,000 for an 8-week residency and $3,000 for a 12-week residency.
Submission fee: $15
Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève Open Call for Proposals
Deadline: August 31
The Centre invites cultural institutions, not-for-profit spaces, artists, and curators from the Geneva art scene to submit proposals for monographic exhibitions, group shows, and performances. Proposals may also include publication projects such as exhibition catalogues, artists’ books, or monographs. Each year, the Centre will select three projects: one institutional, artist, and/or curatorial project promoting the international reputation of a Geneva-based artist, with funding of CHF 15,000; two exhibition or publication projects, supported by institutions, artists, or curators, with funding of CHF 10,000 per project.
Submission fee: none
National Emerging Art Prize for Australian Artists
Deadline: September 1
Founded in 2021, the National Emerging Art Prize was established to provide a highly visible national platform to identify, promote and support the most promising emerging visual and ceramic artists in Australia. The prize exists to not only offer a robust and highly visible platform to showcase artists in the emerging stages of their career, but also to furnish the winners and runners up with a significant cash prize and suite of non-cash prizes to further support their practice, and to provide a pathway to a long-term art career and representation. In 2024 the National Emerging Art Prize exhibition will tour both Sydney and Brisbane.
Submission fee: none
Kimmel Harding Nelson Artist in Residence Open Call
Deadline: September 1
The Center awards up to seventy juried residencies per year to established and emerging visual artists, writers, composers, and interdisciplinary artists from across the country and the world. Residencies are available for 2 to 8 weeks at the KHN Center for the arts in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Each resident receives a $175 stipend per week, free housing, and a private studio.
Submission fee: $35
Alserkal Research Grants for 2025-2027
Deadline: September 1
Alserkal Arts Foundation is now accepting applications for the third round of the Research Grants program, which awards individuals and collectives amounts of $5,000 to $10,000 in funding for projects to be completed over two years. AAF aims to award three grants for the 2025-2027 cycle. The program supports individuals and collectives working in the arts, humanities, and social sciences who seek to pursue a research project within the contexts of South Asia, West Asia and Africa. The Foundation is seeking applications that demonstrate an interest in pursuing intersectional and experimental approaches to research, and that strive to blur the boundaries between conventional disciplines.
Submission fee: none
The Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency
Deadline: September 1
The Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency (EMAR) program by Collar Works is designed to provide emerging, underrepresented, and established artists an immersive, supportive, productive, and communal atmosphere for art-making and dialogue on a bucolic 77-acre farm in Granville, NY. The summer residency offers 2 and 4-week residencies for individual artists and 1-week residencies for families. In 2017, the Murray-Holman family partnered with Collar Works to design a summer residency program for visual artists, with unique opportunities for individuals and families.
Submission fee: $15
Gasworks Residencies for Artists Based in Central America
Deadline: September 2
This residency open call is for an early-career artist based in Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama). The eleven-week, fully funded residency will take place at Gasworks in London from January 6 to March 24, 2025.
Submission fee: none
Ingram Prize
Deadline: September 2
The Ingram Prize is an annual purchase prize open to visual artists who are within five years of graduation from a U.K.-based art school. Now in its ninth year, the prize was established to celebrate and support artists at the beginning of their professional careers. It’s completely free to enter, and artists can submit up to two works in any size or media. All shortlisted artists will be invited to showcase their entries in a group selling exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery ǀ Workshop in London from November 13 to 17, 2024.
Submission fee: none
The Princeton Arts Fellowship 2024-2025
Deadline: September 10
Princeton Arts Fellows spend two consecutive academic years (September 1-July 1) at Princeton University and formal teaching is expected. A $92,000 a year stipend is provided. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree. One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply. Holders of Ph.D. degrees from Princeton are not eligible to apply.
Submission fee: none
The Hodder Fellowship at Princeton
Deadline: September 10
Open across disciplines, this fellowship provides $90,000 to artists who spend ten months at Princeton University. No formal teaching is required.
Submission fee: none
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) Arts Grants
Deadline: September 10
LMCC awards public and private funding to Manhattan-based individual artists, collectives, and nonprofit organizations for the presentation of arts programming in any discipline in Manhattan. Apply for up to $16,000 for a single project in any discipline in 2025. Read more about guidelines and applications for Creative Engagement, Creative Learning, and UMEZ Arts Engagement.
Submission fee: none
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council 2025 SU-CASA Residency
Deadline: September 10
Embodying healthy aging through the arts, SU-CASA is LMCC’s annual program placing teaching artists at Manhattan senior centers. LMCC selects individual artists and small collectives of two to carry out unique arts participatory projects they propose and lead from January to June 2025. Artists comfortable facilitating in Cantonese, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese are highly encouraged to apply.
Submission fee: none
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities anytime—updated at least a couple of times each week.
Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, you can also browse through listings in earlier digests in the archive.
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